Resurrection Sunday 2010

A blessed resurrection day morning. And how do you respond to that? Anyway. Okay. We'll be going through the passage that Wayne read for us and then on into the subsequent verses as well here this morning. And this is an account I just love to read through it and there's a little bit of almost wondering. Well, we'll get there when we get to some of the passage.

You can wonder, for example, when Jesus was asking what things have happened, how he might have tried to suppress the laughter, how he might have tried to squash the smiles and the grins because, of course, he knew far better than they what things were causing everybody to talk.

You have on page one of your handout on the top Just kind of a quick outline of the appearances of Christ from the resurrection to the ascension, and the references for each of those as given. We'll be looking at the fourth of those here this morning, which is the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Now, to clarify, they are two disciples, but they are not one of the original group of twelve, or actually is eleven at this point, Judas having betrayed Christ and taken his own life. So that passage is what we'll be covering this morning out of this outline of the appearances of Christ.

The other point that I would make is Christ's resurrection appearances from that very first day of the week, what we would call Sunday, until 40 days later. That would be the stretch of time over which these appearances took place. Quite a stretch of time and quite a number of witnesses, as Paul makes clear, well over 500.

And beyond that, a number given by name. Well, as we go through this, the other thing I'd like to do is just kind of step through the days of the week before Christ's resurrection. And they go like this, and this is according to the traditional chronology. There are some who have worked out other chronologies. In looking at it, I think this chronology is a sound one. But it goes like this.

Friday, a week to the day before he was crucified, was the day that Jesus went through Jericho and called Zacchaeus out of the tree there. It was the very next day that Lazarus was resurrected. And so this was a week and a day before Christ himself would be resurrected. You have Sunday is the day that is called often the triumphal entry. And so that occurred a week before Christ was resurrected.

You have on Monday Jesus driving out the money changers from the temple. The temple complex area was an area about six football fields in size. If you could imagine putting six football fields together, that was the complex. And a lot of it was, in this instance, being used for exchanging money and selling animals. And so Jesus drove them out. This is actually the second occurrence where he drove out animals from the temple.

The next day, Tuesday, was the Olivet Discourse. He and the disciples sat across from, and this was the whole twelve including Judas, sat across from the temple area and Jesus told them what was to come in times yet to come, including times even in our own perspective yet to come.

Then on Wednesday he went to the temple and spent time there again. On Thursday is the day of what we call the Last Supper and That would have been a preface here to this Passover event. And then that evening, they would have gone from that event to the Garden of Gethsemane. And the Garden of Gethsemane is east of Jerusalem and slightly to the north.

Then Friday would be the day of His crucifixion. and burial. And then Saturday would have been the entire day, 24-hour period, in the grave. And Sunday, early in the day, would have been the time of His resurrection. So that's kind of a busy week, isn't it?

Lots of things happening. And as we start into this account, these two disciples on the road to Emmaus, it goes like this. And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking to each other about all the things which had taken place. It's been a busy weekend, right? The term Emmaus, the name Emmaus means warm springs.

And what's interesting, about nine different locations have been proposed for exactly which village that was. Now, the seven mile distance that's given in the passage here would cut off some of the proposals because some of them are more than twice seven miles and so those would obviously not be good candidates. And there are some other things that would make a difference. For example, if the name means Warm Springs, you'd be looking for a village that has warm springs, right? And so some of the other names would drop out.

Just to get an idea of the location, here is a map of Israel in New Testament times. You see the Sea of Galilee at the top end, the north end of the map there, and the Dead Sea at the very bottom end. Interestingly, both of those bodies of water are below sea level, and the Jordan River between them also, obviously. Here is the location of Jerusalem. It is west of, and much higher than, the top end of the Dead Sea. And so we have Jerusalem there.

We're going to zero in on that particular area since obviously Emmaus is pretty close to that. Within a close walking distance, about seven miles. So here is the approximate location of Emmaus in relation to Jerusalem there. So it would be a walk that, as we'll see later, if you had to make it to Jerusalem, to Emmaus, and then back to Jerusalem in one day, you could do that. So here's Jerusalem, by the way, and Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, just to the south there, and then Emmaus.

