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Amen. Well, please read the reading of God’s Word. And again, we’re taking a little break
this morning from our study of the book of the prophet Isaiah to turn to a passage from
Luke’s Gospel. Luke is the longest of the Gospel accounts, one of the most detailed of the Gospel
accounts. We learn at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel that he consulted many eyewitnesses in
compiling his narrative about the life and teachings, the death and resurrection of Jesus.
And this morning, I’d ask you to turn to Luke chapter 24. I’m going to read verses 13 through
35. If you’d like to follow along in your pew Bible, you’ll find that on page 1051. Luke 24,
verses 13 through 35. And just to set the context, Jesus has already died from the
death of the day of his resurrection later on in the day. So let us hear God’s word.
That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.
And they talked about all these things that happened. While they were talking and discussing
together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing
him. And he said to them, What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?
And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them named Cleopas answered him, Are you the only
visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? And he
said to them, What things? And they said to him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a
prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and the
rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was
the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things
happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the
morning. And when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had seen a vision of
angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it,
just as the women had said, but him they did not see. And he said to them, Oh, foolish ones,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ
should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with most prophets,
he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the
village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going further, but they urged him strongly,
saying, Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay
with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to
them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight.
They said to each other, Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road,
while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.
And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together saying, The Lord has risen
indeed and has appeared to Simon. And they told what had happened on the road and how he was known
to them in the breaking of the bread. Here once the grass withers and the flower fades, but the
and doers forever. Let’s pray for God to bless the preaching of his word.
Our Lord and Father in heaven, your word is amazing. And especially as we consider this portion
of scripture this morning, what an amazing account of our Lord’s resurrection appearance
to these two disciples. O Lord, we would ask that by your spirit you would open our minds and our
hearts to hear and understand and perceive wondrous things from this portion of your word. And we
would ask, Lord, that you would grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare and
speak forth your word in a way that is understandable, that is clear, and that is blessed by the power
of your Holy Spirit. And Lord, we would ask that the seed of your word would indeed
take deep root in our hearts and bear much spiritual fruit in our lives to your glory.
In Jesus name and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated.
If you’re following along and you’re this morning and there are outlines in the foyer and the
hall, if you’re following along, I would encourage the children to listen to the words in my sermon
today, the words resurrection, scriptures, salvation, and gospel. Well, dear friends,
our passage for this Lord and Father in gospel records an unforgettable conversation between
the resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ, and two of his despondent and confused disciples who were
making their way home from the city of Jerusalem to their home village of Emmaus, Emmaus being
located some seven miles from the city of Jerusalem, as we’re told in verse 13. Now,
it’s a pretty long journey to take, but they’re making their way home. And as they’re making their
way home, they’re puzzled. They’re trying to make sense of the events in recent days. They’re trying
to put the puzzle pieces the dots. Dr. Walter Liefeld is spot on in his commentary when he
writes of this account that, and I quote him, he says, the Emmaus story is a literary and spiritual
jewel. It is at once a moving story, a testimony to the resurrection, an explanation of the empty tomb,
and an occasion for Luke to summarize several of his major themes. Dear ones, this account of our
Lord’s resurrection appearance to these two disciples on the road to Emmaus and his making
himself known to them in the breaking of bread, as we’re told in verse 35 that he did, this is an
event that is recorded only here in Luke’s gospel. That is to say, no other gospel account records
this story. If you examine Matthew and John, you will notice that they do not contain this particular
account of the Lord’s resurrection appearances to these disciples on the road to Emmaus. But friends,
just because that is the case, that does not make this account any less significant as a witness
to the resurrected Jesus. Indeed friends, this account is a particularly moving and powerful
testimony to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, and it was witnessed by two individuals
who had belonged to the larger group of Christ’s disciples. If we read the gospels carefully,
we notice that Jesus didn’t just have 12 apostles, his 12 close disciples whom he called to be
his spokesmen, his apostles, and his eyewitnesses to his miracles and his resurrection, but he had
a larger group of disciples as well, and these two individuals were part of that larger group
of our Lord’s disciples. And it’s interesting, Luke names one of these disciples, in verse 18,
he names Cleopas. Now why did Luke do that? Why does he name only one of these two disciples?
