Please take your copy of God's Word and once again turn with me to Luke chapter 24 as we continue our exposition of Luke's Gospel. We are, if you have not noticed, in the last chapter of Luke's Gospel. Having begun our consecutive exposition on the first Sunday of 2007, we'll be drawing to a close here in the next few weeks. Let us notice what the ending note is of Luke's Gospel. Last Sunday we saw, as did all of the Christian world, the earth-shattering scene at the tomb. that Jesus had conquered death, just as he said he would, coming out of the tomb on the third day, alive forevermore. Today we will examine a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus. And this is so vital for our faith. It's interesting that Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, when he talks about the resurrection, he doesn't say that Jesus rose from the dead. There, just take that on faith. He points you to all the witnesses of this truth, all the witnesses who you could go and ask for yourself, over 500 of them. And today we will be introduced to two of those witnesses who don't just see the Lord Jesus Christ, they have the added huge blessing of hearing His powerful teaching for an extended period of a couple of hours, opening the scripture to them. This, by the way, only Luke records for us. Matthew, Mark, nor John record this incident. And this has great implications for our understanding of the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ and His work, indeed the whole Bible. Let's seek the Lord's help now as we prepare to open the word. Oh, sovereign Lord, what a privilege we have to possess and hold in our hands and read and study your written and completed word. Oh, Lord, let us never lose our wonder of having it. And as we look at this late afternoon walk and evening meal and hear the Lord Jesus speaking, oh God, as we have this astounding moment to hear absolute truth, Keep us from preferring to think about other things, trivialities of this life. Oh Lord, rivet our gaze, our ears, our attention on this, your holy truth, accurate, inerrant, authoritative, and applicable. We pray especially for those that are always busy and occupied, weighed down with the cares of this world, that you by your spirit now would sovereignly break through, slow them down, focus their attention to hear this word. We pray in the name of our only hope and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I want us to examine this rather lengthy passage this morning and try not to miss the point. We begin with the walk with Jesus that we see occurring in verses 13 through 16. Now look carefully and be reminded of where we are in the narrative. In the first 12 verses of chapter 24, you will remember that people have come to the empty tomb, but we have not yet seen Jesus alive in the text. Up to this point, look at chapter 24, the first 12 verses, Luke has reported that the tomb is empty. He's reported the three-point message of the two angels in dazzling garments, and he's reported Peter's visit to the empty tomb. but he has not yet reported any appearance of Jesus. That is, until now. Now what I want you to do is get firmly fixed in your mind the calendar and the clock. When we pick up verse 13, this encounter takes place on Sunday afternoon. This is the same day, it's still the day of the resurrection. And it takes place, oh, somewhere beginning between four and six p.m. And we know this because at the close of about a seven mile walk, which over hill and down hills and on dusty roads, about two hours at a leisurely pace, these two walkers say to Jesus in verse 29, abide with us, it's towards evening or it's getting dark. And so pick up the narrative and look with me at verses 13 through 16. First of all, in this walk, we have two men who are walking away from Jerusalem toward their village of Emmaus. One of them is identified for us, it's Cleopas, which is the masculine form of Cleopatra. the other is unnamed. It's fascinating there's a large literature has grown up throughout church history on who this other Walker is. I'm always fascinated by speculation. There are people who will give more time to speculating on what's not stated in the scripture than what is stated. And it's fascinating to see how from the church fathers, even up into the 21st century, how there have been theories that this other man was Luke and he's just being modest, or the other person is Cleopas' wife. But the text, the point is, is silent. We know one of the people and not the other. The two, we do know this, are followers of Jesus, but these are not the apostles. For notice in verse 33, what do they do once they realize that they've been with Jesus? They go to the 11. And so these two walkers, neither of them are apostles, but they are followers of Jesus. Well, they may not be apostles, but they are the two person congregation for the greatest Old Testament exposition in history. So as these two people walk, Jesus overtakes them and begins to walk with them. Now notice these two people, don't know it's the Lord Jesus