Christ Opened the Scriptures For Us

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St.

Luke chapter 24 verses 13 through 35. On that very day two of them were going to a village named

Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.

And while they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.

But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?

And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them named Cleopas answered him,

Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?

And Jesus said to them, What things? And they said, Well concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty indeed and word before God and all the people.

And how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to and to be condemned to death and they crucified him.

But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes and besides all of this it's now the third day since these things happened.

Moreover some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and when they did not find his body they came back saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.

Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said. But him they did not see.

And he said to them, Oh foolish ones, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?

And beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interpreted them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther but they urged him strongly saying,

Stay with us. It is toward the evening and the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with them.

And when he was at table with them he took the bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them.

And their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from their sight.

They said to each other, Did not our hearts burn within us while we while he talked to us on the road and while he opened to us the scriptures?

And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them together gathered saying,

The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

In the name of Jesus. I've got to admit I was disappointed with my children.

And here's the reason why. Because after they were born, well they did the crying and feeding and burping and spewing thing for a while.

And then they began to be toddlers. And finally they began to say words. And to a child, one of the very first words that each of them learned and learned how to scream at the top of their lungs was the word

MINE! MINE! Oh, it sends shutters up your spine.

And what is it that happens? You start with one child and then you get two.

And you have these expectations that, oh now my first child is not going to be lonely.

They're going to have somebody to play with. And so when the time comes you put the two children together and here's what happens.

The older child takes all the toys and then does this. Turns his back on the other child and so much for he's lonely.

I don't think loneliness is their problem. And then of course my favorite is when both of them grab hold of a particular toy and each want to play with it at the same time.

The tug -of -war ensues. The screaming. The crying. The WAAH! And as a parent what do you end up doing?

You come in and you discipline the loudest child. It doesn't matter whose fault it is. And of course my mother was quick to inform me that my children were just like me.

And if I'm really honest with myself that problem persists to this day.

The toys have just gotten different. More expensive. So we got a problem.

And this is the problem of our sinful nature. That we are bent in on our selves.

To be a sinner is to be the perennial navel gazer. To constantly be worrying about what

I want. To be looking out for number one. And so here's the really strange problem then.

That this then becomes our starting point for trying to read the

Bible. If you think the world centers around yourself and my mom reminded me many times that the earth does not rotate or orbit me.

And she kind of said it like that too. You know I'm just saying. She had a point that she was trying to make. But when we approach the scriptures with this idea that it's all about me.

What do we end up doing? We make ourselves the heroes of all the Bible stories. And when you do this you end up totally messing up the scriptures.

And it doesn't make any sense. In fact the Bible remains a closed book. Here's an example. The story of David and Goliath.

We all know how the story goes. Little lad about so high. Maybe 12, 13. Alright a little higher.

About this high. Ruddy. And he goes out and there's Goliath. And he sees Goliath.

And he's incensed that he's defying the armies of the Living God. He goes and finds his five smooth stones.

It only took one and down goes Goliath. Application. Go find my Goliath. Find my five smooth stones.

And go slay my Goliath too. Just like David did. And then you just kind of put it all together.

And you go well what's my Goliath? What are my five smooth stones?

And then you start asking questions like well what if I miss? And then the

Bible doesn't seem to make any sense. Because I'm thinking I'm supposed to be

David. Hmm. And so you do this with all of the stories of the

Bible. You do it with Gideon. You do it with Moses. You do it with Joshua. And you think that you're the one who's supposed to go out and slay and conquer and be the hero and all this kind of stuff.

And then as life progresses and you get older and older and older and older you find yourself miserable at this job of slaying your

Goliaths. Of conquering your Philistines. Of naming whatever. Of parting your

Red Seas and stuff like that. You're not very good at it. In fact I'm terrible at it myself.

And I'm a pastor. And it makes you wonder well maybe there's something wrong with the Bible. Well our text today is going to demonstrate to us that the problem is not the

Bible. The problem is that the Bible has to be opened. And in order to be opened we have to get this into our heads.

The Bible does not testify about you. It testifies about somebody else.