On the day that Christ was raised from the dead, the Jewish families had just celebrated Passover, unleavened bread, and firstfruits in Jerusalem. And the Passover actually would begin on the sundown of the day before. Unleavened bread would begin on the sundown of the next day, firstfruits on the sundown of the next day, etc. And it would go like this. And you have a chart similar to this on page one on the bottom half of your handout. First, there would be the Passover lamb slain. We call that Friday initially. Actually, it would start on the Thursday night.

And then that is the day that Christ is crucified and buried. And then, You have, following Christ's burial, a day in the tomb. The entire 24 hours that we would call Saturday in the tomb. Equivalent to the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

And then thirdly, the first fruits would be on Sunday. Now we call it Sunday. They didn't have such names, but instead they would say this is the first day of the week, the second day, et cetera. They numbered the days rather than gave them names. But that would be the day that Christ was raised. And early that day, the women who were the first ones to discover among the disciples of Jesus, and I say that in a broader term, the first ones to discover that Christ had been resurrected.

Then, as the disciples are told, John and Peter go running to the tomb to check it out for themselves. That's the next step. Then when we come to the passage we're looking at here today, this is a picture of the walkway, the pathway on the road to Emmaus, and kind of give you an idea of what a typical section of that roadway, though it varied, would look like. And so we'll be stepping into that. So while these two disciples were talking and discussing, Jesus himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were, now this is key, their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. And he said to them, what are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking? And they stood still, looking sad."

Now one of the things that we see looking at that passage here, so these two disciples had great disappointment. It was so severe they literally stopped walking for a moment as Jesus asked that question and took on a gloomy and deeply saddened appearance. The English that we have there is actually somewhat softened. It was a gloomy look that they had on their face. You can imagine that. Jesus' question touched on something that was so profound for them Their countenance, their face went gloomy and they stopped walking. It was that intense of a thought.

So let's take a look at their great disappointment here. They were shocked, no doubt about it. So now, you might be wondering, it's okay if you are, why didn't Jesus just come up to them and say, hey, my name is Jesus, good to see you. And it's just awful nice to see you guys again. I knew I would, but I just want to introduce myself now that I'm resurrected from the dead. I look a whole lot better than I did when you last saw me, huh? Right? He didn't do that, did he? Right?

That wasn't his approach. So the question is, why wouldn't he do that? Why didn't he just come up to us? I mean, that would have been the straightforward way to do it. Why not just come up and introduce himself? Why not? Oh, I thought you were going to answer. OK.

We're told a number of times, and this is just for starters, we're told a number of times that the disciples did not understand about Jesus' death and burial and resurrection. They didn't get it. We have here references in Matthew, and you have those on page two of your handout there. By the way, this is the short list. There are additional references that indicate beyond what we've got listed here that they didn't get it. They didn't understand. Mark also has several, also making multiple note of they didn't understand. They didn't get it. Right? Luke, the same thing. And by the way, the fact that they didn't get it is also in this passage and that's not listed. So that's an instance of indicating that this is the short list.

There are actually more indications in every one of the Gospels that they didn't get it. And finally, in the Gospel of John, they did not, did not, did not understand. At one place, Dr. Luke writes that they didn't get it about three different ways. As if to underscore, they didn't get it, and by the way, they really, really didn't get it.

They didn't understand that Jesus was to be killed and buried and resurrected even though he told them multiple times over a period of time. So, not that kind of so, okay. Why didn't the disciples understand? What was their problem? How come they didn't understand? So why didn't Jesus tell them plainly? How come they didn't get it?

He had told them before, of course we gave you the references there, what would happen. They didn't get it, and there are two reasons why they didn't understand. Two. They had teachings and expectations that were in the way of their understanding. We'll go over those in a little more detail, but for now, that's point one.

