ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS

Jesus said to the two walking on the road to Emmaus, “‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself."  (Luke 24:25-27 NIV)

Well, what do you know, [the resurrected] Christ conducted a Bible class. He led the Emmaus bound duo through an Old Testament survey course, from the writings of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy) into the messages of Isaiah, Amos, and the others. He turned the Emmaus trail into a biblical timeline, pausing to describe… the Red Sea rumbling?... Jericho tumbling?... King David stumbling? Of special import to Jesus was what the Scriptures said “concerning Himself.” His face watermarks more Old Testament stories than you might imagine. Jesus is Noah, saving humanity from disaster; Abraham, the father of a new nation; Isaac, placed on the altar by his father; Joseph, sold for a bag of silver; Moses, calling slaves to freedom; Joshua, pointing out the promised land.

Jesus took them through the writing of “Moses and all the prophets.” Can you imagine Christ quoting Old Testament Scripture? Did Isaiah 53 sound this way: "I was wounded and crushed for your sins. I was beaten that you might have peace" (v. 5)? Or Isaiah 28: "I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem. It is firm, a tested precious cornerstone that is safe to build on" (v. 16)? Did He pause and give the Emmaus students a wink, saying, "I'm the stone Isaiah described"? We don't know His words, but we know their impact. The two disciples felt "our hearts burning within us while He talked" (Luke 24:32 NIV). 

-- Adapted from Max Lucado in “Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear”  

#6100

THE FULFILLMENT OF PROMISES

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”  (Isaiah 7:14 NKJV)

Waiting at a bus stop on one end of a major curve in the road is a great analogy for what hope and faith are all about. You know the bus is coming, your bus schedule says it will, and yet you cannot see its arrival until it makes that final bend toward you.

As we anticipate the joyful celebration of Christ’s birth in just a few days, let’s stand on His promises. We may not yet see them before our eyes, but His word is Truth, and the fulfillment of those promises are just around the bend.

“‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’”  (Matthew 1:23 NKJV)

-- Adapted from Katherine Walden

#5500

THE FUTURE IMPACTS THE PRESENT

“But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand His plan, that He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.”  (Micah 4:12 NIV)

When God reveals the future, His purpose goes beyond satisfying our curiosity. He wants to change our present behavior because of what we know about the future. Forever begins now; and a glimpse of God’s plan for His followers should motivate us to serve Him now, no matter what the rest of the world may do. 

-- From the NIV Life Application Bible

#5162

THE SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME

 "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  (John 1:45 NIV)

Here’s an Advent illustration for kids -- and those of us who used to be kids and remember what it was like. Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocery store, and you start to get scared and panic and don’t know which way to go, and you run to the end of an aisle, and just before you start to cry, you see a shadow on the floor at the end of the aisle that looks just like your mom. It makes you really happy and you feel hope. But which is better? The happiness of seeing the shadow, or having your mom step around the corner and it’s really her?

That’s the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High Priest. That’s what Christmas is. Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing. 

-- John Piper

#4986

A SPECIAL PREPARATION

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”  (Isaiah 7:14)

It was not suddenly and unannounced that Jesus came into the world. He came into a world that had been prepared for Him. The whole Old Testament is the story of a special preparation… Only when all was ready, only in the fullness of His time, did Jesus come.

-- Phillips Brooks in “The Consolations of God: Great Sermons of Phillips Brooks”


#4733

GOING BACK TO LOOK FORWARD

“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”  (Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV)

The Advent season is that time when we seek to, in a manner of speaking, mute our memory of what has already happened, that we might brighten our joy that it happened. We leave the already of His advent to taste the bitter of the not yet. We, in short, go back, that we might look forward to His coming. 

