Jason Robinson - Toward Jerusalem - Class 6 - The Only Visitor

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Thank you very much. And for our second to last time, Good morning, Bible School. It’s Friday. Where did the week go? All right, today’s topic is the only visitor. Before we jump into that quick question, was anybody surprised yesterday how many times food comes up in Luke’s gospel? It’s pretty crazy, isn’t it?

2. 0:24

   And I can’t believe I miss it, whether Pete reminded me of another one. What was the first miracle performed by Christ? Water to wine again, another food one and again the the first miracle, water to wine, the first temptation to turn bread. We see this theme beautifully, I think, taken through us, taken with us throughout Christ’s journey to Jerusalem. So thank you guys very much for your comments and questions after the classes.

3. 0:52

   They’ve been appreciated. OK, so we’re going to talk today about the only visitor. We’re going to be talking today based in Luke chapter 20 four, what we did yesterday is we entered into Jerusalem. It was a bit rushed yesterday, but we did make it there. Christ enters into the the temple and T as we see in Matthews account, he overthrows the tables, the money changers. Only one table belongs in the temple. There’s the table of showbread and again, another little food, quick food teaser for you.

4. 1:25

   But he enters into the temple. He he removes the the den of thieves from there he is crucified. He is resurrected. And we come then to Luke chapter 24. Now, as we’ve seen so far in our sessions, a very, very, very large majority of the people who Christ came into contact with were confused as to the purpose of why Jesus came. We’re going to look at a few of those to kind of start us off today, because the theme for today is, do we actually know, do we actually recognize who Jesus is? That’s what Luke 24 is trying to show to us is do we see who Jesus is or do we miss him?

5. 2:13

   Do we do we confuse him with somebody He’s not? So Luke chapter 24. So we’re going to start off, but let’s get some context here to see who so far in our journeys has kind of missed the point, has kind of missed who Jesus was, why he came so on and so forth.

6. 2:32

   So the first place we’re going to go is Luke chapter 2 turns me to Luke chapter 2. This is the beginning we’re going to see in Luke chapter 2 in verse verse 49. We know this is the the visit the temple. And he said to them, how is that you sought me? He says to his parents, whiskey not that I must be about my father’s business. And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. So the first person we get is his mother. His mother is confused as to what he was doing and maybe to the purpose, at least at this point in his life. The next group we want to go to is in Luke Chapter 9. Luke Chapter 9, we’re given another group who’s confused as to why Jesus has come.

7. 3:17

   Luke Chapter 9 verse 18. And it came to pass as he was alone praying, His disciples were with him. And he asked them saying, who do the people say I am? They answering said John the Baptist. Some say Elias, others say one of the old prophets is risen again. So the crowds, the people didn’t understand who Jesus was we saw yesterday and basically the rest of the week. Luke 1834 tells us they, the disciples understood none of these things.

8. 3:49

   This saying was hid from them neither they knew that the things which were spoken that the apostles, the 12 chosen by Christ missed who he was, missed his purpose, missed the reason for his journey to Jerusalem. Now especially as we come near to the end, Luke chapter 20 verse one, it says, and it came to pass on one of those days as he taught to the people in the temple and preached the gospel, the chief priests scribes came upon him with the elders and spake unto him saying, tell us by what authority do you do these things or who is it that gave you this authority? So the leaders of the religious organization based in Jerusalem were also now confused.

9. 4:31

   They’d misunderstood why Jesus was sent. This is a lot of people who miss completely why Jesus was sent to Jerusalem. Besides one or two very perceptive people at his birth and his death, his ministry went largely misunderstood. His entire journey toward Jerusalem was lost on the crowd. How many people in his day expected a Moses like person? How many people in his day wanted a Moses like person? Somebody who would, who would go into Lee of the Romans and say, let my people go, if you don’t, we’ll send plagues upon all the Roman Empire.

10. 5:15

    How many people wanted that man to March into Jerusalem? It’s no wonder that when he’s captured, the people say, yeah, yeah, yeah, crucify him. He’s done nothing for us to help us against the Romans. They missed the man that was right there in front of him. They didn’t see him even though he stood right there. That’s Luke 24.

