Is Jesus Really the Only Way?

Why Do we Focus on Earth Rather than our Eternity?

Richard Hollerman

We know that this question is very important. In fact, it is far beyond our imagination! After all, if eternity is endless, we can see that to fail to prepare for it is the most fatal and foolish things we can do! We must be prepared to meet Jesus and either receive or fail to receive life eternal. This should be axiomatic! Is it to you?

Years ago, I wrote a little booklet entitled, “Is Jesus the Only Way?” Thus our title above is very similar to this and it gets at the heart of the question. We ask the question again: Is Jesus Really the Only Way?” By “the only way” we refer to eternal life, forgiveness, and reconciliation with God our Creator.

We don’t want this little article to go on very long, but let’s at least cite a few verses that we used in the above-mentioned booklet. Notice John 14:6 to begin. This quotes Jesus’ own words: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). Thus, Jesus declares that He is the only way to God, the truth about God, and our relationship to Him who is our life! Are you and I prepared?

Notice another: “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). These words of Peter show us that salvation only comes through Jesus Christ. If we want to be saved, it comes alone through Him!

Now we go to 1 Timothy 2:5: “There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Notice the word, “One” here. Christ Jesus is the only way to reach God (and eternal life). I think that we would need to say that this shows how utterly important it is to come to God through Jesus our only Mediator!

The last passage we’ll examine is from 1 John 5:11-12. Notice: “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” Again, we are confronted with truth that is so vital! Eternal life (which is what we really want) is only found in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. If we do not have the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, we don’t have eternal life. It is that simple—and that profound!

Now that we have at least addressed certain basic matters, let’s apply this to something very much related to this.

If you are like me, you wonder about the spiritual condition and eternal condition of various ones.  Consider the Hindus. Here we have a theology and the people who hold to it. It dates back to perhaps 2000 BC. As you know, this was only 400 or 500 years after the flood of Noah. What happened to those thousands of people who hold this religion?

Then there are those in Egypt who built the pyramids. Perhaps this could be dated to 2,200 years or 1,800 years before Christ. At least the rulers of this important country thought that they would prepare for eternity through embalming their body. This was not for everyone but only for their leaders. What happened to these people who lived about the time of Abraham?

Think also of the Buddhists who lived about 500 years before Christ. Buddha was a Hindu before he was “enlightened” but today there are hundreds of millions of these people on earth! What about them and their spiritual condition?

What about the Chinese at the time of Christ? Where did they think they would go when they died at this time?

What if you were an American Indian in 700 AD? If you have done any study about the history and locations of these devoted people, have you asked yourself about the beliefs and practices that they held? They did believe in a Great Spirit but, as we know, they were totally wrong.

What about the Inca tribe about 1450 AD? If you have studied the lifestyle and beliefs of this group of people, you know that they believed in life after death. But, of course, they were totally wrong about this and about the ritual murder they performed.

Continue in your surmising. What about the Catholic missionary in AD 1600, or the Pilgrims in the latter 1600s, or the Anglicans in AD 1700, or other Protestants? What about the African tribes who lived in Africa about AD 500, AD 1150, AD 1650, or AD 1775? They didn’t believe in the God of the Bible—the true and living God—but they did believe in polytheism and the multiple gods of their homeland. What about the “god” of the Russians in AD 400, the “god” or gods of the Chinese in 800 BC, the polytheistic gods of the Polynesian Islands before or after the time of Christ?

All of these people were living, real, working, playing, marrying people. They plowed fields, they sowed seed, they harvested their crops, they ate their meals, all before they knew anything about the real God described in Scripture. We know that they were lost in sin, but where did they go when they died? (See Romans 1:16-32.) God, in Scripture, says that such people were lost but had to come to Him through Christ (Romans 1-5). But how?

If we take Scripture for what it says and believe in what has been written, then we must say that even if they were lost in sin and needed a Savior, this Person had to be Jesus Christ of Nazareth, our Lord and our God—at least after He came, died, and was risen. What more can be said? We know that in the world in which we live, people have given a variety of answers to such an inquiry.

