Luke
24:13-35
Sight in the natural sense is perhaps the most
important of all of our human 5 senses. I have personally asked people how much
money would they be willing to be given to them in exchange for both of their
eyes and 100% of the people have rejected any amount of money in exchange of
their eyes. It is utterly foolish for someone who is able to see to voluntarily
give their eyes away so they could get something that will eventually perish. However,
there is supernatural eyesight that is far more precious and important than
natural eyesight because no matter how healthy the natural or physical eyes are
they will soon close for good at the person’s sure appointment with the physical
death of the body. The spiritual eyes of every soul will either be opened by
the Lord Jesus Christ upon regeneration and new birth or else the spiritual eyes
will remain closed and the soul will spend eternity weeping and gnashing their
teeth in the torments of hell and then the Lake of Fire forever. This reality
of having ones spiritual eyes opened by the Lord Jesus Christ is the most
important and the most serious thing there is in our the entire Universe.
As we enter into this last Chapter of Dr. Luke’s
gospel, we find his record of our Lord’s resurrection from the grave. Dr. Luke
is the only one of the 4 gospel writers that records in detail this encounter
our Lord Jesus Christ had with these two men on the road to Emmaus. Now as
these two men were walking this long distance home of 7 miles, our Lord confronts
them and journeys along the road with them, but the Scripture says, Luke
24:16 “But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.” Here
they are in the very presence of the One they mourned and were sad because of
His death not having spiritual eyes to see. Our Lord had told His disciples for
3 years that He was going to be taken into custody and crucified on a Roman
cross but He would rise from the dead after 3 days. Here it is the 3rd
day since He was taken down from that cross and buried and these men who
obviously were part of His followers spoke to Him of Him in the past tense by
saying, Luke 24:19 “And He said to
them, ‘What things?’ So they said to Him, The things concerning Jesus of
Nazareth, who was a Prophet
mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.” It is not clear from
any of the other gospels how long these men were followers of our Lord Jesus
but it is certain that they followed Him long enough to have heard Him speak of
dying and then rising from the dead. Their understanding of the Old Testament
was grossly erroneous just as the religious Jewish rulers thinking our Lord had
come this first time to deliver Israel from Rome’s dominion and set Israel up
as the Nation to rule over all other Nations (Luke 24:21).
Their spiritual eyes were shut and they were void of
understanding from the Old Testament Word of God. Our Lord was so patient with
these men and all of His followers during the 3 years they walked with Him but
it so distressed Him that they had such a hard time believing His Words that
were the same words He gave to the Old Testament Prophets long ago. The disciple’s
spiritual eyes were closed to the true mission and purpose of Christ as the
Messiah as well and this is what caused their sadness and the crushing let down
they felt at the moment of His death. Our Lord took these two men like a Mother
Hen does her brood and explained to them all of the Scripture that foretold His
suffering, His death, and His triumphal resurrection that it appears just about
every Jew miss-interpreted from the Scripture (Luke 24:27). Yet as our Lord walked and explained to them spiritual
truth they were still undiscerning about who it was that walked and spoke with them.
It is always Jesus who makes the initial contact with sinners and without Him
moving toward us none of us would ever follow Him. It was the whole purpose of
our Lord speaking to all people in Parables to conceal and reveal spiritual
truth and only by Him explaining these truths to His true disciples even they
could never comprehend or have eyes to see spiritual truth without the touch
from the Master’s hand.
When our Lord spoke truth to these two men their
hearts were so stirred in them like never before and they were brought to full
illumination by the very power of the Word of God spoken from the lips of that
very Word made flesh (Luke 24:30-32).
It takes the Lord Jesus Christ as He operates now through the Holy Spirit to
convince sinful men and women that they have offended Him alone. The spiritual
eyes that are blinded by sin will never be opened by reformation or 12 steps,
but on the contrary they can only be opened by the Creator of Life breathing
new life into a spiritually dead soul and resurrecting it from the dead. What these
men did after their hearts were burned from its dullness, deadness, and
downcast state is clear and visible evidence of their renewed hearts, as they
after having just walked 7 miles from Jerusalem home to Emmaus immediately got
up and prepared supplies and went back to Jerusalem to spread the “good news”
that Jesus Christ was alive from the dead (Luke
24:33-35). They told the original eleven disciples and everyone else who
would listen what happened to them on the Road to Emmaus when they met the
Resurrected Savior and their eyes were opened by the Lord Jesus to see the Lord
Jesus and to speak only of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the heart’s desire
and motivation of every truly regenerated son or daughter of God to spread the “good
news” and give testimony of what happened to them when they met or had an
Encounter with the Resurrected Christ Jesus.
1
Peter 1:3-9 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are
kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if
need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your
faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is
tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of
Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love.
Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy
inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith --- the
salvation of your souls. NKJV
“[The natural life] knows that if the spiritual life gets
hold of it, all its self-centredness and self-will are going to be killed and
it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that.” C. S. Lewis
“The Spiritual Life is the gift of the Living
Spirit. The spiritual man
is no mere development of the Natural man. He is a New Creation born from
Above.” Henry Drummond
“If we know that the aim of the Holy Spirit is to
lead man to the place of self-control, we shall not fall into passivity but
shall make good progress in spiritual life. ‘The fruit of the Spirit is
self-control.’” Watchman Nee
“We have come to a turning point in the road. If we turn to the right mayhap
our children and our children’s children will go that way; but if we turn to
the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been
unfaithful to God and to His Word.” Charles Spurgeon
If
you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this
from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear
Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I
believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from
the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn
from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control
of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you
Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus
Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and
Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple
I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader,
Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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