-- R. C. Sproul

#4729

THE PROPHETS

The Hebrew word, nabi, translated "prophet" in English Bibles, has the connotation of "message bearer".  The prophets were men called by God to serve as His messengers to a stubborn and unheeding people.  They were always careful to point out that they were not voicing their own wisdom.  Their warnings, entreaties, and promises were always prefaced by the awesome proclamation: "Thus says the Lord..."  When the prophets did engage in prognostication, they usually were concerned with events which were fairly close at hand, such as the Assyrian conquest of Israel and the Babylonian conquest of Judah (both of which they foretold with deadly accuracy).  But occasionally a prophet's vision ranged farther into the future, to the day when God would enter into a new covenant with his rebellious children.  The hope of reconciliation was often linked with the coming of a very particular person, a Messiah or Savior.

What made the prophets so sure that they had a right -- nay, a duty, -- to speak in the name of God?  It is clear from their writings that they were not megalomaniacs who confused their own thoughts with the voice of God.  On the contrary, they were humble men, awe-stricken by the responsibilities thrust upon them...  The prophets minced no words in their indictments of the sins of Israel and Judah, and they trod especially hard on the toes of the rich, the powerful, and the pious.  The Establishment responded then as some [do now]: "One should not preach of such things!" (Micah 2:6).

-- Louis Cassels (1922-1974) in “Your Bible”


#4189

RIDING ON A DONKEY

“Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy…”  (John 12:14 NLT)

Riding on a donkey is a richly symbolic act, and one that goes back to King David, the prototypical Jewish king. The royal animal David rode was not a steed but a donkey, which was more sure-footed than a horse on the rocky, hilly terrain of Palestine, and able to travel farther on less water. The donkey, moreover, was a humble beast reflecting David’s identity as a shepherd king. Davidic kings from that time on rode donkeys or mules to identify with David.

Even more important for the Palm Sunday story is the prophetic Zechariah’s promise, given to the Jews five hundred years before the time of Christ: “Rejoice, greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9 NRSV) Everyone in the crowd would have known these words and their promise of who would come riding on a donkey, so that when Jesus met up with His disciples and mounted the donkey, the people knew instantly what was happening. He was giving a clear signal that He was the long-awaited King promised by the prophets. Finally, Jesus was openly proclaiming He was the Messiah!

-- Adam Hamilton in “The Way: Following in the Footsteps of Jesus”

#4070

FORETOLD LONG AGO

“Bethlehem Ephrathah,… out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel.”  (Micah 5:2)

Many details of Jesus’ birth, life, and death were prophesied hundreds of years before they were fulfilled. That this could be accounted for by coincidence is all but impossible. In his book Science Speaks, Peter Stoner applies the modern science of probability to just eight prophesies (one of which is today’s text). He says, “…the chance that any man might have… fulfilled all eight prophesies is one in 10 to the 17^th. That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.” (That’s one hundred quadrillion.) Stoner suggests that “we take 10 to the 17^th silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state 2 feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly… Blindfold a man and tell him he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up that one marked silver dollar. What chance would he have of getting the right one?” Stoner concludes, “Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing those eight prophesies and having them all come true in one man,… providing they wrote them in their own wisdom."

Christ’s coming was the exact fulfilment of many prophesies… So this Christmas, let’s thank God for sending His Son into the world to die and rise again… The Savior came into this world just as the prophets foretold long ago.

-- D.J.D. in the Upper Room Daily Devotional

#3997

THE TRAJECTORY OF YOUR LIFE

It is absolutely imperative at the outset that you come to terms with this simple yet life-changing truth:  God is for you.  If you don't believe that, then you'll pray small timid prayers; if you do believe it, then you'll pray big audacious prayers.  And one way or another, your small timid prayers or big audacious prayers will change the trajectory of your life and turn you into two totally different people.  Prayers are prophecies.  They are the best predictors of your spiritual future.  Who you become is determined by how you pray.  Ultimately, the transcript of your prayer becomes the script of your life.

-- Mark Batterson in The Circle Maker


#3252

PRAYER BLESSINGS

Even as the cloud foreshadows the rain, so prayer foreshadows the blessing; even as the green blade is the beginning of the harvest, so is prayer the prophecy of the blessing that is about to come.
-- Charles H. Spurgeon

 
#2927