Why is Jesus the only Way to Heaven?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
Few evangelical big-name leaders, when they are on national TV, are ready and willing to say what they believe: Jesus is the only way to heaven, the only Savior.  On the contrary, religious spokesmen in pulpits, in writings, and on TV talk shows either outright deny Jesus as the only Savior, or uneasily evade the issue with doubletalk. Here is truth: Jesus is the only way to heaven – the only Savior.  No one will get to God's eternal home or have everlasting life except by and through Jesus Christ.  Without going into the doctrinal support for sake of brevity, following are some salient reasons why.
 
Jesus is the only one who was in heaven and came to earth from heaven.  John 3:13  "No one has gone up into heaven except the one out of heaven, the one having come down, the Son of Man (Jesus), the one who is in heaven."  All humans originated on earth as dependent creatures.  Jesus preexisted earth and came to earth from heaven.  After his resurrection, he re-ascended bodily to heaven.  Only he can take us there.
 
Jesus is the only Creator.  The Bible is clear that Jesus is the one who created all that is.  The Bible says creation was made by Him and for Him.  It says in the positive sense: all things were made by Him.  It says in the negative sense, if Jesus didn't make it, it wasn't made at all. The Creator Jesus is "the author and finisher of our faith."
 
Jesus is the only eternally existent God/man. Jesus said:  "Before Abraham was, I Am."  "I Am the beginning and the ending, who is, and was, and is to come."  "I Am life."  Jesus can give us eternal life because he is the source of life.  He has being within himself.  Jesus is the only God/man who has eternal life inherent within himself so that he can give that life to another.  The Bible says: "In him is life."  Jesus said of his followers, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish."
 
Jesus is the only God/man, born of a virgin.  Jesus is God in the flesh.  1 Tim 3:16 "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was visible in flesh…"  Of the birth of Jesus as the child of a woman who had never had sexual contact with any man, the Bible says he is "Immanuel: God with us."  Jesus said, "When you see me, you have seen my Father." Thomas worshipped Jesus, and said: "My Lord and My God." Jesus is God the Son, God the Savior.  Only the man Jesus was (is) God in flesh.
 
Jesus is the only person who had no sin.  Jesus both had no sin nature, and he never sinned.  There was no evil in him of any kind.  His was sinless perfection.  He completely and perfectly fulfilled the Law of God.  No one else has ever or could ever do that.  Only Jesus was the perfect "Lamb of God" who could be the sacrifice for the sins of others.
 
Jesus was the only infinite being with a human body.  Only an infinite being could pay the eternal-death-penalty for all the sins placed upon him while on the cross.  Only Jesus could, in a moment of time, pay the eternal penalty for all the sins for which he died.  A regular man can never pay the full penalty for his own sin even throughout an eternity experiencing the second death – the penalty for one person's sin.  Jesus, as the eternal Son of God, could and did pay that eternal sentence on the cross; and completed, fulfilled that judgment by the time he said, "It is finished."
 
Only one man is alive from the dead by his own power never to die again.  Jesus said, "I have power to lay down my life, and to take it again."  And he did.  He proved that He is "the resurrection and the life… [that] one who believes in Him will never really die." 
 
Only Jesus "became sin for us;" "bore our sins in his own body on the cross." Only Jesus could die in our place so that "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live … but it is Christ who lives in me."  Only Jesus can do, and did, and does that.
 
Only Jesus can give to others his righteousness.  All others "fall short of the glory of God."  But Jesus gives to believers his righteousness and glory.  2 Cor 5: 21; 1 John 3:2
 
The Bible says Jesus is truth personified, and Jesus made the same claim.  "I am … the truth."  Yet, Jesus (Truth) said he is the only way.  "I am the way … no one comes to the Father except by me."  God was under no obligation to provide any way to eternal life; but he graciously provided this ONE all-sufficient way.
 
Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, is the only one who knows who his sheep are, and who are not his sheep.  He alone gives to his sheep eternal life so they will never perish.  Only Jesus is coming back again to earth to take his own people to heaven.
 
Jesus is the only eternal judge.  The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus will be the judge of every person who has ever lived.  His decree gives eternal life or eternal death.  He is the only one who can call out the dead.  He proved this while he was on earth with Lazarus and others.  One day, all the dead will hear his voice and stand before him: believers for eternal life and rewards; unbelievers for eternal death.
 
Jesus has the keys to heaven and hell.  It is Jesus who says: "Depart from me, I never knew you."  "You will not come to me that you may have eternal life."  "If you do not believe that I am [Savior], you will die in your sins." To his believers it is Jesus who says, "Enter into the joy of your Lord."
 
Only Jesus was sent by the Father to be the savior.  Not a savior – THE Savior.  The Bible unequivocally says there is only one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ.  And, there is no other name by which one can be saved. Only Jesus. The Bible says that even if a so-called angel of righteousness or an angel from heaven were to preach any other message, any other gospel beside the gospel of Jesus, then that angel would be eternally condemned.
 
Therefore, NO ONE can get into God's heaven, ever see God, ever have eternal life except by Jesus Christ.  All who are in heaven enjoying eternal life in God's presence will be there only because of Jesus.  There is no other way, no other door, no other source, no other mediator, no other means.  It is Jesus and his life; or it is eternal death. 
 
God in Jesus Christ, God the Son, created us; then he became one of us (though without a sin nature) and lived a perfect and sinless life; then he died in our place as our substitute paying the eternal penalty for our sin; then he by his own power came alive from death after he made full payment and secured a full pardon for our sin; and now he is alive in glory forever, and offers to us his eternal life with him.  His way is the full and sufficient way.  There is no other savior – and there need be no other.  Thank God for his love, mercy and grace in providing this one perfect way that is sufficient for all who believe.  Those who reject it have no excuse.  Those who receive it will have eternal gratitude.