Hear the story from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, that very day two of them were going to a village named of Mayas about seven miles from Jerusalem and they were talking with each other about all these things that had 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, are you the only visitor in 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 indeed in word before God and all the people and the chief priest 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 that, it is now the third day since these things have happened. Moreover, some of the women of our company amazed us. They went to 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. 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 Jesus said to them, whole foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them, in them, all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. And as they drew near to the village to which they were going, he acted as if he was going further. But they urged him strongly, saying, stay with us for it's toward evening, and the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with them. And 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. And 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 arose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together, saying, the Lord has risen indeed and he has appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. The word of the Lord. This particular episode is quite familiar with us, but there's just a few things I wanted to point out as the song was being sung a moment ago. I just was overwhelmed with an urge to turn to that passage and look at it. And as I did, I was just impelled to come up here and talk to you a little bit about it. I think what the Lord was doing that day was setting up what would be the experience of his disciples for the next two or three or how many millennia there will be before Christ returns. You see what you had on the road there was you had disciples, believers, people who had seen Jesus and knew Christ and had been part of the experience of his earthly ministry. But in this instance, Christ was present with them but not visible to them. Christ knew all along that would be the way he would have to operate. He even told his disciples there in the upper room the night before he was crucified. He said, it's necessary for you that I go away. Jesus knew that in order to be present with his people, he would have to go away. For you see, Christ is incarnate. He is God in the flesh. He stands five foot, something weighs 150. I don't know, some pounds. He's a Hebrew. He is a man, 100% man, child of Adam. And as such, he can never be every place at the same time. He has laid aside the features and the prerogatives of his divine nature and has limited himself voluntarily to a robe of flesh and all of the strictures and the restraints that go with humanity. And he knew that in order to be present with his disciples by his spirit, he would need to ascend. And there on the road to the mayas, he gave them just a little sampling of what it was going to be like. He would be present with them, but he would not be seen by them. Brothers and sisters, that's what happens this morning and in churches all across the globe. When we meet together as his children, as his faithful, as his church, he is present with us, but we cannot see him.
Another thing just sort of jumped out of the song and out of the passage to me was this idea that Christ is not there in his physical bodily presence, but he is there in his word. He opened to them the scriptures and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded the things concerning himself. What a seven mile walk that must have been. How joyous it must have been. In fact, they described it. They said, did not our hearts burn within us as he opened the scriptures to us. We do not see Christ in the flesh today, but we behold him as he is revealed the light of his glory and the light of his truth and the scriptures. And we have him in the word. That's why I insist when you read your Bible, dear brothers and sisters, that you recognize as a presupposition that he is on every page of your Bible. And the discerning eye can see him there and the eye of faith can behold him in his splendor. You see him from creations dawned all the way through to consummations day. Christ is in the scriptures. He's in Moses. He told the people in his day who were scholars of the law of Moses, men who were lawyers of the law of Moses. He told him, he said, if you knew Moses, you would know me for he Moses wrote of me. And every time you open Moses and see the powerful works of the Lord with his people, leading them out of Egypt, being in the midst of them in the tabernacle, walking with them, leading them, being the very manner that they ate and the very fount from the rock from which they drank, seeing the perfections of his glory revealed in the commandments, the justice and the righteousness of his commandments in the statutes and the judgments. Knowing that he was the one who was their king and their Lord and their master in the constitution of the nation of Israel in the covenant. He's there. He's there in the Psalms. Page after page turned the Psalms and there are multiple references to Christ in every Psalm. Sometimes it's blatantly obvious. Sometimes it's a Psalm that's been quoted in the New Testament, so we know by inspiration of the apostles that it belongs to Christ. Sometimes it's a little less obvious. It's a little more vague and perhaps a little more in imagery, but he is there. And that's I think what he was doing to these disciples that day. He was opening their eyes not to see him visibly at first, but to see him in scripture and he's there in the prophets as the prophets proclaim the word of God. Thus, sayeth the Lord, they proclaimed his great Lordship and mastery over all of the earth and over all of humanity. In fact, the prophets talk a lot about judgment and about rectitude. And compensation and the Lord is certainly all about those things. And we need to pay heed to the prophet's message. Prophet after prophet brings us a word that is extremely important. My brother pointed out to me about a week or so ago. He's written a few songs here in his last days. And he pointed out to me that the book of Zephaniah, which is kind of an obscure little prophet, a prophecy in the Old Testament, he said the prophecy in the Old Testament is a condemnation of the leaders in Israel, specifically the prophets and the priests. My brother, who's not ordained, was preaching to me from his flat of his back. And saying, Ron, we quote that one little verse out of Zephaniah where it says, the Lord will rejoice over thee. He will joy over thee with singing and dancing. He said, you know what makes the Lord sing and dance? I said, what Richard? He said, when the prophets are condemned, when the priests are shown to be hypocrites and men of shallow understanding, when the prophets are speaking a word but not the word of the Lord, not the fresh word of the Lord, in dude with spirit and power.
That's what makes the Lord sing and rejoice is when the prophets get their judgment verdict. And the people then rejoice because the Lord has purged his ministry.
It's just a little prophecy to pay attention to just by the way. But the Lord is there in the prophets and in the scriptures. Did you know that every apostle that preached out of the Old Testament scriptures? They didn't have the New Testament in that day. They were forming it, the teachings of Christ, the sayings of Christ, the memories and the inspired epistles of the apostles constituted the stuff of the New Testament as it arose right out of eyewitness account and was inscripturated and distributed. God gave the word. Great was the company of those that published it in the first century. But all of those first century preachers, evangelist and prophets and missionaries, church planters, pastors, they all preached out of the Hebrew scriptures. And that's what Jesus was doing to his disciples on this occasion. He was opening their eyes to see him in the scriptures. Third thing that just sort of jumped out at me in this little passage was about how that they invited him in for a meal. This is Sunday afternoon. The last time Christ had a meal was Thursday night, prior, the last supper. They invited him in for a meal and later their testimony was that they recognized him in the breaking of the bread. They didn't recognize him on the road, they didn't recognize him when they invited into their homes. They didn't recognize him when they were preparing for the meal. But when Christ broke the bread, they knew who he was. It's interesting, the text says the minute they recognized him, he vanished. He just had to go away. He was in a completely different phase, a different state, a different season of ministry with his disciples. He even said this to Mary at the resurrection in the garden when she reached down and grabbed him around his legs and held onto him. He says, don't cling to me. Don't cling to me. I have yet to go to my father. You see, Jesus enjoys a relationship with his church now that is different in his physical presence that he had when he was with his disciples. And we see him in the pages of Holy Scripture and we recognize him in the breaking of the bread.