One of the greatest things about getting to know God on a more personal level is that He is right there with you, always. The very Spirit of God will be your helper and comforter on your journey.
Now, I must share with you that a personal relationship with God is only possible by one means, Jesus Christ.
In John 14:6, Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (NLT)
I don’t think Jesus could have made it more clear than that statement. I remember when I first started to seek God in a deeper way. I didn’t really understand who I was supposed to be praying to, God or Jesus? So…I prayed to both! Couldn’t hurt to cover all the bases right? This was one of the most confusing concepts for me to grasp as a young Christian. And, on top of this, you also had the Holy Spirit! This was getting very complicated for a teenage kid to follow. One of our biggest obstacles in seeking a relationship with God is that we can over complicate things to a point of feeling unable to achieve such a goal. We must remember what Jesus himself said, “No one can come to the Father except through me.”
So there is no way to God the Father except through Jesus. How do I go through Jesus then? Once we acknowledge and confess that Jesus paid our debt in full on the cross, and put our faith in Him, then we have been redeemed and are granted full access to God the Father. In the Old Testament, the Holy Tabernacle was where only the highest priests could enter the presence of God. There were two rooms, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place was where the presence of God was and was off limits to the majority of the people. Between the two rooms was a curtain or veil separating the people from the Holy presence of God. So the average man or woman could not enter into the Holy presence of God due to their sin, so they had to have a mediator, or priest go in on their behalf. Now let’s fast forward to the time of the cross, and notice what happened at the moment Jesus died.
Matthew 27:51 – At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart,
I’d read this many times before, but never saw the significance in this moment. Jesus had just torn down the barrier between the people and God. He made the way for the average person, not just the holiest of priests, to enter into the presence of God. Once we accept what Jesus did, then we have been made clean and we can enter into this Most Holy Place ourselves and experience God’s presence for ourselves.
So we can see that Jesus truly is “the way” to the Father. He is the foundation on which we must begin the journey to seek God for ourselves. Without Him, we are still stuck outside the Most Holy Place, seeking mediators to rectify us before God. As this foundation, Jesus becomes the cornerstone of our faith and relationship with God. If you remove the cornerstone of a building, it will not stand. Likewise, if you remove Jesus from your faith and relationship with God, it will begin to collapse. So we must build our faith upon the one true cornerstone whom God himself placed for us all.
Isaiah 28:16 – Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone.
It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.
Whoever believes need never be shaken.”
Thanks for reading and keep faith.
