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This Week’s Devotional Topic
THE WAY
Early Jewish Christians, referred to themselves as “The Way”. It might have originated as a reference to the phrase from Isaiah 40:3 “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
As I looked up these words in scripture, it is interesting how that it is not only a description or name of a group of New Testament believers but the combination of those two words can also refer to people going a specific direction and/or acting in a specific manner. As we listen to some passages that I’ve collected, there are clear parallels between them. Let’s invest a few moments to consider comparisons of “the Way”.
Let’s start with some Old Testament occasions where you see these words connected.
Genesis 18:19 I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just.
Exodus 18:20 And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.
Now consider a few passages in the New Testament where we read references to “the way”.
Matthew 3:3 The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”
Matthew 7:14 “…strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it”.
Mark 12:14 And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth:
Jesus Christ speaking to His disciples:
John 14:3-6 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
Acts 9:1,2 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Acts 19:8,9 “And he (Paul) entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him…”
Acts 19:22-24 He sent his two assistants, Timothy and Erastus, ahead to Macedonia while he stayed awhile longer in the province of Asia. About that time, serious trouble developed in Ephesus concerning the Way. It began with Demetrius, a silversmith who had a large business manufacturing silver shrines of the Greek goddess Artemis.
Then later when Paul spoke to the people, describing his dramatic conversion to Christ, how before that He had actually persecuted the group known as the Way.
Acts 22:3,4 Then Paul said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today. And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison.
And his conversation with them continues in chapter 24:
Acts 24:14,15 “…I admit that I follow the Way, which they call a cult. I worship the God of our ancestors, and I firmly believe the Jewish law and everything written in the prophets. I have the same hope in God that these men have, that he will raise both the righteous and the unrighteous.”
I see a lot of similarities between those in the early church identified as “the Way” and the passages in the Bible that describe “the way” that we should live as Christians, Christ followers. Consider the words of Paul to Timothy, his son in the faith.
I Timothy 4:12 Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.
This week’s Scripture:
Genesis 18:19; Exodus 18:20; Matthew 3:3; 7:14; Mark 12:14; John 14:3-6; Acts 9:1,2; 19:8,9; 22-24; 22:3,4;24:14,15 and I Timothy 4:12
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