according to verse 16. Their eyes are restrained. Now there are a number of occasions in the New Testament where Jesus isn't recognized at first, where the people who are in his presence are prevented from knowing that it's him. For example, if you look at one of the parallel resurrection appearance accounts in John 20, Mary Magdalene first meets Jesus and thinks he is the gardener at first. And then in John chapter 21 as the disciples, some of them are in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. They look and they see a man on the seashore and at first they don't recognize that it's the Lord Jesus. I want to stop and think about this issue of hiddenness and when the Lord is pleased to reveal himself for a moment. This issue of hiddenness takes place all through Luke's gospel. For example, in Luke chapter 8 verse 10, Jesus is pleased to hide the truth from reprobates and reveal it to his disciples in parables. In Luke 18, Look with me there and I want you to get this firmly fixed in your mind that it's the Lord's sovereign pleasure to hide things from people and reveal them in His timing. In Luke chapter 18, notice what we see told us there. Because the issue we need to get firmly squared away is the Lord is free to hide Himself and His truth whenever He pleases. Luke 18 verse 31. Then Jesus took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge him and kill him, and the third day he will rise again. But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken. Now this demonstrates a really fundamental principle. We need to get this principle really down pat. The principle is stated for us in Luke chapter 10 when he says, no one knows who the son is except the father and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him. As we're walking right now in verses 13 through 16, at this point, Jesus has not been pleased to reveal himself yet to these men. He is, for lack of a better term, walking with them incognito. Now we do know this about these men as they're walking along. In fact, we could almost say they're trudging. We do know this, they are in deep depression and sadness. All their hopes and dreams have been crushed. Passover is finished, Jesus is dead, and they now go home gloomy and confused. How could they have been so wrong? They followed Jesus, committed themselves to him, and now they think it was all for naught. How could things have turned out so badly? Now Jesus sidles up alongside of them. He's walking with them and listening to them. And by the way, for those of you who think this is strange, see in our culture, if you're even standing in the fellowship hall in a few minutes at our fellowship time and you're standing there talking and somebody just sort of comes up and stands next to you, you'll probably think, I didn't invite you to come up. You're listening in on my conversation. You must not have had a mom to teach you manners. And you'll probably think that. Well, you're maybe laying those sort of thoughts on this right now. You're thinking, Jesus just walks in and sort of inserts himself with these two men in this conversation. But you'd be wrong. Because in this culture, first of all, everybody walked everywhere. Think about how often we see Jesus in the Gospels walking. The only time we see him riding is when he enters Jerusalem in the triumphal entry on the back of a donkey. The rest of the accounts we have Jesus walks. It's a walking society. That's how you went from place to place. Roads were traversed by many people and it was common In fact, it was normal for strangers to come alongside and walk with you and carry on a conversation. And so Jesus is not doing something impolite or even out of the ordinary. And notice something else in verses 13 through 16. Jesus is in his resurrected glorified body. In face and form, He's glorified. He's not an alien. He's simply in His glorified resurrection body. And these two men are not shocked by His former appearance. And this is a wonderful insight as to what you and I will be when we receive a body at the resurrection like that of Jesus, when we're glorified. We'll be fully human, recognizable, yet with no potential for decay and death. And so notice the conversation that ensues in verses 17 to 24. Jesus asked them a question, verse 17. Look at it, about their conversation and sadness. Jesus says, what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad? It's a piercing question. What are you talking about and why are you sad? Cleopas asks the mysterious stranger, because that's who Jesus is at this point. If he doesn't know about Jesus, And the inference of his question is, everyone in town knows about this. Look what Cleopas says in verse 18. Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? And have you not known the things which happened there in these days? Apparently, there was one topic of conversation in Jerusalem these days. and that was the crucifixion of Jesus. It was the conversation on everyone's lips. In fact, Paul will say in Acts 26, 26 that these things regarding Jesus, and he's saying this almost sarcastically, were not done in a corner. Everyone in Jerusalem and all of these hundreds of thousands of pilgrims in town for Passover all know about it. It's on everyone's lips. And notice who Cleopas, places the responsibility for Jesus' death upon. Look carefully at the text in verse 20. Cleopas says, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified him. It's interesting that Cleopas doesn't place the responsibility for Jesus' death upon the Romans but upon the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leadership. He simply views the Roman governor and soldier as the errand boys of the Sanhedrin. Peter will do the exact same thing on the day of Pentecost when he will preach to the Jewish leadership in Acts chapter 2 and in verse 22 and 23 he will say, you men, you men with wicked hands crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. And so notice what the disciples say, these two, in response to Jesus' question. They express their deep disappointment in the course of events of the last few days. Now, I want you to notice a word they use and understand how they use it. In verse 21, they say in response to Jesus' question, we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Now, when they say that, they are expressing a much more political than religious understanding of how the Messiah would redeem Israel. For them, the redemption of Israel meant liberation from their enemies, the Romans, and an inauguration of the reign of Christ immediately. Apparently, Cleopas and this other disciple had not yet grasped this fundamental point, the point that the Messiah would suffer and die for the people of God This is a point that Jesus is going to explain in verse 27. And this, by the way, is a slight insight into how the salvation that Christ provides is actually far better than what we expect or hope for. So these two men are so depressed and so negative in their confusion that it's beyond their capacity to make obvious connections. If you've ever tried to comfort a depressed person You know that such persons are amazingly resourceful in finding reasons not to take comfort in anything you say to them. They're determined to hear everything is bad news. And that's exactly what these two do with the news of the empty tomb. To them, the empty tomb compounds the tragedy, for they think perhaps somebody has stolen the body, adding insult to injury. And so the good news is actually bad news to them. But look very carefully at verses 19 to 24 because their Cleopas states their gospel. Here's the core of their belief. Their gospel is incomplete and unclear. Notice what two things are missing from their gospel. The two key things is they don't understand the purpose of the death of Christ, that he died to be an atoning sacrifice, and they don't understand the necessity of the resurrection. They think the tomb is empty because perhaps something nefarious has happened to the body. They get a lot of things right. They understand that Jesus is a prophet, that he's mighty in word and deed. They understand that Jesus died, but they don't understand that his death was an atoning substitutionary sacrifice, and they don't understand the necessity for resurrection. And that's when Jesus rebukes them. Look at his rebuke in verse 25 and 26. And be clear, this is a rebuke. In fact, it's almost a hard word from Jesus when he technically calls them fools. Jesus rebukes the pair. The sudden change of tone may seem strange until we remember that unbelief is always the deepest insult to the Lord Jesus. Nothing, nothing, nothing is more foolish than unbelief. What's the nature of the rebuke? Look carefully at it in verse 25 and 26. The rebuke is for their lack of understanding of the Scriptures and their unbelief. Now hold those two things in your hands. The rebuke is for their lack of understanding of the Scriptures and for their unbelief. They didn't have a death and resurrection theology. This is not because they rejected the Scripture. No, because they didn't. This is not because they'd never read the Scriptures. That's not true either. This is not just because they didn't just believe the Scriptures. It's because they didn't have a full understanding. They'd read selectively, embracing the triumph texts but not the suffering texts. They'd seized on all the Old Testament texts that speak of the reign and glory of the Messiah, but had not read that the Messiah must first suffer. They had failed to grasp one of the essential foundational principles for Jesus as he works out our salvation, and one of the essential foundational principles for us in the Christian life, first the cross, then the crown. Now they saw that the seed of the woman, according to Genesis 3.15, would crush the serpent's head, but they didn't notice that the same Messiah would be harmed in the process. They saw, according to Isaiah 52, that the Messiah would be exalted and be very high, but they didn't read on in Isaiah 53 and notice that the Messiah must first be smitten of God, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and be despised and rejected as the man of sorrows. I want you to notice the necessity language from Jesus in verse 26 in his rebuke. Look at it carefully. Verse 26, Jesus says, the Christ to have suffered these things. Or in other words, don't you understand that it was a necessity for Jesus to suffer these things and then to enter into his glory. This is not unusual for Jesus uses necessity languages in necessity language in many texts. For example, think of these quotes. In Matthew chapter 16, we read these words. From that time, Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed and be raised the third day. Think of what Jesus said in John 3.14. This is necessity language. