Walking with the Risen Christ

Life’s not always easy. The psalmist expresses the challenge of feeling the real difficulties of living in a fallen world, and sometimes even sensing the distance of the Lord, as if He has withdrawn. Some of the brethren were meeting on Friday night to pray, reflecting on those passages where it seems as if God has cast off His people. It’s true that, at times, we can feel that way—as if the Lord is not as close as He once was.

The question is, why? And instead of continuing to live in that state, we must cry out to God, like the psalmist, being honest before Him. We must be in His presence, with His people, in His house, and before the means of grace. The house of God isn’t special merely because it’s a building. Even in Old Testament times, it was just a structure. Yet it was there they came face-to-face with His truth, where the Lord would meet with them and bless them.

I don’t think I’ve ever almost shed a tear at a wedding yet. Perhaps that day will come when it’s one of my own children getting married. Yesterday, though, I almost did. As Markel was coming down the aisle, they were singing about dwelling in God’s house forever. I don’t know if it was intentional, but there she was, walking in. I thought, “Isn’t that the desire? To be in God’s house forever?” God, by His grace, brings us into His family, among His people, and around His Word. Then, one day, He brings us to dwell with Him forever.

This is a visible expression of whether or not it will be forever for you and for me. Providence may dictate that we can’t be in the house of God due to imprisonment, sickness, or other circumstances. Accepting those, this is still what we desire—to be found among those who identify with Christ, to know that this is forever. Because whenever He finally takes me from this scene of time, it will be to be absent from the body and present with the Lord and His people forever. It’s forever, and that’s what we want.

There’s nothing more glorious than to think that, by His grace, we will be here forever, with His people forever, in His presence forever, under His Word forever, and under the influence of the Prophet, Priest, and King of our souls forever. May the Lord heighten our expectation of this as we come weekly to His house and deepen our longing for the fullness and perfection of this life yet to come.

Turn with me, if you would, to Luke 24. For those visiting tonight, we’ve been in Luke’s Gospel since January 2019. It’s been nearly six years, and we’re almost done. If we can finish around the six-year mark, that would be good. It may extend into January because I tend to step away from series in December, but, by God’s grace, I will complete it.

This evening, we come to verse 13 and following. Our Lord has been crucified and is risen, but not everyone understands this yet. In this passage, Luke records the details of two disciples leaving Jerusalem and heading home to Emmaus—a village about seven miles from Jerusalem. This is roughly a two-hour journey. It is the afternoon of the first day of the week. The Lord has risen that morning, but uncertainty remains.

Let’s read from Luke 24:13-32:

“And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went, and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”

We’ll end our reading there. This, men and women, is the Word of the eternal God. You are to receive it, believe it, and make it the guide of your life. And the people of God said, “Amen.”

Let’s pray: Lord, help us now. We’ve read in this passage how we can be kept from seeing what is obvious. And so it teaches us to humbly ask that Thou wilt reveal Thyself and reveal truth to us. Deliver us from our pride. Deliver us from reliance on the flesh. And please minister to our hearts that we might receive the things which we ought to and be taught, not merely information, but disciples.

You know exactly where we are. You know where every one of Your people, where they are walking, what they’re dealing with, and what they need to hear. So I pray now for the fullness of the Spirit to have the message for each one. Should there be any, should there be even one without Christ, we’re not satisfied until they’re saved. We pray that Thou wilt save them. Come, Holy Spirit, be here. Lift this meeting from just merely being a passing of information to a meeting with God, we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

There are many times in life when we are reminded of just how impatient we are. When we’re dealing with children, when we’re dealing with our spouses, when we’re dealing with fellow work colleagues, when we’re dealing with those that may work for us or those who are under our management and care, when we’re dealing with friends, when we’re dealing with fellow church members, when we’re dealing with assistants at shops that don’t seem to be paying attention or doing their jobs the way they should, and on and on it goes.

We come away at times realizing how impatient we have been. We’ve been snappy. We have been ungracious. Our words have been sharp, or at the very least, our feelings have been somewhat of an irritable nature toward these individuals who are just like we are—flawed. They’re not going to get it right every time. They’re not going to say everything perfectly. They’re not always going to have the right response. They’re not always going to see what we think they should see.