Well perhaps because perhaps some of Luke’s original readers knew Cleopas personally,
or perhaps they knew of him. But whatever the reason may have been, again, why didn’t Luke
record the name of the other disciple? He mentions Cleopas, he doesn’t mention the
case. Well we’re not told, we’re not explicitly told, although some have speculated that the
unnamed disciple may have been the wife of Cleopas. This may be a married couple that are making their
way home from the festival in Jerusalem back to their home in Emmaus. Again, we don’t know this
for sure, but whatever the case may be, we may be confident that Luke had good reason to record
the name of Cleopas and not the name of the other disciple. After all, Luke’s gospel shows its spirit
inspired author, Luke himself, to have been a careful historian, a meticulous historian,
whose gospel account was meticulously organized in its many details. Friends, in this moving account
of the road to Emmaus, we see at least three prominent themes emerge. First of all, and we’re
going to cover this this morning, first of all we see how ignorant even some of our Lord’s own
disciples were about Jesus’s true identity and his saving work, and we’ll focus on that as we
study the conversation that Jesus has with these two disciples. We also learn in this passage
how all of the scriptures, including the Old Testament, point to and are fulfilled in and
testify of Christ himself. We learn that in verse 27. And finally, we’ll consider how only our
resurrected Lord can open our spiritual eyes to perceive and to understand more fully and more
truly who he is and the reality of his resurrection from the dead and the implications
of his resurrection for our lives today, and we’ll consider that from verses 28 to 35. So let’s dive
into our text for today, and I want to encourage you and challenge you to put yourself in the shoes
or the sandals of these two disciples as they’re making their way home from Jerusalem to Emmaus
and trying to figure things out. First of all, let us consider, beloved, how ignorant even some
of our Lord’s own disciples were about his identity and saving work prior to his resurrection. This is
the first main point in your sermon outline. Consider how ignorant even some of our Lord’s
own disciples were about his identity and saving work prior to becoming aware of the resurrection,
his resurrection from the dead. And the three words in that first point are the words disciples,
identity, and resurrection. Let’s turn to verse 13. It says this. That very day, two of them were
going to a village named Emmaus about seven miles from Jerusalem. They couldn’t just get a taxi or
an Uber. They’re walking by foot. They’re making their journey home. So they have a lot of time on
their hands to talk about the events, and they’re confused. It says they were talking with each other
about these things that had happened, and these things were confusing to them. But we learn in
this passage that Jesus’s physical bodily resurrection from the dead throws great light
and great clarity upon all that was previously dark and ambiguous. That very day, what day was
that? Well, that was the day that Christ arose. When you connect this passage with the one
it’s clear from the context that this is the resurrection day. This is later that Sunday,
that Easter Sunday, later in the day after Jesus had risen from the dead. And as I mentioned in
verse 14, since Jesus had recently been crucified on Good Friday, and with all of the reports about
here in the day, there was certainly much to discuss, and there was a whole lot for them
to process. Again, imagine a first-century Jew trying to figure out what has happened.
The one that you had hoped would be the Messiah of Israel. And then he goes on to say this in verses
15 and 16. It says,
and went with them. And I love that Jesus kind of just slips into their conversation. He just
kind of casually ambles along and notices, of course, that they are discussing these things.
And don’t they recognize him? No. It says this in verse 16. It says their eyes were kept
from recognizing them. The resurrected Lord Jesus joins them in their journey. But again,
we’re told that their eyes were kept from recognizing.
No, the implication here, for wise purposes known only to himself, God prevented them
our Lord’s identity at this particular point in time, perhaps because they weren’t quite ready
to see and hear of the truth of his resurrection. In any case, as he’s walking along with them,
look at verse 17. He said to them, he asked them,
what is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?
Now, why did Jesus ask that question? I mean, didn’t Jesus know what was going on here? Of course,
he did. But Jesus was a master teacher, a master pedagogue. One of the things about effective good
teachers is they ask really good probing questions. And one of the fascinating things about Jesus,
he was a master teacher. He knew people’s attention and keep people’s attention. Unlike many
preachers today, he actually knew how to grab and keep people’s attention. And Jesus did that by
asking probing questions and by telling stories and parables to teach the truth of his gospel.
In any case, he asks them this question. And what did they do? How did they react to his question?
Look at the end of verse 17. They stood still, looking sad. They look sad. Their rabbi,
the one whom they pinned their hopes on, had been brutally crucified just days before.
And now there were all these rumors about the empty tomb and visions of angels and they
couldn’t figure it out. They’re sad. They don’t know what’s going on. They’re confused.