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Jesus' suffering and death was necessary. It was necessitated by the decree and plan of God. God didn't have to save anyone, but since he had chosen to save some, the only way he could have done that was by the satisfaction of his own justice through the sacrifice of his own dear son. But what Jesus is fundamentally rebuking, look carefully in verse 25 and 26, not just unbelief, but ignorance of the Bible. He's confronting them for not knowing and believing the entire Old Testament instead of just parts of it. We learn this by this rebuke that ignorance is... there's no excuse for biblical ignorance to those who possess the Scriptures. It's not the fault of the Scriptures if you don't know and understand and believe. They're clear. Jesus doesn't say to these two men, It's okay. The Old Testament is really a hard book. It's so old, portions of it were well over 1,500 years by the time Jesus is having this conversation. He doesn't say, I know the Old Testament so it's antiquated and hard to understand. No. Jesus never says the scriptures lack clarity. Instead, we repeatedly hear him saying things like, have you not read? And here he's rebuking these men for their ignorance of the scripture, and their unbelief in the scripture. Well, in that moment then, he does something breathtaking. For the next two hours, as they walk to Emmaus, Jesus engages in a survey of the Old Testament, showing the person and work of Christ all through the Old Testament. Look at verse 27 very carefully. Jesus does something astounding. I would trade my Bible college degree and my seminary degree and a whole lot more for a place in that two-hour walk in conversation. Look what Jesus does in verse 27. Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures. That would be the whole Old Testament at that point. The things concerning himself. When Luke says Moses and all the prophets, this simply means Moses' writings, the first five books of the Old Testament, and all the prophets are the rest of the Old Testament, the other 34 books. I want you to think for a moment what Jesus did in these two hours. We're told there that he takes the whole content of the Old Testament, And He shows Himself in the Old Testament to these men. Now, remember, these two men don't know yet that it's Jesus who's walking with them. Perhaps Jesus started in Genesis 1, and He explained how Jesus was the Creator. And then He moved to Genesis 3.15, the first promise of the Redeemer, and traced that promise throughout the Scripture. He may have lingered on Genesis 22, which tells of Abraham placing his only beloved son on the altar. Surely he touched on the Passover, the sacrifices, the tabernacle ceremonies, the day of atonement, the suffering servant in Isaiah 53, prophetic Psalms like Psalm 22. Of course, not every text points to Jesus in the same way. Some show him as creator, others as judge, others as prophet, others as priest, others as king. But one of the things verse 27 tells us is the amazing unity of the Old Testament. Even though it contains 39 books, written over a span of a thousand years by men who worked independently of each other, who lived in greatly differing cultures, Egyptian, Palestinian, Assyrian, and Babylonian, it proves to have an organic coherence that is Nothing short of stunning. Never does one part contradict another. And even though the human authors had radically differing vocations and educations, some were kings, some were priests, some were prophets, some were farmers, there's an amazing singularity of purpose. Books written centuries apart seem to have been designed for the express purpose of supplementing and illuminating each other. And the unity that is found, we're told in verse 27, the unity that's found throughout the whole Old Testament, the thing that holds it together, that gives it its inner coherence, is the person and work of Jesus. The Old Testament is far more than just a history book. It's about far more than the construction of Solomon's temple or the clothing of the priest or the family history of a poor widow named Naomi. It's about a person. God has not wasted half a million words in the Old Testament to tell us a few interesting facts about the long history of three million people who lived in a tiny piece of land in the Middle East. No. All of the