Chapter Three

There Is No Way To The Father Except Through The Son!

I hope you understand that Jehovah or Yahweh God of the Old Testament was the only God that the children of Israel ever knew; although, they knew there was more than one God because of the Hebrew word Elohiym, which is plural, meaning more than one God, and in Genesis 1:26 ‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.’  And that Jesus was born a flesh and blood Human Being, fathered by the Holy Spirit of God (Theoi). He was that Rock that the Holy Spirit came down on and remained on.

Let’s look deeper into Jesus, Jehovah and the Father and their Holy Spirits. Oh yes, Jesus, Jehovah and the Father each have their own Spirit, or Breath.  The Greek word which is translated as Spirit or Ghost is pneuma (Strongs concordance, ref. #4151). 

Definition 1:  Breath, of the mouth or nostrils, a breathing, blast. 

2:  The vital spirit or life, the principle of life residing in man, the breath breathed by God into man and again returning to God. 

You see, the Spirit of God, either Jesus, Jehovah or the Father’s, is the power of God, and is described as breath or a blast as an example to us of the awesome power of God.  Human beings cannot understand what they cannot see, so God gives us an example, comparing His power to wind.  Have you ever seen a tornado or a hurricane?  The power of God can either create or destroy as God deems necessary.  The word pneuma is reflected in the word pneumatic, like a pneumatic wrench or pneumatic tire.  Jehovah blew the breath of life into Adam.  This was only a physical breath, in that it gave Adam physical life.  But notice later in John 20:21-22 when Jesus had been glorified and came back: Then said Jesus to them again, “Peace be unto you:  as My Father has sent Me, even so send I you.”  And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive you the Holy Spirit.”  At this time, Christ gave them the Holy Spirit which springs forth into eternal life.

Up until Christ was born in the flesh, lived a sin-free life, was sacrificed as our Lamb of God, was in the tomb three days and three nights, was raised from the dead, and ascended to the Father and breathed on the disciples, this Holy Spirit had not dwelled in men.

Let’s turn in our Bibles to Genesis 6:3 where it says:  and Jehovah said “My Spirit shall not always strive (live) with man, for that he is also flesh:  yet his days shall be 120 years (then he dies).  In the Hebrew Interlinear Bible it is rendered: And Jehovah said, “My Spirit shall not always strive (live) with man in their erring, he is flesh and his days shall be 120 years.”  Jehovah is plainly saying that His Spirit, not the Father’s Spirit, is dwelling with man, and that His Spirit will not always dwell with man because of man’s erring or sinning, and that man is flesh and blood, not spirit.  He also limited man’s life span to 120 years.

Now remember, Christ has His Spirit or Breath, and the Father and Jehovah have their Spirit or Breath.  I can see why you wouldn’t agree with me yet, so let’s see what the Apostle Paul has to say about this.

Let’s turn in our Bible to Romans 8:9-11.  We are using the literal translation form the Hebrew/Greek Interlinear Bible.

9                           But you are not in flesh, but in Spirit, since the Spirit of God (Theoi, both Jehovah and the Father) dwells in you.  But if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, this one is not His  (Christ’s).  The word for God here is Theoi meaning both or Jehovah and the Father.  This verse indicates that they have spiritual life in them because Theoi dwells in them, and if they don’t have the Spirit of Christ they do not belong to Him.

10                         But if Christ is in you, the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness (Psalms 119:153-176 explains righteousness).  (This is where Paul starts to make a difference between the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of Theoi.  Notice here Paul speaks of Christ in you and the body is dead because of sin.  The order here is accepting Christ as your personal savior and making yourself completely subject to Christ.  How do we make ourselves subject to Christ?  Deciding that the world is wrong and God is right, purpose to putting the old man to death daily.  Once you accept Christ, then His Spirit will come and dwell in you, and you will then start to put your old self to death.  You see, putting our old self to death isn’t instant, accepting Christ is.  Once you accept Christ, the sacrifice of His death covers your past sins, and then His Spirit helps us to put sin out of our lives.)