So we, I trust, see it for ourselves what it is, this impatience, and we acknowledge it, we confess it, and cry to God to work in our hearts more of the patience that we see in Him as He reveals it to us. Our Lord Jesus, in this portion, shows that same spirit. He is walking along with two disciples who do not see what they ought to see, who seemingly are oblivious and even somewhat reluctant to fully embrace what has been shared with them.

As news has spread concerning the women who witnessed the empty tomb and the testimony of the angels, they have fallen into the trap that I warned of when we looked at that passage—that, generally speaking in that time, the testimony of women was not of great import. It was overlooked. It did not hold value or weight. Which, as I said last time, adds credibility that if you were making this story up, you would not have women be the first to witness the empty tomb. The Lord and His ways are different than ours.

So the disciples are being tested, and He is about to patiently minister to them and help them understand what has happened. As I reflected on these verses, endeavoring though they be quite—there’s quite a chunk of text here, and there’s a lot that could be said, and you could dwell on some of these little clauses for an entire sermon—but I wanted to keep it all together.

I’ve titled the message, “Walking with the Risen Christ.” Walking with the Risen Christ. What I’m endeavoring to do with the Lord’s help is just see how this portion illustrates—though it is, of course, set in its own historical setting, and it has its own particular context and details that we can’t replicate—at the same time, it is reflective of much that we may experience even daily in our own lives.

If we are believers, we are walking with Christ. We’re meant to enjoy His presence. We’re meant to be conscious of the fact that He will not leave us, that He is right there. He is constantly ministering to us, especially the things relating to Himself. It’s a wonderful thing to know the Lord near you, to go through your day, each day, and say, “The Lord’s with me today.” You face your challenges, decisions, conundrums, and problems, and to be very conscious of the fact, “He is with me.”

To think of it whenever, again, you’re coming face to face with a problem, or someone testing you in some way, and immediately turn your attention within your own heart and soul to the one who’s right there: “Lord, help me here. Help me here.” How many times have we been in that scenario when we’ve realized far too late that we have not talked to the Lord? We haven’t turned to Him. We haven’t cast our care upon Him right in that moment. It’s almost as if we have forgotten He’s right there. Just ask for His help.

To be dealing with the children as they’re being difficult that particular day. And we just go straight into the problem. We begin to address it and talk about it and find a solution or whatever. And there’s been no turning to say, “Lord, help me here.” To walk with the Lord and be conscious of the fact He is there. He is there. If you’re in Christ, He is there.

But we forget, and we go about our days forgetting the fact that He’s saying, “You have not because you ask not. I’m here, ask.”

So, three heads, looking at verses 13 through 32. First, we’ll see that He walks with us. And then we’ll see that He listens to us, and then we’ll see that He speaks to us. He walks with us, He listens to us, He speaks to us.

So, verses 13 through 16 here, we see that He walks with us. And note firstly that He loves the conversation of His people. He loves the conversation of His people. Any mistake that, as He draws near to these two, they’re discussing things that would pertain to the Lord. I know there’s ignorance here, I get it. We’re going to see that, but they’re still talking about Him.

Verse 13: “Behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened.”

Not the news in terms of what’s happening politically and so on in that arena, although I guess there’s political aspects to what had happened. But they’re talking about these things which had happened. What things happened? Well, you can see the things that had happened that he talks about in verse 18. Cleopas explaining the things which had come to pass there in Jerusalem in these days. And he elaborates in verse 20 how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death and have crucified Him. This is what they’re discussing.

“They talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.” So, as they’re communing, as they’re talking and discussing, the Lord draws near. It’s a Sunday afternoon, as I say. About two hours of walking ahead of them. And they’re talking as they walk, discussing all that has happened.

Cleopas and another disciple, we don’t know who. And they make their way to Emmaus, talking of all these things—things that had just occurred in Jerusalem, all that had transpired, as well as, no doubt, the information that had come from the women and from Peter and John as well by this stage. They’re in this deep discussion—all these things that surround the Lord Jesus. Maybe they’re throwing texts at one another, trying to figure out what’s happened here. Have we misjudged? Did we get it wrong? Did we misunderstand what He said?