And we're going to find out who that somebody else is. And when you begin to understand who the Bible is about you will begin to understand it.

Until then it remains a closed and dark book and ponderous and very difficult to understand. Understand who it's about and all of a sudden it begins to make a lot of sense.

So we return to our gospel text and we're going to be doing some cross -reference work today. So if you want to put your finger at Acts 10 starting at verse 34

I think and also in John chapter 5 you can put a little bit of a note there. It's important that we demonstrate that this is actually the clear teaching of Scripture.

So we return to our gospel text in Luke 24 13. That very day, that very day, two of them were going to a village named

Emmaus. What day is this? Just a reminder this is the very first Easter Sunday. Jesus has risen from the dead.

The women have gone and seen and they have said these words, the Lord is risen. But we haven't heard yet the response to that phrase.

And the response to that phrase is what? He is risen indeed. So they've heard he's risen and everyone's going huh?

So that by the way huh is not the right response to he is risen. Just saying. So it's the day of the resurrection.

Two of the disciples, the extended disciples of Jesus, were on their way to a village named Emmaus. And here's kind of a little funny side note here.

If you read in the ESV that Emmaus is about seven miles from Jerusalem. That's kind of a funny translation because miles haven't been invented yet.

And I, no joke, I recently heard a preacher preaching on this text and he made a big to -do about the fact that the number seven is a prophetic number and that this is some kind of a significant thing.

Really drilled down into it. Read it in the Greek. It doesn't mention miles. It talks about how what the distance is but it's not that.

And if you look at other translations like for those people who live in the British Commonwealth it notes the fact that this was about 11 kilometers.

I'm pretty sure 11 is not prophetic. So the fact that it says seven miles is a help for us.

Does that make sense? Okay you get the idea. It's not prophetic. So about seven miles from Jerusalem they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened and while they were talking and discussing together

Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

The Greek actually says their eyes were held. Fascinating word actually. So their eyes are held. And Jesus doesn't want them to recognize him because he's got something to teach them.

He needs to do something and that is that he needs to now open the scriptures to those whom it is closed to.

And so he said to them, what is this conversation that you're holding with each other as you walk?

Now of course Jesus knows exactly what they're talking about. This is akin to God asking Adam and Eve who are hiding in the bushes, where are you?

He knows exactly where they are right? So they stood still and they looked sad.

You can see poor Cleopas going. So one of them answered. His name was Cleopas. Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?

And notice the expectation is that although there was no internet yet, there were no newspapers,

Fox News and CNN hadn't started broadcasting yet, but somehow news traveled pretty fast even in Jerusalem.

The expectation is that everybody knows what happened. So are you the only person who doesn't know what happened?

And Jesus said to them, what things? And they said, well concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.

How our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and they crucified him.

We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Pause here for a second. What do you think he was doing on the cross?

So you'll notice here we've got an issue. They understand that the Messiah is supposed to redeem Israel, but they don't have a pretty biblical concept of what that means or what that's supposed to look like.

That's exactly what Jesus did on the cross. He redeemed Israel. And then they continue. So yes, and besides all this, it's now the third day since these things happened.

Moreover, some of the women of our company, they amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.

Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not, him they did not see.

All right, good summary of where we are up to this point. Watch Jesus's words. Oh foolish ones, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

So notice where the error lies. The error lies on them. They're being foolish.

They're slow of heart in believing all that the prophets have spoken. Think of it this way.

I always like to use math analogies because math is evil, but you know they've worked the problem kind of like this.

Okay, they're not sure why it's not working, but they got Jesus born of a virgin, performs miracles, raises the dead, heals the sick, forgives sins, is crucified, and that doesn't equal

Messiah. Their mathematical equation isn't balancing, if you would.

I have no idea how to work math anymore, thank God, but their mathematical equation isn't working out, and the reason why, according to Jesus, is they forgot to plug in some vital data into their equation, and that is that they need to actually embrace all that the prophets have spoken.

So first question, was it not necessary that the Christ, or you can say

Messiah here, that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into His glory? And you can almost see them going, well now come to think of it, there's that Isaiah 53 passage about the

Messiah that He was going to be pierced for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.