11                    But if the Spirit of the One having raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One having raised the Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies live through the indwelling of His Spirit in you.  (Let’s look at this.  Who raised the Christ from the dead? Jehovah did.  He is the One that raised Him from the dead.  And when will He dwell in you?  When you have put the old man to death, when you have decided that the world is wrong and God is right—allowing Christ to be King, Lord, and Savior of your life—when you are ready to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  When you lay up the law of God in your heart and mind, then you have a circumcised heart.  Then Jehovah and the Father will come into your heart.  Then their Spirits dwell in you in unity.  When we accept Jesus the Christ, we have Spiritual Life.  It is at this time we are born of the Spirit, born from above or born again.  But, we are just an infant and aren’t yet ready to walk on our own, or talk, or anything.  But, if we want to grow, we must feed on the Word just as a baby feeds on its mother’s breast milk.  If we don’t feed, we die.  Milk isn’t forced on a baby, it’s made available.  If we don’t hunger for the word, we will die.  First we can only stand milk; but, as we grow, we need to move on to solid food.  If we stay on milk and refuse solid food, we will not grow, and sooner or later the milk will be taken away.  We must move on to the fruits and bread, and finally to meat.  You see, these things form us into adults.  Have you ever heard “You are what you eat”?  This spiritual food helps to mature us.  You see, a baby is ruled by his hunger just as we must lay the Word of God up in our heart until it becomes our character—until our character becomes like Jesus.  Then Theoi’s Spirit comes in, and we are made whole or complete, not perfect.  The Greek word that is most often translated to perfect is telios (Strongs ref. # 5046) meaning completeness, of full age.  Do you see the point?  Until we have come of full age, Theoi will not come in, and we will not be complete.)

This doesn’t mean once saved always saved.  You can still blaspheme or reject the Spirit of Christ and Theoi. Hebrews 10:26-31:  For if we are willfully sinning after receiving the full knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice concerning sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and zealous fire being about to consume the adversaries.  If anyone does not regard the Law of Moses, that one dies without pities on the word of two or  three witnesses.  How much worse punishment do you think he will be thought worthy to receive having trampled on the Son of God, and having counted the blood of the covenant in which he was sanctified common, and having insulted the Spirit of grace?  For we know Him who has said, “Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord.”  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.

This starts out saying if we sin willfully (this doesn’t mean out of weakness or lack of understanding), there remains no more sacrifice concerning sins.  The next question you need to ask yourself is ‘what is sin?’  The definition for sin is found in 1 John 3:4—‘Everyone practicing sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.’  So sin is the disregarding of God’s law, which the larger body of Christ has allowed to creep into doctrine by teaching that it doesn’t matter what we do, or that the law of God was nailed to the cross.  This is very deceptive, because while it is true that our salvation or eternal life is a gift from God, it is not an unconditional gift.  You see, the way we blaspheme or reject the Holy Spirits is to reject God’s law, which is the character of God.  We must be putting on Christ Jesus as Paul says, or becoming like Christ.  How do you learn best?  By reading or by doing?  You see, we first have to lay God’s law up in our minds and our hearts, and the way we do that is by doing the law until it becomes our character.  You see, it’s your choice to obey God---this is what the Father is looking for---it is not the doing of the law, but the obeying of the Word.  How many times have you heard someone say ‘just surrender to Jesus’?  But how do we do that? In order to surrender to Jesus, we must surrender to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

But, I’m sure there are a lot of you that are still skeptical about Christ and the Father each having their own Spirit or Breath, so let’s go to John Chapter 14 for the words of Christ.

1          “Do not let your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me”.  (This word God, here in verse one is Theoi, which means Jehovah and the Father.  Now again, let us read this in a way we can understand.  ‘Don’t let your heart be troubled; you believe in the Theoi, believe also in Me.’)

2          “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places.  But if it were not so, I would have told you.  I Am going to prepare a place for you!”  Strongs ref# 3614 for house:  (This word house came to figuratively mean family, household, refers to the whole family.  Now, let’s read this in a way that is understandable to us today.)  “In My Father’s family are many dwelling places.  But if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going to prepare a place for you.”  (This doesn’t mean that He’s going to heaven to prepare a place for you in heaven.  What it does mean is He is going to His Father to make it possible for us to be a part of the Father’s family.  He (Christ) made a place for Himself in us and the Theoi in Christ so they could dwell in us and we could be those dwelling places.)

