Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven?

Why can’t people, especially “good” people go to Heaven without accepting Jesus? The best answer to this question is found in the bible.  We need to first debunk the myth that there is such a thing as a “good” person.  Jesus said, “No one is good but One, that is, God (Matthew 19:17).”

The second question that arises is whether or not one can enter into heaven without accepting Jesus.  Jesus, Himself, proclaimed in John 14 that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no one can come to the Father but by Him. Why is He the only Way? What about Confucius? What about Buddha? What about Muhammad? What about myself? Can’t I be my own way?

     God cannot allow sin to be in His presence. Therefore, in order for us to be able to enter into Heaven, the presence and the penalty of sin must be dealt with. The presence of sin in our lives is dealt with by the Holy Spirit when He enters into us and begins the work of transformation. He convicts us of sin and deters us from sinning. The penalty for sinning is handled by Jesus.

If unrepentant people were allowed into Heaven, it would cease to be Heaven; it would be a revamp of earth—polluted both with sinful people and by people. Jeremiah said that the heart is desperately wicked…who can know it? In other words, the heart knows no bounds when it comes to dreaming up evil things. Unrepentant people would bring these evil machinations into heaven—stealing, robbing, being disrespectful, and being disobedient to God. There would be none of the peace and tranquility and righteousness that God promised. There would be no respecting and worshiping of the Father that He expects. (After all, if people don’t want to go to church now, image how they’d feel in heaven.)

To be comfortable in heaven, one needs to be transformed. They need have a heart change—a change of nature. With a transformed nature, we would not do the things that God finds offensive.  Now, I pose the question: Is Jesus the only Way to heaven and if so, why?

God told man that the soul that sinned would surely die. He allowed men to substitute animals and to temporarily offer up their blood as a sacrifice for sin. But the blood of animals really didn’t do anything. It was merely a picture of the sacrifice that was to be offered—God’s Son, Jesus.

            Jesus came to earth by the process of natural birth through the Virgin Mary. He lived a life without sin. He was crucified on a Roman cross for crimes he did not commit to atone for sins He did not commit. He became our sin bearer and our substitute. He died the death we could not die. He paid the price we could not pay. As the old saying goes, “We owed a debt [to God] we could not pay and He [Jesus] paid a debt He did not owe.” Paul said it like this: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

            Jesus said that He was the only way because He provided the only sacrifice that was acceptable to God. God made His Son to be our sin bearer so that we, in turn, may bear His righteousness. God proved that He accepted the death of Christ by tearing the veil of the temple from the top to the bottom and by raising Jesus from the dead three days later.

            Why is Jesus the only Way? He is the only way because God said He was the only Way. If God is the offended or aggrieved party, He is the only One who can say what it takes to atone for the offense. The problem with people nowadays is that they tell God what He has to accept in order to affect reconciliation. This is, in effect, what we are saying when we say to Him that Jesus is not the only way, just one way; but there are other ways—good works, baptism, sacraments, self-sacrifice, etc.

            So the answers to the questions are simple. Is Jesus the only Way? Yes. Why? It is because God said so.