The exclusivity of Jesus Christ is a powerful reminder of His unmatched authority over death, sin, and eternal condemnation. No other religious figure has made such an incredible claim; only Jesus holds the power to bring salvation to guilty sinners. As we survey his life, preaching, and ultimately his resurrection from the dead—we are led to trust this bold claim of Jesus. We must recognize Him for who He is—the one true source of hope for all humanity.
If you ride through the streets of any major city in America, you’re likely to see bumper stickers that signal a message of tolerance and religious inclusivity. In most cases the tolerance and inclusiveness is demanded for other religious views while not truly maintained for Christianity. Our perverse culture insists that Christians should tolerate and accept other world religions at the expense of their own foundational doctrines.
Any serious study of Jesus’ teachings makes it crystal clear that he was not interested in religious ecumenism. Jesus taught his followers that he is the singular means of reconciliation to God and that apart from him everyone would perish. In Luke 13, Jesus directs the Jews to two disasters that had occurred in recent days. In one scene, some Galileans were in Jerusalem for the purpose of worship, and as they were carrying out their sacrifices Pilate gave the order for these people to be brutally murdered. As a result, their own blood was mingled into their sacrifices. In another scene, a tower in Siloam had suddenly fallen without warning, resulting in the death of a number of people. In Jewish thought, sudden tragic death was commonly linked to sinful living.
Jesus pointed to those two tragedies and made a sobering statement. He said, “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5). Jesus was pointing out that these people who perished in these tragic circumstances were not somehow more deserving of death than the rest of the people in that region. Since the common thought was to associate such tragedies with judgement, Jesus emphasized his point that apart from genuine repentance all unbelievers will perish. They may pride themselves in law keeping or moral living, but upon death they will suddenly find themselves under the wrath of God.
The statement by Jesus was all encompassing and it included everyone in those cities during Jesus’ day as well as everyone who walks the sidewalk of New York or drives down I-5 in Los Angeles. Jesus completely denied the idea that there are multiple paths to God. In an interview with Oprah in 2012, Joel Osteen stated that Jesus was the way to God, but he went on to suggest that there are many paths to Jesus.
OPRAH: Okay, so here’s the big question. Are there many paths to get to the one God?
JOEL OSTEEN: Well, I believe Oprah that there, I believe that Jesus is the way to the one God. But, I believe there are many paths to Jesus. You know, you don’t know how Jesus would reveal himself to somebody. So, I’m not into excluding people. Jesus can reveal himself to anybody.
Compare that with what he said to Larry King back in his 2005 interview where Joel Osteen stated that people from other religions love God and that he didn’t want to exclude them from the equation of salvation.
KING: What if you’re Jewish or Muslim, you don’t accept Christ at all?
OSTEEN: You know, I’m very careful about saying who would and wouldn’t go to heaven. I don’t know …