3          “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again, and will receive you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.” (This is not referring to the Apocalypse or the Apoctoliptic end of this age.  But rather, after His death, burial, resurrection, and glorification wherein John 20:19-22 Christ had returned from the Father and spoke to the disciples saying “Peace to you.”  And saying this, He showed them His hands and side.  Then seeing the Lord, the disciples rejoiced.  Then Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you.  As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”  And saying this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  You see, one of the most important reasons Christ came was to prepare a way to the Father.)

4          “And where I go you know, and the way you know.”  (The reason they should have known where He was going is because He had told them over and over again that He must go to the Father.)

5          Thomas said to Him “Lord, we do not know where You go, and how can we know the way?”

6          Jesus said to him, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  (What He said was: Because He overcame sin, was offered as our sacrifice, rose from the dead and ascended to the Father, He paved the way for us to be adopted by the Father through His sacrifice.)

7          “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you do know Him, and have seen Him.”  (Remember in the first Chapter, we saw in Genesis 1:26, Let Us make man in Our image according to Our likeness.  You see, their image and character is the same.  Also notice, Christ says ‘from now on you do know Him and have seen Him.’)

8          And Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us:”

9          Jesus said to him, “Am I so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip?  The one seeing Me has seen the Father!  And how do you say, show us the Father?”  (As I said before, Jesus and the Father’s image and character are the same.)

10        “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?  The words which I speak to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me, He does the works.”  (Do you know how the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father?  Matt. 3:13-17—Then Jesus arrived from Galilee to the Jordan, to John, to be baptized by him.  But John restrained Him, saying, I have need to be baptized by You and do You come to me?  But answering, Jesus said to him, “Allow it now, for it is becoming to us this way to fulfill all righteousness.”  Then he allowed him.  And having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water and behold the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God (Theoi) descending as a dove, and coming upon Him.  And behold!  A voice out of Heaven saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found delight.”  Now, before this, Jesus had been taught by Mary and Joseph that He was the Messiah, but prior to this, (Jehovah Jesus’s Father)  had never communicated with Christ.  Also, John tries to refuse to baptize Jesus, and Jesus tells him it is for us to fulfill all righteousness.  Now how can we fulfill all righteousness?  Not just by reading, but by doing.  The first two things recorded that Jesus says in Matthew are “Allow it now, for it is becoming to us this way to fulfill all righteousness” (which we just covered) and in Matthew 4:4 “It has been written; Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word going out of the mouth of Theoi.”  (Now, Jesus is the Bread of life.  And this Word ‘God’ here is Theoi, meaning both. So in order for us to fulfill all righteousness, we must live by every word coming out from God.  Also, as Jesus is baptized, He comes up immediately out of the water and the heavens were open to Him, not to John the Baptist.  And the Spirit of Theoi (Jehovah and the Father) comes to Him. This is how Jesus becomes God incarnate, or Emmanuel which means ‘God with us.’)

11        “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me; but if not, believe Me because of the works themselves.”  (Did you know that we can profess with our mouths that we are Christians, but unless it shows up in our works, people just can’t believe you are a Christian.  Even Jesus Himself said “You will know them by their fruit,”—which is our good works.  Our good works are doing the word of God.  This is how we become a light to the world.)

12        “Indeed, I tell you truly, He that believes in Me, the works which I do that one shall also do, and greater than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”  (At this time Jesus was the only flesh and blood man to ever have the Spirit of God in Him, not just with Him.  Because He lived a sin-free life, was offered as our sacrifice, was in the tomb three days and three nights, overcame death, and ascended to the Father, He made it possible for His Spirit and Theoi’s Spirit to live in men, thereby multiplying His efforts.)

13        “And whatever you may ask in My name, this will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”  (You see, Jesus made it possible for us to be adopted by the Father, and for Him to be our God, and for us to be His people so we could go directly to the Father in prayer.)

14        “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

15        “If you love me, keep My commandments.” ( In order for us to be children of the Father, we first must surrender to His word (Jehovah) and Jesus Christ.  We must surrender to every word coming from God through Jesus.)

