On the Road with the Risen Lord – Luke 24:13–35; Luke 24:44–49

PRAY

What I want to emphasize today from Luke 24 is one of the key themes I believe Luke chose to emphasize with two select resurrection appearances at the end of his gospel. Yes, Luke does seek to demonstrate that Jesus historically rose from the grave and ascended to glory, which he proved to his own disciples who were slow of heart to believe. But Luke also aims to show that Jesus revealed to them that he is the fulfillment of OT Scriptures, especially the necessity of his atoning death and vindicating resurrection.

Today we’ll consider how we must be responding to this truth revealed by the risen Lord. Read with me to see how central this theme is to the gospel as Luke describes a scene on resurrection Sunday when Jesus walked with two disciples on a road leading away from Jerusalem.

Luke 24:13–27 ESV

¹³ That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 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. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 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?” 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. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 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.” ²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Even as these disciples did as they walked and talked on the road to Emmaus, we are deliberately covering a lot of ground in the text today. But we’re taking the fast-paced journey through what might feel like 14 miles of reading in order to emphasize a key theme in this text and the impact it should have on us.

So here it is. We must…

Respond to Christ as the central meaning of the Scriptures.

… the way he instructs his disciples to do on the day of his resurrection.

The Bible presents the majesty and holiness of God, and the Bible demonstrates to us our desperate need for God to rescue us from our sinful plight by his grace and mercy. We are limited indeed to know God and even really know ourselves without the Scriptures. In them God has revealed himself and the truth of our situation. At the very least we must have some understanding of the Bible’s storyline and its key themes, in order to respond appropriately to what God reveals, which climaxes in God’s self-revelation and salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we’ll emphasize three particular ways that we need to Respond to Christ as the central meaning of the Scriptures. To some, these may seem obvious when you hear them. But we need to recognize and apply these truths because they are essential to salvation, essential to growth in Christlikeness, and essential to faithfulness in the mission he has given us. We must… Believe in Jesus as fulfillment of the Scriptures. We must… Ask the Lord to reveal himself in the Scriptures. And we must… Proclaim Christ as the message of the Scriptures.

The most fundamental of these for salvation is that you must…

Believe in Jesus as fulfillment of the Scriptures.

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment and the very purpose of the former covenants, and we must respond to him accordingly.

I’m convinced that Luke relates this resurrection appearance, and he’s the only gospel writer to do so, precisely because of how it demonstrates Christ’s own teaching about himself from the Scriptures. So too this episode illustrates the proper response to the truth that Jesus fulfills the meaning of the OT Scriptures.

Although we do not yet have the response of the two disciples from reading up to v. 27, what we hear is that Jesus walks them through “all the Scriptures” to interpret the things concerning himself. When Luke says “beginning with Moses and all the prophets,” it’s his way of saying Jesus started at the beginning with the Pentateuch and continued through with the rest of the Scriptures, which here “all the prophets” is meant to catch. (Another phrase meant to catch all the OT Scriptures is in v. 44: “in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms.” 

In about a 2-3 hour walk covering some sixty stadia (around seven miles), Jesus wouldn’t be able to discuss every single instance in depth, but he would certainly have been able to do two things. First, he could highlight specific OT images and passages that pointed to his atoning death and resurrection. Furthermore, he could show how all the covenant streams and patterns of the Hebrew Scriptures joined together to form a rushing river leading to him as the Messiah, fulfilling God’s promises in this way.

What these disciples particularly need to understand at this point, with their disappointment and disillusionment from Christ’s death, and which everyone must grasp, is that Jesus is indeed the Messiah and that it was “necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory.” (v. 26)

And that’s exactly what we must learn from the Scriptures as well. The Messiah has come, and by this Lord Jesus God has revealed himself. By him God has fulfilled his covenant promises of a Savior. And through Jesus, God has accomplished that salvation by his atoning death and vindicating resurrection. To receive this salvation, to be fully restored in right relationship to God, one must understand and embrace who Jesus is and what he has accomplished by his death and resurrection in fulfilling the meaning of the Scriptures.

As we said, then, by the experience of these two disciples Luke will give us a living illustration of responding rightly to this truth revealed. Let’s continue reading at v. 28.