Oh wait a second, maybe it was necessary they forgot to plug in some important data, and Jesus said it was because they were slow of heart to believe all of that.

Now we know this from the teaching of the Pharisees and from what we know of the time, that the common expectation of the

Messiah was based upon a selective reading of the Old Testament, which the

Jews called the Tanakh. It was a selective reading. They liked the passages that talked about the

Messiah coming in glory, getting rid of the evildoer, and all of the things that cause sin and offense.

They liked that, but those are prophecies regarding Jesus' second coming. The ones they ignored were the ones that talked about His suffering,

His dying, or like Psalm 22 where He has His clothes being, you know, gambled for and things like that,

His hands and His feet pierced and things like that. They ignored that, so they were cherry -picking the ones.

And the reason why is because, well, they were being taught by a group of people who literally were heretics, the

Pharisees. And the Pharisees had more than the Bible, they had the Bible plus, and the plus was the traditions of the elders.

And they were expecting and being taught to expect that the Messiah, when He shows up, He's going to come in,

He's going to take His whip and He's going to crack it over the heads of the Romans, He's going to drive them out, reestablish the

Davidic kingdom, and Israel will shine like glory unto the ages and all the worlds will come streaming to hear the wisdom of the

Messiah. And He's sitting there going, well, that's still coming. Yeah, I know, but they expected it then.

We're still waiting for it. So there's a problem. So Jesus asked, was it not necessary that the

Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory? An important next verse.

Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.

Wait a second, you mean Moses wrote about Jesus? Uh -huh, you bet he did. Wrote about Him all the time.

In fact, Moses even records some cameo appearances by Jesus Himself. Remember the whole Melchizedek thing?

In fact, Moses' first mention of Jesus is in Genesis 3 when he records the promise given by God when

He's cursing the serpent that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent and in the process have

His heel bruised. That's about Jesus. And then you think about there, Genesis 22, when

Abraham goes to sacrifice his son, his only son, although he had another son, his only son

Isaac on the slopes of Mount Moriah. And his son asks, we had the fire and the knife but where's the sacrifice?

And Abraham speaks no truer words. God Himself will provide the sacrifice. And it was after that that on Mount Moriah it was said that on the mountain of the

Lord it will be provided. And it was provided. And Jesus, and you see how it all begins to point to Him.

Notice it doesn't point to you. Doesn't point to me.

It points to Him. And so you'll notice the all there with Moses and all the prophets.

Every book of the Old Testament points to and testifies about Jesus.

And there's the issue. Now from time to time we get feedback here regarding the teaching that occurs here at Kongsvinger.

And there was a family that visited a while ago and they brought some friends with them. They live in Minnesota, you know, but a little farther away from here.

I've learned to say it like that, by the way. You know, we Californians can learn new tricks. But I still can't say your last name,

Julie. And I won't even try. I won't even try. But they were traveling home after visiting

Kongsvinger and the couple who attends our Aletheia services asked their friends what they thought of the service and the teaching.

And as they were here while I was teaching through Exodus, and especially the part regarding the crossing of the

Red Sea, and the lady who was with the couple said, I cannot believe how badly

Pastor Roseborough twisted the scriptures. And they said, what? What do you mean?

He kept making the Bible about Jesus. That's a direct quote. Well, who do you think it's about?

But listen to a lot of the sermons, even on the radio, or especially on Christian television.

And who do they make the scriptures about? You. They make it about you. I promise you, you're not in there.

I've looked through all the Bible. I even did a word search, Chris Roseborough, in my Bible program, and it's not there.

What do you do when you get like the new phone book? We used to do this long ago when they had phone books. You look for your name in it, because it's all about me.

But I'm not in here. You're not in here. Now, if you are tempted to put yourself in here, put yourself into the big group of sinful humanity, dead in trespasses and sins, and needing to be saved by the

Savior, you safely fit into that group. Or those who he bled and died for, you safely fit into that group.

But you're not the hero of the stories. All of the heroes of all of the Old Testament stories point to Jesus, and they testify about him.

