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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/donald-armstrong/christ-guest-and-host/
Luke chapter 24, and we'll read from verse number 13. Luke 24 verse 13,. And behold, two of them went the same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs. And they talked together of the things which had happened.
And it came to pass that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these, that ye have one to another, and as ye walk, and are sad?
And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered and said unto him, Art thou only a stranger, or art thou the only stranger in Jerusalem, and hath not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
He said unto them, What things? They said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done, yea? And certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre, and when they found not his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the woman had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. And as they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went, he made as though he would have gone further.
But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened unto us the Scriptures?
And they rose up that same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how that he was made known unto them in breaking of bread.
And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. Verse number 40. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. Now we look to the Lord to bless this very precious reading from his own Holy Word.
The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the great fundamentals of Holy Scripture. The Apostle Paul said, If Christ be not raised, we are of all men most miserable. Just very briefly on it, I want to look at first of all the importance of it doctrinally, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is important doctrinally because it is evidence that what Christ had accomplished upon the cross at Calvary fully satisfied God in relation to our sin. That's important, and it's wonderful. It's important doctrinally because it shows that the Lord Jesus Christ was one who could not be holden of death.
He was sinless, holy. We've already been hearing this. Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. It is an evidence that the one who came into manhood was absolutely sinless and holy, and the pure Son of God himself.
It is important doctrinally because all of God's purpose, and our brother John reminded us about his purpose, not purposes, on Friday evening. All of God's purpose will be fulfilled by Christ, and to do that he had to rise again.
So that the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's important, that is doctrinally. The second thing about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ was that it was evidenced. When you turn to 1 Corinthians, you read that the apostle says, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and he was buried, and he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and he goes on, and he was seen.
He was seen of the twelve. He was seen of Peter. He was seen of over 500 brethren at once, and Paul adds, almost with a note of joy, he says, and last of all, he was seen of me. So we see the importance of the resurrection doctrinally.
We see the evidence of the resurrection practically. But what I want just for a moment or two to look at with you this morning is, I want us to see the experience of the resurrection personally. And in that case, what I want to do is, I want to look at an afternoon in the life of two people and their experience of the resurrected Christ.
Because as we look at these two people who are going on the road to Emmaus and to their home in Emmaus, we see the Lord Jesus Christ appearing in a number of different ways that will have been precious and sweet to their souls.
And I trust that as we look at it, that we will just grasp something of the sweetness and of the majesty and of the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Let's look at the scenario before we look at any of the detail.
The road, about seven and a half miles, I think, although some people would dispute it, about seven and a half miles journey between Jerusalem and somewhere away out to the west a little bit, is a little village called Emmaus.
You don't read of it anywhere else in Scripture. And here are two people, and they're making a journey. They're making a journey from the city of peace, Jerusalem. But it's a city that has turned its back upon peace.
It is a city that has taken the Prince of Peace. We've been looking at this in our Bible readings, and they've said no. The chief priests and elders, they took counsel. We read that in yesterday's third Bible reading, how that they might destroy him.
And here this city, Jerusalem, the city of peace, it's turned its back upon peace. And in not many years hence, peace is going to turn its back on it. And in AD 70, that peace is going to be completely taken away.
And that city is going to reap the havoc of its rejection of its king. Seven and a half miles out to the west of that city, there's a little village called Emmaus. I think it means warm wells or warm springs.
And here are two people, and in the evening time of a day, they're leaving the city of Jerusalem, that city that's turned its back upon peace, and they're heading home to the place of warm springs. We don't know an awful lot about them.
We know that one's called Cleopas. It is more than likely I would judge that they're heading home, that they've been up to Jerusalem, that they've seen what has gone on. And disheartened and sad and so on, as we come to a moment, we'll see that they're heading back this seven and a half miles back to their home in Emmaus.
Now, there's been much speculation as to who they were, and I'm going to give you my speculation on it. Some people think it was possibly two brothers. I would think that it may well have been a man and his wife.