The Pharisees taught things about the Messiah that put their minds in the wrong place. The expectation, the hope for everyone is that the Messiah would get rid of these Romans. They hated the Romans. And so if the Messiah would come and get rid of the Romans, that would be great. That's reason one. They had teachings and expectations that were in the way of their understanding.

They weren't saying, hey, the Messiah is going to come and die for our sins and be buried and resurrected. And besides that, that wasn't the Messiah they wanted. Next, they were not yet given the Holy Spirit. John 14 begins by saying that the Holy Spirit will be given, but these references in John chapter 15 and John chapter 16, it says that the Holy Spirit will lead them into the truth. the Holy Spirit will help them arrive at the truth, and they had not received the Holy Spirit yet. So they didn't have the Holy Spirit's ministry to guide them to what was true. So not only were they misled by the teachers of Israel, but they also did not have the Holy Spirit to lead them to what was true.

Now, in verse 18, 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? Now, what's the answer to that question? Well, it's the wrong question. That's what the answer is. Of course he knows what's going on, but he's wanting them to think about what's going on.

According to Christian tradition, this fellow Cleopas was Jesus' uncle. and Joseph's brother. Now, if that tradition is correct, and we don't know that it is, he might have been the husband of Mary, the wife of Cleopas. That assumes that Cleopas and Cleopas are the same person, which we can't be sure of. Someone who was present at Jesus' crucifixion. So, interesting if that identification is correct.

Now, here's how this conversation proceeds next. I assume by now they've resumed their walking, right? So, Jesus said to them, what things? At this point, I have to think Jesus is suppressing a roaring laughter, okay? Because, of course, he knows what things. He's been telling them for years what things, right?

But he asks anyway. Now, let's ask this question. Is Jesus asking this question because he doesn't know the answer? Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, I think he's asking the question for us. He's asking the question for you and me. Why? Because as he asks this question, he will get these guys to say what they're thinking. and for us to study it and read about it here this morning. I think that's why he's asking the question.

And they said to him, the things about Jesus the Nazarene, who is the prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. And you'll see why in a moment, why we have those words highlighted in blue, redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. Third day. Now what they said here in this passage we just read was very revealing.

Notice who they said they thought Jesus was. As you look at what they said here, was the statement correct about Jesus the Nazarene? Was Jesus, Jesus the Nazarene? Yeah, that was correct. They get a point for that. Then mighty in deed and word. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Hey, good. They got another one. And then in the sight of God and all the people, right? Well, side of God, yes. And the side of all the people, well, maybe, mostly. But the part there that says, who was a prophet? Was that right? It was right, but it wasn't enough. That was the shortfall. It was right, but it wasn't enough. Was Jesus just a prophet? No. And that's the distinction that they missed. So Jesus asking the question revealed what they understood as well as what they didn't understand.

They also said it is the third day since these things happened. And remember Jesus had been telling them on the third day I'm going to rise, right? So what this is telling you is very likely means that Jesus resurrected earlier that very same day. This was the day of his resurrection, I believe. And so Jesus' resurrection would have been fresh news. And here they are, headed home, and the events of the day, including their own, have not been completed. Verse 24 seems, as we examine it, to confirm that this event took place on the very day in which Christ was raised.

Now, he highlighted redeem Israel. What did it mean to redeem Israel? Well, we get a very strong clue of what the Jews thought of this idea of redeeming Israel. Here is from Exodus 6, 6 and 7, and it goes like this. Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments."

So here are these Jews who have become expert brickmakers. 400 years experience, that's pretty good, right? They've become expert brickmakers, but the Lord was going to get them out of there. because they weren't being paid well. Being slaves? Probably not. Right?

So the Lord was going to deliver them, to bring them out. He was going to redeem Israel, to take them away from the Egyptians. So when Cleopas and the other disciple were talking about, we were hoping that He was going to redeem Israel, is to get the Romans out of here, to get us away from underneath these Romans, because the Romans are terrible.