And then they say to him in verse 18, one of them named Cleopas answered him,
are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know what happened there in these days?
I mean, what is this? Do you live under a rock? Haven’t you been paying attention to the daily
news? Don’t you realize what’s happened? And how does Jesus respond? He said to them, what things?
Again, Jesus knows what they’re talking about, but he’s asking questions to get them to think
about things and to answer him and to process this. They say to him, verse 19, concerning Jesus
of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet before God and all the people, and how our chief priests
and the rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he
was the one to redeem Israel. And then he goes on to explain how the women had gone to the tomb
and found it empty and so forth. Here we see Jesus, the disciples’ limited understanding of Jesus
prior to being awakened to the truth of his resurrection from the dead. Now, what do they
say about Jesus when they describe him? What kind of a person do they describe?
They recognize Jesus as a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.
Is that true? Absolutely. Jesus was indeed a mighty prophet. He was the prophet with a capital
P. And he was mighty indeed. He was mighty indeed. Those deeds are probably a reference,
miraculous deeds. The one who healed the sick, the one who raised, gave sight to blind Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus, the one who gave hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, the one who
walked on the waters, the one who miraculously multiplied, providing enough food to feed
over 5,000 people, the one who calmed the storm simply by saying, peace be still,
the one who showed his power over the forces of darkness. This is how Jesus was mighty indeed,
but he was also mighty indeed. The good news that God’s kingdom had drawn near in his person and
work. What he said about Jesus was true as far as it went. But of course, Jesus, as we know,
is far more than simply a mighty prophet. He’s also the son of God. The word made flesh, God in
the flesh. So obviously, again, this is not to dump on these two disciples. They’re really trying
to figure things out. They’re trying to connect the dots to finish the puzzle, put the puzzle
pieces together, but they still have much to learn about Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t come and
upbraid them, does he? Well, he does a little bit. He calls them foolish, one slow of heart to believe,
but he’s very patient with them. He’s kind to them. They have much to learn, but they’re teachable.
They’re open. Let’s go on to how our chief priests and rulers delivered him and crucified him.
You know, how could he be the promised Messiah if the religious leaders didn’t even recognize
him? Verse 21, but we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. They had hoped that he was
going to redeem Israel. Here, they recall what they had heard about the empty tomb and the vision of
angels as they go on. Some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the
morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen
a vision of angels who said that he was alive. And then that was confirmed by others from the
apostolic company. Verse 24, some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just
as the women had said, but him they did not see. Again, here, these disciples recount and recall
what they had heard about the empty tomb and the vision of the angels. Again, only the physical,
bodily resurrection of Jesus can account for these details, but again, they don’t see that quite yet.
Like their fellow Jews, if you look at verse 21, they say we had hoped that he was the one
to redeem Israel. What are they getting at here? Like many of their fellow Jews in first century
Palestine, at that time they were not expecting a suffering Messiah. They were instead looking for a
conqueror, a military, political Messiah, one who would come in and get rid of those nasty Romans,
those pagan, idol-worshipping Romans, conquer them, establish the Davidic throne in Jerusalem,
and have great international political power and cultural influence. That’s the kind of Messiah
they were looking for, but obviously, Jesus in their views, because he ended up being crucified,
the most humiliating, horrible, painful death that one could imagine. And so again, they were
expecting an earthly Messiah. They weren’t looking for a suffering servant Messiah. And then in verse
22, it says this, some of the women of our company, reference to the women, well think about the
historical context. And again, I’m not preaching feminism here, but we need to recognize that this
was a heavily patriarchal society. And it’s my understanding that back then, in the first century
among the Jews, the testimony of women was not acceptable in a court of law. In the first century,
the testimony of women was simply not taken seriously. But who were the ones that God chose
from among the Lord’s disciples to be the first eyewitnesses to the empty tomb? Not the 12 apostles,
but the women. In God’s ironic providence, he chose women to be the first eyewitnesses from among
the disciples to the empty tomb. And that underscores what the Bible teaches, that God’s
ways are not our ways. And he often chooses to use what the world considers to be weak and foolish
to humble those who are viewed as wise and strong in the eyes of the world. But in any case,
we learn that the women’s testimony is corroborated by some men from among the apostolic company.
