Originally posted by @js357That’s awful. Very sorry to hear.
“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins”
Heb 9:22 fyi
I had a close relative who circled this in red and then killed herself. Wrists for the blood, the lake to be tidy.
But the “shedding of blood” pertained in the Old Testament to the sacrifice of animals and, in the New Testament, to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, not to individuals needing to shed their own blood to be forgiven.
I am surprised that more readers of John 14:6 are not considering the immediate context of the verse in answering the OP's question.
The verse is an answer to the question of Thomas.
"Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where you are going, how an we know the way? (v.5)
Christ's reply in verse 6 is His immediate response to WHERE He is going and the WAY there.
The place is a living Person rather than a physical spot.
The place is a living Person.
And the WAY to the place is also a living Person.
Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me."
He is going to the Father.
No one can come to the Father as He goes except through Him.
You must think deeper than spacial concepts to the profound matter of God as a PLACE - a living PLACE. And the way to this living place is also a living One. There is no other way TO this living Person - the Father except through this living One, Christ.
Something more. He is going to prepare a place for the rest of us.
"In My Father's house are many abodes; if it were not so I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be.
And where I am going you know the way." (vs. 2-4)
That is sufficient for this post.
There is more.
Now here we have a little dilemma - a difference of opinion between Jesus and Thomas. Thomas says that he and the disciples DO NOT know where Jesus is going. But Jesus says that they DO know where He is going and also they know the way.
Which do you think was right ?
"And where I am going you know the way.
Thomas said to Him. Lord we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way? " (vs.4,5)
Which do you think was right, Jesus or Thomas ?
My opinion is that Jesus told them the truth that they knew the way.
The place is not physical. I think of it as ABSOLUTENESS for the will of the Father. Christ's absoluteness for His Father's will is what the disciples have witnessed for three some years now.
Jesus was always going the way of being absolutely for the will of God. He was going always TO His Father. He was going always to the absolute good pleasure of His Father. They knew that by witnessing it for along time.
And now it should be no different.
" ... for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you I am coming again and will receive you to Myself that where I am you also may be." (v.2b,3)
He is going to the CROSS.
He is going to the absolute highest will and pleasure of His Father.
He is going to the Father in the way of being absolute to lay down His life to accomplish eternal redemption. He goes absolutely to the Father's will to prepare a place for man IN GOD.
Jesus was going to prepare a place for His followers that where He is they also may be.
This is in the mingling of God and humanity. If it were the case that NO ONE ELSE could enjoy this mingling of God and humanity, He would have TOLD them up front. But through redemption on the cross THEY can get to that place TOO.
He goes to prepare a way for someone else besides Himself to get into the wonderful eternal place.
"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe into God, believe also into Me.
In My Father's house are many abodes, if it were not so I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again to receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be." (v. 1-3)
If it were the case that ONLY Jesus could be the man united totally with God, Why He would have told us up front that there is no hope for anyone else.
No one else can accomplish redemption but Him. But He does so in order to make a place, a standing in God for redeemed and forgiven man. Then where He is they also may be.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again to receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be." (v. 1-3)
Jesus was going in utter absoluteness into the center of the heart of His Father. He goes to the cross to DIE. He goes to come up again in resurrection and receive the believers to Himself.
Then where He is they also may be as the many abodes of the Father's house. He goes to Calvary in absoluteness to His Father's will.
They have always known Him to be absolute for the will of His Father. They know the WAY in which He goes. They know that He ever and always goes to the perfect will of the Father. He counts not the cost.
His cost will be death on the cross of His redemption,
But He will rise from the dead and receive the believers to Himself.
Originally posted by @romans1009Thanks. 1’m not one to blame religion. The soul in despair will find a way out, to stop the misery. The tragedy was not misreading the Bible, it was deeper.
That’s awful. Very sorry to hear.
But the “shedding of blood” pertained in the Old Testament to the sacrifice of animals and, in the New Testament, to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, not to individuals needing to shed their own blood to be forgiven.
Originally posted by @karoly-aczelNone taken.
She kinda missed the metaphor it sounds like. No offence
Originally posted by @thinkofoneI believe the point He is making is that Jesus is the only Way to the Father and there is no
John 14
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
What all do you believe Jesus was trying to convey in the above verse? Please be as specific and detailed as possible.
other way to Him. This means of course that it doesn't matter what we think, it only
matters what Jesus thinks since He personally is the way! If Jesus doesn't know you, you
will hear the words from Him, "Depart from me, I never knew you."
I think the point He is making is that Jesus is the truth, all else about going to God is not
therefore lies. If you are attempting to enter into the gate to go to the Father and not
going through Jesus you are being deceived, it is unacceptable. He lights up our lives
to where we see how good God is compared to how bad we are, showing us our need
for God's grace and mercy found in Jesus Christ.
I think the point He is making is that He is the life, we are dead in our sins, but as we
abide in Christ we have the life of God once again in our lives. Loving God and more
importantly being loved by God with God's Spirit is a requirement He has placed upon us
without the life He gives us, the Spirit of God He gives us, we do not belong God. If we
are still dead in our sins, there will be no change from walking in the flesh we remain just
as we ever were and will never impress or please God in that dead spiritual state.
Just a few more thoughts on the topic.
Jesus promises the anxious disciples that in His Father's house are MANY abodes. The many abodes will be the disciples after Jesus goes to the cross to die a redemptive death for them and returns in resurrection to abide in them,
The word abodes in verse has its singular form in verse 23 where the Triune God comes to make an abode in the lover of Jesus.
Compare the two verses.
1). Plural abodes.
"In My Father's house are many ABODES; if it were not so I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you ..." (14:2)
2.) Singular abode
"Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an ABODE with him." (v.23)
Christ and His Father, as the Divine "We", by means of the Holy Spirit, will come to make an abode in the lover of Jesus keeping His word.
This is possible only because Jesus went to Calvary to die and prepare a place for the believers in Jesus to enter into the Father and the Father to enter into them.
He went to the cross to prepare a way for God to enter into the human spirit. The church is the habitation (or dwelling place) of God in spirit. (Eph. 2:22)