And this is one of the passages that helps us understand that. Now, let's do a little cross -reference work.

I would like you to open up to Acts chapter 10. And you'll remember, this is a passage that we looked at a couple of weeks ago, and I want to point something out to you here, and we're gonna pay careful attention to something that Jesus commanded the apostles to teach.

So, Acts 10 verse 34 for our context, and Peter is preaching the gospel to the

Roman centurion Cornelius and his whole family. So Peter opened his mouth and said,

So far, so good. Good summary of, you know, what Christ accomplished, what he did, and what they're sent to do.

And listen carefully now to what comes next. There's a command that Jesus gives the apostles.

Its first opening is in verse 42, but the command itself continues through the end of verse 43.

Here's what it says. He, Jesus, commanded us to preach to the people and to testify.

Now watch the threefold part of the command. That he is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead, one.

To him, all the prophets bear witness, two. That everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name, three.

And think of it this way. This is all a complete thought. The opening idea that Jesus is the one chosen to be judged, and that in him are the forgiveness of sins, these two kind of bookend themselves.

They complete the thought. But right there in the middle is the command to proclaim that to Jesus all the prophets bear witness.

Huh. Who did the prophets write about? Jesus. And so have you ever sat there and wondered why it is so difficult at times to make sense of the

Old Testament? You sit there and go, why do we even have the Old Testament? We've got all these people out in the wilderness grumbling about not having food, and then they eat manna, and then they grumble some more, and all this kind of stuff.

You sit there and go, how am I supposed to apply this to my life? Doesn't make any sense. The reason it doesn't make any sense is because you think it's about you.

Start figuring out how this points to Jesus and what he has done for you, and all of a sudden the book unlocks, it opens, and out shines the light of Christ.

And this makes sense because the opening chapter of the Gospel of John begins with these words, in the beginning was the

Word. The Word was with God, the Word was God, and we learn that the

Word became flesh. You see it? So if the

Word became flesh, I would wager that the Word has something to do with the

Word, the Scriptures themselves. You see, it's always testifying about Him.

Now remember the work of the Holy Spirit. The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to do what? Jesus says when

He comes, He will convict the world of sin and unbelief, and He will testify about me.

So the Holy Spirit's primary job is to be the big PR guy for Jesus. So think of it this way, this is kind of a crass analogy, but Jesus is the superstar, no pun intended on that one, and the

Holy Spirit is the PR guy. Every time you talk to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit says, hey, let me tell you about Jesus, the next thing

He's doing, or wow, did you hear what He did, and all this kind of stuff. It's like the Holy Spirit is obsessed with talking about Jesus. So who then, of the

Trinity, is the primary one responsible for the, well, the creation of the

Bible itself? All Scripture is God breathed, Theonoustos, and these men wrote these things as they were carried along by who?

The Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit obsessed with pointing you to? Jesus.

Not you. You see, you're the problem. You're part of the problem. I'm part of the problem.

We got ourselves in a pickle, and we can't get out of the pickle. I don't even like pickles. So Christ is the one who has to set us free, and He's the one who's the hero who redeems us, forgives us, washes us, makes us alive in Him, and so here to Him goes all the glory.

You see how this all works. Now, next, so to Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name, to which we all say amen.

I need a lot of that. I need that forgiveness of sins. Now, let's take a look at a longer passage, and I want you to note that in this cross -reference you're going to hear the same themes.

The themes that Jesus is to be judged, that there is salvation in Him, and you're also going to hear

Jesus Himself explicitly say that the Old Testament, because there was no

New Testament when He said these words, explicitly testifies and points to Him, and so you'll see here that this is a common theme, and now we're going to hear it from Jesus's mouth

Himself. It's a little bit of a longer passage, but I want you to see how this thought unfolds so that you are perfectly clear in your minds that really the

Bible's about Jesus, especially the Old Testament, since that seems a little less clear. It's pretty easy to see how the

New Testament is about Jesus, because the Apostles, all they ever talk about is Jesus, but the Old Testament's about Him too.

So we're in John chapter 5, verse 16. The verse we need to get to is a little bit later in the context, but I don't want to do this without its context.

