Christ's Patient Instruction (Luke 24:13-35)
How do we know what is true? Error and lies, fake news and fabrication are all around us. How do we sort out the truth? This is a worthwhile question.
Paul captured the very core of the Christian faith when he wrote, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He was buried, and He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3-4). These events are at the very heart of Christian preaching. Paul says he delivered this message as of first importance. These events are the priority of Christian preaching.
It is not an overstatement to say that Christianity stands or falls on the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. So how do we know it’s true? We have the divinely inspired accounts preserved for us in the Scriptures. We have become convinced through the study of the Bible and the witness of the Holy Spirit to the truthfulness of the Scriptures.
First, the Scriptures witness to the historicity of these events. The Bible states what happened. Second, these events are verified, first by the eyewitness accounts of those present. Many of these suffered terribly for their proclamation. Many died. Yet these eyewitnesses never denied what they had seen. If it had been only fanciful tales, no one would have dared to die for it. Certainly not hundreds of people. So our faith is based on verifiable historical events. Jesus died, was buried, and was raised. Just as the Scriptures say.
But that’s not all. We have something more sure: the prophetic word. 2 Peter 1:16 - We did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. Then Peter cites the Transfiguration when He received honor and glory from God the Father” and heard the Father’s utterance from heaven, “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.
Peter says, 18 We ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
Eyewitness testimony has a certain weight to it. Especially when there are several eyewitnesses whose testimonies agree. But eyewitness testimony could be made up. Fabriccated. It’s more difficult to fabricate eyewitness testimony when there is more than one eyewitness. Inconsistencies happen. Unharmonizable statements occur. Yet even the agreeable and consistent witness of the NT writers could be supposed to be faked and edited. How can we verify what they say?
The NT writers point to something more sure: the prophetic word. 2 Peter 1:19 - So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to listen to as a lamp shining in a dark place, untilthe day dawns ad the morning star arises in your hearts. The OT predictions about the Christ give us a more sure foundation for our faith.
The OT contains hundreds of predictions, pictures, shadows, and types of the One who was coming.
The historical events verified by eyewitness testimony are cemented by the testimony of God through the prophets who wrote hundreds or thousands of years beforehand. We don’t stand on blind faith. We have the more sure word.
This more sure word is what Jesus desires His followers to cling to. After His resurrection, He appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus and opened the OT to them before He opened His identity to them.
MAIN POINT: Luke describes this remarkable afternoon of travelling and teaching in 3 scenes. Jesus met these weak and confused disciples and taught what was lacking in their understanding of the OT, so that they would understand He had to die, be buried, and raised again, just as the Scripture predicted. Only then did He reveal Himself.
THE IMPERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF THE DISCIPLES (vv. 13-24)
13 That very day two of them [that is, two of the rest of the disciples to whom the women reported the empty tomb and the angelic announcement, “He is risen”] were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. This is still afternoon of Resurrection Sunday. Two of Jesus’ disciples, unknown by us but not unknown to Him, were walking from Jerusalem to this village of Emmaus 7 miles away.
14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. They are marveling at the empty tomb. They are pondering what it means. They are disheartened. They are disillusioned. They are troubled. They are sad. Though Jesus had told His disciples many times that He would die and be raised, the disciples could not process this. They had no theological file in their system to place this in. It was so contrary to what they had been taught. They couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Even after the women had announced the empty tomb and the angelic statement.
15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. To them, He appeared to be just another traveler. God was hiding from them Jesus’ true identity. They needed a lesson before God would unveil that this was Jesus. He struck up a conversation with them.
17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” In other words, “Whatcha talkin’ ‘bout?” This is so shocking that it brings those two to a screeching halt. And they stood still, looking sad. Still in anguish. Still lost. Not having believed the instruction of the angels as reported by the women. Not understanding what the empty tomb, verified by Peter and John, meant. Still evaluating, but not understanding.
18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” Ironically, He is the only one who truly understands these events!
But Jesus, ever the patient teacher, draws it out of them: 19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.” All of this is testified to throughout the Gospels. In His youth, Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men (2:52). He spoke as no other men ever spoke, so that the people were transfixed on His teaching, wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips (4:22).
But not all people were pro-Jesus. The chief priests and scribes had conspired together to kill Him. And they had succeeded! 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Their hopes were shattered. Their misunderstanding of the Scriptures caused them grief when a true understanding would have brought them joy and hope. And this anguish had tormented them three days already. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. They don’t withhold anything. THey talk of the events of that morning. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” Hear this man’s confession. His heartache. His disillusionment. His shrinking faith. His anger. All of it due to a misfortunate lack of understanding about what the Scripture says.
But this is why Jesus had appeared to these two obscure disciples. Obscure to us, but not to the Lord. He sought them and found them. Now, He, the teacher, the Rabbi, would set to work. Jesus knows that a deficient knowledge of Scripture is insufficient and dangerous. So He, the great Physician, sets to work to mend the heartache and disillusionment. His tool is the Scripture, written long beforehand through Him in His prophets.
