THE TWO ON THE WAY TO EMMAUS
Jim Hibbert
I want to speak about a Man available on the first day of the week, and this beloved Man has risen from the dead and the work He has accomplished is available for everyone – not just those in the White House (and I speak respectfully in that regard). But here is One who had risen from the dead. Think of the number of dead in the whole scene of human life, and here is One from among the dead, “firstborn from among the dead”, Col. 1: 18. You would expect there to be a great cavalcade, a great procession for this Man. He tasted death for everything. He had gone to the bottom of the mountains and He had ascended, it says, “… what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth?”, Eph 4: 9.
What was He doing in this scripture? What had been prophesied about Him had happened – “smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered”, (Zech 13: 7), and now He is gathering the sheep. That is what He was doing on this first day of the week, collecting His own, gathering them around. He kept on gathering until there were about five hundred brethren at once (see 1 Cor 15). This Stranger on the road to Emmaüs! It is amazing to think that He is interested in you. If you are discouraged and if you are downcast, He is interested in you.
This country we are in proclaims the principle of, ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, and I lift my lamp beside the golden door’. That is the invitation of the Statute of Liberty and that is how this country welcomed people. Now, with terrorism, it is a different story. It is not so easy to become a citizen of this country or Canada. But with the One of whom I am speaking there is no restriction. If anyone wants to come to Him, if any one of you is discouraged, or seeking a better way, seeking a better fellowship, or seeking a better relationship with Him, He invites you. This Stranger would like to come along with you for a brief time this evening, and encourage you and tell you about Himself. The Bible is about Him. The whole fabric of Scripture, from the beginning to the end, is about this Wonderful Man. Whether it is the Messiah of the Old Testament, or the Christ of the New Testament; whether it is the Sun of Righteousness of the Old Testament, or the Bright and Morning Star of the New Testament; He is there from the beginning to the end – the Alpha and Omega. If we are despondent He would like to speak with us and encourage us. He would have a word of encouragement for us, because He would like to speak about Himself.
So, the same day that He had risen, these two were going back to their village. They had been in Jerusalem – they had heard the news. Some had gone to the tomb and He was not there. They had an inkling of something happening and they had thought that this wonderful Person was about to redeem Israel. Instead of that He was crucified and put on a cross, and they were really shaken. So they were going back to their hometown seven English miles away. To walk seven miles might take about two to three hours. Now we are not going to keep you here two to three hours so we will have to condense our message about this wonderful Man.
As they went along, He asked them questions, that is the kind of Man He is. In another place He said, “Children, have ye anything to eat?”, John 21: 5. He likes to draw you out, so that He can discuss things with you. Even in Laodicea He knocks on the door! You can picture Him knocking on the door of a family gathered and the family would be saying, ‘you know, we have had a letter from John and he says Jesus is counselling us to buy eye salve that we might see, and linen garments that we might be clothed, and gold purified by fire’ (see Rev 3: 18), then there would be a knock on the door and there He would be! What does He say, “I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me”, Rev 3: 20. You can think of Him sitting down and conversing to a discouraged person in Laodicea in times when most are indifferent; He would like to draw near to rekindle your heart, set it on fire and get the coals burning. In the day of recovery they had a wood offering. That was a wonderful time of recovery. He would like just to lay on the wood and light it and get a spark going and kindle it so that your heart would be burning within you.
As He goes along, He speaks to them about different things; they discuss what had been happening that day, “And having begun from Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself”. There are many references to Moses in the prophets. Moses means the “rights of God”, and that is how he started. Then in the prophets there are about thirty nine references to Jesus and that includes all of Psalm 22 and all of Isaiah 52 and 53. These are not just scripture verses, these are whole sections of Scripture. In the Psalms there are about twenty three references, and in the New Testament there are hundreds of references that link with the Old Testament, so that the whole fabric of Scripture is that blessed Man. What would He say to these two as they went along on this journey – this walk – probably from about noon time until the early evening.
Possibly as He walks with them He would speak to them about the offerings in Leviticus. I am sure He would, because He began from the time of Moses and might have told them about the burnt-offering, the oblation, the peace-offering, the trespass-offering, and the sin-offering (see Lev 1-4). He would say, ‘This is myself, this represented me’. As they spoke with Him they said, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarean, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people”. What did Moses have to say about this wonderful Man? He would tell them about Deuteronomy 18, where Moses says, “Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken; according to all that you desiredst of Jehovah thy God” (vv 15,16). What a prophet!