And ultimately, they had come to this feeling that it’s over. There’s a sense of sorrow. Our Lord sees that in them. In verse 17: “As ye walk and are sad,” it says at the end of that verse. They’re expressing then this feeling of discouragement. There’s no sense of hope here. Their desire for what the Messiah would accomplish for them has been crushed by the events of Calvary.

And we know that feeling. Again, the historical context is different, but we know the feeling of being crushed when God appears to do something that is different than what we had hoped. We know that feeling. We know that feeling relationally. We know that feeling in the loss of a child. We know that feeling in the loss of any loved one. We’re praying so fervently that they might be healed. The sense of disappointment. Our world comes crashing down, and we’re struggling to accept what God has not just permitted, but has brought to pass.

Isaiah 55: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” We can’t eliminate these experiences. You’re going to have them. Some of them, I know, you have felt have crushed you, and you imagine that there’s no possible way that you can experience something worse than what you’ve already gone through. But you can, and more than likely you will.

Being a child of God does not mean that we avoid sorrow. Indeed, it would appear to me that our Lord often finds the pressure points of His people. He presses right there. And like all of us, we’re all different in terms of sensitivity to pressure points. Generally, our frame is such that we have these patterns of pressure points that are common to all. But some of us are wired or connected in some ways that some pressure points are particularly—we are particularly sensitive to them versus others. And you’ll find that some people, common pressure points don’t seem to affect them almost at all. We’re different.

And so it is spiritually. You can look at what someone goes through and imagine that you would be fine, you would cruise right through that, and maybe so. But the Lord has a way of tailoring a particular event or experience that is your pressure point, where you’re most sensitive, and He presses down right there. And we’re brought to the questions, aren’t we? Why, Lord? Why? “My thoughts are not your thoughts.”

He has a plan. He has a purpose. He has a work that He is doing. And in this moment of despair, as these disciples are, as I say, crushed by what had transpired, “Jesus Himself drew near.” Just that. I was reading that and was encouraged just by that line: “Jesus Himself drew near. Jesus Himself drew near.” He’s not drawing near to the kings. He’s not drawing near, even at this stage, to the disciples. He’s drawing near to a couple of, relatively speaking, unknowns.

These aren’t numbered among the eleven. But He sees them, and He sees their discussion, sees their concern, sees their disappointment, sees their minds confused, their language trying to make sense of it. Very much the blind leading the blind. I don’t get any sense that as they were talking here they had a whole lot of light to share with one another. But He comes near. They’re reasoning, they’re trying to figure it out, but Jesus comes near and went with them.

The Lord is with them even though, at this point, they don’t know. His covenant promise to be with His people is being fulfilled and revealed by the Spirit in Luke’s account so that we see the Lord doesn’t just draw near to the high and the powerful and the prestigious. He draws near to the lowly, the discouraged, the faint of heart, and those who are at wit’s end wondering what they can do. He draws near.

As I read over this, I thought, yes, that’s what He does. This is His covenant promise. This is what He said continually. This is what really encapsulates the heart of His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is what He says to Moses as He calls him to go and lead the children of Israel: “Certainly, I will be with thee.” Assurance of His presence. Repeated statements that tell the people of God, “This is My promise. I’m with you. I’m among you. I’m walking in your midst.”

And then He goes to signify it by the pillar of cloud and fire and placing the tabernacle right in the heart of the congregation of Israel to again signify He’s in their midst. He is with them. He is in the heart of His people. He is near to them and approachable. Being in the middle of the congregation of Israel was making Him near to the most amount of people, signifying what His intentions are.

But, of course, our Lord’s presence has a practical side to it. He doesn’t just stay with His people to simply accompany them, with Him being near. There’s a ministry aspect to what our Lord is doing—comforting, and even drawing near to defeat enemies.

I turn to Judges 6. We have the account there of Gideon. And I’m just, again, peppering you with some thoughts that tie into this—the nature of God’s covenant promise to His people, that in saving them, He is going to be with them and stay with them. And at times, it functions in different ways. It has a relevance to a moment. So, if people are discouraged, He comes to comfort. If people are facing enemies, He comes to equip.