Luke 24:28–35 ESV

²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹ but they 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. ³⁰When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. ³¹ And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 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?” ³³ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

What do these two disciples do when they realize who has appeared to them, and believe in him as fulfillment of the Scriptures? They completely change direction because in faith they have fully committed to the Lord Jesus.

Cleopas and the other unnamed disciple had left Jerusalem disillusioned and dejected, thinking that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah they had all expected him to be, but wondering at the reports of the empty tomb. What they had just learned from the Lord himself is that he was a far better Savior and Redeemer than all their paltry political expectations.

The Messiah had come to save his people from their sins with the payment of his own life! And the proof of his ability to forgive sin and grant righteousness by faith is in his victorious resurrection. He is the Lord who died as a permanent sacrifice for the sins of his people, and he is the Lord who lives to be a permanent mediator for those who believe in him.

Now again, what was the immediate evidence in this passage that they understood and believed this? They turned 180 degrees in repentance and faith and headed straight back that same night to Jerusalem to tell the others what had happened to them. And they found out that others were beginning to tell of similar experiences. They would collectively receive further, and similar, confirmation that same night.

For now my point is this. What does saving faith in Jesus look like? It is a complete commitment to Jesus as Lord that changes the direction of your life and your destiny. [repeat: Saving faith is…]

Evaluate your heart and life. Are you grasping who Jesus is and why he came to die and rise again? Does the direction of your life confirm that you have fully committed in faith to Jesus as Lord? Moving in the direction of submission to Jesus as Lord does not mean you will be perfect this side of heaven, but it certainly does mean progressing forward in the direction of knowing him, loving him, and serving him more and more.

Our next two points then lean into two more responses we should have as believers who know that Jesus is the center of the Scriptures. Here’s a second response for us.

Ask the Lord to reveal himself in the Scriptures.

Jesus is alive and has sent the Spirit of promise to his disciples. Even in the context we are in, this promise is mentioned in verse 49. The point for us is that every believer in Jesus Christ receives the indwelling Spirit at the moment that new birth and faith takes place. Therefore we can pray and ask the Lord to reveal himself in the Scriptures by the Spirit he has given us.

As you read Bible passages, as you meditate on God’s word, and as you memorize verses and paragraphs, ask the Lord to reveal himself in the Scriptures. Or to metaphorically use what happens with these two disciples as they walk, ask Jesus to draw near and go with you (v. 15). We are saying that especially as you study OT Scriptures, ask the Lord to help you see the connections to Jesus as the central fulfillment of what you are reading.

Something I have been learning further is that this is true of more than only the examples we have in the NT where the connection is made explicit for us from quotation or explanation of a pattern/type. The ones confirmed in the NT we will certainly know with greatest confidence, but there are constant people and events, commands and activities, that serve as patterns and shadows more fully formed in the Lord Jesus.

I’ll just give one example from a passage I’ve been recently reading in my devotions. The person and ministry of the prophet Elisha has multiple connections to the greater person and ministry of Jesus as the final and ultimate prophet sent from God. I was reading in 2 Kings 2-4 and noticed not only the similarity to Elijah before him but also to the ministry of the Lord Jesus, especially in the Spirit-empowered miracles performed. Here’s a sentence from Gary Shultz that summarizes the point I was beginning to grasp: “Elisha’s miracles testify to the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in his life in a way that is unique in Scripture until the coming of Jesus Christ, when God testifies to the ministry of his only-begotten Son through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit upon him, seen especially in Jesus’s miracles (Heb 2:3–4).” (Gary Shultz, The Spirit in Elisha’s Life: A Preview of Jesus Christ and the New Covenant, Themelios, Volume 47 - Issue 1, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-spirit-in-elishas-life-a-preview-of-jesus-christ-and-the-new-covenant/) 

If you’re interested in reading it, I’ve provided in this sermon transcript a link to an article in Themelios (a scriptural exegesis and exposition magazine) that carefully explains the connections, which honestly seem quite obvious once you start reading and thinking on it attentively. In that same article I love the summarizing list by Bruce Waltke of commonalities between the ministry of Elisha and the ministry of Jesus.