If you go down to verse 24, it says, some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it,
just as the women had said, but him they did not see. And again, as we compare the gospel accounts,
you’ll see how these details get filled out by the other gospels.
What’s the conclusion of this? How does Jesus respond to Cleopas and his companions recounting
of these events? It says in verse 25, he said to them, oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken. What if they were slow to believe all that the prophets had spoken?
The Jews of Jesus’ day tended to focus almost exclusively on those passages of the Old Testament
scriptures, which predicted a victorious Messiah, the Messiah who would be victorious as the Royal
Davidic King. But they ignored or misapplied other passages, which pointed to another aspect
of the Messiah, namely his sufferings, such as the suffering servant passage of Isaiah.
And this is a warning to us, brothers and sisters. We all have a tendency, we who love to read the
scriptures, we all have a tendency to read the scriptures collectively, don’t we? There are
certain parts of the Bible that we really can track with. There are other parts of the scriptures
that we’re like, I don’t know, that’s kind of boring, you know, all those lists, so and so.
Or maybe the gory parts where it gives detail, sacrifice various animals, such as you read in
the book of Leviticus. But the fact is that we all have a tendency to read the scriptures selectively,
those parts that we’re comfortable with, those parts that maybe we have to struggle with or work
through. Let me ask you this, I was listening, as an aside, I was listening to a sermon clip from,
I know Tim Keller is a little bit of a controversial figure, but among some circles, but
in this sermon, Keller, Reverend Keller was recounting a conversation with a person,
you know, I can accept some of the Bible, but other parts I don’t,
I don’t accept those violent parts or those other parts. And
Reverend Keller asked an interesting question. He said, do you worship a God who is capable
of offending you? Do you worship a God who is capable of sometimes telling you things that you
don’t? We all want a God who follows our agenda, but are we willing to believe in a God who loves
us enough sometimes to tell us what we need to hear, even if we don’t want to hear it?
Let us not, beloved, let us beware of reading the scriptures selectively,
like our Lord’s contemporaries did. They were looking for a conquering Messiah who was going
to get rid of these Romans. That’s our biggest problem, the Romans. No, our biggest problem is
our sin. And that’s why the Messiah, before he comes back as a king, he would die as the
suffering servant for our sins. So let us beware of reading scriptures selectively,
like our Lord’s contemporaries. Let us not be foolish and slow of heart to believe all
of the scriptures. And then he goes on to say this in verse 26. He asks this question. Again,
he’s the master teacher. He says, was it not necessary, not optimal, not, you know,
optional? No. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into
his glory? One commentator points out with the term necessary that the biblical pattern
is that God’s chosen leaders are raised to glory through the pathway of suffering.
The crown comes after the cross. The cross comes first, then the crown.
The late evangelical Anglican bishop, J.C. Ryle, wrote this about this passage. He says,
a deep sense of sin, a humble willingness to be saved in God’s way, a teachable readiness to give
up our own prejudices when a more excellent way is shown. These are the principal things.
These things the two disciples possessed and therefore our Lord went with them and guided
them into all truth. In other words, they were teachable. They were confused. Yes, they were
trying to put things together in their minds, but they were teachable. And of course, we know
they were teachable because God the Holy Spirit was at work in their hearts, making them teachable.
Oh, dear listener, has God given you a teachable spirit? It means learner. If you’re a disciple
of Jesus, you’ve enrolled in the school of Jesus. It doesn’t mean you have it all figured out or
you have it all together. It means you’re by the grace of God shown from God’s word where perhaps
you may have embraced false beliefs, false doctrine, or perhaps sinful practices in your life.
And are you willing to change any beliefs and behaviors in your life which are incompatible
with living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Well, friends, part of being teachable is being
open to the central message of Scripture. And that brings me to my next point. In verse 27,
all of the Scriptures testify of Christ and His saving work. All of the Scriptures testify of
Christ and His saving work. The word in that point is the word Scriptures. Look at verse 27.
Jesus says this, or rather Luke recounts this. He says, And beginning with Moses and all
the prophets in all the Scriptures concerning Himself. He basically gave them an overview
of the entirety of the Hebrew Bible, starting with Moses and all the prophets. And that language
indicates all of the Old Testament Scriptures. The Jews described their Scriptures in that day.