So, Judges 6, read from—well, we’ll read from verse 12. You see it: “The Lord is with thee.” You’re meant to understand that’s God signifying you’re Mine. And I’m yours. I’m with you. And Gideon said unto Him, “O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where be all His miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

I was reading that, thinking, is this not the two on the road to Emmaus? “O my Lord, why then has all this befallen us? Why is the hope of Israel dead? Where is His power? Where was His miraculous power when they crucified Him? Where is the divine intervention? No, You’ve forsaken us. We’ve been forsaken. Our Messiah is gone. He’s crucified, left us to ourselves.”

Verse 14: “The Lord looked upon him and said.” He said unto him, “O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least of my father’s house.” And the Lord said unto him, “Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.” The Lord’s presence is the guarantee of the victory. The Lord’s presence isn’t just to be there; it’s to an effect. It’s to address the problem. It’s to deal with the issue.

And while in Gideon’s time, the historical context is these Midianites, with the two on the road to Emmaus, it is their fear, it is their unbelief, it is their lack of understanding, and our Lord is there to address those enemies. Unbelief is an enemy of the soul. Ignorance is an enemy of the soul. And our Lord is there to address them, to deal with them.

So, go back to Luke 24. The Lord delights to walk with His people. He loves to enter into their conversations. He eavesdrops, as it were, on their struggles. And the whole purpose of it is to guide them to the truth. Where humble souls are open to the truth, He is there to guide them. He takes a gentle approach. He doesn’t reveal Himself immediately. He’s drawing out of them their concerns. He’s assessing it.

There are lessons there for us as we counsel people. One of the things we can do is we jump to conclusions because we read a matter before people give us the whole story. We think we have it all figured out, and we just go in with an answer and a solution. There’s a place of just holding back, pulling, just listening to the person. Open up and share exactly what their concerns might be before you come in with the answer.

Could not our Lord immediately have launched into the answer that they needed to hear? Absolutely, more than equipped, and certainly far more equipped than you or I may be to do such things, and yet He hears what they have to say. I was reminded of Malachi 3:16, reading over this, of God’s pleasure in hearing His people speak to one another in things that concern Him and His work: “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it.”

Those who have this fear of the Lord and they’re communing with one another, they’re reasoning with one another, as you have in verse 15. The Lord draws near. He hearkens, pays attention. He’s also the answer for the confusion of His people. He not just loves the conversation of His people; He’s the answer for the confusion of His people.

He’s also the answer for the confusion of His people. He’s not just—He not just loves the conversation of His people. He’s the answer for the confusion of His people.

Verse 16: “But their eyes were holden that they should not know Him.” Their eyes were holden. Jesus is physically present with them, and He has not changed in a certain sense. Like, so think about this. While there is a glory attached now to Him, they don’t perceive any glory. A man has come near to walk with them and accompany them. A man. A man that they had seen before, it would appear, that they were—that their faculty of sight and their cognition of their brain should have been able to register and say, “It’s Him.” But they couldn’t see Him. They didn’t recognize Him.

Now, there’s no way this makes any sense, except that we are learning about the sovereignty of God in all things. He governs over all faculties. He’s in control of everything. Remember what He told Moses in Exodus 4:11: “And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord?” And it can come temporarily or it can come permanently, whatever. It can come physically, it can be there spiritually and so on. But there is this reality of God’s governance over man—His ability to speak or not speak, see or not see.

And it would appear here then that the Lord has governed in such a way that their eyes are holden. They are held so that they shouldn’t know Him. Now, these are the people of God. These are disciples, and the Lord is holding their ability to see Him. Think of the implications of that. Think of what that means then in terms of you as a believer and how you should approach Scripture, how you should come into the house of God, and how you should pray for your preacher.

No amount of commentaries or study can open up the Scripture unless God Himself is enabling and helping. So in your personal devotion, the need—because they were not aware, they didn’t know, they were ignorant of their ignorance, okay? They don’t know that they don’t know. And you come to the Bible imagining that you can understand it because you can read the words on the page and there’s a sense in which you comprehend what it’s saying, but your eyes are being held. You come to the Bible and you say, “Preacher, I’m not getting anything from the Word.” I can tell you why. Your eyes are being held.