Besides that, they eat pig meat. Okay. Verse 7, Then I will take you for my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who did what? Who brought you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. And so what these guys are thinking when they use the term redeem Israel, they want somebody to bring them out from under the Romans. That's exactly what they have in mind.

Here's another reflection in 2 Samuel 7.23, And what one nation on the earth is like your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for himself? Towards the end of that verse there, "...your people whom you have redeemed for yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods." Get them out from underneath the Egyptians. Pull them out of the troubles that they're in. And finally confirmed in Psalm 25, 22, "...redeem Israel, O God," is the prayer spoken in there, "...out of all his troubles." That's what redeem Israel means. Get them out of the trouble they're in. And boy, are those Jews in trouble, right? So that's what Cleopas is talking about here.

The next slide we have titled part of the quote from the verse. We were hoping. Oh boy, that's a potent set of verses. If you think about it as human beings, all of our joys, the things that we rejoice in, And all of our disappointments all flow from our hopes and expectations. People will say, oh, I hope this. And it'll either be, I hope this does happen, or I hope this doesn't happen. And whether that's positively fulfilled or negatively decides whether we're joyous or disappointed, right?

That's just the nature of human life. Notice what these disciples said. They expressed their hope in the past tense. It's a hope gone. It's a hope bye-bye. We were hoping. Are they hoping now? No. We were hoping, but it's gone. We were hoping, but it's been dashed. The hope that we had died on the cross.

That's the hope. They were hoping that Jesus would be the one to free the people of Israel from Roman rule. Come in there and grab a great army together and drive those pig-eating Romans out. Right? They thought their hope had ended with the cross. What they didn't understand is that's where hope begins. Right? The cross is not the end of hope. It's not a horrible disappointment. It's the most wonderful thing.

Something to understand, and one of the things I said before was that the rabbis, and by this I mean the Pharisees particularly, had misled the people even about what the Messiah was about. Many centuries ago, the rabbis, and these are primarily the Pharisees, viewed the Old Testament teaching as there will be two Messiahs, not one Messiah, two comings.

And there would be Messiah Ben-Joseph. Ben means son of. So Messiah Ben-Joseph would be the Messiah, the son of Joseph, suffering as Joseph did in the book of Genesis when Joseph was in slavery. and when Joseph was falsely accused, all those things. So Messiah ben Joseph would be the first Messiah who would suffer and die and then Messiah ben David, Messiah the son of David, would come a second Messiah and reign.

That was the Pharisees teaching. However, Messiah ben David was far more publicly taught and anticipated. After all, if he came we could get rid of these stupid Romans. Right? So we want Messiah ben David because he'll get rid of the Romans and we all like that. So the hope and the attention and the focus was all on Messiah ben David and that's what they were looking for. That's what they had been taught to look for.

Messiah ben Joseph was seen as in this Isaiah 52.13 through 53.12 passage. We studied it when we went through Isaiah. That passage, seven centuries before Christ came to the earth, that passage describes Christ's death, his burial, and his resurrection. Seven centuries in advance. That was Messiah ben Joseph, so the Pharisees said. That was the Messiah who would suffer.

But not commonly spoken of because how is that going to get rid of the Romans? So why didn't the Jews see that Jesus was the Messiah? Why did the Jews, by and large, in great part, reject Jesus as the Messiah? Well, they saw these two Messiahs, Messiah Ben David raising Messiah Ben Joseph, as two in sequence and not one single person, two comings.

Since the Pharisees were the champions of the two Messiahs' teaching, when the Messiah comes, of course the Messiah is going to love the Pharisees, right? That's what they were thinking. Because, of course the Messiah is going to love us, right? And so when Jesus didn't just love them and applaud everything they did, they were thinking, there's no way this guy is the Messiah, because the Messiah is going to love us, right? Since Jesus wasn't supportive, they just didn't see a good fit. Since Jesus doesn't love us, and of course the Messiah is going to love us, then let's just get rid of him. Better yet, let's just kill him.

So now, in verses 22 through 24, it goes like this. These two disciples begin recounting to Jesus, but also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body, they came saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. And some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the woman also had said, but him, Jesus, they did not see.