It was the Law and the Prophets, or sometimes the Law and the Prophets and Psalms. Another
entirety of the Old Testament Scriptures. And He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the
things concerning what? Concerning Himself. In other words, the Scriptures referred to in
verse 27 include all the Old Testament Scriptures as a whole. The point that the promised Messiah
is found everywhere in the Old Testament for those who have eyes to see. It doesn’t mean that
there’s secret meanings or riddles beneath the surface of Scripture, but it means that the
Bible has a flow to it from Genesis through Revelation. But the Bible unfolds more and
more information that leads us to and prepares us for the coming of the promised Messiah.
Dr. William Hendrickson writes, Only when we see how all the Scriptures are centered in Christ
as the revelation of the triune God so that in the Old Testament everything points forward to Him,
and in the New Testament everything proceeds from Him, will we be able to understand the Bible.
I believe it was St. Augustine who famously wrote that the New Testament is in the Old
Concealed and the Old Testament is in the New Revealed. And what is the hinge that holds
the Scripture? That hinge, that glue that holds the Scripture is none other than our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Children, what does this mean? Children, this means that when you read
the Old Testament, and I know you’ve probably heard me say this before, but when you’re reading
the Old Testament, which was written hundreds of years before Christ came, you need to read it with
your Jesus glasses on. You know, if I take my glasses off, you all look right now, you look
like a bunch of fuzz, okay? It’s very blurry without my glasses. If I don’t have my glasses on,
I certainly can’t see my, you know, I could see my sermon manuscript if I did that,
but I need my glasses to see things clearly. And we need to put on our Jesus glasses
and the meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures, for they were written to prepare God’s people,
indeed to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus, who would be the resurrected Lord and King.
Understand, my friends, that all of Scripture points to and leads to,
some passages reveal him more directly through messianic prophecies, other passages are more
indirect, it all fits together. And that’s why if you approach the Bible with that view, it makes
Bible reading so much more meaningful and significant, because you see how the Holy Spirit
ties it all together and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that leads me to my final point.
Only the resurrected Lord can open our eyes to truly understand who he is and to understand the
reality of his resurrection. Only the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ can open our spiritual eyes to
truly understand who he is and to understand the reality of his resurrection. It says in verse 28,
so they drew near to the village to which they were going. They’re finally, after this long
conversation with this stranger who’s joined them in their journey, they finally arrive to the village
of Emmaus. And it says that Jesus acted as if he were going further. Now some would say,
well, wait a minute, is Jesus being deceptive? No, no, Jesus is being polite. If they had not
welcomed him in, he would have moved on. He’s doing this to provoke a response. Again,
he’s the master teacher. And when it looks like this stranger is going to get away from them,
they still have so many questions, so many things they want to learn. It says, verse 29,
they urged him strongly. It’s very strong wording. They urged him strongly saying,
stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent. Back in those days,
he wouldn’t have had the option of finding a motel six to stay in or whatever. If you were
traveling back in those days, you depended upon the hospitality of others who were willing to
open their homes to you. And so they’re exhibiting gracious hospitality, welcoming him into their
home, but obviously they’re interested in having him there because of what they’re learning from
him. And notice what happens next. He consents to stay with them. Verse 30, when he was at table
with them, they get together, they’re about to have dinner together. It says, when he was at table
with them, who acted as host at that meal? He’s the guest in their home, but who’s the one who
acts as the host? Jesus acts as the host. He took the bread and what’s he doing? He gave thanks for the food
and he broke the bread and gave it to them. This is very significant. Some would say,
is Jesus is here celebrating the Lord? No, not exactly. This is an ordinary meal,
but the actions of Jesus, blessing it and breaking it, what do those actions recall?
Well, those, for example, what Jesus did in the feeding of the 5,000, where he took the, what,
the five barley loaves and the two fish, he took, he gave thanks, he blessed it, he broke it,
and he gave it to those who were gathered about. Or think about
as he took, was with his disciples, his 12 disciples, he took the bread and he did what?
He blessed and those simple actions were used by God to open their minds, to open their eyes,
to see who was sitting at table. Notice what it says in verse 31,
and their eyes were opened and they recognized him. It must have been this stranger
who had such an intriguing conversation, who was now with them at table and took over the host,
the role of host. Now they recognize him. They recognize him in the breaking of the bread.
