Do you like going for a ramble? Walking is considered beneficial for our well-being. Talking and walking are even better. Striding out in the countryside can produce an awareness of new sights and places, but a stroll with someone can deepen our appreciation of who they are and our friendship with them.
In the last chapter of Luke’s gospel, we meet two individuals out for a walk who come from a place of deep despair to one of strong hope through a much greater realisation of the purpose and person of Jesus Christ. Let’s join these travellers on what would have been about a seven-mile homeward journey and look to grow in understanding of who Jesus is and what happened that first Easter.
The stranger
Luke tells us that two people were walking home, talking about the recent crucifixion of Jesus in Jerusalem. They were finding it difficult to make sense of what had happened. They were upset, discouraged and disappointed.
Imagine having a 1,000-piece jigsaw without a completed picture on the lid. You have a few pieces that you recognise, maybe a face, a hand or an object, but little else. You can’t see the full picture. These two despairing walkers had pieces of information about Jesus and the events in Jerusalem over the last two days, but they couldn’t see how they fitted into the big picture of who Jesus was and what he came to do.
Then a third person joins them, a stranger, who at first seems to know nothing about recent events, but in reality was none other than the subject of their discussion. Unknown to them until mealtime, it was the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ who had come alongside them.
We can sympathise with these walkers as they speak of ‘the things that have happened’ (Luke 24:18). Jesus’ death was painful and robbed them of hope. Jesus understood and asked them a question, ‘What things?’ No one knew better than this stranger what those things involved, so we understand his question as wanting them to express their thoughts and feelings, to bring them to a full understanding of him. The travellers give a summary of the ministry, arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus, and the sense of hopelessness that now engulfed them (Luke 24:19-21).
The Scriptures
We now come to three of the most challenging and comforting verses of Luke’s gospel.
He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself’ (Luke 24:25-27).
Here, the Lord Jesus addresses their inner selves. He was aware of their sad hearts, but he describes them as foolish, without insight, regarding the unfolding big story of salvation in the scriptures. This is the challenge to us in the midst of our disappointments and discouragements. Like these people, we are slow to read, slow to understand, and so slow to believe, trust, and rely on God’s Word as declared in the books of Moses and the Prophets.
Jesus surely spoke of the wonderful redemption plan, which included the promise of a redeemer in Genesis 3:15. The promised descendant would crush the head of the enemy, but not without suffering. In Isaiah, his name is revealed as Emmanuel, ‘God with us’, that is, the one who would dwell among us, identify with us and live for us (Is. 7:14). A few chapters later, his office is revealed:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6-7).
The Scriptures tell us that Jesus would resolve the great issue of sin that separates us all from a close relationship with God. Scripture also tells us his birthplace, Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
Jesus certainly spoke of his suffering and death as it was written about in the Scriptures. He was the obedient servant who died as a substitute for the ungodly, pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53).
Later, the risen Christ tells these two returning travellers in company with the disciples, ‘Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms’ (Luke 24:44). All three sections of the Old Testament, the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, were all pointing to the purpose of this person, Jesus, his resurrection, ascension and coming glory.
The significance
The Scriptures are a revelation, an unfolding of the great plan to rescue sinners from eternal destruction. Jesus said earlier in Luke, ‘For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost’ (Luke 19:10).
Jesus’ appearance was predicted in the Old Testament Scriptures. His birth, life, ministry and death were followed by his resurrection and ascension, and as the Scriptures say, ‘he will appear a second time not to bear sin but to bring salvation’ (Heb. 9:28). We read in Revelation 5:6 of a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing in the centre of the throne. The lamb offered in sacrifice in Isaiah 53:7 is now worshipped in heaven.
As the Lord Jesus Christ is the central character of the Scriptures, so he is the central person of heaven. The pieces of the divine jigsaw include the humiliation and the exaltation of the God-Man. He is the central figure in the life of every believer.
Hearing these things explained was a great comfort to the travellers as they saw the events with greater understanding. The result was that their sad and slow hearts were now beating with renewed hope. Seeing Christ in all the Scriptures energised them; mourners became missionaries as Jesus disappeared and they walked back to Jerusalem.
Reading and delving into the Bible helps us to realise that Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies of the Old Testament through his life and death, recorded in the Gospels and explained in the letters of the New Testament. Therefore, we can be brought by him into God’s presence now, forgiven and accepted, and ultimately we can be brought into perfect holy fellowship with him in heaven, where we will be taken up in worship with ever thankful hearts.
Jesus Christ is at the centre of the Scriptures and the centre of heaven. May he, by God’s grace, be central in our lives as we also consider these glorious things concerning him.