Christian, You’re in the Way

In Sunday’s text, I highlighted how God’s word of promise in Isaiah 30:20-21 ultimately points to Christ: 

20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. [Isaiah 30:20-21 ESV]

Jesus Christ is the full realization of this promise. The religious leaders who set themselves against Jesus admit this when they say, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully.”(Matthew 22:16) And Jesus himself makes this clear when in answering the apostle Thomas’ question as to how they might know the way to the Father he responds,  

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. [John 14:6-7 ESV]

Jesus is the incomparable “Teacher” of the way because he himself is the way!  

Interestingly, the first Christians did not refer to themselves as “Christians.” That development first came about in Antioch, as we learn in Acts 11:26. Before then, and for a while after, they were known as followers of “The Way.” This can be seen in the verses from Acts featured below: 

[Acts 9:1-2 ESV] 1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

[Acts 19:23 ESV] 23 About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. [The idol-making industry in Ephesus was being disrupted by the Way]

[Act 24:14-15 ESV] 14 But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, 15 having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.

[Acts 18:24-25 ESV] 24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 

 I’m sure there is something God-ordained in the “Christian” name sticking, but there is something about “The Way” that adds a bit of meaning that often gets lost. In light of what Jesus says to Thomas, we know that Jesus himself is “The Way.” The Way is first and foremost a person, the person of Jesus Christ, in whom we can be saved. Correctly understood, there is nothing about this referent that diminishes the person of Christ as the agent of our salvation. In fact, it offers a potentially fuller conception of that salvation.

Jesus as “The Way” suggests that something more is intended than a set of propositions to be approved. Believing Jesus is the Way invites his command over our lives. When we accept Jesus as Savior, we can’t tell him to keep the change. It’s all-inclusive. 

We get the sense that something all-encompassing is intended when we read that Apollos “had been instructed in the way of the Lord.” Think about what that must entail. If you’re instructed in the way of the Lord Jesus, that can’t be limited to theological affirmations. Jesus crystallized one of his principal points of instruction when he washed the feet of his disciples. After humbling himself in this shocking fashion, Jesus tells them, 

13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 
[John 13:13-15 ESV] 

Jesus as the Way includes his way of life. If we’ve been joined to Jesus, if we are people of the Way, then our way of life should look like His way of life. You can’t have Jesus and not have his ways. 

Admittedly, this is a struggle. There are voices on every side of us calling us to their competing ways of life. We must be vigilant. We must listen closely for the voice of our Teacher.  

“...your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.