11. 5:42

    Jesus wasn’t who they thought he was. So when he rides the donkey into the final chapter of his life, he’s finally entered into Jerusalem. He wasn’t there to conquer the Romans. He was there to conquer a far older enemy, the reign of sin and death, an enemy that was 4000 years old, the one that had conquered all. But no one understood who Jesus truly was. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruits in the Garden, all they knew was good, that was.

12. 6:16

    What was in the world was simply good. They had a knowledge of good. Evil became for them a new experience. This was what was created when they sinned. Evil now lived in the world. It was a piece of fruit and it was the sin behind it that exposed them to this brand new world.

13. 6:41

    It was a one of sin and death. They understood consequences. And so, brothers and sisters, we now know that if we exercise the bad, we’ve seen in our journey to Jerusalem together that Christ came and to call us to repentance. If we exercise the good, we’ve learned that Christ has now made a way through grace and mercy for us to be saved.

14. 7:05

    So all this being the purpose of his journey towards Jerusalem, God was taking a man, He was turning his Son into the Savior of the world, to rid the world of the evil and to put in it again good. All right, so with that context, let’s come to Luke chapter 24. We’ve been talking this whole week about getting to Jerusalem. That’s been our theme, getting there. He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. It was time for him to be taken up. Luke ends his whole book with the story about leaving Jerusalem.

15. 7:49

    Why? Why would Luke end this book with a story about departing Jerusalem? It’s one of my favorite stories in all of Luke’s gospel. It’s a story about a couple people who have no idea who Jesus is. He places immense priority in talking to them. He reveals who he is when he eats with them. What a story Luke concludes his book with. What a mysterious, curious story he’s going to leave for us. In Luke chapter 24, a couple people who don’t recognize him, who Christ came to save, brothers and sisters. This has been Luke’s journey.

16. 8:36

    This has been Luke’s journey narrative with Christ. How many times did Christ save, heal, call somebody completely unexpected? That’s the point of the journey to Jerusalem. He’s called everyone, including these two strangers on the road to Emmaus. He calls everyone to follow him to Jerusalem. But even those who follow Christ may not recognize him.

17. 9:08

    So we open it up with Luke chapter 24 with a couple people who are leaving. They are going to talk to Christ, but they’re not going to recognize him. Now, this theme here has been really what Luke is trying to get us to see. This whole time people were confused. We’ve already been opened up by looking at at everybody who’s been confused.

18. 9:31

    You see, everyone at the time tried to take Jesus and to fit him into this mold of who they expected the Messiah to be, they said. We’ve read these things before. We know who’s coming. It’s, it’s, it’s someone who’s going to deliver us from the Romans and, and, and we know that, that it needs to be in this exact picture, this exact shape. And we know what he’s going to do. And so when Jesus comes onto the scene, it doesn’t match any of this.

19. 9:59

    They look at their at their texts and they say, this is, this is not what we’re expecting. No one would recognize why he came. This is Luke 24. Everyone at the time tried to fit Jesus into the mold they assumed he should fit into, not into the actual reason he came. They failed to see the entire journey to Jerusalem. Did he tell them what his plan and mission and purpose was? Yes.

20. 10:30

    Over and over and over. He told them he would die. The Law told them they he would die. The Psalms told them he would die. The prophets told him told them he would die. This is not new. This should not be a surprise to anyone. But when they came, they expected somebody completely different.

21. 10:53

    They should have expected him to be beaten, betrayed, murdered, resurrected. They didn’t. They didn’t see it. It wasn’t the Messiah that they were expecting. So these two travellers join all the other characters we’ve looked at in Luke who are blind to who the Savior truly was, the Savior who walked right beside them the whole time. We need to ask ourselves by the sisters, should we see Jesus for who he truly is or if we changed him to fit into what we think he needs to look like, what we think he needs to act like? Or do we go to the Scripture and say this is the main we follow to Jerusalem?

22. 11:34

    That’s the question we have to ask ourselves. It’s not for, it’s not for our neighbor to answer, it’s for us to answer. Let’s then quickly look at the events that are recorded for us in Luke 24. We have in Luke 24 the resurrection first. This happens in Luke’s account in the 1st 11 verses.