We just don't know, but I'm happy enough just to feel about it, that it's a man and his wife, and they're heading home after a very sad experience. Then we come to these different experiences that they have of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first thing, he appears to them, first of all, as a companion on the road. They don't know his name. They see him as a stranger. And as they are journeying along, they're talking among themselves.
You know the way husbands and wives talk among themselves on a journey? I should maybe share with you, sometimes Heather and I would drive a hundred miles, and there wouldn't be two words between us. It's not that we'll fall night.
Don't get that wrong. But here's a couple, and they're going seven and a half miles walking on a journey, and they're talking away to each other. And as they're talking away to each other, there's a stranger, it would appear, just catches up with them.
And there's a stranger on the journey. Isn't it interesting that the Lord is with them on the journey, and they don't perceive who it is. You know, we go often on our journey, and we're not conscious of his presence.
That's sad, isn't it? I know we sing that hymn. Is it a hymn? He walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own. You know, very often on our little Christian journey, we don't feel his presence.
We're not very conscious of it. Listen, he's still there. So here's this stranger that has drawn, this companion that has drawn along to them on the road, and he's walking with them, and they don't recognize him.
So that's how he first appears, a companion on the road. Then in these few hours of journey, he appears to them in another way. He appears to them as a listener to their conversation. Though he's unrecognized, he's listening in.
And he asks them a question that, you know, we would say at home, it just stopped them in their tracks, as it were. I don't know whether they actually stopped or not. But they have been talking about what's been happening in Jerusalem, and he just asks a question.
He says, what things? He asks them about what has happened, and they're absolutely full of incredulity. What does he not know? Are you the only one who hasn't heard? Have you been staying on your own, that you don't know what's going on?
And he starts to listen to what they have to say. And it's wonderful just to listen to these two people as they're going on their journey. There's one thing that he would find out as he listens to their conversation, and that is this, that they had a good knowledge of Scripture.
You see, they were able to talk about the prophets. They were able to talk about what the Old Testament Scriptures had said. Now listen, they were selective in their understanding of it, but at least they were able to talk to him about Scripture.
You know, I often wonder if our knowledge of Scripture is more up here and not so much down here. You see, because while they knew Scripture, they didn't really understand it. And so he listens to their conversation, and he would hear that they certainly knew the Scripture.
Not only did they know Scripture, but they knew the facts. They were very clearly able to set out what had happened. They talked about one who had been mighty before God and before men, one who they saw as had favor amongst the people, and one who had been put to death.
So they really had a grasp of the facts. He was able not only to listen to their knowledge of Scripture and their grasp of the facts, but he was able to listen to their reasoning in their minds, because they said, well, we thought that it would have been him who would have delivered Israel.
And we really blame the high priest for all of this. And he's able to listen to their reasoning. And then something else that he's able to do, not only in their facts, but they start to tell him about some of the rumors they've heard.
So here are people, and they know the Scripture, and they know the facts, and they have their reasoning, and they're able to decipher things that are rumors, and the Lord Jesus is just listening to all of that.
I wonder, dear brother and sister, if the Lord was listening into your conversation, and mind you, he can, what would he hear? What sort of things do you talk about? Scriptures? Fact or fiction? Blaming people?
Rumors? No, here's the Lord, and he first appears as a stranger, as a companion on the road, and now he seems to be just a listener to every conversation. Mind you, if you and I could grasp that, that he does hear all we say, omnipotent, omnipresent, and here is one who is conscious of all that we say, and all of our journey.
The listener to their problems. Thirdly, he not only appears as the companion on the road, and the listener to the problems, but he now becomes the instructor in the Scriptures. And when he's starting to instruct them from the Scriptures, he does two things.
He rebukes, and he instructs. That's what Scripture really should do for us, shouldn't it? It should correct us where we're wrong, and it should encourage us in that which is right. And that's why in the ministry of God's Word, we seek to be balanced.
There are some men, and they're all the big stick, as it were. And there are other men, and they're all the carrot. Whenever we seek to minister the Word of God, you know, there are times when we just need to be pulled up a little.
That's what the Lord did here. He says, O fools, that is, that's senseless, that's the word. O senseless ones, slew of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. And brethren and sisters, there's not one of us as we live our lives but need rebuked.
