Our Ultimate Destination

In the Old Testament, God’s presence on earth is revealed through events that often appeared as natural phenomena. His glory represents the manifestation of His being in visible forms that people could witness. Some of these tangible expressions of God’s glory included the cloud, the pillar of fire, and smoke. Bible scholars often describe these manifestations with the term “Shekinah Glory,” coined to distinguish them from ordinary occurrences.

In the New Testament, the unseen God revealed Himself by sending His Son, Jesus, through whom mankind can encounter Him and behold Him face to face in His Kingdom after this earthly life. While the signs in the Old Testament pointed to God’s presence, the New Testament brings us directly into His presence through Jesus Christ.

I Am

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” – Exodus 3:14 (NIV)

God does not have a proper name in the way humans do; rather, He is known by the common name God. A proper name is given to persons or places in order to distinguish them from others who share the same common identity. For example, man is a common term, while Eric is a proper name that distinguishes one particular man from all others. Likewise, mountain is a general term, while Mount Everest specifies one mountain among many. Logically, if there were only one man or one mountain in existence, there would be no need for a proper name.

In the same way, because there is only one true God, He is known simply as God. He has no need for a proper name. Yet, since people have created countless gods and goddesses with their own hands and imaginations, they now struggle to address the one true God by that common name. They have applied the title god to many hand made idols, making it difficult to recognize the only One who rightfully bears it.

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers —the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob —has sent me to you.’
“This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.- Exodus 3:15 (NIV)

When Moses was sent to deliver Israel from slavery, God allowed him to introduce Him as the Father of His children, distinguishing Him from the man-made gods and goddesses of the nations. Today, it is our turn to make Him known to the world—not as one among many, but as our Father in heaven, and we His sons and daughters.

Numerous Gods and Goddesses

As time passed, people began to fashion gods and goddesses with their own hands and sought guidance from them for their earthly lives. The blessings they enjoyed—given by the one true God—were wrongly credited to these man-made idols, and they never turned to the real God. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, reminds us that all creation reveals God and His Sovereign nature. Yet, instead of recognizing the Sovereign God, people created images of birds, animals, and reptiles and worshiped them as gods (Romans 1:22). 

Beyond this, they even proclaimed that these idols could lead them to Mukti, failing to realize that the true God had planned their salvation before the creation of heaven and earth and fulfilled it by offering His Son as atonement for the sins of mankind. When life is viewed through God’s truth, there remains no doubt about who the real God is. Sadly, mankind chose instead to depend on false gods and goddesses, believing they could grant salvation.

The problem is that unless a person chooses the right destination, they cannot choose the right road to reach it. Since people failed to recognize the true God as their destination, they assumed that every path would somehow lead them to the right place. In reality, they ended up at destinations far from where they truly longed to be. Sadly, some even accepted those false destinations as their own and stopped seeking the path that leads to the living God.

The Way, The Truth And The Life

Since people clung to false gods and mistook them as the source of their destiny, God sent His Son to rescue them from eternal death by forgiving their sins and guiding them in the right path to the true God. Through Him, they could exchange the salvation He offered for eternal life. God Himself does not seek a name, for He is the only true God, yet He chose to give His Son the name Jesus, meaning “He will save His people from perishing.” Jesus affirmed this truth in His own words:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6 (NIV)

Unlike lifeless idols, God prepared a body for His Son so that He might live among people in a fallen world and redeem them through the sacrifice of His own life. Until then, God had permitted His people to offer sacrifices of birds and animals as atonement for their sins. These offerings, however, had to be repeated continually. Sadly, many misunderstood this as a license to continue sinning, relying on sacrifices as a cycle of sin and forgiveness, which ultimately diminished their true meaning and power to cleanse.

At that decisive moment, God sent His Son, Jesus, who came into the world fully aware of His mission in redeeming fallen mankind. The author of Hebrews captures this truth clearly in the following words:

Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll —
I have come to do your will, my God.’”
First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” … Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.- Hebrews 10:6-10 (NIV)

Our Relationship With Jesus

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. – Philippians 2:5-7 (NIV)

If we are to build relationships with one another in the humility of Christ, we must first establish a living relationship with Jesus Himself, our elder brother. In the beginning, Jesus existed with God as the Word. John testified that he dwelt with this very Word when it became flesh (John 1:3, 14). Through this encounter, John embraced Jesus as his elder brother. For this reason, Jesus entrusted John with the responsibility of caring for His earthly mother, treating him as His younger brother.

Through His sacrifice, Jesus reconciled all mankind to the Father, and as our brother, He gave us His Spirit so that we might also call His Father our Father. Sharing in our human nature and our sin, He too experienced brokenness in His relationship with the Father. At the cross, bearing the weight of our sins, He cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). The One who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might address God as our Father. In that moment, Jesus prayed to God not as His Father but as His God, standing in our place. His cry was heard (Hebrews 5:7), and once again He received the privilege of calling God His Father. Out of this restored relationship, He now shares that same privilege with us—that by becoming His brothers and sisters, we too may become children of God and call Him our Father.

Yet, if after being reconciled to God through Jesus we stop short and cling only to Jesus without claiming the right to be God’s children, then knowingly or unknowingly we remain in the same position as those who stopped with false gods and goddesses. To be different, we must boldly confess our sins (1 John 1:9), so that we not only become God’s children but also heirs of the Creator of the universe.

Now seated at the right hand of the Father, Jesus continues to intercede on our behalf, pleading for those who have not yet come to God as His children—even though He shed His blood to cleanse their sins. Many mistakenly see Jesus as the final destination, though He clearly said He is the way to the Father.

Paul wrote to the Philippians that God exalted Jesus and gave Him the name above every name, so that at His name every knee should bow—in heaven, on earth, and under the earth—and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Indeed, God sent forth His Word to save us from eternal death and grant us eternal life. Jesus, the Word, accomplished the mission entrusted to Him in the fallen world and returned to His Father (Isaiah 55:11), seated at His right hand. From the beginning, the Word was with God; the Word became flesh; and after completing the Father’s will, the Word was revealed once more in glory.

He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. – Revelation 19:13 (NIV)

Furthermore, it is written that those who behold Him and believe that the Lamb of God was slain for their sins will have the name of God inscribed on their foreheads, signifying that they are His children and heirs of God Himself.

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. – Revelation 22:4 (NIV)

Therefore, let us not stop with Jesus, the name God has given us as the way into His Kingdom, where we are made His children and heirs. We must understand that God Himself does not need a name, for it is not necessary for Him. Yet He gave the name Jesus to reveal the way, so that through Him we may reach the Father.

For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. – Hebrews 9:24 (NIV)

God’s plan of redemption and the gift of eternal life is confirmed as ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’ through the obedience of His Son, Jesus, who gave His life for our sins (2 Corinthians 1:20). Our ultimate destination is God Himself, where salvation is exchanged for eternal life—not merely in the blessings He provides. Therefore, let us not remain satisfied with His provisions, but grow daily in His love so that we may draw nearer to the Provider.