13 And behold, two of them were going that same day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem. 14 And they were conversing with each other about all these things which had happened. 15 And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus Himself approached and was going with them. 16 But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. 17 And He said to them, “What are these words that you are discussing with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 And one of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?” 19 And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a mighty prophet in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. 22 But also some women among us astounded us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and not finding His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also said, but Him they did not see.” 25 And He said to them, “O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. Luke 24: 13-27 LSB
Luke 24: 13-27 Emmaus Road
There is a thing called the Scarlet Thread, where one can trace Jesus throughout the OT, the promise of Him, the pictures of Him, and even His presence, and I have written several posts on this which I will include at the end. I think that verses 13 - 24 here are very self explanatory, and so I am going to pick up with what some scholars would use interchangeably with the Scarlet Thread, we are going to walk the Emmaus Road, hearing what the prophet's had to say about Jesus.
V. 25 O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken - The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, but it also tells us that not all who hear understand or receive. The disciples had been in Jesus' School for 3 years now, many in the crowds He spoke to had spent their lives going to the daily reading, studying the word of God, yet unable to recognize it when it was walking among them. Many of them were moralist who studied the law, admired the prophets, probably even quoted them, yet the whole reason for them to exist was to point to Christ whom these people don't recognize.
8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!” 9And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”… Isaiah 6:9
11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain, because you are dull of hearing. 12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food! 13For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness.… Hebrews 5: 11-13
V. 26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory - Again, He isn't bringing them some new teaching, He is taking them back to the Word of God, and He is the Word become flesh, history is His story, and just Isaiah 53 on it's own is a crisp enough picture describing all they had just witnessed, and Isaiah wrote it 700 years before it happened. When you add to that the pictures provided like the lamb without blemish, the announcement of the seed of the woman, the types like Moses, Elijah, David, Joseph and the tabernacle, it becomes more than crystal, a seemingly impossible message to miss, but also too incredible to play out, yet it did. Why are we so slow to believe? They are debating it with one another, and Cleopas in verses 18-21 gives what could be an outline for Psalm 22 or Isaiah 53, acknowledging that Jesus was a prophet, and then in vs. 21 acknowledging that He was their hope, "that it was He Who was going to redeem Israel". They debate because they don't understand the scope. He is their Redeemer, but He has just saved them from something far worse than Rome. He died for their sins, and this exceeds the temporal, goes far beyond the comprehension of time and space.
Spurgeon comments "Supposing him to be a stranger in Jerusalem, yet one who was well acquainted with Jewish prophecy, they had told him exactly what the prophecies had foretold concerning the Messiah. If they had meant to refer to the various prophecies concerning Christ, they could not have detailed facts which would have more accurately fulfilled them, and therefore Christ said to them “O you foolish men, how slow of heart you are to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” - I feel sure that He said that word very gently; — not as you and I might say it, in a pet. Yet, truly, as we read the story, we cannot help feeling that they were very foolish and stupid. Their own tale convicts them. So no wonder Christ said unto them, “O fools,”He called them fools, or wanting in thought and understanding. The original words do not imply contempt; our Lord gently rebuked them for not seeing what was so plainly revealed in Scripture.) Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? (Is it not so predicted in the prophets? How could it be otherwise? - Precept Austin
To enter into His glory - This is also predicted, that He would conquer sin and death and then sit at the right hand of the Father until His enemies are made His footstool. More debate, because they want the Kingdom right now, but what do the Scriptures say, what did their Lord teach?
1A Psalm of David. The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” 2The LORD extends Your mighty scepter from Zion: “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.” 3Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth.… Psalm 110: 1-3
…23How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 25There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.… Luke 21: 23-25
1When Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. 2For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him. 3Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.…
…4I have glorified You on earth by accomplishing the work You gave Me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed. John 17: 1-5
V. 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scripture - That's some walk, I would have loved to have been a fly riding atop one of their caps. When He says Moses, that would include the first 5 books of the Bible, the books of Moses or also referred to as the Pentateuch. Remember God's warning in the garden, that in the day they eat of the fruit of a particular tree they would surely die, and Satan's temptation was, no, you won't die, you will be like God.
