The Way to Jesus Revealed from the Beginning

Luke 24:13-35

The Road to Emmaus

13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

17 And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?"

18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?"

19 And He said to them, "What things?"

So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain 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."

25 Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

The Disciples' Eyes Opened

28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." And He went in to stay with them.

30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

32 And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

Jesus opened the eyes of the disciples to see with spiritual vision and hear the word of God with heavenly sounds that resonated throughout the scriptures from Moses through the prophets.  He continues to do those things in all whose ears and eyes He opens by His Spirit through conviction and regeneration to confession of sin and redemption through our repentance by faith in Him.  Just as the two gained such a view from Emmaus as they traveled and discussed what Jesus Christ had said and done, we also journeyed along until He came beside us and gave understanding to all Christ had suffered and was condemned as an innocent man yet crucified to death.  He straightened out their misconceptions of why He had come to die at the hands of the enemy and apparently did not deliver His people Israel from the Roman occupation as they imagined and expected He should have done.  They told Him how the women went to an empty tomb and yet reported seeing Him alive, but only as a vision that angels gave them.  Some other disciples went to validate their account but found nothing save the empty grave.  They did not realize that Jesus arose just as He said He would.  When the Lord who walked alongside them heard them say these things, He set them straight by asking how blind they were when the scriptures that they had explained all that had happened.  He led them through an exposition of Moses and all the prophets, meaning from the Pentateuch and both the major and minor prophets which was essentially the entire Old Testament, and pointed out how throughout they spoke of the Messiah-Christ (Luke 1:70-71)!  He was foreordained to suffer and die (Luke 1:68-69) to enter into glory by this route of the divine becoming a man (John 1:1, 13), suffering for the truth, dying on a cursed tree to redeem His people (Isaiah 53:10-11, Luke 1:76-77), and rising from death (Acts 2:27-28, 30-31) to life as both proof of His work and hope for the future resurrection to life for all of His called and chosen ones.  

When they arrived at their destination, the disciples still did not know whom He was and convinced Jesus not to continue on without them but stop and stay with them awhile and continue on in the morning to wherever He was going.  They broke bread with the unseen Lord and only when He had broken the bread and blessed it did their eyes open to see Him and understand what He had been revealing to them from the scriptures about whom He was and what He had done to redeem them by His birth, suffering service, sacrificial death in their place to redeem them from sin’s penalty, and His resurrection of hope proven for eternity!  How we need our eyes opened as well to come to know Him and the power of His resurrection (Philippians 3:9-10)!  Then when Jesus opened the eyes of their hearts He vanished from their sight but ever since His pouring out of His Spirit on all believers at Pentecost we all have Him with and in us always to exposit the entire Bible to our spiritual and intellectual understanding.  How our hearts respond in kind to those disciples at Emmaus long ago as He now opens up His word to us and our hearts burn with joy in these revelations!  Yes, we all respond in elated joy in declaring that the Lord is risen indeed and our joy is made full in relating these truths to others of the birth, suffering, sacrificial death, life giving hope in His resurrection from death to life as a promise for all who believe and receive Jesus as the Christ, and the everlasting hope forevermore because He lives!  This is the good news, the gospel of our deliverance from God’s wrath on our sin because of Him.  This is the message we share with others along the road so He can open the eyes of their hearts as He did ours.  He loved for you, He died for you, He hung on a cross and cried for you.  He arose, He arose, and our hope is secure behind the veil (Hebrews 6:19) in God’s presence now!  The way to Jesus has been revealed from the beginning and He reveals that to us through His word by His Spirit.  Amen.