Now what's curious about this, in the Jewish culture, I'm afraid to report that the view of women was not very high. Some of the examples were, well, you find the woman caught in adultery in John 7 and 8. Well, according to the Old Testament law, both the man and the woman are to be brought, right? But they brought only the woman. Also, women in the Jewish courts were not allowed to testify.

Their witness was considered unreliable. Isn't it interesting that the Lord saw fit to have women be the first ones to come to the tomb? So it's perhaps that reason that caused these two disciples to be a little hesitant to believe the women. But him they did not see. The women came, the tomb was empty, the other disciples verified, and then left. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all record women coming to the tomb.

Mary Magdalene is common to all four accounts. Magdalene means she was from Magdala. That's a town in Israel that's being excavated even now. And then the next report common to the first three Gospels is Mary, the mother of James, and then Salome, and Mark, and Joanna, and then other women, unnamed, recorded in Luke.

So who are these women? Salome was possibly the mother of Zebedee's sons, James and John, the sister of Mary, Jesus' mother. Salome was possibly Jesus' aunt. And Joanna was likely the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward, and one of those who had been financially supporting Jesus and his disciples. Recorded for us in Luke 8.

Now, one of the reasons you may be wondering, what about all these Mary's? Seems like every other person is named Mary. Right? Well, about one in five women in Israel were named Mary in those days. Okay? So that's why all the... it's Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of this one, Mary the sister... you know, that's why all the differentiation and why so many Marys crop up. So the Gospels commonly clarify which Mary in the different circumstances there. But notice the final line in that passage we just read, "...but him they did not see." Who are they telling this to? the one who was resurrected.

Can you imagine that? I looked at that and I thought, man, what's this like? It's kind of like someone who has sunglasses on their head, nice bright red ones, and goes around to everybody telling everyone, nobody knows where my sunglasses are. Driving me crazy, right? Here they're telling Jesus Himself. Nobody's seen him. Nobody's seen him.

But what this also tells us is that this account was among the earliest because later on within that 40 day stretch of time, a great many people had seen him. This was a very early account. As a matter of fact, I think even further confirmation that this was the day of the resurrection, quite likely.

What's interesting is these disciples were not rejoicing at the resurrection of Christ. They didn't believe it and so it was just a very troubling disappointment and development. Can you imagine these guys not believing in Christ's resurrection? Their unbelief is unbelievable, right?

And it says also, they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Can you imagine this? Miraculous appearance of angels saying that Christ was alive did not bring them to believe that Christ was resurrected or to understand. I don't know about you, but if there was some angel telling me something, I think I'd probably pay attention. Wouldn't you?

They didn't. It still didn't bring them to believe or to understand. They still didn't get it. For three years, think about this, for three years people had not believed even after seeing miracles with their own eyes. Some of the Jews would see miracles and they wouldn't contest the miracle. They wouldn't even be impressed by it.

They would just say, he must have broken some law. Let's figure out which law he broke and nail him for it, right? Completely blind to the fact that, hey, you just saw a miracle, right? Even eating food that was produced by a miracle. Hey, let's take a little bit of bread and some fish, some dried salty fish, and break it up and feed 5,000 people, right? That didn't impress them. Even Christ repeated predictions about his own resurrection. Nah! I don't believe it.

Luke 24-25 goes like this, and he said to them, O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken. Foolish? Now, the definition of foolish in the Old Testament, what they would have called the Scripture, the definition of foolish is somebody who doesn't believe what God's Word says. That's foolish. Slow of heart to believe?

I've been telling you for three years and you don't believe yet. Well, yeah. He's probably right about that. All that the prophets have spoken. Lazarus was raised only eight days before. But they couldn't think that Jesus possibly could have been resurrected after telling them for three years, I'm going to be resurrected, right? Their unbelief is unbelievable. Verse 26 starts this way.

Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. Yeah, why not? They've got a seven-mile walk in front of them. Might as well talk about something. So he's got lots of explaining to do, right? Lots of explaining here about the Scriptures and going through all the different passages and saying, see, see, now do you get it? Now do you understand? These prophets have been telling you this for centuries.

So as they go along, and he goes along, he explains to them one scripture passage, and then the next, and then the next, and then the next. At this point in time, the scriptures would have been just what we have come to call the Old Testament. Many times Christ pointed the Jews away from their traditions and toward the scriptures. The chapter 5 of Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount Jesus spends most of the chapter, after He gets through what has come to be called the Beatitudes, He spends most of the chapter saying, you've heard this, but I tell you this. You've heard this, but I tell you that. And correcting from the tradition that they've heard back to what the Bible says originally. Sounds like back to the Bible hour, right? Okay.

Jesus did that many times and He also did it here. The Pharisees thought that they knew the Old Testament very, very well. But they had misunderstood and misinterpreted a great portion of it. Jesus laid it all out for them. He made it plain. And it's clear from the passage, they didn't just touch on a few places here and there, but went into lots of passages and lots of detail.

From the books of Moses, the beginning of the Bible, all the way through the prophets towards the end of the Old Testament. That's 39 books if you count them all. You have on page 4, a separate page there, a listing, and this is not exhaustive by the way, a prophecy fulfilled by Christ, his sufferings and his ascension. I think this is a substantial listing of the prophecies that are given in the Old Testament. It's not exhaustive. Someone who has gone through has actually come up with a number of about 300 prophecies that were fulfilled. But this is at least is a very good start. And my suspicion is that Jesus would have gone through a number of these passages that you see right here with these two disciples on the road to Emmaus there.

So, we asked earlier the question, why didn't Jesus come up and say, Hi, I'm Jesus, I just resurrected, good to see you, after being dead a few days. Instead, He first held back who He was, but explained the Scriptures. Rather than just show up and immediately reveal Himself, He had to first present the Scriptures, and then explain so that there was understanding. to one, correct the misunderstandings that they had, and two, to get the right understanding in place. So as they walked along, he gave them the scriptures and the explanations.

The truth is we learn in a similar pattern, don't we? We, too, have to first come to understand God's word clearly, and then we believe it. But it's a matter of understanding what God's word says clearly and being able to step out in faith on what God's word reveals.

God does not ask us to take a leap of faith. And faith is not just being gullible. Faith is believing what's been revealed on the basis of understanding. He wanted them to understand. He wants us to understand. We can then believe what we understand. Faith in the revealed facts and the spiritually revealed facts, facts revealed for us.

That's what is meant by, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith in what God has revealed. It's not a stumbling along and sticking our hands out as if we're, you know, unable to see anything in front of us, but it is walking by what is revealed so that it is clear.

Now in the next part of the passage it goes like this, verses 28 and 29, and they approached the village where they were going and he acted as though he were going further. Now it's interesting, earlier he said kind of naively, what things? Here he acts like he's going to continue on, but they urged him saying, stay with us, for it's getting toward evening and the day is now nearly over. So he went in to stay with them. So as he was talking to them and they were approaching Emmaus, Warm Springs. He's acting like he's going to continue walking. Of course, this whole thing of walking on the road to Emmaus, he wasn't coming from somewhere and going somewhere, right? He was actually coming to spend time with them.

He was coming for this very purpose of being with these two disciples. The disciples, of course, would have asked the stranger to stay with them. It was just a matter of Jewish custom. Of course, you'd have this stranger come and stay with you. That was just hospitality custom in the Jewish culture of the day. So that would be a given. But aside from that, as you read through this, and especially as we continue on the passage, you get the impression that they have reasons from the Jewish culture to impress him to stay, but also they are starting to get the impression, this is a very special guy we're talking to here. And in fact, that impression that they were getting was correct. They didn't know how correct it was. This was a very special stranger.