14So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. 15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3: 14-15
As early as Genesis comes the mention of Christ, the Seed of the Woman, and Satan's attack against Him that will end in the serpent's head being crushed. From there we move to the flood of Noah's time, and a family of 8 that were the only one's saved because they were found inside the ark. This showed God's righteousness regarding sin, His holy wrath and intent to remove it, yet He saved 8 people in the ark, revealing also that He is a Rescuer. Sin did not disappear with the flood though, and I will cover the conversation at Babel when I get to John, but let's move to Abraham. He was a man chosen by God out of all the people living on the earth, and God promised Him a son in whom His Seed would be called. Abraham tried to go about it another way because his wife was barren, but God breathed life into a dead womb, much like story of everyone who has been born again. Abraham had a son in his old age, Isaac, and God asked him to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice, his only son from his wife Sarah. Here we see God the Redeemer, the Substitutionary atonement.
11Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” 13Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.…
…14And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” 15And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time, 16saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son,…
…17I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. 18And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Genesis 22: 11-18
Later we see the life of Joseph, a type, sold into slavery by his own brothers, hated by them, a servant to a man named Potiphar, falsely accused and imprisoned and then elevated to the right hand of Pharaoh. When Joseph's father Jacob is dying he gives this prophecy about Judah, and it points to another type, nearer in David and then ultimately in Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The Jews were aware of this as well and watched longingly for a son of David.
…9Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? 10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his. 11He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.… Genesis 49: 9-11
Later came the prophet Moses who would lead the people out of Egypt, perform miracles before the Egyptians and here we have the institution of the Passover as well. Only the houses with the blood on the door were passed over by the angel of death, every house not protected by this blood lost it's first born, including the son of Pharaoh. Later the people that Moses led out would rebel in the wilderness and God would send punishment in the form of venomous creatures.
…6So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died. 7Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people. 8Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.”…
9So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live. Numbers 21: 6-9
…13No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.… John 3: 13-15
15The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him. 16This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”… Deuteronomy 18: 15-16
I am going to skip forward to Psalm 22, a thousand years before Christ. This speaks well to the treatment the Messiah will receive from men, the mocking and even a vivid picture of a Roman crucifixion, long before the rule of Rome.
But I am a worm and not a man,
A reproach of men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
They smack their lip, they wag their head, saying,
8 “Commit yourself to Yahweh; let Him rescue him;
Let Him deliver him, because He delights in him.”
9 Yet You are He who brought me out of the womb;
You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.
10 Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.
11 Be not far from me, for distress is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
13 They open wide their mouth at me,
As a lion that tears and roars.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It is melted within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
And You lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me;
18 They divide my garments among them,
And for my clothing they cast lots.
Psalm 22: 6-18
And from here to Isaiah, the picture is getting clearer and clearer.
…13Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well? 14Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel. 15By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey.… Isaiah 7: 13-15
…6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this. Isaiah 9: 6-7
…5The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back. 6I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle. 7Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.… Isaiah 50: 5-7
13Behold, My Servant will prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14Just as many were appalled at Him— His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form was marred beyond human likeness — 15so He will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For they will see what they have not been told, and they will understand what they have not heard.… Isaiah 52: 13-15
…3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. 4Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. 5But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.… Isaiah 53: 3-5
…5Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land. 6In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23: 5-6
…24Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 25Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress. 26Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.… Daniel 9: 24-26
…2But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity. 3Therefore Israel will be abandoned until she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of His brothers will return to the children of Israel. 4He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD His God. And they will dwell securely, for then His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.… Micah 5: 2-4
9Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be broken. Then He will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will extend from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.… Zechariah 9: 9-10
10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11On that day the wailing in Jerusalem will be as great as the wailing of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.… Zechariah 12: 10-11
He's coming back, best make right with Him now based on the terms He has provided.
5“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”… John 14: 5-7
These are some links below that go more in depth into Jesus story in the Old Testament.
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