And so, what’s the answer? You know the answer. The Lord’s the answer. He’s the only one who can make the difference. And we’re going to get to the point where that blindness is taken from them and they’re able to see, and they’re able to understand. That’s His work. That’s His activity to do. It’s very humbling.

Of course, this is true for the unsaved. This is their default position. 2 Corinthians 4:4 speaks of the spiritual blindness that is upon men: “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” So there’s an actual blindness that Satan actually works to support, to uphold, to maintain.

So you’re out there sharing the gospel with work colleagues, and family, and neighbors, and others, and you’re endeavoring to try to penetrate with the truth. And you have all the arguments, and you’re reasoning powerfully, and there’s no flaw in anything you’re saying. You’ve learned the right things to say, and you know how to answer every query, but they just don’t seem to see it. I’ve said this before. I’ll say it again.

That which is the determining factor in the salvation of souls in terms of your work to see people brought to Christ—or my work to see people brought to Christ—often really begins and ends in some fashion in the place of prayer. Now, I’m not saying we don’t have to speak the truth. They need to hear the Word. There needs to be a sharing of the gospel. But there can be a lot of sharing of truth and the gospel and nothing. And there can be the slightest word, or even praying over something that was shared in the past, or maybe years ago.

My point is this, beloved: we need to learn that the ability, the power, the One who’s sovereign over man’s sight is God, and only God can defeat the devil, overcome natural blindness, and give sight. I’m very conscious of that in my own life because I very much was aware that the Lord winning me to Himself was not through—it wasn’t through answering all the problems I had with why I didn’t—all the excuses I gave as to why I didn’t believe. He intervened. He showed me my sin for the first time and Himself as the answer.

A lot of those questions I had, which I was using to weaponize and to keep myself in a state of unbelief, went away. I believe largely through my mother’s prayers. The confusion of His people. If you’re confused, if you’re here tonight and you’re saying, “I’m struggling to believe. I’m in a crisis of faith.” You’re wondering about the things you’ve been taught from your youth. Or maybe you’re new to some of these things, and you’re exploring them, but you’re struggling to understand everything.

I say to you, one of the best things you can do is to fall on your knees daily and say, “Lord, show me. Show me Yourself.” Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to spend a little time daily and just say to God, “Lord, show me Yourself?” Their eyes were holden that they should not know Him. That’s an awful thing. Think if that applied to your own children. As you labor to teach them the gospel, then put verse 16 right there over the life of your children: “Their eyes were holden that they should not know Him.” It’s terrifying. And it shows you, you must be in prayer all the time.

You grandparents, looking at your grandchildren—what is the need? It’s for God to lift up blindness. He is the answer. He is the only answer. What else can remove this?

Secondly, He listens to us. He not only walks with us, He listens to us. So from verse 17 through 24, we see this in two ways—how He listens to us. First of all, He is patient in the face of our misplaced sorrow. He is patient in the face of our misplaced sorrow.

Verse 17: “And He said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk and are sad?” He’s inquiring here. What is this speech? What is this you’re talking about? He’s not ignorant of the cause of their sorrow; He knows. But He’s drawing it out of them. I’m not about to turn the Bible into some self-help sort of handbook as to how to deal with people, but I think there is, sort of like a tertiary way, in which we can learn from the conduct of our Lord Jesus and His interactions with men and see the wisdom of His approach to people in the sensitivity of a moment.

Interrogating it gently in order to get to where they need, to help them get to where they need to be. He’s giving them opportunity to express their confusion, their pain, their struggle. So you can see the sadness in them. You’re sad, I can see it. And they had hoped, of course, that Messiah would be this political figure. He would come, and He would deliver. And as they explain it, as we’ll see in just a moment, they discuss what their hope was—that they hoped this would be the one who would redeem Israel.

And so He patiently listens as they express the challenge here. Again, it’s—when people are in a time of sorrow, think of how the Lord draws near in the sorrow of people. Think of what it says in Psalm 34:18: “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.” He’s near to the brokenhearted. Those brokenhearted souls who want and crave His presence, who desire His intervention, who embrace all that He promises. And that’s true of these two disciples. I mean, again, there are flaws, there are many things we can point out in terms of their ignorance and their unbelief.

