Luke 24:31

And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight.

The two, Emmaus pilgrims had opened their hearts to the Lord, for out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh. It was such a full and free confession as they would not have thought of making in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. But the kind sympathy of this stranger invited, almost compelled, confidences, and so they had opened to Him their whole heart. The first words of the Lord in commenting upon the information He had received were a firm reproof, not unmixed with gentleness. Foolish men He calls them and slow of heart to trust and believe in all things that the prophets had spoken. They had not properly attended to the description of the Messiah as given by the prophets, and they had not looked upon His own teaching and miracles with enlightened eyes. It was a necessity for Christ, for the Master in whose company they had been all these long months; it was an obligation resting upon Him which He could not evade. First the Passion, then the glory; through cross to crown. At all times there is much sin, foolishness, lack of faith mixed with the weakness and grief of the believers. And this must be pointed out without hesitation. For that will open the way to a better understanding, in this case. The Lord deliberately began with the books of Moses and then continued through the books of the prophets; He interpreted to these two disciples the passages concerning His person and work, He compared prophecy and fulfillment; He pointed out the meaning of passages which to them had been hidden treasure-chests; He took His time to explain every word thoroughly, in order that their eyes might finally be opened. It was a long discourse, and from the mouth of the greatest Teacher of all times. Would that we had its exact contents today! But probably it has purposely not been preserved, in order that we may search the Scriptures of the Old Testament all the more diligently. Meanwhile, the two or two and one-half hours needed for a slow journey to Emmaus had brought them to the village, and Jesus purposely assumed the air of one that intended to go farther. He wanted to see whether His explanation of the Scripture and its application had made such an impression upon them that they would want to remain in His company. Happy they that have Christ with them thus! His plan succeeded beautifully, for both of the disciples urged Him with earnest pleading: Abide, remain with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is drawing to a close. Their real reason was, of course, that their hearts had been so touched and overwhelmed with the beauty and power of His explanation that they wanted to hear more of this charming and edifying conversation. Note: This is ever the effect of the doctrine of the Gospel: wherever it is felt, its Author, the ever-blessed Jesus, is earnestly entreated to dwell in the heart. And so Jesus went in to tarry, to remain, with them for the evening meal, at least. But when He reclined at the table with them, He thought the time fitting to reveal Himself to them. Accordingly, He took the bread, gave thanks over it, broke it, and gave it to them. At this act their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. This stranger was no one else than their Friend and Master, the same who had so often, in His capacity as the Head of the little band, performed this customary work. But in the same moment when their faces lighted up in joyful recognition, Jesus became invisible before them, He vanished out of their sight; He departed from them in that invisible manner. Though He was still their Master and Friend, they could no longer enjoy His intimate company as in the days before His suffering. They should no longer be bound by His visible presence, but learn to place their trust in the word of His Gospel which He has left for all men.

The Obligation Of The Work Of Atonement

There is no fact in Gospel history more consoling or more conducive to the strengthening of the Christian's faith than that of the readiness and willingness of Jesus in carrying out God's plan of salvation. If the Redeemer had faltered at any time, if the weakness of His human nature had at any time caused an unwillingness to carry out the work of atonement, the Gospel history would be worthless, and the comfort of a Christian in relying upon the satisfaction of Christ's vicarious suffering would be vain.

It had been prophesied concerning the Messiah: "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God," Psalms 40:7. This delight in doing the will of God, in carrying out the plan and counsel of God for the salvation of man, is a prominent and necessary feature of Christ's Ministry. He had a clear and full conception of the extent and of the obligation of the work which He had come to perform, Hebrews 10:5. He knew exactly wherein the will of His heavenly Father consisted. "This is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing. And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life. " John 6:39.

In accordance with this situation and the full understanding of its nature and scope, Jesus at all times kept the work of redemption foremost in His mind, to seek and save that which was lost, Luke 19:10. Even at the age of twelve years He was fully conscious of the obligation resting upon Him, when He told His mother: "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" Luke 2:49. To His disciples, who asked about the man that had been born blind, He briefly and succinctly stated His conception of His ministry: "I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work," John 9:4. To the eager Zacchaeus He calls out: "Today I must abide at thy house," Luke 19:5. That was a part of His work, of the ministry of saving souls, which He therefore could not neglect.

When the time came that He should enter into the glory of His Father through the way of suffering and death, He did not falter or waver, but set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem, Luke 9:51; Mark 10:32. He told His disciples: "The Son of Man must suffer many things," Luke 9:22; Matthew 16:22. He was perfectly aware of the fate that was awaiting Him at Jerusalem, and yet He announces: "I must walk today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. " Luke 13:33.

This being the case, namely, that the chief aim and purpose of Jesus in coming into the world was to work the redemption of mankind by the shedding of His blood as an atonement for the guilt of all, He emphasized this one point to the exclusion of everything else. He tells His disciples on the evening before His death: "This that is written must yet be accomplished in Me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors; for the things concerning Me have an end," Luke 22:37. And in the garden He rebukes the impulsive Peter: "How, then, shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be?" Matthew 26:54. The same truth is emphasized so strongly in His discourses on the afternoon and evening of the resurrection day, as well as by the angels in their first announcement of the Easter miracle. "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? All things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning Me. Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer," Luke 24:7. and these words were echoed by peter in the interval between Christ's ascension and the Day of Pentecost: "Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled," Acts 1:16.

Upon the basis of these authoritative utterances we condemn all attempts to make the work of Christ seem of a nature concerning this world only. In the face of the blasphemous efforts of the millennial dreamers we hold firmly to the teaching, preaching, and confessing of Christ's work: "Who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned sinner, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil... with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death."