Indeed, he continues to show his faithfulness as he has given us his word, and so as we open the scriptures together this morning, let's bow together in a word of prayer, asking the Lord's blessing upon our time. Oh, Father in heaven, we do open your holy, inspired, and inerrant word this morning with great reverence. We recognize that if it were not for your Holy Spirit, Lord, we would not comprehend what is on these pages. We would be lost in the darkest night. We would be unable to comprehend the spiritual truths that are there. But we thank You that You are a generous God, that You are a giving God, that You are a redeeming God, a God who seeks to transform the lives of sinners, even as we reflected already this morning. And I pray as we open your word this morning that you would please cause this word to do its transforming effect upon each one of our hearts and lives. That our lives, that our hearts, that our worship would go unto you as you deserve. And it's in Jesus' mighty name we pray, amen. Well, this morning, we come to a beloved narrative in Scripture, a story that is found in only one gospel, and that is in the gospel of Luke. It's not recounted in any other place. And this is one of the great stories following the resurrection of our Lord. Last week, we looked at Luke 24, verses 1 through 12, resurrection narrative of how the women went to the tomb and they found an empty tomb and they heard the report from the angels that the tomb was empty, that Christ had risen, He is not there. And now as Luke continues his narrative, he's going to continue to show us how Jesus indeed is alive. He not only left the tomb so that he's no longer there, but he then appeared to his followers as we've already begun to see. But here, this narrative is the narrative on the road to Emmaus. And if you're not there already, I invite you to turn in your copy of God's word to Luke chapter 24. We'll be looking at verses 13 to 35 this morning. This resurrected Lord continues to transform the lives of his people. They were not just whipped up into some sort of religious fervor. these followers of Jesus who suddenly got hyped up, but rather, their lives were turned upside down. And the Lord would then send them to go and turn the world upside down. In our passage this morning, we're gonna see how Jesus transformed the lives of two men. He came alongside them. He spent time with them. He sought to understand them. And ultimately, he opened their eyes to the truth of who he really is. This passage begins with sorrow, but it ends with joy. It begins with confusion, but it ends with clarity. It begins with doubt, but it ends with faith. Let's read our text before us. Luke chapter 24, beginning in verse 13, follow along as I read. It says, that very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, what is this conversation you are holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still, looking sad. 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? And he said to them, what things? And he said to him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. 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. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 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. 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. And he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going, He acted as if he were going farther, 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. And when he was at table with them, he took the bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us when he talked to us on the road while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. They found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together saying, the Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. And thus ends the reading of God's word this morning. May the Lord impress its truths onto all of our hearts. Well, we are going to spend time looking at this precious narrative before us this morning. And as we do, we're going to see as Jesus engages with these followers upon the road. And as we see him engage with these two men on the road to Emmaus, I believe we can discern how the Lord transforms each of our lives through four stages. through four stages. And these stages of transforming lives all revolve around seeing Jesus. The theme of seeing Jesus is found throughout this entire narrative. It begins with those who do not see him, do not recognize him. And then it's even brought up the fact that those who went to the tomb did not see him. And then they are there at the table and they suddenly do recognize him and see him. And then they run back to Jerusalem and they share about who they saw and how they saw Jesus. The theme of this is about seeing Jesus and as people see Jesus, their lives are radically transformed. We're gonna look at these four stages across a few weeks because of the richness that is found in this narrative and the length of it. And so this morning, we're gonna simply look at stage one of these four stages. Next week, we'll look at stage two. And then the third week, the following week, we'll look at stages three and four. So we're gonna spend some time in this text, and I believe there's gonna be much gold for us to be able to mine out of this narrative for us. So the first stage that we're gonna look at this morning is failing to see Jesus. The first stage that the Lord takes us through in transforming our lives is number one, to recognize that we fail to see Jesus. And we'll see this in verses 13 to 24 this morning. We first meet two followers of Jesus here in this text who fail to recognize Jesus Christ. But let's first see the details of their journey. Luke helps set the stage for us. He gives us the setting of this account. And we see this in verses 13 and 14, the details of their journey. In particular, there are four details that are laid out for us in these two verses. The first detail