23. 11:57

    Now this is the resurrection. It happens in all four gospels, of course. Next event is he appears to marry. We’re told this in Mark’s and John’s account that he appears to marry. We’re given a little extra detail in Matthew’s account that he appears to the women. So these are the order of events. There was more than one woman at this appearing. And then some people, some commentary commentaries place the appearance to Peter and we’re going to look at this in a second place, the appearance to Peter right after this appearance to the women.

24. 12:28

    We’re going with Luke’s account for now. So the next people he’s going to talk to is in verse 13. It’s going to tell us the story of the two travelers. Today’s session is a story. We’re not going to be hopping through the journey to Jerusalem anymore. We’re not going to be pointing out little things that we can follow and bread crumbs that we can trail.

25. 12:51

    We’re going to simply look at the story of Luke 24. So let’s get started. Mark only has 2 verses on these two travelers. Matthew and John don’t really mention them. Luke is going to spend from verse 13 to 35 talking about this appearance. We’re going to look at these this appearance for our session today. The story starts in verse 13.

26. 13:15

    And two of them it says, went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem. About 3 score furlongs. It’s the only time we have this phrase, this place called Emmaus. Now they’re traveling from Jerusalem. We notice Luke’s gospel has been trying and trying and trying and trying to get us to Jerusalem. He’s going to conclude with a couple people leaving the city. Why?

27. 13:46

    Why is this the concluding story? The ESV says it’s about 60 furlongs is about 7 miles. So what this looks like is probably a walk of two, 3-4 hours from Jerusalem to Emmaus. So what they’re doing is it says in verse 14, they talked together of all these things which had happened. So just like you would do at the end of a fun trip with your family, you pack up the car, you get in the car, you start driving and you go, kids, what was your favorite part? And the kids can talk and they can talk and they can say all these fun things that they did.

28. 14:23

    Most rewarding time is just hearing the feedback. That’s what they’re doing. They’re just talking about their trip to Jerusalem. They talked together of all the things that happened, it says verse 15, and it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near. So what they’re doing is they’re communing and they’re reasoning. They communed and they reasoned.

29. 15:00

    The discussion isn’t quite as straightforward as the text actually makes it sound. To communed is pretty straightforward. It means to converse or to talk. But to reason means to investigate, to argue, to debate. What do you suppose that these two people, by the way, we can’t be certain that it was a man and a woman. We know the name of one of them, Cleopas, but we don’t know the name of the other, so we’re not sure. For the sake of the example, I just put a couple, but what do you think that they’re investigating, they’re arguing, they’re debating about with each other? What do you suppose that they would be in heated discussion about as they travelled away from Jerusalem towards Emmaus? We’ll look at the conversation basically. But they probably were saying something like, well, if he were the Messiah, well, why did he allow himself to be killed? What we expected to happen didn’t happen. The man we thought was going to come didn’t come. What happened in Jerusalem?

30. 16:02

    We’re going to see their conversation opened up in a little bit later. But they’ve even clearly stayed an extra few days in Jerusalem if they’re just now leaving after the resurrection. You know, maybe they had heard rumors that he would be resurrected, but no sign had come. And so now they depart Jerusalem. They’d heard that his body is not even there anymore. Maybe the story ends there.

31. 16:29

    So a feeling of defeat. Heads hung low, They leave Jerusalem. But Jesus himself drew near. It wasn’t long after leaving that a stranger joins them. A stranger, a man they did not recognize, joins them. Think for one second about Jesus’s itinerary for this moment after being resurrected. Pardon the visual. He pulls out his itinerary and he says my first thing is to wait around the garden for Mary Magdalene, who interestingly enough, also doesn’t recognize him.

32. 17:20

    The very next thing on his agenda to do, he checks off, waits for Mary Magdalene. The very next thing to do is to travel away from Jerusalem to visit 2 strangers. So he sets off alone. Why didn’t Jesus rush to see all the apostles who’ve probably been crushed at this moment

33. 17:44

    Their Messiah, the man they had followed for 3 1/2 years is dead and his body is lost. We failed as followers. Why didn’t he go to comfort them as his item number 2 on his list? Why didn’t he go and see his mother who’d probably been crying for days at the death of her son to just reassure her he’s he’s been resurrected and then move on to these two? What about going to Pilot’s house and that have been interesting, knocking on Pilot’s door and saying what about crashing the celebration at the Pharisees and scribes, the party they were definitely having somewhere in Jerusalem? Why does he go to these two?

