What does Yeshua Messiah mean by what He stated in John 14:6?

This one question I'm asked more than any other question in our ministry. It is also the one question that I have asked many in the Jewish Roots Movement over the years. Their answers have always been hedged. I remember one man I really love tell me, "That is to deep a question to answer you right now." Many others have said, "It means just what it states, no one comes to God except they know Yeshua (Jesus) as Lord." Yet others have said, "You can pray to God, but if you do not know Yeshua, you do not get your prayers answered."

Well I have prayed for years to understand the fullness of this deep statement Yeshua Messiah made to His follower that day. Does it mean, if you do not proclaim Yeshua (Jesus) you do not get your prayers answered? That can't be true because I know to many who were sinners who prayed to God and got answers to their prayers. And this was before they got saved, born again, and filled with the Holy Spirit of God. I'm one of those people. God answered many of my prayers before I met Jesus back in 1985. How would this happen if no man comes to God our Father, if not by Yeshua (Jesus) His Son?

You may think I'm wrong, but I do not think so because my spirit bears witness to me that God's mercy (checed - click here to see the full meaning of the word), is greater then what Christianity proclaims as being oh so black and white. God showed me that this verse was an "open door" and not a "closed one," as Christianity teaches it to be. Oh that they would get the point that our God is in search of sinful mankind. He came to saved them, and the "Door - Yeshua" is opened to whomsoever will come.

I really think what Yeshua means is quite simple if you look at this Scripture with the Hebraic eyes of our Lord.

"I am the Way (the Door by which sinful mankind may enter), the Truth (God's Living Word working for you), and the Life: and no one comes to my Father in Heaven except by my doing because I am the great go-between for mankind, and I make supplication, intercession and prayers for all who love God and are called." --John 14:6

Adah Guzman has a rendering of John 14:6-7 that I also like:

"Yeshua said to him (Thomas), I am the road, the truth, and the life: not even one, none, comes to the Father, but by Me (by My doing). Thomas if you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." --AGI

The question then to ask is this: "If a person, lets say a Jewish man prays, who is answering his prayers?" Is it not God? Certainly it is! God has a way of revealing Himself to sinful mankind that does not fit our mold sometimes.

Duke's Story
I want to share a true story about a very good friend of mine. Duke got his nickname because he's a royal kind of a guy, and people just love this kind man. I've known Duke for 45 years now, but until just a few months ago, I did not know what I'm about to share with you.

Duke grew up in a good Jewish home. He had a loving father and mother and many sisters and brothers, but at the age of 15 something happen to make him very depressed, so much so that he spent a lot of time in his bedroom. One day while he was talking it over with God in his bedroom (as he's puts it), God showed up in person. God laid His hand on Duke's shoulder and told him all would be fine, and then vanished into thin air. This unsaved Jewish boy meet God.

Duke could not believe his eyes, but he was sure God was there and that His hand was on his shoulder. That very day all of Duke's depression left him. He was a changed young man in an instant of time by the laying on of hands, God's hand. To this very day Duke, now age 72, praises God for that day and that special encounter with the LORD.

As I said before, although I've known Duke for 45 years I never knew this about him, so this came as a shock to me when he told me this. On my trip back East in 2003, I had the chance to speak to Duke for three hours one day about spiritual things. The one sad thing about Duke is he never learned to read, he had worked from a very young age to help out the family. So to tell Duke to read the Bible and find Yeshua in it's pages, he cannot do. However on this day, the Holy Spirit of God in me poured out the words to give him. Scripture after Scripture flowed from my storehouse, the Holy Spirit in me to Duke. I told him of how the Passover was fulfilled in Yeshua's death, burial, and resurrection. I saw the lights going off in his head over and over again as the Holy Spirit in me kept speaking God's truth to him. It was an awesome moment for me, a holy moment.

When he told me his full story, I asked him who he thought that man in his room was? "Did you really think it was God Duke," I asked him? His response was quick, "Yes, it was God, or maybe it was Jesus?" Tears welled up in his eyes and I know he knew this was truth. As I continued to pour Scripture and to share with him more about Passover, the tears rolled down his face. By this time the tears were running down mine as well, but they were tears of joy. I told Duke it was Yeshua who came into his room, and that he needed to receive Him as Lord in his heart. My prayer for him was that the Messiah would once again give him peace to know this was the truth I was speaking, because Messiah is the TRUTH!

I spent three more days with Duke and his wife that week, and by the time I left, I knew in my heart he had met the Messiah of Israel and loved him dearly.

Hard Truth
The hard truth is that Duke will never darken the door of a church, nor will he read a Bible, the Word of God. But I do know Duke will pray all the days of his life to the God of heaven and earth. I know this because Duke has prayed to God from his early youth. He loves God! In his own words Duke told me "Almost every day I pray to God. I pray about everything. I say, Oh my God I need you today, and I know He is near me." He also told me, "You know Barbara, I knew God long before you did my girl." I think Duke is right on that point. I was 40 years old and I was not looking for God at all, but God in His mercy (checed) came looking for me, and I love God because I know in my heart and in my spirit, it is "God who is in search of Man, and not the other way around."

You see: Yeshua is the Way, the road made easy for all who love God and are called according to His purpose...

You see: Yeshua is the Door that stands OPEN, calling ALL of sinful mankind to enter and be healed...

You see: Yeshua is the Life, and He imparts His life to ALL who call upon God, because He is God and was from the very beginning...

Then if this be the case, and I fully believe that it is, then we best not judge who knows our Lord by what we SEE with our MORTAL eyes. We must know things by the SPIRIT OF GOD. What we need to do is preach the Truth in LOVE just like Messiah and His followers did. I know that the road is narrow ====, and I know that there are not many roads, but I also know that Yeshua Messiah, our Great High Priest makes supplication, intercession and prayers for all who love God and are the called.

Yeshua prayed for His followers: Yeshua prayed not for the world, but for them which His Father had already given Him; for they are His Father's. This group of people are not just those who lived back in the first century, but all who would ever be His throughout the ages, and He knows who THEY are.

Are you called my friend by Him? Do you love God with your whole heart? Are you willing to open up your heart and your life to the Lord of all and let Him in? I pray that you are because He is waiting for you, just like my friend Duke, God wants to put His hands on you and give you His peace (shalom). John 3:16-17 by my friend Adah Guzman is also full. Adah always has more then one rendering for each verse of Scripture, it keeps me on my toes when I study with her.

"For God so loved the world (mankind) that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to deliver it." John 3:16-17 AGI

"For God's unfailing loving-kindness towards mankind is such that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him, will not perish but have life eternal. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn, but to save." John 3:16-17 AGI

Please my friends, in the future when you view John 14:6, see it as the "open Door" that it is! Yeshua saves, Yeshua heals, and Yeshua delivers souls into His Fathers hands every day, for almost two thousand years now Messiah has been doing this...and the beat goes on, and on, and on!

It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.

Shalom,

Rev. Barbara Di Gilio

Please email us with your comments: barbara@mayimhayim.org

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