I want you to see is the day. We see this in verse 13, look at it with me. that very day. What day is it? Well, look up at verse one of this chapter, but on the first day of the week at early dawn. This is the first day of the week. It is what we call Sunday, and this is the very day that Jesus Christ arose from the grave, that the first 12 verses recount the discovery of that empty tomb. It is that day that this takes place. In fact, everything just about in chapter 24, according to Luke's retelling occurs on this very day. And so he's helping us to see in verse 13 that this is still Sunday. This is still that first day. It's probably about midday on Sunday. The events of the morning had all taken place. Remember, the ladies went in very early. The sun had just risen. And so they then run back, and then there's others that go and check out the tomb, and all of this takes place in the morning hours. And then here, this takes place probably about midday. And the second detail I want you to see is the disciples. We've seen the day, number two, the disciples. It says that very day, verse 13, two of them, two of them, two of who? Two of them? Well, we have to go back. And I believe we can go back to verse nine. where it says of the women returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the 11 and to all the rest. There was a group of followers of Jesus, disciples as we call them, who were there and there's the 11, the apostles, those that were specifically set aside and called by the Lord, but then there were others that followed Jesus and they were just in this group known as disciples or followers. These two were among those followers. They were there in that room and they heard the report from the ladies, but as we learned, they departed that very day. Now, we learn in verse 18, one of their names, one of their names is Cleopas. This is a name that was short for Cleopatras, which is, you'll kind of recognize the male form of Cleopatra. We don't know anything else about him. He isn't mentioned anywhere else in scripture. We only have this story here and his name given here. In John 19, verse 25, there's a Cleopas, but that seems to be a different man with a different name, even though it's very similar. But while we don't know much about Cleopas, we know even less about his companion, this other person who was along with him. He's not given a name in this passage. And although there's been different guesses down through church history, some have thought that maybe this was Cleopas' wife, and that together they had gone to Jerusalem and they were returning home. Others thought maybe it was Simon, Peter, but I don't think that that is accurate due to the fact that these two return and find the 11 back in Jerusalem, and so I don't think Simon was included here. But the short of it is we don't know who it is. I think if it would have been Cleopas' wife, it would have been recorded that way, somehow to note the strong familial connection. And I tend to think that it's another male friend. I think the men were required to go to Passover, to go to the feast in Jerusalem, and so I think these are two men from this village that went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, and they witnessed all that took place there. Now why is one named and the other not? We don't really know. But one guess is that Cleopas was actually the one who gave the details of this event to Luke. You'll remember the very opening verses of the Gospel of Luke says that Luke was seeking to compile an accurate account of the events that took place with Jesus. And so Luke interviewed, he says, eyewitnesses. He spoke to those that saw these events take place. He was a journalist, you might infer. He spoke to sources, he wrote them down and compiled them together for his book. friend. And so there's a good guess that Cleopas was the source, was one of the people still living at the time that he was writing his gospel, and he got this story from him. We don't know. It's just an assumption or a guess, but it's a good guess nonetheless. But let's look at the third detail we see in the text, and that is the destination. The destination. Verse 13 says, that very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. Now, from the rest of the account, we learn that they were in Jerusalem, they were going to Emmaus, so that is the journey, Jerusalem to Emmaus. Again, as I said, they were celebrating the Passover there. Now, when it comes to identifying sites and cities and towns that we read of in scripture, We can very often find those sites in the land of Israel or Egypt or wherever the biblical account takes place, and this speaks volumes to the veracity of Scripture. Just as a side note, you take another piece of religious literature, say like the Book of Mormon, there's a lot of site names, cities and towns and things that are listed there, but Almost all archeologists and historians agree that they don't know where those were because you can't match them up with present day towns and cities. You can't match up mountains, you can't match up any sort of the features that are there. But the biblical record, to the contrary, is full of references that we can actually go to those sites, we can dig into the ground, and we can find archeological evidence of things that took place there. And it's all over the ancient world. Now sometimes identifying these sites that we read of in scripture in time and space today is pretty easy. I mean take Jerusalem. We know where Jerusalem's at. Bethlehem. These are towns that we can easily find and we can easily identify and they've been the tradition of where those cities and towns were have carried down through the millennia. But some of them are not quite as easy and Emmaus is one of those. If you go on a tour to Israel and you want to go see Emmaus, you might actually be shown four different sites. And I've got a map here that shows the four different