34. 18:33

    That’s the whole story of Luke, isn’t it? You would never expect him to go to the people he goes to. And everybody at his time, everybody who claims to be this religious leader, was so confused that he would debase himself to be like people with this, like this. This is the story of Luke. It’s all about calling the last people that you’d expect, brothers and sisters.

35. 19:00

    It’s about calling people like us, isn’t it? I’d be the last person that I expected to be called to the Kingdom. Think about it for a second. Out of everybody on this planet, the people in this room, you have an opportunity to be in God’s Kingdom. Do you think about that incredibly massive blessing often enough? Think about everybody else in the world. You’re not one of those people.

36. 19:34

    You’re here called to follow Him, and that’s what he does with these strangers. But it says their eyes were Holden. Verse 16 Their eyes were Holden, that they should not know Him. They expected a victory in Jerusalem, not a death. They expected a mighty deliverer, not a humble servant. Their eyes were certainly Holden. To who it was walking with them so as Jesus approached and he catches up to them as they walk heads down sad debating with each other what’s just happened.

37. 20:21

    He catches up and he asks them a question. Verse 17, he said to them, what’s manner of communications are these that you have one to another as you walk and are sad.

38. 20:40

    The phrase and are sad in most other translations is actually describing them and not part of Christ’s response. Most other translations, and I’ll read the ESV here for us. It says, but their eyes were kept from recognizing. And he said to them, what is this conversation that you were holding with each other as you walk?

39. 21:03

    And they stood still looking sad. So we just have a slight change there in what the text probably should read. But they’re sad. They’re standing there looking sad. And Christ approaches them and said, what are you guys talking about? Why do you look stand here? And they stood there looking sad. These two were exhausted. They were debating, they’re arguing, they’re confused. And Cleopas answers, probably an answer he came to regret forever.

40. 21:38

    He says in verse 18, Are you only a stranger in Jerusalem? Was Jesus simply a stranger to that city? The only visitor, say other versions? Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened here? You must be the only person in Jerusalem who has no idea what’s just happened, He says to the Lord Jesus Christ. All the planning, all the effort, all the shame, all the challenges that went to getting to that city so that he could die for the world.

41. 22:30

    The death and the resurrection was barred on the greatest event the planet ever seen. And it happened in Jerusalem. And the man who was responsible was standing there in front of them being called a visitor to that city, clueless to those events. And Jesus chose to make this his visit this morning, his second stop as a resurrected being.

42. 22:56

    He chose to visit these two. Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem, verse 18 and has not known the things which are about to come, which are come to pass in these days. He says, and Jesus, I said it yesterday, man, it would have been humbling to talk to Jesus. Jesus says, what things?

43. 23:25

    What things are you talking about, Cleopas? And he plays into this role of the only visitor to Jerusalem perfectly. Are you the only visitor here who has no idea what’s just happened? What’s happened? He says whether adversary or foe, follower or family, Jesus had a way with words. Let’s look at his answer. And they said verse 19

44. 23:55

    concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And besides all this, today’s the third day since these things were done. Yeah.

45. 24:17

    And certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre. And when they found not his body, they came saying they had seen a vision of the angels which said he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to see the sepulchre and found it even as the women had said.

46. 24:33

    But him they didn’t see. Let’s dissect these words for a second. Let’s just take a look a little bit deeper at what they say. He’s he says that this Jesus, which was a prophet. A couple things we can glean out of this story. He was nothing more than a prophet. According to them, it was just another prophet. He was not the Messiah.

47. 24:59

    He was not to deliver. He was a prophet, but he was no longer is. He was a prophet. He’s gone. We don’t know what’s become of him. Another prophet to perish. He was mighty in Word and deed. Who does that sound like? Moses? Acts 7. They were expecting a man like Moses, weren’t they?