And what does he do then? He vanishes out of sight. Jesus, obviously, he was physically
resurrected. He had a physical body. He was able to take the bread and to break it physically,
but his resurrection body had things that our ordinary bodies don’t have. He was able to appear
and disappear at will. And if you read on at the end of Luke’s gospel, you’ll see that Jesus will
all of a sudden return and show himself directly to his disciples and eat food with them and so
forth to prove his resurrection. And this points to Jesus as the divine host of the feast of
salvation. My friends, our Lord Jesus Christ is throwing a feast and he invites all who would come
to him. All are welcome to this feast through faith and all who are welcome to come to me.
All who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. And not only that, he will feed us with
the benefits of his broken body and shed blood. Again, this meal was not a celebration of Holy
Communion, but the actions of our Savior in this passage are similar to what he did in the feeding
of the 5,000 and at the Last Supper. So they remind us of what happens after Jesus disappears.
Look at verse 32. It says, they said to each other, Cleopas and his companions say,
while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures.
Did not our hearts burn within us? What caused their hearts to burn? This is not heartburn as
we would know it today. This means their hearts burned in what sense? It burned with renewed hope,
wonder and awe. You ever had that happen? Some amazing news you hear and your heart just burns
with excitement. Their hearts burned within them. Jesus had explained how all of the scriptures
pointed to the promised Messiah as we learned in verse 27. Jesus had helped them to understand
what was so confusing to them before. And now finally it all makes sense. In this way,
he had awakened hope within their hearts. Again, my friends, Jesus is the glue that holds the Word
of God together. Dear ones, do our hearts burn within us with hope, with wonder, with awe,
with joy whenever we hear the Word of God, whenever we hear about the good news of Jesus Christ?
Dear listener, do you understand how good this good news is? Do you understand how the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead makes this good news so incredibly good? You know what Easter
Sunday means? You know what the resurrection of Jesus means? It means that death does not have
the final say. We’ve all been there. We’ve all been in a situation where we had to say goodbye
to a loved one or a friend or a companion and it hurts. It’s brutal. It’s gut wrenching.
But praise God, the resurrection of Jesus means that the grim reaper, he doesn’t have the final
say. And what Jesus did in rising from the dead, he promises to raise us who rest in him. He will
raise us from the dead on that final day and welcome us into his eternal kingdom where there
will be no more death, no more suffering, no more pain. That’s good news. Do you believe the good
news? Do you believe it applies to you? It goes on to say, they rose that same hour. I mean,
think about it. They had walked seven miles that day. They were going to go back. Again,
they couldn’t call an Uber. They couldn’t get in a taxi. They had to go by foot. But they made the
journey. Why? It says, they rose the same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the 11
and those who were with them gathered together saying, the 11 said to them, the Lord has risen
indeed and has appeared to Simon. That’s the apostle Peter. Then they told what had happened
on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. They couldn’t wait to go
back to Jerusalem and spread the word to the other disciples. They couldn’t wait.
Dear friends, a couple closing words. When we have opportunity to share with non-believers about the
good news of Jesus, we would do well to pray that our sovereign Lord would open their eyes to see
the glory of the resurrected Jesus. Because, you know, with our own natural strength,
if you’ve been blessed with the grace to see who Jesus is and to believe in him for your salvation,
it’s not because you’re smarter than those who have not believed. It’s not because you’re
better than them. We’re all wretched sinners. And he graciously opened your eyes like Jesus
opened the eyes of these disciples. So pray that as the Lord has graciously opened
your eyes and opened the eyes of others to see the glory of God in the face of Christ.
And let us also pray, beloved, that God would grant us greater insight into the person
and work of our Lord Jesus Christ as we commune often with him through such things as Bible
reading, prayer, and public worship. We do these things not because it’s just a religious obligation.
We do these things because this is how Jesus connects with us. He comes down to us. He connects
with us in the word and in the Lord’s Supper. And we connect to him through prayer and praise.
May God give us the grace to connect with our resurrected Savior today and to rejoice in him.
And may our hearts burn within us with hope, with peace. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father,
we thank you that Christ our Lord is indeed risen from the dead. We pray that by your spirit
you would open our blinded eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
our resurrected Lord. And may this good news of Jesus overflow our lives and touch the lives
of others. We thank you that you loved us, Jesus, unto death, that you died for us and rose for us,
that you intercede for us, and that one day you are coming back to take us to be with yourself.
We pray all of these things in your name and all of God’s people said.
Amen.
As we close our time of worship, let’s rise and let’s sing this classic Easter hymn,
360, Christ the Lord is risen today.