During the Last Supper, after Jesus tells the disciples that they will abandon him, Thomas was curious enough to ask a good question—one that Jesus answered with the whole gospel captured in a single verse.

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." 

John 14:6 (NKJV)

Once again, Jesus' unique claim reveals His identity and the purpose of His mission. When Jesus referred to Himself as "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," He was referring to the three veils that were hanging in the Temple to separate the Outer and Inner Courts, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. In other words, Jesus is emphasising to His disciples and us that He is the New Temple of God and that if we follow Him, we will have access through grace into the holiest place where the presence of God dwells and find life—abundant life.

Jesus has to go to the cross for us to be reconciled to God.

There is no better way or an alternative way for anyone to come to the Father but through Christ alone. Everything about our salvation is a gift from God, even the faith to believe in Jesus is something that God provides (Ephesians 2:8-10). It took time for the disciples to grasp the significance of Jesus’ word and for their eyes to be enlightened to perceive Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.

Consider what the Apostle Peter said when he stood before the Sanhedrin:

Jesus is the only one who can save people. His name is the only power in the world that has been given to save anyone. We must be saved through him!

Acts 4:12 (ERV)

Sometimes we overcomplicate salvation when all we need to do is believe with childlike faith. God has redeemed everyone from the consequences of their sins in the finished work of Christ on the cross, but they cannot experience the joy and blessings of salvation if they are unaware that their salvation is in Christ alone.

Our inability to comprehend Jesus’ exclusive claims makes the gospel sound arrogant and biased. But when we learn Christ and know Him as He is through the gospel, our lives will be touched and transformed by the simplicity of God’s plan to save all of us.