But they have a heart for the Lord. They love Him. They long to see the Lord Jesus glorified, placed in a position of authority and governance, that He might bring healing to Israel and even beyond. And He is near to those of a broken heart. He’s near to you. At times when your heart is broken, He is near. Don’t believe He’s far off. Don’t think that the circumstances that cause the breaking of the heart mean that He’s distant. No, actually the opposite may be true. At times, He has brought the cause that breaks your heart in order for you to realize afresh, He’s near. He is near. Oh, beloved, He is near you. That you would learn.

So patient. But He’s patient in the face of our limited understanding—not just our misplaced sorrow, but our limited understanding. This is the bulk of this section, verses 18 through 24.

“And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto Him, Art Thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?” He said unto them, “What things?” I mean, think of it, you know. How that response could have been so different. “Yeah, I know a little about what went on there.” But it doesn’t. Again, there’s a whole purpose here. Drawing out of them the problem so He might minister to them more effectively. Again, understanding their humanity. And they express all their difficulties, and then He comes with the Word, and it will have this sense of applied BAM.

It’s like the difference between a doctor who—someone comes into the ER, and they just start throwing bandages on and medicine. They don’t look to see what the problem is. They’re bandaging up the head. But it’s my leg that’s sore. What are you doing putting a bandage around my head? So maybe it’s more sense to try and figure out what the problem is. So here’s this man, and he’s asking, “What things? What happened?” And then He’s going to come, and He’s going to walk them through what they thought was a problem and show them what the Word of God actually says.

And so, He explains in verse 19: “He said unto them, What things? And they said unto Him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.” He’s going to show them He is a prophet. He still is a prophet. He’s going to open the Word like no prophet ever did. “Which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death and have crucified Him.”

Interesting how they make no note of the Romans here. They understand the guilt of their own nation. “We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel.” Beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. “Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; And when they found not His body, they came saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that He was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but Him they saw not.”

He is patient in the face of our limited understanding. So this man, Cleopas, is surprised. “How come You don’t know? Did You just drop into the city a few moments ago? How is it that someone could be here and not know? How is that possible? Everyone’s talking about it. It’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue. They’re all discussing it, even His enemies.”

And so they account what they knew—how they esteemed Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and what they thought He was: He which should have redeemed Israel. Even that language, I was reading over this thinking to myself, “Right, right, you’re on the right track.” I mean, did you start to ask yourself how He redeems Israel? How do you buy the nation? How is He going to buy the nation? How is He going to buy the people? What’s the price of the redemption? You can’t redeem without price. What’s the price? Had they given thought to that?

Yes, He’s going to redeem Israel. I mean, Luke has dealt with this way back in the early chapters—Simeon and Zechariah making reference to language like this, looking that this is the one who’s going to redeem Israel, be the deliverer, and so on. And here they are thinking the same. They’re this remnant that believe that this is the one. This is the one whom God has sent to redeem Israel. The question is, how? How are they to be redeemed?

And they thought it was going to be through political victory, the establishment of a throne, reigning over and crushing His enemies. But before the glory, there must be the suffering. There must be the buying by a price. The precious blood of Jesus. It has to be shed. You’re bought with a price. What’s true, 1 Corinthians 6, of what is applied to the church there, must be true of anyone who is to be bought. It requires the shedding of blood. God gave His Son to die, to shed His blood. He must. We dealt with this this morning, so I’m repeating some of the things we considered already today. Without the shedding of blood, there’s no remission of sin. There has to be that blood-shedding.

And so, how does Israel get redeemed? How does the people get redeemed? It is through the sacrifice. And so they had not given consideration to this. They had not thought about this. And our Lord is, of course, going to show that. And they discuss here the third day. You see that in verse 21: “Beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.” It’s difficult to know exactly what is driving at this expression: “Today is the third day since these things were done.” Is it just saying that this happened, we’re now in the third day, so he’s just making a comment by the fact that it’s the third day?