48. 25:27

    This is the man they wanted to see. And they also say our chief priests and rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. They claim that they were their chief priests and rulers. They belong to us, they’re ours. And how could they be wrong? See, what they had unfortunately fallen into, what everyone in this time had fallen into was their teachings.

49. 25:59

    The picture of Jesus that was painted by these chief priests and rulers was a very different man than the Jesus who showed up in Jerusalem. And so when they’re looking for this image of Jesus, it doesn’t match, it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t work. And they’re blind to the man right in front of them and they reveal this so plainly in their conversation. So let’s keep going.

50. 26:30

    It says in verse 25. Then he said unto them, O fools and slow of hearts, to believe all that the prophets had spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory, and to beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them, and all the Scripture the things concerning himself.

51. 26:56

    Jesus then gives what was probably the very best Bible study to this day. Imagine hearing from Jesus himself the conclusion of those two verses that we saw. Luke 1831 came to fulfill everything the prophets written of me. Luke 2444, everything that the prophets in the Psalms and Moses wrote about me. He is the one who delivers the message, verse 27, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

52. 27:39

    Imagine being able to listen to that Bible study. Imagine hearing from Jesus himself, a resurrected Messiah, how every sinew of scripture was relevant to why he was in Jerusalem. This was not some stranger, some visitor to this city. Jerusalem existed for this man. Jerusalem existed because of this man and Jerusalem exists now through this man and he teaches them all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself, but he calls them in verse 25, fools and slow of hearts, ought not Christ have suffered these things and to enter into his glory.

53. 28:37

    This would have been quite a wake up call for those two, wouldn’t it? You’re traveling, the stranger catches up to you. He says we know what things are going on in Jerusalem. They say, oh, this is not that, that and this. And he goes, you fools, you missed the whole thing. It would have been quite an eye opening conversation for them. But Scriptures moves on right past it. And it says in verse 28, again, no rebuttal by these two, verse 28.

54. 29:06

    And they drew nigh into the village where they went and he made as though he would have gone further. The exit sign for Emmaus is coming up and he keeps on walking. He goes right past the exit sign and they say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second, wait a second. Would you be able to come to our house? Verse 29 and they constrained him saying abide with us for it is toward the evening and the day is far spent and he went to tarry with them.

55. 29:32

    But the sisters, he’s going to eat again, by the way, he’s going to have a meal, as Luke often paints, still having no idea it’s their Messiah. They say, come on, stay with us for the evening. It’s getting late. It’s an interesting development. In the summary chapter of Luke,

56. 29:50

    Christ will reveal himself to you. He’ll show you who He is and what His calling entails. But he’s not going to force you down that road, is he? He is going to keep walking. It’s up to us to say, whoa, I want to go with you. I want to go where you’re going.

57. 30:06

    And so they bring Christ to their home. So Jesus sits at the table with them, and the story gets even stranger. Verse 29. And he went to tarry with them. Verse 30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meet with them, He took bread, He blessed it and break and gave to them. Have we heard these words before? We hear these words weekly, don’t we? So Jesus sits at the table with them and does he play guest at their own house?

58. 30:39

    What does he play the role of the host? He gets the bread. What a strange visitor this was to their house. You think about their adventure they’ve had leaving Jerusalem. A stranger joins them, gives them a mysterious, fabulous Bible study.

59. 31:01

    They beg him to come to dinner. He does, and he says thanks for coming to dinner. What a strange event this was. But he takes the bread, he blessed it. He break it and gave it to them, as we saw in our session yesterday on eating. Does Jesus eat here?

60. 31:29

    It doesn’t seem like it, right? We know he eats in his final meal coming up in this chapter. He does what he always does. He feeds others. He feeds others. Now something incredible happens. We’ve read so far their blindness, their eyes were Holden. They have no idea who this is, but something changes at this meal.

61. 31:58

    What is it that changes? It says verse 30. Again it came to pass, as he sat a meet with them, He took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to them, and then their eyes were opened and they knew him. It was at this moment, the moment after not only hearing an exhortation from Christ about how every sinew of Scriptures pointed to this man, it was the moment of breaking bread that the understand who was truly there at their dinner table.