So John chapter 5, verse 16, Jesus had done it again. He healed somebody on the

Sabbath, can you believe? So the verse says, this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the

Sabbath. But Jesus said to them, my Father is working until now, and I am working.

Next verse, important verse, this was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because not only was

He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making

Himself equal with God. Now, have you ever talked to somebody and say, do you believe that Jesus is

God? No. Well, who do you believe He is? I believe He's the Son of God. Notice here that by Jesus saying that God is my

Father, He's making Himself equal with God. It goes kind of like this, my son

Joshua, if he were to say, Pastor Roseboros, my father, we would all recognize he's basically saying he's made of the same stuff

I am. He's human like I am. And all of you children, you're made of the same stuff as your parents, so that kind of technically, we're all equals in that sense.

So by saying that God is His Father, when Jesus says He's the Son of God, that's

Him saying He's God. And it always fascinates me when you get a liberal theologian sitting there going,

Jesus never actually claimed to be God. And you sit there and go, do you know how to read? Because here it says by saying that God was

His Father, Jesus was clearly making Himself equal with God, and the Jews of His time knew exactly what

He meant. And so it's recorded for us. So we continue then. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly,

I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing.

For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows

Him all that He Himself is doing, and greater works than these will He show

Him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, so also the

Son gives life to whom He will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the

Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. So here we see that theme.

Remember, Peter said, He commanded us to say that He's the one who's going to judge everybody. So here we see

Jesus saying, I'm the judge. So you now know who the judge is. The question is, how do you get past this judge, you know, scot -free?

How do you get out of, well, the charges that are leveled against you? We continue. So He says, the

Father judges no one, has given all judgment to the Son. Whoever does not honor the

Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears

My Word and believes Him who sent Me has, present tense, eternal life.

It's in the bag. So always begs the question, do you believe? Yeah. So He does not come into judgment.

This is the person who believes. He does not come to judgment, but He has passed from death to life.

Keep that promise tucked away for a second, because there's something coming up here in a second that causes a lot of confusion.

I'll explain it, but don't lose that. That one who believes has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

If Jesus is the judge, and if we believe in Him, and we do not come into judgment, are we going to be judged by Jesus regarding salvation?

No. We believe in Him. We've already passed from death to life. Our judgment is not about salvation or not salvation.

It's about the rewarding of our good works. We continue. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the

Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the

Son also to have life in Himself. And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the

Son of Man. So do not marvel at this. For an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear

His voice and come out. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

So notice, everybody comes back to life. Everybody. The evil and the righteous, and those who persist in sin and unbelief, they end up in hell for eternity.

Those who believe have already passed from death to life, and they receive eternal life.

Now, if you're paying attention, do you guys remember that Athanasian Creed? We've only said it a couple of times, but at the very end of the

Athanasian Creed, it says that those who have done good to eternal life, those who have done evil to the eternal fire.

And people often hear these words and they think, oh no, the Athanasian Creed is teaching that we're saved by our works.

No, it's lifting language straight out of this chapter. And the chapter is, the word is, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who've done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

And what does it mean in this context to do good? To believe in the one whom the

Father has sent. It's just up in the context just a few sentences before. You see it?

So then Jesus continues, I can do nothing of my own. As I hear, I judge.

My judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.

There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, now

Jesus invokes John the Baptist, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.

He was a burning and shining light, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, they bear witness about me that the

Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me, his voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen.

And you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

Pause there for a second and consider what's being said. Jesus is speaking to unbelieving

Pharisees who are accusing him of breaking the Sabbath because he healed somebody.

They are unbelievers. And although Jesus is going to note that they diligently read the

Bible, he says of them they do not have God's word abiding in them.

And there's a reason. So he says you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

You don't believe in Jesus, you don't believe in me. He says these words, you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

And it is they that bear witness about me. And yet you refuse to come to me that you might have life.

So now we have three passages of Scripture. Three of them. Three of them.

And in two of them Jesus is explicitly saying and demonstrating that the

Bible is about him. It's not about you.

