April 24
“Then (Jesus) said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself,” Luke 24:25-27.
After Jesus had listened to the sad story of the Emmaus disciples who thought that their high hopes had been dashed to the ground, the risen Redeemer said, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” He admonished them for their failure to believe everything that the Old Testament prophets had written about the promised Messiah and Savior who would come at God’s appointed time.
God’s appointed hour had come, and the Fulfiller of God’s promises was walking with the Emmaus disciples, but He kept them from recognizing Him. As He admonished them for being so slow to recognize that He had come to fulfill everything that the prophets had written, He asked them a searching question: “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”
How often would Jesus say to us, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe!” Many people are slow of heart to believe because they do not know what the prophets have written. They have little knowledge of what is written in Holy Scripture because they do not read, search, and study the Bible at home, and they do not attend Bible classes in a Christ-exalting church. Remember the word of the Lord Jesus, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me,” John 5:39. Search the Scriptures to find Jesus!
Christ came to fulfill everything that the Old Testament writers had foretold. He had to suffer and die on the cross at Calvary. He had to pay the price for our salvation. He had to sacrifice Himself as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. Prior to His suffering and death, He lived the perfect, sinless life to fulfill all of the Commandments in our place. Because of what He did, you and I are given that glorious assurance, “Son, daughter, your sins are all forgiven!” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,” Acts 16:31.
“Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, (Jesus) expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” As the two disciples walked along the road to Emmaus, they were in an informal Bible class with the Master Teacher! Thereby He revealed to them that He was indeed the promised Messiah and the Savior of the world, who not only died to redeem us, but who also rose again from the grave to conquer sin, death, and the devil for us.
Faithful pastors will follow the example of Jesus and the apostles. The story of the Emmaus disciples shows us how Jesus proceeded to teach the Scriptures. Scripture also reports how the apostle Paul proceeded in Thessalonica: “Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ,’” Acts 17:2-3. Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah, in whom we believe and put our trust for time and eternity.
My hope is built on nothing less, Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.
His oath, His covenant, and blood, Support me in the whelming flood;
When ev’ry earthly prop gives way, He then is all my Hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. Amen.