We find it in God's Word. We find that God uses his servants to just cause us to ponder our ways and to check our steps and to consider the way we're going. And you know, there are many times, yea, often, that we just need to be pulled up, and we need to be rebuked.
We need to be corrected. We need to be steadied up. And then what he does after that is, after he tells them about that, he goes on, and what he does is he just unfolds the story in all its beauty. Ought not Christ to have suffered?
You see, they weren't looking for a suffering Messiah. We covered this in the Bible reading, didn't we? They were looking for a reigning Messiah. They were listening to and grasping onto that which they liked.
Is that what we call it, eschatoma? That is, you can't see something that you really don't want to see. You know, we love listening to things that are positive. We love listening to things that we agree with.
Maybe even in the Bible readings, some of you heard some things that you don't agree with. It's good that you listen to them. But the Lord Jesus Christ, after he has rebuked them, he then takes them into the Scriptures, and he reminds them that, listen, it was the Old Testament prophecies that said that Christ needs to suffer.
We talked about it yesterday, Isaiah chapter 53. The one who was a servant at the end of 52, what's happening in 53? He was wounded for our transgressions. They missed that. What does Daniel say? Daniel talks about the Messiah coming and being cut off, but not for himself.
And if these people who were happy enough to read the Scriptures were able to understand them more, they would have learned something about Christ that was most important, and that was that he needed to suffer before he would reign.
And in the Bible reading this afternoon, we finished up yesterday with a rejected Christ, with one who they were seeking to destroy, with one who they were going to place upon a cross at Calvary. And that's so important because it's that very same one that we're going to look at this afternoon, who Scripture tells us will reign forever and ever.
So he is the instructor in the Scriptures. So we see him as the companion on the roadside. We see him as a listener to the problems, to the conversation. We see him as the instructor in Scripture. But then this passage moves on a little bit, and they get to the house, and we see him here as the guest in the home.
They never had a guest like him in their home before. Never have a guest like him again. And they constrain him. You only find that word constrained twice in your New Testament. You find it here in this passage, and you find it in Acts chapter 16, where Lydia, after she got saved, she constrained them and says, if you have counted me worthy, come in.
And so these two, they constrain them to come in, to abide in their house. Isn't it just wonderful to have the Lord in the home? You think of the homes in America and Canada and across the other side of the pond where I live, and they don't have Christ in the home.
What they're missing, the warmth of his presence, the sweetness of his presence. Oh, what must it be just to have a home where Christ is there and to enjoy something of the sweetness and the preciousness of the presence of the Savior?
He's a guest in the home. Very quickly, he's a host at the table. You see, he sits at meat with them. And then he does something that the host would have done. He took bread and he'd break it. He's a host at the table.
Now, some will ask the question, well, what is this breaking of bread? Well, I personally take it that it's not a common meal. That's what the sitting at meat is. Oh, you say, well, what do you think it is then?
Well, it can be one of two things. It could be what has already been read of in Luke chapter 22, but I don't think these two people were there, so it's most unlikely to be that. I would judge that what is happening here is he's taken them back to Jeremiah chapter 16.
If you go back to Jeremiah chapter 16, you'll find there that there was a tradition amongst the families of Israel. That when someone was cut off in their youth, that those who were related to them, the father and mother and the family, they would gather together and they would break bread.
That's the revised version in Jeremiah 16. They would break bread in mourning for the one that had been cut off. And they would drink the cup of consolation for the one that had been cut off. And what's happening in Jeremiah 16?
The Lord is saying to them, because of your sin, you shouldn't be doing that. So whenever we come here to Luke chapter 24, it would be my judgment that what's happening here in this house is that these two, and the Lord is with them, that what they're about to do is they're about to break bread in mourning.
Nothing to do with what happened in Luke 22, breaking bread in remembrance of the Savior, as we have done today. And they're about to break bread with them in mourning. And so here's the Savior. And in all their sadness, and in all their lack of understanding, as he breaks the bread in mourning, their eyes were opened.
