The Road to Emmaus
Oh what depth we find in this encounter with the risen Christ..
The story of the encounter with the risen Messiah foreshadows ours in contemporary Christianity.
I am preparing a syllabus for a 2025 Bible study on The Glory of YAH in Fulfilled Prophecy, and this encounter will be my introductory study. We will focus on the Parable of the Wedding Feast, then Daniel, then Revelation, and delve into the fulfilment we find in history.
Fulfilment of prophecy is only second to Creation itself in the revelation of the Glory of YAH in modern Christianity.
Isaiah 46:9-10 ESV remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, (10) declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
Why is this encounter found in Luke 24 so important?
Luke 24:13-35 ESV That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, (14) and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. (15) While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. (16) But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. (17) 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. (18) 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?” (19) 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, (20) and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. (21) 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. (22) Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, (23) 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. (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.” (25) And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! (26) Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (27) And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (28) So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, (29) 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. (30) When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. (31) And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. (32) 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?” (33) And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, (34) saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” (35) Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
I will discuss the highlighted sections, but first, as a sidebar, let us see Mark’s view of this encounter:
Mark 16:12-13 ESV After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. (13) And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
Just two verses? Why is this?
Mark was more concerned with what Yeshua did than what He said. Mark displayed Yeshua’s miracles to present the glory of YAH. Luke incorporated both, particularly those verbal encounters with a more profound spiritual significance. The encounter on the Road to Emmaus was a profound spiritual encounter, and only Luke saw the significance.
Let us begin….
Introduction
This encounter with the risen Christ shows two witnesses of Christ’s life and death after Christ’s murder, leaving Jerusalem disappointed. They were immersed in a cloud of unfulfilled hopes and dreams, discussing what could have been but was not.
V19—Their hopes were in the warrior Messiah, who would defeat Roman rule and release Israel from oppression, unaware that their real enemy is the religious hypocrisy that has infected their nation. They had resigned themselves to Yeshua being another murdered prophet. Were they deaf and blind? Did they not see the miracles? Did they not hear His testimony?
Yes, yes, and yes.
Is this not symbolic of the spiritual condition of our birth?
Is this not the actual spiritual condition of the Laodicean church of Revelation 3, the church with no commendations from Christ, the spiritually dead church?
But read on….
V21-They knew what Yeshua had said, that He would rise on the third day, yet the following verses discuss the strange phenomenon of the empty tomb.
Yet they did not recognize Him….
V25&26-Jesus admonishes them for not understanding what was foretold in the scriptures, but it is essential for what He did not say. He did not say, “I am He with whom you speak.” He used the third person when quoting the scriptures about himself. This point is essential, as the whole point of the encounter is yet to be disclosed.
V27-Yeshua disclosed to them every scripture from Moses onwards that had prophesied of the Messiah….
Yet they still did not recognize Him…..
V30&31-Herein is the reason for the entire discourse. Only when Yeshua took the Bread, blessed it, and gave it to them were their eyes opened, and they recognized Him, the Messiah, the risen Lamb of YAH. This event was a sovereign impartation of the Holy Spirit, a foreshadowing of what would come on the Day of Pentecost, laid out in Acts 2, and equally a foreshadowing of our own Day of Pentecost. The Pharisees and Scribes suppressed the spiritual insight of the masses through religious elitism, and the only way to break the religious spirit was to ingest the flesh and blood of Yeshua. The prophets were all murdered for spiritual insight obtained through direct connection to YAH, separate from the Elite.
The Bread symbolizes the Bread of Life, the infusion of Christ within that tore the veil from top to bottom. Access to the Holy of Holies is now within each individual without a religious filter.
John 6:42-51 ESV They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (43) Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. (44) No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (45) It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— (46) not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. (47) Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. (48) I am the bread of life. (49) Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. (50) This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. (51) I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
V35-They emphasised the breaking of the Bread was the key to the whole event.
Conclusion
Without the indwelling Christ, you are eating from the wrong tree. This is spiritually fatal. The indwelling Christ is for the foreknown, those predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Christ knew these two men were His, and at the dining table, He imparted His spirit to them through the breaking of Bread.
Today, what has changed?
We enact religious ceremonies such as praying the “Sinners Prayer” and baptism in varying forms and argue among ourselves which way is right. We celebrate those who perform these ceremonies as another “notch on the belt,” yet we are reluctant to monitor the process of sanctification within them. As a result, we have lukewarm converts more akin to the doctrines of men than spiritual slaves to the indwelling Christ. To some, their seed does not take root; for most, it is in the thorns choked by the world’s worries. To the few that find good soil, they blossom with spiritual growth of 100 fold.
The sovereign work of Christ within is the start of sanctification. You grow spiritual antennas and sniff the BS from a mile away. You see most biblical prophecies through the lens of history, not the future. The scales will fall off your eyes, and you will grow large, discerning ears.
For those demonically possessed, this may be a painful process, but rest assured, if you have arrived at this realization, you are foreknown. It is time to clean house, but replace the clean house (your internal spirit) with the spirit of Christ; otherwise, you may be in for worse:
Matthew 12:43-45 ESV “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. (44) Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. (45) Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
Evil spirits cannot coexist with the Spirit of Christ. They can only exist outside of the indwelt body of Christ. As for all physical ills, the spirit of Christ alone is the antidote. Whether you suffer in thankfulness and marvel at the grace afforded you or physical healing, your spiritual sanctification will be your light.
These two men on the Road to Emmaus became two witnesses for Christ, the archetype of the two witnesses of Revelation 11, symbolic of all those martyred for Christ in the Church Age. We do not know the physical fate of these two foreknown, but their spiritual was secured at the dinner table that day they met Christ.
Do you understand the significance of this encounter before we embark on a journey into the Glory of YAH? Otherwise, it will be another thing you can tick off your To Do list.
Bless you all.
Geoff
JesusInYou.Church
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