Now the point is not simply to be hunting for Easter eggs about Jesus in the OT. No, it’s more like archeological digging, only now God has revealed to you the blueprint—the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. As you dig and uncover the details in each section, you are now seeing and learning more fully how God has built this together into the salvation Christ has accomplished and kingdom that he has inaugurated.

So yes all Scripture is profitable to us, but it is even more profitable for our growth in and communion with Christ when we are seeing more and more of the connections to God’s fulfillment in Jesus. So I want to encourage us to fervently ask the Lord to reveal himself in the Scriptures.

The Apostle Paul confirms this same truth that what we are reading in the OT is “the gospel of God which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,” which is specifically “concerning His Son,” who is “Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 1:1-4)

Paul will also say later in that same letter to the Romans,

Romans 15:4 ESV

⁴ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

And that hope for Paul is found specifically in believers being united to the Lord Jesus. (Rom 5-8) So what informs our growth in endurance and encouragement from the Scriptures is especially the way in which it connects to fulfillment in the Lord Jesus.

So for the purpose of your ongoing and increasing hope in Christ, ask the Lord to reveal himself in the Scriptures, as he did for his first disciples on the day of his resurrection. 

A final application for us this morning, based upon Christ’s own example in our text, is that we must…

Proclaim Christ as the message of the Scriptures.

This point becomes prominent in the words of Jesus in the next resurrection appearance here in Luke 24. Later that same night, Jesus appears to the group gathered in Jerusalem (the apostles, along with these two disciples and others). Christ gently and patiently proves to them that he has indeed risen bodily, by letting them physically see the scars and touch him, and by him eating as evidence that he was glorified yes, but physically risen (vv. 36-43). Then Jesus highlights his fulfillment of the Scriptures again, this time with further instruction. 

Luke 24:44–49 ESV

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷ and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

This second appearance and instruction reinforces the same things we’ve already discussed: Believe in the Lord’s fulfillment of the Scriptures, and Ask Jesus to reveal himself to you in the Scriptures. But it also really helps move forward a third thing for us to emphasize in our response of Jesus fulfilling the Scriptures.

By the Spirit we are to Proclaim Christ as the message of the Scriptures. Think about how plain this is in the NT itself! The four gospels, the letters to the churches, even specific examples of preaching and witnessing in the historical narrative of Acts: They all aim to demonstrate and explain in some way that Jesus is the fulfillment of Scriptures’ promises and patterns, and that we must therefore commit to him in full faith to receive salvation.

The way that this should therefore play out in our practice as well is immensely convicting for me, and should be for all of us. When we teach the Scriptures, and especially from the OT, we need to take care that we do not merely moralize and miss opportunity to connect to the fulfillment of these Scriptures. Jesus Christ has fulfilled or has inaugurated fulfillment of all OT patterns and of all God’s promises, which is why Paul can say that all God’s promises find their ‘yes’ in Christ (2 Cor 1:20). That should also mean that from whatever the passage, we should aim for right heart response of faith in Jesus and right life response of obedience to this same Lord.

If you are not a public teacher like me, you are not off the hook. When we witness, which is the responsibility of all believers, we must obviously press into the centrality of Jesus. And the same is also true when you converse about Scripture with your family, when you apply Biblical principles to situations in parenting, and when counseling friends with Biblical truth.

Don’t stop short of proclaiming Jesus as the climax and center of the Scripture’s message, and the very center of history, which makes him the central answer to meaning for our own lives.

Let me leave you with that connection of Jesus’ place in Scripture and indeed in history for something to meditate on in regards to all these things we’ve been discussing today from Luke 24.

Conclusion: Christ as the center of the Scriptures confirms that He is the center of history.

God’s word reveals the true story of the world. God’s self-revelation and activity in history presents the one true worldview through which we can interpret life accurately.

This is true for salvation, that we must believe in the Lord Jesus, because He the center of the Scriptures and of history. Will we recognize this truth and commit our direction and destiny to him in faith? It is also true for our growth in him, so we should be fervently asking Jesus to reveal himself to us in the Scriptures, in order that we will recognize his centrality to our own lives at this moment in history. Finally, to faithfully pursue the mission he has given us here and now, we must proclaim Christ as the message of the Scriptures and the very center of all history.

PRAY

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