They were talking about a prophet and this One who was walking alongside them would say, Moses the law-giver was pointing to me as the prophet. He might talk about what Jacob would have to say about Judah, “The sceptre will not depart from Judah … Until Shiloh come” (Gen. 49: 10), until peace comes. He would probably say many things like that. Then He would go on to the prophets. If you look at 2 Samuel 7 you will see what He says, “I will establish his kingdom. It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son … And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made firm for ever” (vv 12-16). He is getting into the prophets, and how He would talk to them about the different prophets and the different things in Isaiah. They had hoped that He would redeem Israel, but He would go over chapters such as Isaiah 32, 42, 50, 52, 53 and 61. Think about what Isaiah 61 says, “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me” (v 1). He would go back to the time in Luke 4 when He was in Nazareth and opened up this wonderful scripture, “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah hath anointed me to announce glad tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah” (Isa 61: 1,2). When He read that what He said was, “to send forth the crushed delivered”, (Luke 4: 18); that is what He said, which was true of these two on the way to Emmaüs.
Is there anybody here who is feeling crushed or despondent? He has good news for you. He is the One who is the answer for everything, in the law, the prophets, and the Psalms. He might have continued with those two about the Psalms, but He opened that later to the company. When He drew near to their village and He made as if He would go further they said, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is declining”. It was the time of the evening oblation. He was the morning oblation; He was the offering of incense. Think of it! He was the real Offering yet the Jews were still carrying on with their ritual. He was the real morning Lamb and the real evening Lamb that day. What a day it was! It says in Joshua, “And the sun stood still, and the moon remained where it was” (10: 13). There was no day like that day, and for these two there was no day like the first day of the week – a blessed Man going about in the victory of resurrection, gathering these two and gathering His own.
So, they returned quickly to Jerusalem. That is a fine thing. When you get in touch with this blessed Man, you will want to go to the centre where things are. That is what they did. They quickly returned. It was a slow journey to Emmaüs, a Sabbath days’ journey, an easy walk, but then they returned quickly to Jerusalem. What did they find out? The brethren were saying, “The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon”. What a Priest He was! What a work He was doing in gathering His own. There is a wonderful reference to that in Ezekiel 34, “Behold I, even I, will both search for my sheep, and tend them. As a shepherd tendeth his flock” (v 11), and then it says, “I will seek the lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up the broken, and will strengthen that which was sick” (v 16).
That is the kind of Man He is, that is what is going to happen in the re-gathering of God’s people in the coming day, and He was doing it already. He was introducing a new day, the day of the “acceptable year of Jehovah”, Isa 61: 2. He was introducing the year of Jubilee. When Pentecost was accomplishing He was introducing something new. By His death and by the incoming of the Spirit something that was unprecedented in the annals of scripture. It was a new day, the acceptable year of the Lord. I think it is like the year of release and the fiftieth year, and Pentecost all put together. It continues now so our invitation now is to encourage each of us and to warm our hearts, to rekindle them and to be absorbed with that blessed Man and to extend that wonderful day.
So, they quickly go to Jerusalem and they find those gathered there and then He appeared in the reality of His humanity. He opens up the Scriptures to them so that they might understand. I think that is really wonderful, that He is here to open things up to us so that we become those that understand. He is in a new condition and something new is going to be introduced.
In the millennial day there will be the feast of the New Year, the Passover, Unleavened Bread, and the feast of the Tabernacles (see Ezek 45: 18-25). Possibly the blowing of trumpets and the day of atonement relate to the gospel of the kingdom (see Matt 24: 11). What was new that was to be introduced for those in Luke 24 was when the day of Pentecost was accomplishing – the Holy Spirit came (Pentecost will not be repeated in the millennium). It was a new day, and there is no day like that new day, the time of the mystery, the time of the glad tidings, and the great opening up of things.
He set the pattern here, speaking about everything concerning Himself. That is what we are to be occupied with. We are to be occupied with that Blessed Man. The world to come will be occupied with Him. In His administration, in the millennium nothing will deteriorate. The response on earth may deteriorate and the nations may deteriorate (see Num. 29), but He and the assembly will never deteriorate, they will always be fresh and living because we will be occupied with Him. It means we have got something that can never be taken away from us.
May this be so, for His Name’s sake.
WHEATON IL
25 November 2005