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Bible Study Theology

Luke 24:30-45 “…their eyes were opened”

I’ve shared the gospel enough times with people who had no interest in it to need some sort of encouragement not to give up. Perhaps you can identify with that. I found some of that encouragement this morning in Luke 24 in the story of Jesus talking with two of his followers on the road to Emmaus.

Cleopas and his friend are walking to the village of Emmaus when they are unexpectedly joined by a stranger who begins to interpret to them “in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself (the Messiah).” (v. 27) It’s amazing to me that as the stranger reveals to these two such deep spiritual truths, they still don’t realize who he is!

But after arriving at Emmaus and sitting down to dinner together, Jesus takes bread and breaks it and gives it to them, and in that moment, “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” This is what I long to see in the lives of people with whom I share the good news of all that the Scriptures reveal about Jesus the Messiah. I long to see their eyes opened so that they recognize Jesus for who he is. This is what I ask those of you who pray for our ministry to ask the Lord for. Pray that God would grant spiritual sight to those who are blind to the glory of Jesus Christ.

It is interesting that the revelation of Jesus to these two occurs in the breaking of the bread. This is most likely a reference to the Lord’s Supper, which is itself a revelation of the sacrifice for sins that Jesus made when he offered his body and his blood on the cross. It is in the declaration of that event, the Calvary event, that blinded eyes are opened.

That is not to say that everyone who hears the news of Jesus’ death and resurrection will be able to see with spiritual sight the glory of Christ. But when God in his grace opens blinded eyes and brings people to faith, he does it through the proclamation of the gospel. It’s difficult to proclaim the gospel to spiritually blind people who may not care two cents about what you are saying, but how necessary it is to be willing to open our mouths and to share the message without which no one can be saved (Acts 4:12), and trust that God will use it to save those lost sheep he has committed himself to finding (John 10:16).

This also shows us how we can pray for unbelievers: “Lord, open their eyes to see the glory of Christ the way you opened the eyes of those two in Emmaus.” Notice also that after Cleopas and his friend go to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples about what happened, Jesus appears again to them all. And verse 45 says, “he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”

“Lord Jesus, as we are faithful to declare the gospel message to those around us, please open their minds to understand the Scriptures. Give spiritual sight that blinded sinners may see the glory of Christ.”

In verse 47, Jesus says that “repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Commit yourself anew to proclaiming the good news of repentance for forgiveness of sins. Commit yourself anew to pray for those who are hearing that message. Pray that God would open their eyes and their minds to understand the Scriptures and to see the glories of Jesus, our wonderful Savior. Be encouraged as you speak to and pray for the hardest of hearts. God is able to open closed minds and eyes.

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Bible Study

Exodus 15 Jesus’ victory over our enemy

I read yesterday about Moses leading the Israelites across the Red Sea and today I read in Exodus 15 the victory song that the Israelites sang after the crossing.  Some things stood out to me in the song.  First of all, it is important to realize that the Exodus from Egypt is a picture of God’s salvation of his people.  It was a real historical event, and it was a real salvation, but in God’s eternal plan, it was only a foreshadowing of the eternal salvation that he provides for those whom he has chosen.  So when we read about the Exodus, we should see in it a picture of what God has done for us.

One of the things that stood out to me is that this was a salvation from an enemy.  Pharaoh was against God and out to keep the Israelites in slavery.  In the same way, we have an enemy, Satan, who wants to keep us enslaved to himself, and one of the aspects of our salvation is that we are delivered from him and he is destroyed.  This is mentioned in the song when they sing in Ex. 15:4-10

4  “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.   5  The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. 6  Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. 7  In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. 8  At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

9  The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’
10  You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

This encouraged me because I very definitely see Satan scheming against me daily, and to know that he is defeated is very encouraging.  When Jesus died on the cross, it was Satan’s ultimate defeat, and just as Pharaoh and his officers sunk in the Red Sea and were “shattered” (v. 6) our enemy is also shattered.  By the “greatness of his majesty” Jesus has overthrown our adversary.  Of course, the ultimate manifestation of this is still future when Satan is cast into the Lake of Fire, but it is a certain thing that has already been accomplished.  So I can have confidence that I, in Christ’s strength am able to overcome our enemy.

Also encouraging were verses 16-18 where the song describes the effect of the Red Sea deliverance on the pagan peoples around who would certainly hear about this great act of salvation…

16  Terror and dread fall upon them;

because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone,

till your people, O Lord, pass by,

till the people pass by whom you have purchased.

17  You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain,

the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode,

the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

18  The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

Notice that verse 16 says that God has “purchased” his people.  Jesus has purchased us by his blood–his death on the cross.  The idea of being purchased is a very special way of thinking of our salvation.  We belong to God and he will certainly care for us because we are his.  1 Cor. 6:20 says, “you were bought with a price…”  and 1 Peter 1:18-19 say, “…you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

We can rejoice today in the fact that we belong to God and that he has defeated our enemy!  Hallelujah!

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Theology

Matthew 8-9 The significance of Jesus’ healing ministry

I just moved with my family a week ago to a very cold, eastern European city.  My head has been stopped up ever since I got here.  You know that sensation of feeling like your head is floating about a foot above your shoulders?  Needless to say, suffering with this head cold while going through jet-lag and culture shock all at once gave me an appreciation for the good news in Matthew 8-9 that Jesus heals.

It really is startling how important Jesus’ healing ministry figures in to the gospel accounts.  These two chapters alone recount four specific healings, two specific deliverances from demons, one raising from the dead, and the general statement that Jesus “cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.”

What good news for those who are struggling with sickness.  I know that seeing this truth gave me confidence and faith to lay my need before the Lord Jesus and ask him to give me the health and strength that I need to adjust to my new living situation, take care of my family, begin my language studies and serve those around me in whatever way he has prepared.

But receiving physical healing alone fails to plumb the depths of all that is being revealed here about Jesus.  The reason the gospels emphasize the healing ministry of Jesus is not just that he is a source of health and well-being for this life, although he definitely is that, and it is not wrong to come to him with our physical needs as I did this morning.

Sickness and death and bondage to demonic powers are all the glaring evidence that mankind in his sin and rebellion against God is under God’s curse.  When Jesus comes on the scene in the gospels, healing all and delivering from demons and even raising the dead, God is displaying the truth that Jesus is the one who is going to remove that curse from the new humanity that God will bring into being.  This is why the gospels emphasize repeatedly that “all who came to him were healed.”  The redemption that Jesus brings is total and complete.

Matthew explains the healings in these chapters with a quotation from Isaiah 53.  This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”  If sickness and death are the curse of God upon sin, and they are (see Genesis 2:17), then by bearing our sicknesses and diseases, Jesus bears our curse.  His healing ministry then is a pointer to the fact that he is the Redeemer who lifts the curse and brings life in place of death.

Every time we receive a physical healing in this life from the Lord Jesus, it is a specific pointer, or as John would say a “sign” of the deeper and more significant foundational truth that Jesus has redeemed us from sin’s curse.

I am so glad that I can come to Jesus and ask for physical healing, knowing that he is my Redeemer and regardless of how he chooses to answer my prayer, whether I receive the “pointer” or “sign” of physical healing or not, I can know that by his death and resurrection he has lifted the curse from me and given me eternal life.