62. 32:36

    They knew Him, it says in verse 31. But what about the breaking of bread made it so? Their eyes were open? What made it so they instantly saw their Messiah? How does He reveal Himself a few verses later? The disciples believe when they what? When they see his hands, so Christ takes the bread, He breaks it, and they pull the bread away from his hand, and they see the holes, and they instantly knew that’s Jesus, that’s the Messiah.

63. 33:22

    Their eyes were open. They see his hands. It’s at this dinner. Jesus reaches across the table, assuming the role of the host. He takes the bread. He breaks it into and he passes it to each of them. And when they take the bread from his hand, they know that’s Christ. We’ve been blind to who he was this whole time. He was a man who came to save.

64. 33:50

    He was the man who died, not the man who would conquer the world. He was a man who came just to die for sin. They knew now who he was. So without a doubt, this man’s Jesus. Oh, just imagine their excitement. Jesus. It’s Jesus. He chose to eat with us. He walked with us. It’s the resurrected Jesus.

65. 34:18

    I can’t wait to tell everyone I have AI have 1000 questions to ask you. Jesus. And what does he do? Instantly he vanishes out of their sight. He’s gone.

66. 34:34

    Their eyes are open to him and before they can even get a single question out, he vanishes. His work there was done. And they sit there absolutely dumbfounded. That’s what they’ve just witnessed. And they recap in verse 32. And they said one to another, Didn’t our heart burn within us while we talked, while He talked with us, by the way, while He opened to us the Scriptures. That was the Christ, and they rose up the same hour. And where did they go?

67. 35:24

    They returned to Jerusalem, brothers and sisters. That’s why Luke ends with this story. Life comes from Jerusalem, and these two, blind to who their Messiah was, leave the city. And Christ says, come on back, we belong here. Life is here and he reveals who he is, who he truly was, not the man the world assumed he was.

68. 36:01

    A man who humbly gave himself. And we also remember him in the breaking of bread. So they leave home. It’s night now, it says verse 33. They rose up the same hour, returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 gathered together and them that were with them. They now know exactly what they have to do.

69. 36:35

    They know exactly where they have to go. They have to return to Jerusalem. Now we before we join these two back on their journey, we should look back really quick and just simply stall on a principle for a bit. As we alluded to, this isn’t the first time a couple was given something to eat and in partaking of that food had their eyes open to something new.

70. 37:02

    This is not the first time and there’s a lot of clues that if we read carefully we would have seen Luke 2436 it says Jesus stood in their midst. Genesis 2 there’s a tree of life was placed in the midst of the garden gave Luke 24 verse 30. He broke it and he gave to them. Genesis 3/6 she took of the fruit and gave also to her husband.

71. 37:30

    Eyes opened. It says in Luke 2431 their eyes were opened and they knew him. Genesis 37 eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked. This is telling the same story. Scripture starts off with it’s little passages like this that make us stand in wonder at this book, and it’s passages exactly like this that these two would have been exhorted on on the road to Emmaus.

72. 38:06

    When Jesus reveals how everything related to him at Bible schools, we get the simplest of dustings of these. Imagine what Jesus was able to give. Imagine their conviction on hearing from himself these things. Oh, what we would have given to just hear some of them. And it says their eyes were opened because this has happened before.

73. 38:41

    Serpent, as a host, offered food to his two guests, the two guests not quite grasping who it was, providing the food. They partake of it, and by eating the food, their eyes are open to something brand new. They gain an understanding they didn’t have before. It should have been obvious that they have listened properly all along, but they missed it.

74. 39:04

    In the garden, Adam and Eve partake of the fruit. They learn evil, but when the two travelers partake of the food, they learn true goodness provided by who Christ actually was in the Garden. Adam and Eve have their eyes open to sin and death and pain, and it’s passed on to all. But the travelers have their eyes open to a man who provided life and passed that on to all in the Garden.

75. 39:29

    Adam and Eve immediately understands what God had been telling them all along. The warnings were now crystal clear. So to the travelers, after partaking of the bread, immediately, instantly understand everything Christ had just told them. It all clicked and the very next thing they do is they go to Jerusalem. They understand now that that’s where they belonged. This is our dream to Jerusalem, isn’t it, brothers and sisters? Christ went to that city most definitely not as a stranger, but as the man who would save the world. Now we’re given a three-step process to eyes being opened in this chapter, Luke 24 verse 32.