1. Some would say that people could be saved in the millennia of the past by just believing in what they knew and living as best as they could. Romans 2:12-15. But this still doesn’t answer our question since no one really follows his conscience perfectly.
2. Others would say that as long as they did the right that they knew about and tried do live a decent, moral life, then surely God would accept them. However, we know that “works righteousness” or salvation by good deeds really can’t save a person.
3. There are some who would point out that it was impossible for people to be saved as we are since they lived up to the light that they had. Anything else was beyond them. Thus they simply needed to do the best they could do.
4. Some people would say that after the time of paganism, when different forms of “Christianity” existed, people could somehow be saved by God through Christ. However, we know that the vast amount of false teaching that we find from about AD 1500 until the present would simply condemn and not save a person.
5. Others would say that all of the French missionaries of AD 1500 or the Anglican missionaries of AD 1600 or the Baptist missionaries of AD 1800 or the Moravian missionaries of AD 1700 could be saved by simply following the “light” that they had. Of course, we must ask about the vast amount of false teaching they followed.
6. We also might want to ask about the many false teachings that people in Europe and Asia followed after the time of Christ. Could they be saved while praying to Mary, while pouring a bit of water on their children and calling this “baptism,” while giving their allegiance to a totally false religious system (of Roman Catholicism or the various Orthodox Churches)?

Earlier, we asked what happened to all of these devoted people from the time of the great flood at the time of Noah (about 2450 BC) until they died? Have you ever thought of this?

What about you and me? What about the friends we know who profess to be Christians? We know that some are what we call “universalists” and think that they all are saved and accepted by God. If we believe the Bible, we know that this belief is wrong. But even if it is wrong and these people are not in the presence of God, where did they go? Others would say that they didn’t go to be with God but would be annihilated. In other words, they are no more.

Again, this violates the plain words of Scripture. They are lost and rejected by God. If we were to go to Luke 16, we believe that these lost humans (hundreds of millions or perhaps even several billions of people) are in a place called “hades”—a place of torment (Luke 16:23, 28) and agony (Luke 16:24, 25). There appears to be no end to this rejection and anguish (see vv. 22-31).

Regardless of whether we would agree with these facts, they do seem to be plain and irrefutable. If this is so, this answers many questions that we may have. It solves the problem of those who lived in China in 2000 BC, in Egypt in 1800 BC, in Babylon of 700 BC, and in India of 500 BC. It also addresses the matter of the lostness of people in Russia of 500 BC, in China in 700 BC, in Rome of 200 AD, in the jungles of Brazil and Chile of 1000 BC. And it also speaks to the professing “Christians” of 600 AD, and 1600 AD, and 1800 BC.

Some people are under the impression that most people who have lived will be accepted by God but, according to God’s revelation, the Bible, most people who have lived since creation were lost or are lost now. We know that some people don’t want to hear this but it is the truth. We are not to yield to the “wishes” of people—even though they may be friends and acquaintances—but we are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15; see also 2 Timothy 4:3-5).

Where does this leave us? Let’s realize that we (you and me) might be in this condition of lostness ourselves. But we need not be! God calls us to repent and to come to Him through Christ, to receive His forgiveness and to be reconciled to Him. If we were to live 90 years on earth and then continue to exist (or live) another 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 years, would you not think that it is altogether prudent to consider the 90 years and weigh them against the trillions, quadrillions, quintillions of years to come? (Even this is ridiculous since we know that eternity has no limit!)

Probably none of us can understand this. Yet we know that almost everyone considers the very brief time on earth and puts all of our time, effort, and focus on the earth and our very, very tiny amount of time here. Why is this? We really don’t know.  For example, the so-called Jehovah’s Witnesses are totally wrong yet millions of them place all of their happiness in a human organization that is wrong and will take them (eventually) to hell (Revelation 20; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

Think of the Adventists with their millions of members. Yet they too are wrong. Instead of laboriously seeking answers during their life on earth, they give little thought to eternity. In reality, they will be lost unless they repent. Think of the Mormons with their vast amount of false teaching. They go door-to-door seeking converts. But they are wrong. The Muslims may number 1.8 billions people now, but they are totally wrong. Why don’t they earnestly seek answers and reject their false doctrines? Why, why, why?

We could go on and on, but the point we wish to emphasize here is that life is utterly brief. Before long, you and I will be 6 feet underground. That is the end. But the moment we breathe our last is the moment that we will begin unending anguish (as we have read in Luke 16). Let’s do something now, without delay and without excuses.

As Paul said, “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2) and we must settle this matter of our eternal destiny now! Join me in doing this very thing and don’t put it off to a better day! Now is the Day of Salvation! Regardless of what the Mormons, the Muslims, the Hindus, the Catholics, the Adventists, or others day, prepare for that Great Day now—without delay!