possibilities of what these are. And you can go, yeah, that first map, you see, you can read on the right side of the image is Jerusalem, kind of at the cross section of that road there. And then I'll describe some of the cities that are in villages that are to the left of Jerusalem that are candidates for Emmaus. Now, You'll notice that in the English Standard Version that I'm preaching from, it says that Emmaus was about seven miles from Jerusalem, and most modern translations translate it that way. But as the footnote says in the ESV, that it's actually, the Greek there is 60 stadia, is the ancient way of describing distance, the Roman way, 60 stadia, and that's why the Legacy Standard Bible translates it that way. The KJV says three score furlongs, and I don't know what furlongs are other than our furlongs. Three score furlongs. Now, as I said, there are four different candidates for this village, and you would think that you read this text and go, okay, I know how to figure this out. You put a pin there on Jerusalem, and you measure out seven miles, and you draw a radius seven miles around Jerusalem, and you see what lands within that circle, and you're bound to find a village that fits this description. Well, that has been done, and you go to the next map. I've circled two of them that land within that seven-mile radius. These two different candidates for Emmaus are, again, the right distance, but the problem is there is no historical evidence that these were ever identified as Emmaus down through history, and there's no archeological evidence that they existed at this time, that there was any first century occupation. And so, we can X those out. But there was a well-known city in the first century known as Emmaus. And so you go to the next slide, it circles that farthest one away, otherwise known as Nicopolis or Imwas as it's the Arabic village. And Josephus, if you know your first century history, Josephus was a well-known Jewish historian that wrote so much about that first century and that we rely on in biblical studies as well. And he mentions this village as Emmaus. It's also mentioned in the book of 1 Maccabees which is a Jewish historical book, and in 1 Maccabees 3 verse 40. And we even have record that the early Christians identified this site with biblical Emmaus. For example, Eusebius, who wrote the first church history book, the first history of the church, Eusebius, he, in the fourth century, made, identified this site with Emmaus in his Onomosticon. Now, the only problem with this site, as you can tell from the map, is it's farther away, outside the seven miles from Jerusalem. In fact, it is 160 stadia, 19 miles away from Jerusalem. And because of this, some scribes thought that somehow Luke or whoever else got the distance wrong. And so they actually started changing the Greek text to say, instead of 60 stadia, 160 stadia. Because they thought, ah, maybe they didn't really know their distance. They didn't really know how far Emmaus was. And so we have some manuscripts in which it's been changed. And we can understand why. They thought that was the real Emmaus, and so they thought they'd change the text. But that's not how we do biblical studies. We don't go back and change the Bible once we find something in real life. So, that can't be right. So we can put an X on that too. Finally, there is a site closer to Jerusalem named Moza or Colonia, Calelonia. You'll see it's the closest one to Jerusalem. And this site was also known as Emmaus in the first century, but it was a smaller settlement. It was a smaller village. It would fit the description that Luke gives us here as a village. Because the other one that's farther away, the 160, that was like a thriving, That was a thriving city. It doesn't quite fit the description of village. This one does. Now, the problem with this site, as you can tell, is it's closer. It's not, it's closer than the seven miles, and so in order to understand, take this as the Emmaus of the Bible, we must see the seven miles that's listed here in verse 13 as a round trip number, not as a one-way trip number. that it was seven miles from Jerusalem there and back, which is, in fact, what these disciples do on this day. They go and they go back to Jerusalem. Now, admittedly, this isn't probably the first place our mind goes when we read seven miles from Jerusalem, and so I understand that there's still some difficulty, but, again, as the text describes, a round trip to Jerusalem the round trip of these men, I think, and in light of the alternatives, I think right now, based upon our archeological knowledge, this site makes the most sense for understanding the biblical Emmaus. It only takes about an hour and 20 minutes to an hour and a half to walk from Jerusalem to the Cimaeus. And up until recently, there was actually a Roman road that still existed. You could still see the Roman cobblestones. And in fact, I have some pictures. If you can jump to the last picture. First. There's a, this shows you some of the remains. You see the curb stones, they're the large stones that are there in a line, are the curb stones for this. And then to the right is some of the leftover cobblestones that were on this Roman road that was made there in the first century. They don't believe that this version of the road was actually constructed at the time of Jesus, but it was constructed soon afterward. But it shows that this was indeed a site of normal travel in that period. And this, again, this was a road you could walk. There's been recent construction projects that have since covered up and mostly destroyed this road, unfortunately. But there's a couple slides I show that you can see on the left, the modern highway to Jerusalem. And then up to the ravine on the right is the Roman road to Emmaus, up to Jerusalem. And down Emmaus is just off the picture, kind of behind the camera, to the bottom of the camera. in this picture, and then you go