But if you go back to verse 7, I think it is—remember, the women had come and reported, and so the angels had said, verse 7: “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” The third day rise again. Verse 8: “They remembered His words and returned,” and so on, and told these things. And so the women have come and said, “It’s the third day. It’s as He said, the third day.” And so that thought about the third day is in their mind. And maybe—I can’t be dogmatic here—but maybe the thought is, well, yes, He made reference to the third day, and you’re saying that He has risen and so on, but by now it’s the afternoon.

If this really had happened, then surely He would have appeared to us already. He would have made it clear. But most of the day is spent. It’s gone, and yet still no appearance. So today is the third day. It’s not just, “Today is the third day,” but, “Here now, we’re in the third day, we’re nearing the end of the third day, and there’s been no fulfillment.” So maybe that’s expressing again their sense of, it’s not happening as it was planned.

Well, our Lord patiently listens to all of this. How frustrating. Have you ever been in a conversation and someone is talking about all this, like they’re sharing something or maybe giving their version of events, and you’re letting them talk the whole way through it, and the entire time you’re sitting there going, “You have no idea. You’ve got it all wrong. This is all misplaced. You’ve got all the pieces in the wrong place.” And He listens too.

Which brings us, finally, to the fact that He speaks to us. He speaks to us. Verse 25 and following. First, He rebukes our sin. When He speaks, He rebukes our sin.

Verse 25: “Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” There’s a rebuke here, isn’t there? Addressing the fact that they’re flawed. He’s not going to hide the fact that they’re sinners. They are sinners. “Slow of heart to believe.” What an indictment! After all the revelation you’ve been given, after all the privileges you have received, you’re slow to believe? How come? He rebukes them. He points out. It’s loving, but it’s direct.

These people had not rejected Scripture. They just hadn’t taken all of it and fit all of it in. They could hear what the Lord was saying, but there were preconceived ideas that they carried into His words. And so everything pointed in the direction of what they already hoped the Messiah would do. That when He comes, He will establish His kingdom, He will be reigning over His enemies, He will crush those who have political power over us—in this case, the Romans at this time. And they had that so ingrained in their minds. It was such a part of the fabric of their being that even when He says that the Son of Man must needs be crucified and the third day rise again, must suffer at the hand of the elders and the chief priests and so on—and the various times Jesus says, “I’m going to Jerusalem, this is the reason, and here’s what’s going to happen”—it doesn’t register.

Now again, take that to heart and let that be something that establishes deeper humility in you and in me. That the plain truth can be put in front of you, and you don’t see it. We’re all the same.

So the Lord rebukes them. Why? Because He loves them. “Despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of His correction. Whom the Lord loveth, He correcteth” (Proverbs 3). So He’s helping them. But He also rehearses the gospel.

Verse 26: “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” Is this not what the Messiah is all about? Suffering and then entering into His glory? And He doesn’t just state it—then He proves it. Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, going to Genesis and moving through the Scriptures, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And oh, to be there. Many have said it before me, and I’m sure you have thought about it as well, some of you at least, the thought of being there and listening to that sermon, that Bible study, that small group, as Jesus—as you’re walking—and He’s opening up the Word.

“Look, Genesis 3:15. How does the seed of the woman go to bruise the head of the serpent? Why are all these sacrifices given? What’s the significance of Passover and the substitutionary element of that and requiring death and the shedding of blood? What does it all typify? How come you can see these sacrifices and the elaborate details given to the Levitical worship system and miss this element of suffering? How can you read the prophet Isaiah and not see in chapter 53 what He is going to endure? Being despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, our sins being laid upon Him.”

He gives them the gospel—how He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Oh, to have been there.

And then He reveals Himself in the ordinariness of life. I need to move on here, just close. But He reveals Himself in the ordinariness of life. Yes, He rebukes our sin, He rehearses the gospel, and He reveals Himself in the ordinariness of life.

Verse 28: “And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and He made as though He would have gone further. But they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And He went in to tarry with them.” I like how this whole event happens around the meal. It’s just this, “Hey, come and stay with us. The day is almost at an end. Please come and abide with us.” And it’s during this simple, ordinary meal at the close of the day, their eyes are opened. They recognize Him.