16        “And I will petition the Father, and He will give you another comforter, that He may remain with you forever.”  (Notice Jesus says He will ask the Father and the Father will give us another comforter, implying more than one.)

17        “The Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him.  But you know Him, for He abides with you and shall be in you.”   (This is the first Comforter or Spirit.  This Spirit of Truth is found in John 14:6 Jesus said “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.”)

18        “I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you.”  This Spirit of Truth is not another God; this is the Spirit/Breath or Power of Jesus Christ.

19        “Yet a little while and the world no longer sees Me, but you see Me.  Because I live, you also shall live.”  (What He said here was that He would overcome death, and because He overcame death we shall overcome death.) 

20        “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.”

21        “He that has My commandments and keeps them, it is that one who loves Me; and the one that loves Me shall be loved by my Father, and I shall love Him and will reveal Myself to him.”  (In order to keep God’s commandments you must first have them laid up in your mind and heart. So by the reading of the Word and living by the Word, Jesus reveals Himself to us.)

22        Judas, not the Iscariot, said to Him, “Lord what has happened that You are about to reveal Yourself to us and not at all to the world?”

23        Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word, and My Father will love him.  And We will come to him and will make a dwelling place with him.”  (What Jesus said here was, if we love Him, we will obey Him, and then the Father (The Theos and The Theon) will love us, and They will come and dwell in us.  There is an order: first we profess Christ and His Spirit dwells in us, and then, when we learn to obey the Word because we love Him, the Father’s Spirit comes in.)

24  “The one who does not love Me does not keep My Words and the Word which you hear is not Mine, but of the Father who sent Me.”  (The evidence of our love is our obedience.  Just like when we were children, we obeyed our parents with the simple faith of a child, without question.  Trusting them simply because they love us, knowing they would never hurt or mislead us in anyway.  This is the same love and trust we must have in order to become like Christ.  And make no mistake, we must become like Christ.)

25        “I have spoken these things to you, abiding with you;

26        but the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, (Jehovah) the Father will send in My name that one will teach you all things, and shall remind you of all things that I said to you.”  (What is said here is: once you surrender to Christ (the Spirit of Truth), Christ comes and dwells in you, He, will petition the Father (Theon) and the Jehovah’s Spirit (or the Theos) will come and dwell in you and teach you all things and remind you of all things that Jesus has taught you.)

27        “I leave peace to you; My peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled, let it not be timid.”  (Notice how similar the wording here in John 20:21-22 is to this verse—Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you.  As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”  And saying this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  And with this Jesus gives the disciples His Spirit.)

28        “You heard that I said to you, I Am going away and I am coming again to you.  If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I said, I Am going to the Father; for My Father is greater than I.”  (Jesus is telling the disciples that He is going to die for our sins, and when He goes away He will come again (or overcome death), and they should rejoice because when He comes back, He is going to make it possible for Himself and the Father to dwell in them.)

29        And now I have told you before it occurs, that when it shall occur you may believe.  (This is prior to His death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father.  So, Jesus is prophesying of when He returns in John 20:21 & 22, where He breathed on the disciples and gave them His pneuma or Spirit.)

30        I shall no longer speak many things with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.

31        But that the world may know that I love the Father, even as the Father commanded Me, so I do.  Rise up, let us go from here.

In order for Jesus to qualify as the Lamb of God, He had to do everything that His Father had commanded Him, and at this point He had done everything but die for the sins of the world.  That is why He said, ‘I shall no longer speak many things with you,’ because Satan, through Judas Iscariot, was coming for Him.

I pray now that when someone says there is no way to the Father except through the Son, you will have a much clearer understanding of what it means.  That you would realize that you must first surrender to Christ, and then receive His Spirit and start laying up the Word of God in your mind and then in your heart, and you realize that the world is wrong and God is right, and you start living by every word that came out of the mouth of God.  That doesn’t mean that you won’t make mistakes, or be overtaken by the weakness of the flesh.  It means that our utmost desire is to be ruled by the Word of God. Then the Father(THEOI) will come in and dwell and teach us all things, whatsoever the Word has commanded us.

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