to the black and white photo, shows the same kind, two roads, but one's the modern road on the left, and then the road to Emmaus goes up the ravine to the right, as it zigzags then up the hill up to Jerusalem. again, a road that was there at that time and traveled. And I believe, again, I think this makes the most sense to understanding, to recounting these events, that the round trip was seven miles and And so, knowing that this was only about an hour and a half away outside of Jerusalem, we then can have set the stage for understanding what's taking place in this text. So we've looked at three of the details, let's look fourthly now at the discussion. Between the day, the disciples, the destination, and now the discussion. Look at verse 14. It says, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. They were discussing the things that had taken place that they had witnessed there in Jerusalem. It indeed had been an unusual few days, hadn't it? They had gone to celebrate the Passover as they normally did, but instead of it being a normal Passover, it turned into a weekend of great events because of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. It says that they were discussing, they were talking about these things back and forth. Verse 15, the first part of 15, further describes, it says, while they were talking and discussing together. That word discussing could be translated as arguing or disputing. There was some back and forth. They were arguing about details. They were having a lively discussion. This was not just a peaceful little discussion back and forth. It wasn't benign, it was a lively debate. These men, on the first day of the week, are headed from Jerusalem to Emmaus, and they're having a hot debate about what took place. They're discussing these things, going back and forth. And so, now having seen the details of the journey, let's look, secondly, at the disruption during their journey. We've seen the details of their journey, let's look now at the disruption during their journey. Verses 15 through 18. Verse 15 says, while they were talking and discussing together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. Somehow Jesus appeared and walked up and joined them. How did he do this? Did he, was he doing the speed walk thing and walking up quicker to them? And all of a sudden they go, whoa, where'd you come from? Did he come in from a side road? We don't really know, but somehow he joins up with them. And it seems like he carries along for a little bit. In other words, he doesn't speak to them right away. He's kind of there, maybe right behind them, right alongside them, and they're walking along together, and he's there quiet for a bit. It says he went with him. He continued on the journey for a little bit. And he's listening to their conversation. Now, as a reader, again, if we were reading this for the first time, we would be going, What? Like Jesus just showed up to these guys on the road? I mean, shouldn't, aren't they surprised? Aren't they shocked? Aren't they like stopping dead in their tracks at who just joined them? But that doesn't happen. They're not surprised. They're not delighted at this guy that just walked up to them. And we have our answer why in verse 16. It says, but their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. Their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. There was a force outside of themselves that kept them from recognizing Jesus. And this is not just a generic force or force field, that's not what I mean, but rather there was someone else that was keeping their eyes closed. And I believe this is what commentators call a divine passive. In other words, God's name is not explicitly named, but it's he's the one who's doing the action to these men. Their eyes were kept by who? They were kept from recognizing him by God. God is the one who kept their eyes in the dark. And this should not be a surprise to us. This is not a new theme in the gospel of Luke. We have seen throughout this book that God has concealed his truth from those whom he desires to conceal it, and he has revealed his truth to those whom he desires to reveal it. To jog your memory, listen to Luke chapter nine, verse 45, speaking of the disciples. It says, but they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. Or Luke 18, verse 34. Similarly, it says, of the disciples, but they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. And then Luke 10, verse 21. It says, in that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. Do you see this theme of God concealing these truths and then revealing these truths? And the point is this, that Luke wants us to see over and over again throughout his book, is that God is sovereign over the revelation of truth. God is sovereign over salvation. God is the one who chooses when people believe and when they don't. When truth is revealed and when truth is concealed. In other words, the truth is not revealed to a sinner one moment before God wills it. nor does it remain veiled one moment longer than God wants it to be. God is sovereign over His truth. He is the one who provides enlightenment to the truth, and the moment of enlightenment is determined by God. He is the one that rips the veil away and enables there to be clarity, enables there to be comprehension, enables for a sinner to finally understand. We're gonna see that throughout this narrative in Luke 24, but we've seen it throughout all of this. Jesus, in this verse in Luke 10, 21, that he's praising the Father because it's the Father's will that is the one that is in charge of these things, hiding and revealing. And yet, we as sinners can need to realize that each sinner is responsible for his own sin. In other words, none of us can show up on judgment day before the throne of God and say, and when we're held accountable for our sins, we can say, well, God, you didn't open my eyes. You're to blame. You're the reason that I never really believed in Jesus. No, the consistent theme of all of scripture is that everyone is guilty for their own unbelief. And then we go, well, that's not fair. That's not fair. How can God hold us accountable and yet be sovereign over these things? And this is where we are humbled, friends, before God's divine majesty. And I wanna turn you to Romans chapter nine. Turn to Romans chapter nine. Again, here we dip our toe into the infinite counsel of God. But the Apostle Paul, in discussing these matters, anticipated some of our own reactions. And it's helpful to see his responses. Romans chapter nine, beginning in verse 14. Paul says, what shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then, verse 16, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who can even resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me this way? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable? What if God, desiring to show his wrath, to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory? Friends, as we look into the sovereign will of God, we are indeed humbled. Who can understand these things? We don't understand. We can't put together God's sovereignty and man's responsibility and yet the Scriptures hold them in tension and say they are both true. We can't allow one to supersede or to trump the other. We uphold both because Scripture teaches both. And so, even as we go back to Luke 24, we see these men are responsible to believe and to trust and to see Jesus. And yet, it is all at the mercy of the divine action of God, for God to open their eyes. They need the Lord to open their eyes. For now, for God's good purposes, he desired that these men remain in ignorance and unbelief. But Jesus interrupts them with a question. In Ephesians verse 17, He says, what is this conversation you're holding with each other as you walk? Of course, there's much irony in this text. Jesus is the one that they're talking about, and he's the one asking the question. I mean, we can almost laugh at these things as we read through it. So, you know, who's this you're talking about? And they don't get it. Now, as I read this, I go, why did he ask this question? Well, I think it was two things. Number one, just for social convention, he was trying to break into the conversation in a polite way. But secondly, it's more pastoral. I believe he's trying to draw these men out. He wants to hear where their hearts are at. The risen Christ we see here is interested in the hearts of his people. And that includes us this morning, friends. He wants to know us, he wants to know you. He's not just a Savior out there for someone somewhere. He is a Savior for you today and He cares where your heart is at even this morning. This is the kind heart of our Savior. Now we obviously don't have Jesus right next to us for Him to ask us questions and for us to talk with Him, but we can talk to Him in prayer, can we not? He is a very present help in time of trouble. He is the friend that we can speak to at all times. We can pour out our hearts to Him through the Spirit. And so Jesus wants to disrupt our journeys as much as He did these men on that day. And that begins with Him wanting to know what's on our hearts. But let's look how these men respond. Look at the end of verse 17. It says, they stood still looking sad. They stood still looking sad. They're walking along, they're having this lively debate. Jesus asks, what are you guys talking about? And they just stop. I can imagine them like looking over at him, and they look at each other, and I mean, their jaws have hit the floor. They can't believe that someone just asked, what are you talking about? This is kind of like if you could, if you were outside, just outside New York City, let's say, on September 12th, 2001, and you happen to pass, come along some people on the sidewalk, and they're talking, and they're talking about how the attack on the day before, 9-11, and how the Twin Towers fell, and maybe even one of them lost a relative in that attack. And the person asks, so what's this you're talking about? What's this conversation? Those people would stop and they'd look at each other and go, have you been living under a rock? Do you not realize what has consumed all of our lives and all of our thoughts for the last 24 hours? In this case, last three days. And so there's just incredulity. They just can't believe that Jesus does not know what's going on. But it says that they are looking sad. So they might be a little frustrated with their stranger, their visitor who doesn't know what's going on, but Luke knows that they were sad. Their faces were downcast. They were, in one sense, in a funeral procession. They were so beat down, they were so discouraged, that even though they might be frustrated at him, they just can't hide the fact that their faces were downcast. And so, Their mood here does not fit the fact that Christ is risen from the grave. Their mood fits more the events of Friday night, the fact that Jesus has died and laid in a grave. In other words, their lives have not yet been touched by the resurrected Christ. And so they, after this, I would imagine, awkward silence for at least a moment, One of them, we learn, verse 18, Cleopas answered him and said this, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? Are you the only one? Are you, again, have you been living under a rock? Did you not see what took place? Again, the irony here is so thick. Who's the only one that actually, fully, truly understands what took place in the last few days? It's Jesus, right? He's the one that really, only, truly, deeply understands. And yet, it seems to these men that he's the only one who doesn't understand. From a human standpoint, there on the Emmaus road, it looked like Jesus was the ignorant one. But from a divine standpoint, it's Cleopas and his friend who are in the dark, not Jesus. You'll notice that they call Jesus a visitor to Jerusalem. Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem? And it's true, because all these visitors have gone to Jerusalem for Passover, but what's unique about even this term, I think, is it draws our attention to the fact that was Jesus a visitor? Did he have a visitation? He did. Luke chapter 19, verse 41. Flip back there, Luke 19, verse 41. Jesus highlighted his visitation to Jerusalem, and we as readers of this gospel can't miss this. It says, and when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you do not know the time of your visitation. You catch that last word? You did not know the time of your visitation. It's not like, hey, did you know you had a special visitor in one of your Airbnbs in town? No, this is about a divine visitation. This is about the fact that God has come to visit them in the person of Jesus Christ and they missed it. In other words, all of Israel didn't see Jesus. They were blind to that fact. They failed to see the visitation of the Son of God. And now the followers of Jesus on the day of the resurrection are failing to see Jesus as well. They're failing to see their visitation of God the Son in their midst. Now one author makes an interesting statement here. He says that in this passage, quote, the reader gets to see what human blindness looks like from God's perspective. The reader gets to see what human blindness looks like from God's perspective. To us, as the readers, it's so clear Jesus is there. Why are they missing that fact? And yet they don't get it. And of course, this is what human blindness looks like. The truth is right there. Romans 1 tells us that all people on this globe have a testimony of the character of God. They know deep down that God exists. And yet they choose to worship the creation rather than the creator. They blindly turn away from him. And this is why, friends, we need Jesus. This is why we need the resurrected Lord to open blind eyes, ours and everybody else's. We are all in desperate need of him. We cannot open our own eyes. What we've seen this morning, the details of their journey, the disruption of their journey. Let's look thirdly and finally this morning, the defense of their disposition. The defense of their disposition in verses 19 through 24. And we'll go over these fairly quickly. Cleopas' words of what took place over the last few days, and we've been studying them intimately over the last few months, and so we simply need to see how they hold up to what actually took place. Because you see, after Cleopas asks his question, verse 18, verse 19, Jesus says, what things? What things? That's a two-word question in English. It's a one-word question, actually, in Greek. Jesus is pressing them. He wants to hear where they're at. He doesn't just want them to give a general thing. He wants them to speak specifically about what they know, about how they're interpreting, how they're processing all that they've seen. And I believe that this is an important lesson for ministry. Whether it's ministry to your spouse, whether it's ministry to your children, whether it's ministry to a friend, whether it's evangelistic ministry to somebody who doesn't know Jesus, we continue to ask questions to seek to understand where they are at. We cannot minister to them until we know where they truly stand. We are not omniscient, we need to ask questions and draw them out. And we can follow our Lord in that by continuing to press, continuing to ask questions, to hear how the heart of the person in front of us is not only knowing things, but processing them and understanding them so that we can come alongside them and minister to them. And so Jesus comes alongside these men, he asks questions to draw them out to see how they're thinking about the crucifixion and the resurrection. And we see this in their response. It's clear that they have a high regard for Jesus and they also had high hopes for him that came crashing to the ground. But let's look at this description or this defense of their disposition first by they describe Jesus' identity. Jesus' identity in verse 19. He says, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people." Jesus of Nazareth, if I must be so plain and clear, okay stranger, I'll tell you, it's Jesus of Nazareth, this guy was known as a prophet. Which is true, he was a prophet, he identified himself as such in Luke chapter 4 and Luke chapter 13. And he was mighty indeed in word, he did miracles, he raised the dead, he healed the sick, he walked on water. But he was also mighty in word, he taught with authority, unlike the scribes and the Pharisees. He taught things the people had never heard before. And he did this all before God and all the people. favor with God and man. And so they recognize that he had done some incredible things, and he taught some incredible things. But even in the midst of this high regard for Jesus, we see that their description of Jesus falls short, doesn't it? Do they identify him, does he identify him as the Messiah? As the Son of God? As the suffering servant of Isaiah? No, they do not have a clear picture of who Jesus is. But not only do they describe Jesus' identity in verse 19, they describe, secondly, Jesus' death in verse 20. It says, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. He says that it was whose leaders? It was our chief priests and rulers. It was the Jewish leaders, he identifies, as the ones who had crucified Jesus Christ. They had delivered him over to the Romans, they had condemned him to death, and they are the ones who crucified him, even though they didn't drive the nails with their own hands, it was their own edict that had driven the nails into Jesus. But it's this crucifixion that threw a wrench into the disciples, into these followers' expectations and hopes, and that's what Cleopas describes next. Verse 21, their hopes. Look at verse 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. They had hoped that Jesus