And it dawns upon them that this one that's in our midst is the very Savior himself. And they are enjoying for the first time in their understanding, in eyes that are no longer holding, their understanding that they're in the very presence of our risen Christ.
It was wonderful to have him in the home as a guest. It must have been a tremendous dawning upon their hearts, as in that home they appreciate for the first time that this person who's breaking bread is a very son of God himself, risen again from the dead.
He's a host at the table. The risen Lord revealed. You know, brethren and sisters, it's a wonderful thing for you and I just to dwell upon one who is alive forevermore. We are thrilled to present them in the gospel as a risen Savior.
We don't present a dead Savior. We talked about that last night. We present a Savior who is living, who is able to save, and we've absolute confidence that any soul who trusts him, he will, as a living Savior, save them, forgive them, and bless them for all eternity.
And here's these two in this house, and they're sitting in the presence of a risen Christ. What an experience. The source of their joy, when they were journeying with him as a stranger, and when he started to talk to them as the instructor and opened the scriptures onto them, their hearts burned within them.
Can I ask you a question? When did your heart last burn within you? As you saw Christ in scriptures, as you pondered the Holy Word, as you delved into its riches, its treasures, we read about treasures old and new yesterday, as you and I would dip into the treasures of scripture.
Does it thrill you? Does it burn your heart? Does it lift you in praise and worship and adoration? You know, there's a brother that was at home. He's gone to glory now. Quite a number of us here maybe knew him, a brother, Abraham McShane.
And I remember one time somebody criticized him about, but sure, you're a full-time man. You can sit in your house all day and so on. And he rebuked him very gently. He says, dear brother, he says, I spend as much time in my Bible every day as you spend at your work.
That was something. But one of the things that he said was that whenever he's reading in scripture and he finds something new, he says, you know what I'm like? He says, I'm like a child with a new toy.
It just fills him with joy. Oh, that you and I, that we would experience something of that heartburn, that spiritual heartburn, as we delve into scriptures, as we learn more of its treasures, and in particular, as we learn more of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he opened onto them the scriptures and he brought them into a greater understanding of himself.
They left the room. They compelled him to stay with them for the day was far spent. But before that night is over, I imagine they have done that seven and a half miles another twice, because they get up and they go right back to Jerusalem.
And they find the disciples in Jerusalem and they that are with them. And whenever they get to the disciples, what are the disciples telling them? They're saying, the Lord's risen. They're able to say, yes, he met with us in the way, and he was made known unto us in the breaking of the bread.
And here are them all gathered together with joy in that upper room. And they're confirming each other's experience of a risen Christ. How does the day end? The Lord appears unto them and he shows them his hands and his feet.
What an afternoon, wonderful afternoon for two villagers from a little indistinguished village called Emmaus. And they see him as the stranger companion on the road. They hear him as the instructor in scripture.
They receive him as a guest into their house. They observe him as a host at the table and they wonder at him as a revealed risen Lord. That's a tremendous lot to fit into a few hours, isn't it? Oh, that you and I in our daily life would grasp something of the wonder of Christ, of the wonder of the risen Christ.
We've already been reminded about the fact that he is our great high priest. He is our advocate with the Father. We'll be looking in a short time at the fact that he is the king that's going to reign forever and ever.
And our brother Mark's going to tell us and we will reign with him. What a wonderful occupation. But here in one afternoon, here are two people and they experience something of the wonder of the risen Christ.
I want to give you a parallel. We'll not go through it in detail, but go back yourself to Psalm 23 and look at the revelation in Psalm 23. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. That's great.
Thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Isn't that what these people had? Israel has turned its back. Jerusalem has crucified the Savior.
Here are two sad disciples in their own home. What a table he prepared before them. The wonderful thing was that they were going to dwell with him forever. So I leave this little simple meditation with you.
It has been very simple and bare bones in it. I just want you to appreciate that in the space of one afternoon, here are two people and they learn so much of Christ. I trust that we will have that experiences in our life and that we will treasure him more and more as we appreciate the one who died and who rose again.
May God bless his Word.