Jesus is the only way to heaven. This is precisely what Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
There are, however, many paths to Jesus. We read about some examples in John 1:35–51, where Jesus calls His first disciples. While Jesus is hanging out with John the Baptizer, Andrew and John the Beloved see them and join in. The two men had worked together in a fishing business along with Peter and James. After he joined Jesus, Andrew lovingly went and got his big brother John so that he too could start following Jesus.
Jesus personally invited Philip to become a disciple saying, “Follow me.” Philip found Nathaniel (possibly also called Bartholomew) and invited him to meet Jesus. Upon meeting Jesus, Nathaniel had a supernatural encounter as Jesus said to him in John 1:48,
“’How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.’” Through some supernatural means like a dream or vision, Jesus saw Nathaniel before they met.
We learn two important lessons from Jesus’ calling of His first disciples. One, there are many paths to Jesus. We see that some are called directly by Jesus, whereas others are brought to Jesus by a family member, friend, or co-worker. Most of the testimonies about the first disciples are rather normal without anything overly supernatural occurring. But, with Nathaniel there is an account of supernatural revelation that helped cause him to become a follower of Jesus. Two, people need to get to Jesus. What each person in John 1:35–51 shares in common is that whatever path they took, their path took them to Jesus so they could begin following Him.
What path did God use to bring you to Jesus?