would be the one to redeem Israel, that he would free Israel from the Romans, that he would finally, truly fulfill all the Old Testament promises. I believe that this expectation, this hope was not unfounded. In other words, some will point to this and say, yeah, these guys got it all mixed up. Jesus wasn't seeking to set the nation of Israel free. He was only coming to bring spiritual salvation. But friends, if we go that route, we end up throwing out or allegorizing much of the Old Testament promises that speak very specifically to the nation of Israel, that there are promises to them that must be fulfilled. And in fact, the believers even described here in this book, we're looking forward to that reality. In Luke chapter one, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, in Luke chapter one, verse 68, he describes this hope very clearly. He says, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. There's that word redeemed. And he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from old. Well, what was the promises that were given? Verse 71, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. To show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Indeed, there is spiritual redemption and transformation that was promised. but it would result in a redemption, a national redemption for Israel. Now, in Jesus' first coming, that didn't happen, but it still will take place. Those promises will be fulfilled. In other words, it was the timing that was off, and what Cleopas and the other disciples did not understand was how the cross fit into those promises. They did not, could not fathom how in the world could God use a crucified person How could God use someone who's crucified, buried, and dead? That throws a wrench in everything. That messes up all of our hopes, all of the Old Testament expectations, according to their view. And you'll notice that he says, and yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. This is the third day, which he doesn't even realize, that's like fulfillment of prophecy third day, but he's just kind of saying, he's been dead three days. And nothing else has changed. Of course, they also heard reports of the resurrection. That's the last part of his description here, is the resurrection reports. They heard from the ladies, verse 22. Some of the women of our company amazed us. Notice they were amazed, maybe not believing. They were amazed doubters that these women would come back and report these things. They were at the tomb early, verse 22. And 23, they did not find his body. They came back saying that they even had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. I don't think they actually believed that there were really angels there. They're like, these ladies kind of reported that they saw something. You kind of believe that they were, kind of saw this apparition or whatever. That's what they're claiming anyway. And then verse 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. Those others were Peter and John, as the gospel of John tells us. They found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus. And here is where these disciples, Cleopas and his companion, are saying that the big issue is that we haven't yet seen Jesus. We have not yet seen Jesus resurrected. Which again, as the readers, we go, he's right there in front of you. But what we also know is that there's a deeper problem. That it's not just that they don't see Jesus physically and therefore can confirm whether he's resurrected, they don't see Jesus spiritually. Their hearts are hardened, their hearts are closed. The issue at hand is that amid all these reports, they're not believing the word of God. The problem is not that they don't have enough information. It's rather a moral problem that they refuse to believe the truth that is presented before them. They need God to help them piece it all together. And God is there in their midst, and He will do exactly that, as we'll see in the following weeks. Now friends, as we close this morning, our journey of faith for each one of us begins right where it began for these men, which is failing to see Jesus. All of us in our sin are hardened against the truth of God. All of us fail to see Jesus as He is presented in the Scriptures. All of us fail to believe Him as the Savior of our souls. And so, church, for us who have had our eyes opened, for those of us who have believed, We can see this reality of the fact that these men could not see Jesus and we can rejoice, be humbled at the reality that God would have opened our eyes, that he would have enabled us to see who Jesus truly is. He didn't leave us in the dark, but he pulled the veil away so that we could see him and we could delight in him and we could know him. But if you're here this morning and you have not trusted in Jesus and you don't believe him and the portrait of Jesus is still fuzzy and hazy to you, And I'd love to talk with you afterward to help you to resolve that so that you might know who this Jesus is. And come back next week as we continue to see how Jesus begins to pull the veil away from these men so that they might truly see him, to know him, and rejoice in him, the resurrected Lord. Let's bow together in a word of prayer. Oh Father, we come before you and we thank you for the truth of your word that reminds us that Jesus Christ is indeed risen from the grave. And even as he rose and he showed himself to these men on that Emmaus road, Father, we know that he has spiritually, through the Spirit and through the scriptures, been revealing himself to sinners ever since. But Father, we're humbled by the reality that salvation is in your hands. And so I pray that you would please cause us to be humbled before your sovereignty and cause us to cry out to you. worshiping you, the sovereign God that you are. And may you help us to rejoice in the gospel of the resurrected Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.