Old Testament teaches us and points to Christ. He's not just here or there in this prediction or that prophecy. What we are meant to see in verse 27 is that Christ saturates the pages of the Old Testament. He is the Ark of the Covenant. It is His blood on the mercy seat. He is the prophet who preaches like Moses, the priest who prays like Aaron, the king who rules like David. The Old Testament has one central theme And that is Jesus. To say it another way, the Old Testament is not simply background material or a warm-up act for the New Testament. But the Old Testament, we are told in verse 27, contains clearly the person and work of Christ. In fact, let me just state it flatly. The Old Testament is a Christian book. That's what Jesus is doing in this two-hour walk. He is opening these two men's eyes to see Christ throughout the Old Testament. After two hours of Old Testament teaching and seven miles of walking, the three men now arrive at the tiny little hamlet of Emmaus. Now remember, Jesus has still not yet revealed that it is He. And as Cleopas and the other man start to turn into Emmaus, Jesus, according to verse 28, indicates that he's going on. Now in that moment, Jesus is evaluating if these two men are bored or disinterested with his fellowship, but it's not so. They constrain him. In other words, they plead for his company. They offer him a meal and a place to stay. Look what they say to him. They say in verse 29, abide with us. Now, first of all, they're just simply doing that because it's good hospitality. Traveling late in the evening in that culture and in that land involved danger from various sources, robbers, wild animals, and more. But they wanted more than just to protect this stranger. They wanted more of his teaching, more of his words, Where would they get, by the way, such a passion for generous hospitality? Well, they would get it in the Old Testament scriptures that Jesus had just been opening to them. They would get it because they were well-versed in the scriptures. You remember in Leviticus 19, where they were commanded, if a stranger dwells with you, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. Perhaps they'd just been discussing, as Jesus taught, the example of Abraham in Genesis 18, who showed hospitality to some strangers, and by doing so entertained angels. And so by practicing hospitality, these two men entertained more than angels, as Hebrews 13 tells us. They were rewarded with a sighting of the risen Jesus. Well, notice something strange that happens as Jesus sits down in their home. Look at verse 30. The guest becomes the host. For Jesus takes to himself that privilege that the host is to exercise in verse 30. He sat at the table with them. He took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them. Now, don't get confused here because some have tried to say, well, this is the sacrament of communion. That's what's happening here. No, it's not. There's a similarity between what this Sunday night meal And the Lord's Supper that was instituted on Thursday night, there are parallels certainly, but this is not a communion service. For notice something, half of the elements are missing. Only the bread is spoken of. And so Jesus isn't administering the sacrament of communion. That's not what's happening here. This is simply a mealtime where Jesus prays and distributes the bread. But in that moment, look at verse 31. as Jesus prays and distributes the bread. In that moment, their eyes were open to recognize that it was Jesus. Perhaps in the dim light of that home, they saw the nail marks on his hands as he passed the bread. Whatever the means, their eyes were open and they simultaneously recognized that it was the Lord Jesus. And as soon as they did, you see an odd phenomena occur. As soon as they recognize Jesus, he disappears. For they will have to learn that he will no longer be permanently and physically visible to them as before the crucifixion. All of a sudden it all makes sense and they realize why they've been so deeply stirred by the stranger's biblical exposition. I think they were divinely kept from recognizing Jesus so they would base their understanding of the resurrection squarely on the scriptures and not on their experience. Did you hear that? They base their understanding on the scriptures that they've been taught and not just on their experience. Notice what it is that they're excited about. Look carefully at verse 32 because this is the punchline. They said to one another, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us on the road and while he opened the scriptures? Do you see it? Do you notice what they're excited about? What they're excited about is the understanding of the written word. They don't say, wow, it was neat to see a glorified body. No, that's not what they say. They talk about how transformational it is to be given understanding of the written word. That's what gives them that heavenly heartburn. How do we apply this word? Let me make four applications to us this morning from this text. First of all, and don't