THE PERFECT TEACHING OF THE CHRIST (vv. 25-30)
25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Jesus’ rebuke is warranted. How long had they spent listening to the Scriptures in the synagogue? It was not lack of access for which He rebukes these beloved disciples. It is for their lack of belief in the plain words of the prophets. They had failed to take the words of the prophets at face value and were taken captive to the false teachings of the scribes and Pharisees.
Jesus then starts to set them free of their captivity: 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Necessary? That must have taken them aback. Who says it was necessary? Jesus explains: 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. He doesn’t explain ALL the things concerning Himself, for that would take far longer than the time to journey seven miles. But over the course of those hours, He explained from Genesis to Malachi, as it were, the things about Himself. Starting in Genesis 1 and 2, explaining that the Christ was the Word through whom God created the world. Surely He included Genesis 3:15, the seed of the woman who would cruch the head of the serpent. The true lamb, whose sacrifice would provide righteous clothing. The true ark that provides safety from God’s wrath. The seed of Abraham that would bring blessing to Israel and to the world. The ram God provided instead of Isaac. The true manna. The Passover lamb. The Rock of provision. The prophet like Moses. The Priest like Melchizedek. The King from the line of David. The Son of Man from Daniel 7 and the exact timing of the prophecy in Daniel 9 fulfilled at the Triumphal Entry. The pierced Messiah in Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, and Zechariah 12. The incorruptible Messiah in Psalm 16. The living Messiah who would see His offspring and prolong His days in Isaiah 52. The ascended Messiah in Psalm 110. The glorious Second Coming of the Messiah in Zechariah 14.
Beloved, let us be assured of this: the Bible speaks of Jesus Christ from cover to cover. Jesus Himself had told the Pharisees, “Search the Scriptures…it is these that testify about Me.” How I wish I was there for this great expository sermon delivered on the Emmaus road. How amazing that must have been. Yet we have the Holy Spirit to teach us all these things. As for the two disciples, how wonderful this exposition of the OT was! How rich! How edifying!
So transfixed were these two men, that they couldn’t let this stranger go. 28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther. What a lesson for us! How often does the Lord wait for us to continue in prayer before an answer comes, simply because He wants us to seek Him! To abide before Him longer in prayer. To demonstrate our need by continuing to call upon Him.
So these disciples 29 urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. The lesson was over. He had taught them what was lacking in their understanding of Scripture.
So one more thing:
THE PERFECTED KNOWLEDGE OF THE DISCIPLES (vv. 31-35)
Whether it was the peculiar way He blessed the food or the peculiar way in which He broke the bread or the scars visible on His hands, or all the above, God finally granted them to see the identity of this man. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. It was the Lord! Really Him! Raised from the dead! Then, as if to confirm it was Him and not just their imagination, And he vanished from their sight. I can only imagine their faces.
Notice they don’ talk about the wonder of Him vanishing into thin air. They don’t even look at each other and say, “Wow! It was Him!” No. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” This is the response of the believer to the exposition of the Word. A burning heart. Thrilled by truth. In essence, they were saying, “It WAS Him! Who else could so light our hearts on fire by the explanation of the Scriptures?” They’re no longer depressed. They’re no longer disillusioned. They’re no longer weak in faith. The Savior’s sermon had corrected that. Now they had seen Him, just as they should have expected to all along.
So, with perfected knowledge, 33 they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. I bet their journey, thought more perilous because of darkness, was taken with a quicker pace than before because of the light in their hearts. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together. And there was already a fervor. And excitement among these gathered. They were 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon Peter!” What an exciting confirmation for the two weary travelers! 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
APPLICATION:
Beloved, this is what the Lord intends us to do with the understanding He has granted us. We are to teach the Word. We are to minister the Word to one another. For this reason, we must pay closer attention to the things we are taught. We should be absorbed in them. We should speak f them in our houses, and away from our houses. In our leisure time. In our busy time. It is this Word that edifies, instructs, and makes us fruitful. Blessed is the man/woman/child who meditates on the Word. Blessed are those who share what they have learned.
O that our houses would be filled with this question, “What have you learned in the Word today?” O that our church would be full of saints asking, “What did you learn in the sermon today?” “What was helpful? What was convicting? What was challenging? Where are you reading/studying? How has the Lord used His Word in your life this week?” O for such spiritual conversations to take place all around us!
O that we would remind each other of the witness of God toward us in His Scriptures: more historical, verifiable realities originating in His Word:
You were redeemed with precious blood
You were raised to life with Christ.
You were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.
You were sealed with His Spirit.
You were transformed. The old is gone. The new has come.
If you are in Christ Jesus, then these are historical, verifiable, divinely predicted events in your life!
So then, walk in righteousness as He is righteous! Delight in God and Christ and the HS. Look for Christ your Savior from heaven. Don’t be satisfied with the things of this world. Seek Christ. Walk by faith. Love one another. Serve one another. Be tender-hearted toward each other.
Be completely assured in your hearts: Christ died for the forgiveness of our sins according to the Scriptures.
Christ was buried. Christ was raised from the dead.
IN CONCLUSION, Jesus appeared to these two disciples who were lacking knowledge of Scripture. He taught them the simple truth heralded by the prophets. THey took their perfected knowledge and instructed the brethren. They all rejoiced. He is risen, just as the Scriptures said HE MUST BE!
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