Emmaus.
P. Ben [Feb. 22, 2015]
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Luke 24.
The Lord loves to hear us communicate together about Him-
but the point is to be noted- the Lord is displeased about the discourse. Why?
It is because the two conversed and reasoned about the things they expected
from Him- ‘we had hoped that he was the one who is about to redeem
The Lord says to us- Look at Me through Moses and the
prophets. If I do so- my heart burns with in me. The man of the world never
looks at Christ through the scriptures. He may have facts and rumors but they
are mere foolishness. What do we learn from Moses and the prophets? One thing-
that Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory- (compare
Luke 24:25 with 1 Pet 1:11).
I begin from the Pentateuch to the Malachi of the
post-exilic era. What have I got? I find that Christ died not simply because He
had to on account of the rulers delivering Him to death- but He died on account
of the deliberate counsels of God so that He may enter into His glory. My heart
sinks in amazement to know that man is powerless- Christ has entered into His
glory- no matter what man has done to Him.
My heart has burned with in me but this is not the final
purpose of God. Christ’s glory causes me to be lost in wonder. But there is
something else- besides that which I can learn from Moses and the prophets-
there is something else. It goes beyond; it is the final revelation of God in
His beloved Son’s death for me- bread is broken and given to them. There is
nothing more, nothing to look beyond than this- Christ simply disappears from
them!
The Lord breaks the bread and gives it to me. What do I
understand from it? Of course I know He was delivered to death by the world.
This is an undeniable fact. But the new revelation that opens mine eyes is not
an obvious fact but the deeper fact- He died voluntarily for me. It is He who
broke the bread and not the world.
The fact that the world killed Christ is that which condemns
it. If Naboth is dead, it is vengeance on the family
of Ahab. If Christ is betrayed, the field is the field of blood. But this does
not open mine eyes to anything beyond the blood of Abel that seeks vengeance.
There are two things- hearts burning and eyes being opened.
All else is dead religion. Moses and the Prophets make my heart burn but the
bread broken is the eye-opener.
They said to one another, was not our heart burning in us as
he spoke to us on the way…? It is ‘ee kardia
imon’- for ‘our heart’. It is man and his
wife.
Adam and Eve heard God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day (Gen 2:8). What did they do? They hid themselves. But here, the two
were aware that it had become ‘the cool of the day’ but yet they radiated
strange confidence- ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is
declining’. Can Adam ever dare to ask God- Abide? God had to depart leaving the
earthly couple in
The eyes of the first man and his wife through the fruit of
disobedience got opened to shame and brutal shock of deadly sin- and the eyes
of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked (Gen 3:7). Adam and
his wife were of the old creation. Cleopas and his
wife were of the new.
Here it was not the Sabbath but the first day of the week
(v13) - signifying the new creation. The eyes of Cleopas
and his wife gets opened not to shame but to Christ- the final revelation of
God to the soul in infinite love of Christ’s death.
The two started their journey with reasoning’s but ended
with hearts warmed and eyes opened.
No creature can ever show me a greater thing than the bread
broken- Christ’s voluntary death for me. There cannot be any thing superior
done for man’s benefit and enjoyment than the bread broken. It is the joy of
the new creation.
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