They didn’t recognize Him as He preached? I mean, never a man spake like this man. Surely, as He’s preaching, there should have been some indication that they’re in the presence of someone who’s extraordinary in their ability to speak the truth, in their perception and insight of the Word. And yet their hearts burn within them, and it never registers that this is Him as He’s a prophet. No, it registers around a meal.

What does it say? It shows how the Lord can choose exactly when He’s going to reveal Himself to men. Does He normally use the means of grace? Does He normally attend the preaching of the Word and bless that to the salvation of souls and the strengthening of His people? Yes. But do not go through your week thinking the only time you can draw near to God is when you gather in the house of God. Gather in the house of God. Gather in the place of prayer. Be with the people of God. Expect Him to speak to your heart. Assemble with an anticipation that He will favor those moments.

But don’t go through your week imagining that the rest of the week is off limits to God and He’s not going to intervene in your life around the ordinary things of our day. Because right here, He comes into just the most ordinary daily experience and reveals Himself.

I believe spiritual awakenings are real things. I do. I believe they should be prayed for. I believe revival, as it is known and understood historically, is something that we should anticipate and long for—something that should never be left out of the prayers of our gatherings as we seek the Lord together. But I believe also that if we only have the ability to see God at work in the emotional, in the dramatic, in the sensational, then we are like children that only notice the kindness of the parent when they give gifts on their birthday.

We need to be able to see Him in the ordinariness of life. We need to see His kindness in another day to get out of bed and do your duty. We need to see His mercy upholding and sustaining—as in the weariness of the body, you can still deal with the children, and change the diapers, and put the breakfast out, and clean the house, and go to work, and all those things—and see, there He is. He’s with me there. His presence is real. He’s not forsaking, and He is not confined to making Himself known in days of revival.

He will draw near to the lowly in heart. He will bless the broken in spirit. And He comes near to His people who are cognizant of the fact that He is there and want Him and desire Him and simply say, “Lord, be with me today. Be with us around the table. Be with us as we eat and dine as a family.”

Oh yes, the preaching of the Word has a place. It’s huge. I don’t want to undermine it. Verse 32 makes that clear: “Did not our hearts burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” Not just speech, but speech that is flowing out of the Word.

Now, I hope we have in this place regularly enough a sense of that heartburn of our souls. Yes, God has given a word for me today. This morning, I heard from God. I came in with a concern, with a fear, and with a burden. I came in with this challenge in my life, and God ministered right where I was. And my heart was burning as He addressed it, as if He knew exactly what I needed to hear. There He was, meeting with me.

I want that for sure, and you should too. But oh, to see Christ every day. To see Him every day. That is what I want you to go away thinking about. I am intentionally going to ask for, anticipate, and endeavor by God’s grace to be more conscious of the fact He is with me this week. Monday morning begins with, “He is with me.” He shed His blood to never leave me. He purchased the right to abide with us, to draw near and go with us, to sympathize with our grief.

He understands. He enters into it all, and He ministers and helps us through all the ordinary and mundane things of life. And when faced with the daily chores and the to-do list, we can meet with Him, and He will meet with us. May the Lord help us.

Let’s bow together in prayer.

Do you enjoy the risen Christ walking with you? If you’re a Christian, again, take this to heart. In these moments, pray, “Lord, help me this week to be more aware that You’re in my life, You’re with me. Help me to be more aware of that and to delight in it.”

If you’re not saved, then you don’t have this. And that’s a huge problem with eternal ramifications. So if you’re not saved, and that blindness is still over you, pray that God may lift it. Show you His love for you. Accept the free offer of His salvation in Christ. Believe and be saved.

Lord, bless Your Word. Thank You for it. Thank You for a people who, like these disciples, have a heart and desire to talk about Christ and want Your presence with them every day. And lift then for all of us, elevate in all of us an appreciation and an awareness that You’re there, and work in us the same patience we see in our Lord Jesus Christ. So help us to know Your Word, to speak it with authority, with courage, with intelligence, and to minister to the weary. O God, use us this week.

We pray this desiring then the fullness of the Holy Ghost. Bless our fellowship now and go with us. May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of all the people of God now and evermore. Amen.