In Luke, 24 30 to 31 and when he had reclined at the table with them he took the bread and blessed it and breaking it he began giving it to them then their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from their sight what's interesting as you look back at verse 16 their eyes were prevented from recognizing him God did not allow it yet But here in verse 31, their eyes were opened. Their ability to recognize Him now that they had spent time listening to the truth of God's Word, their ability to recognize Him now that they had had the meaning of God's Word explained, suddenly accomplished. These disciples were given sufficient explanation by Christ from God's Word in order to come to a true understanding of Scripture. Their recognizing Him at that point suddenly made sense. Then their eyes were opened, not by themselves but by the Lord, and they saw Christ just long enough to finally realize who this stranger was. that they'd been talking to and serving as hosts. What an amazing recognition and realization that might have been. Can you imagine that? You put yourself in that circumstance? Wow.

They didn't realize it up until the very moment that Christ vanished, and then they realized. Which tells us something. Christ was not there to have a meal. He was there to have them recognize. He was there to have them understand God's Word. Not just to eat and not just to walk. And he wasn't really going anywhere past Emmaus or even to Emmaus. He was going with these two disciples. The last verses go like this.

And they said to one another, were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road? while he was explaining the scripture to us. And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. Heavens, I thought they were just headed home, right? Returned to Jerusalem and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon. They began to relate their experiences on the road and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread. They shared together all the things that had taken place among all of them.

Now, I have a question for you here. Does God want us to have spiritual heartburn? Was that the point here? Any of you have that, spiritual heartburn? Verse 32 brings up a very important and relevant issue, especially in our culture. What place do our subjective feelings have in our lives as Christians? Are they bad? Are they good? Should we seek them? Should we shun them? Are feelings the ultimate gauge? These two disciples expressed truthfully what they both felt subjectively. What they said was actually true when they talked about their feelings.

So their feelings were not made up and it wasn't a matter of saying, oh we didn't feel that way, when in fact they did. But note that what Christ was seeking for them was to have faith in the facts first. That's what Christ was seeking. Faith in the facts. Were the feelings good? Yeah, they were good. As long as they're grounded in the facts. As long as they're grounded in the truth.

Their feelings were supplemental, not primary. The feelings did not lead, they followed. Their spiritual realization changed them radically, no question about it. First of all, they changed from heading home to going back to Jerusalem. But they also sought out the eleven disciples and all the other disciples that were with them back in Jerusalem. Additionally, first the eleven disciples said that the Lord had already risen and that He, by this time, had appeared to Simon.

1 Corinthians 15.5 confirms this. Simon Peter, also known as Cephas.

Then the two from Emmaus, these two disciples on the roadway, shared their experiences and their realizations as we've been reading through here this morning. And a key point here, God intends that the spiritual realization of Christ's resurrection changes us radically too. As we behold our risen Lord through his word, it's God's design and intent that we are transformed, changed miraculously into the image of his Son. That's a spiritual realization that the Lord wants us to have.

Also that His life is lived through each one of us who believe. He was resurrected not just to have some miraculous event, not so Jesus can continue on living by itself, as important as that was. But He was resurrected that His life might be in and through us. That's the critical importance and relevance to us here today as we observe this Resurrection Sunday. As a result of the resurrection of Christ and our union with Him in that resurrection, we also have what the Apostle Paul wrote to Titus as a blessed hope.

Not just a hope, not just some kind of hope, and not just an I hope so kind of hope, but a certain hope, a blessed hope that one day He will come and take us to be with Him forever and for always, nonstop. That is the spiritual realization that God intends for us. A people with a hope unlike the hope that those two disciples had. It's not a we had hoped kind of hope. It's a certain hope. It's a sure hope. It's a hope that will not fail and will not disappoint.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the marvelous hope that we have, the amazing and indeed blessed hope that we have, because you indeed did rise from the dead. Thank you for the hope that we have for this life and the hope that we have for eternity. Thank you for the hope that we have in how this life is lived. It is basically, it's not our job to live it. It's yours through us. We thank you for that wonderful hope, that blessed hope, that marvelous hope, and your most amazing grace. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.