read past this, we see here the blessing of hospitality. A reminder that we in our selfish, self-centered, cocooning culture need to hear over and over again. Because these men showed common Christian hospitality to this stranger. They received the great blessing. You and I are commanded to show the same hospitality to strangers. Think of Romans 12, 13 that tells us to be given to hospitality. Or 1 Peter 4, 9 that commands us be hospitable to one another without grumbling. Why does our father want his children to be hospitable? Because every time we do, every time we welcome strangers into our home and share a meal with them or give them a bed, We are showing a picture of the gospel. Because God invites and welcomes strangers into his household of faith. Weren't we strangers to the covenant? We're told in Ephesians 2.12. Weren't we by nature strangers and objects of wrath? Yet God embraced us and invited us to sit at his table. How then could we who, to whom God has shown such extraordinary hospitality, how could we refuse to do the same? Our churches should not be xenophobic, which means fear of strangers, but we should be known for our hospitality. By God's grace, our churches should be known for their warmth and welcoming kindness to strangers. And notice who receives the blessing. The one who receives the blessing in this text is the one who extends hospitality, and isn't that always the case? The second application we should see from this text is this text shows us what powerfully drives away depression and sadness. The typical cause of depression and sadness, according to verse 17, is an inadequate understanding of the Bible or a lack of belief in what it says. Now let me repeat that quickly and carefully. A typical cause of depression and sadness is either an inadequate understanding of the Bible or a lack of belief in what it says. If you're, for example, you don't understand and believe that it's normal and to be expected that trials will come, James 1 tells us so, you'll be easily saddened and downcast. Or if you don't understand and believe that God is sovereignly working all things together for the good of believers, according to Romans 8, you'll quickly grow sad and depressed at hard providences. In the case of these two men, their sadness, their paralysis was rooted in ignorance and unbelief of the most basic Christian truths. Their being downcast was tied to the fact they didn't, according to Jesus, they didn't understand and believe all the Old Testament prophets had written. So I would say to you, and not glibly at all, Today, if you are saddened, downcast, and depressed, what this text is showing you is to study the scriptures, especially the death and resurrection of Christ, and plead with God for more faith. The third application. Unbelief, doubt, and skepticism may be the order of our day. We live in perhaps the most cynical, culture ever. We're now, even in some purportedly evangelical churches, skepticism seems to be viewed as a virtue. But my friends, unbelief, doubt, and skepticism are never, ever viewed as a desirable trait by the Lord Jesus. In fact, because these men were, according to verse 25, slow to believe in all that the prophets had written, Jesus calls them foolish men. This text is a wake-up call to put off the cynicism and skepticism that plagues and dogs our culture and even the church and to put on knowledge of the scripture and trust in what they teach. But finally, we saw it a moment ago in verse 32, rather than pointing to his resurrection body first of all, Jesus pointed to the scriptures that pointed to himself. Jesus pointed to the written word that pointed to himself. Jesus may have been dead, buried, and raised, but He still has the same affection and reverence for the Bible. As soon as He comes out of the grave, what does He want to talk about? He wants to talk about, does He say, guys, look, look at my body, look, isn't this neat? This is what your glorified bodies will look like. No, He wants to talk about the Bible. He wants to talk about the written Word. Does this not tell us where our priorities should be? Not in physical phenomena, but in the written word of God. Let's pray together. Father, how we thank you for this word. And Lord, we too are as these two men, we too are rebuked for our unbelief and our ignorance of the word. Lord, we ask that you would, by this word, rekindle our passion to know and study, especially the Old Testament, to find Christ there. We ask for a deeper faith that we would believe what is recorded, that you would banish sadness and despair and even depression by clinging to the truths that are recorded here. Father, how we thank you for this glorious revelation of Jesus alive. And how we thank you that we see him even now in his glorified body with a passion to teach the written word. And oh Lord, we therefore take this as our charge to be found as Christ did, to be teaching, inculcating, instructing the written word that by it we might have joy and eternal life. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.