76. 40:29

    They said one to another didn’t pass tense. Our hearts burn within us. Firstly, brothers and sisters, we need to have our hearts open to understand the true character of Christ, the true mission and purpose of Christ. When the hearts are open, it says in verse 31 your eyes can be opened and they knew him. And finally, once our hearts have been accepting and we see with the eyes of faith that it says in verse 45 will bring understanding, then open to their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures.

77. 41:26

    Brothers and sisters, He reveals himself to us in the breaking of bread. It’s at the table of emblems every single week that we know who Jesus is. He’s merciful, He’s gracious, He gave everything. That’s who Jesus is. Is that the man that you picture? Is that the image you see? Is that the mold that you see Jesus taking or do we see a Jesus who’s merciful to us? But I hope he’ll rain fire down on them. This Jesus is one who brought life for everyone. He walked to Jerusalem.

78. 42:17

    He put himself on the cross to bear the sins of the world and was accepted to the right hand of his Father. So it says in verse 33 they returned to Jerusalem.

79. 42:31

    Let’s pick up our journey then where we left off and they found the 11 gathered together and them that were with them saying the Lord, they said the Lord is risen indeed and he hath appeared to Simon. This is the clue that we have that possibly he had appeared to Simon before, but they reveal to the 11 that Christ was certainly risen and how he made himself known. Verse 35 in the breaking of bread, it’s eating again. That’s how he made himself known to his brethren. Now you’ll never guess where the story goes from here, do you? Verse 36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, Peace be unto you. So as they the two run in and they’re explaining to this, who appears?

80. 43:26

    Jesus himself. Jesus himself appears again. But they verse 37 were terrified. They were affrighted. They supposed they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are you troubled? Why do you thought to rise in your hearts? Behold, he says, look at my hands and my feet. It’s I myself handle me and see, see, see who I am. For Spirit has not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet.

81. 44:05

    And while yet believe not for joy and wondered, He said unto them, We looked at this yesterday, Do you have anything to eat? And he’s going to partake now of the food, and eat in front of them, to prove it’s me. It’s Jesus, it’s actually me, and he eats.

82. 44:26

    We read in verse 44 the familiar words. Yesterday He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which was written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me, concerning me. Then think of these words in verse 45.

83. 44:57

    He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them familiar words to the disciples, but meant an infinite amount more. Now thus it is written, And thus it was needful for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

84. 45:37

    So brothers and sisters, He now expounds to his eleven friends how everything pointed to this, and He opens their understanding and how everything starts in Jerusalem, beginning at Jerusalem, and it’s all going to start here. This is where it starts, it’s this city. So it goes on and it says, and ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send you the promise of my Father upon you. But he says, Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, wait here, He says, this is Luke’s story.

85. 46:26

    It ends with him saying, disciples, you made it. Wait here for further instructions. Tarry ye here in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. And then we read the familiar words from Brother Stevens class, and he led them out as far as to Bethany, lifted his hands, and blessed them.

86. 46:55

    And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, carried up into heaven, and they worshipped him, and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.

87. 47:17

    And they were to remain in the city of Jerusalem until we get to the second volume of Luke’s works. So the Gospel of Luke ends with this seemingly bizarre random story, a story that doesn’t seem to make any difference if it were included in the text or not. There probably were countless people that Jesus walked with on roads. But this one is given the concluding chapter in Luke’s Gospel, his first book to Theophilus. What an amazing, amazing plot priority that he places on the importance of getting to Jerusalem. So as we’ve made it into the city in our sessions, we still race obviously towards Jerusalem in our lives, brothers and sisters.

88. 48:07

    But tomorrow, God willing, we’ll go beyond Jerusalem. We’ll see that Jesus’s mission wasn’t even close to completion. It was beginning at Jerusalem. We’ll see in the book of Acts. Finally, he has now convicted, motivated, educated apostles, and he showed them He came to fulfill everything, and that everything that was written about him in the prophets and in the Psalms and in the Law was all fulfilled at Jerusalem.