Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
—John 14:5-6
...and [Saul] asked [the high priest] 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 9:1-3
The way of the Lord leads through the wilderness to the Father.
The Lord knew that the Israelites were not ready for conflict with the inhabitants of the coastlands, so the way from Egypt to the Promised Land led through the wilderness. The Lord led them with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, not only because they did not know the way, but because they needed His presence. Moses pleaded with the Lord to go with them after the disastrous incident of the golden calf. The Lord led them and fed them and gave them water.
The way of the Lord leads through the floods to the promised home.
The Jordan river, at flood stage, separated the Israelites from the land that the Lord had promised to Abraham and his descendants. Or so it appeared. But when the priests carrying the ark of the covenant reached the overflowing river, the waters parted from Adam down toward the dead-end Salt Sea. The people were following the ark because they had not “passed this way before”, and so the representation of the Lord's presence still led them.
When Immanuel—“God with us”—came to walk the dust of the earth with humans made from the dust of the earth, and to fulfill all that the Lord had taught and promised from the beginning to the end, the shock waves reached backward to Adam and forward to the end of time—a living end for those who submit to walk in His way.
The Way of the Lord leads His followers.
Jesus identified Himself as “the way, the truth, and the life”, resonating and expanding on the teaching of “truth” and “way” of which Psalm 25 sings.
That identification was so strong, that it even resonates in the early term used to describe the distinctive teaching and lives of His followers—“the Way”—as recorded in Acts. They were His followers precisely because He led. Just as He has always led those who would follow since the beginning.
He leads us in the way we should go, He walked with us on the way, and He became the Way.
The Way
Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.
Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
—Psalm 25:5, 8-9
“And I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
...
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.”
—Isaiah 42:16 (excerpt)
Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.”
—Isaiah 48:17
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
—John 14:5-6
...and [Saul] asked [the high priest] 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 9:1-3
The way of the Lord leads through the wilderness to the Father.
The Lord knew that the Israelites were not ready for conflict with the inhabitants of the coastlands, so the way from Egypt to the Promised Land led through the wilderness. The Lord led them with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, not only because they did not know the way, but because they needed His presence. Moses pleaded with the Lord to go with them after the disastrous incident of the golden calf. The Lord led them and fed them and gave them water.
The way of the Lord leads through the floods to the promised home.
The Jordan river, at flood stage, separated the Israelites from the land that the Lord had promised to Abraham and his descendants. Or so it appeared. But when the priests carrying the ark of the covenant reached the overflowing river, the waters parted from Adam down toward the dead-end Salt Sea. The people were following the ark because they had not “passed this way before”, and so the representation of the Lord's presence still led them.
When Immanuel—“God with us”—came to walk the dust of the earth with humans made from the dust of the earth, and to fulfill all that the Lord had taught and promised from the beginning to the end, the shock waves reached backward to Adam and forward to the end of time—a living end for those who submit to walk in His way.
The Way of the Lord leads His followers.
Jesus identified Himself as “the way, the truth, and the life”, resonating and expanding on the teaching of “truth” and “way” of which Psalm 25 sings.
That identification was so strong, that it even resonates in the early term used to describe the distinctive teaching and lives of His followers—“the Way”—as recorded in Acts. They were His followers precisely because He led. Just as He has always led those who would follow since the beginning.
He leads us in the way we should go, He walked with us on the way, and He became the Way.
So that we could follow the Way to the Father.