And this is the means by which he then opens the Scriptures to us.

And that's really the point of our Gospel text this morning. So with that we will return to our

Gospel text in Luke 24 where we left Cleopas and Jesus giving them a

Bible lesson. A nice good long Bible lesson. Traveling about seven miles.

You figure you can do that in sandals at about what, 25 minute miles? Maybe you got to stop and get some water.

So we'll say half hour long. So this is a good journey for them. It's going to take a better part of the afternoon.

So beginning with Moses and all the prophets Jesus interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. Jesus acted as if he were going farther.

But he urged them strongly saying, stay with us. It is toward the evening. The day is now far spent.

So he went in to stay with them. And when he was at table with them he took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.

Hmm, what does that sound like? Could it, yeah, it sounds a lot like that Lord's Supper stuff, right?

And watch what happens. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him. You can almost see this.

Jesus hands them the bread. Then they finally see the scars in his hands. And they go, you're!

And just before they can say his name, poof, he disappears. Now again there's a group of people within the broader

Reformation who make a big point about the fact that Jesus apparently can't be bodily present in the

Lord's Supper because you know human bodies can only be at one place at one time. And of course we noted last week that Jesus, although the doors were locked,

Jesus appeared in the middle of the room twice. Here they are in the middle of an abode and Jesus hands them bread and they recognize him and he disappears.

And if, I don't know if you've noticed this, human bodies are generally not capable of doing this, just vanishing in front of people.

Hmm, makes you wonder what their explanation is for how this happened. So just as they were about to recognize him and say his name, he goes, oh look, squirrel!

And they turn their heads and then he runs off. I don't know, yeah, anyway. Yeah, I think it's best just to say that Jesus, by virtue of the fact that he's the

God -man, is capable of doing things that we are not. So he vanishes before their eyes.

And listen to these words. So they said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?

And here's the fun thing. I think many of you actually have had a similar experience. Have you ever been in Sunday school or here listening to a sermon and as the scriptures are opened up to you and you can see how it all then connects to Jesus, have you not had that, oh now

I get it, kind of moment? That's what's going on here. Oh man, did not our hearts burn within us while he opened to us the scripture?

Focus in on the word opened. They were closed. The scriptures were closed to them before this, but Jesus takes the time to open them for them.

And in so doing, he also opens the scriptures for us. And it's real simple.

Get yourself out of the way. Take yourself out of the scriptures and start looking for Jesus.

You'll find him. They testify about him. That he's in there all over the place.

So they rose that same hour and they returned to Jerusalem and they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together saying, now note, earlier the woman says he's risen.

And they went, huh? And now we get the first time where he is risen is finally answered with the right response.

And here it is. The Lord has risen indeed. You see it comes right out of the Bible. You know, we're really uncreative in that way.

So when we say he is risen and I say he is risen, you say he's risen indeed, it just comes out of the

Bible. So there it is. So now we got he is risen with a correct answer. He is risen indeed and he's appeared to Simon.

And then they told them what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

And so brothers and sisters, here's the idea. We must always be on the lookout for the fact that our sinful nature, our

Adamic self, well, is like the devil and thinks it's all about me or all about you.

And that's the problem. You see, we're like the devil in that regard. But the Scriptures are all about Jesus.

And when we understand that, the book is opened. And then we begin to see the wonderful picture of God's great love and mercy for us who are sinful and fallen creatures, who was not satisfied to give us what we all deserved.

But all the way beginning in the Garden of Eden and through all of human history, he was at work, at work fulfilling the promises that he would send a

Savior, a Messiah, who would bleed and die for our sins. And through his word and this good news, the proclamation of Christ and him crucified and risen on the third day, he then raises us from the grave, forgives us of our sins, and assures us that we have passed from judgment into life, and that we are saved.

That he has washed away our sins in the waters of our baptism, and that he feeds us with his very body and blood, broken and shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins.

Or as Peter puts it in our Epistle text, that now we are to love each other earnestly from a pure heart because we have been born again, not of perishable seed, the seed of Adam, but of imperishable through the living and abiding

Word of God. Because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. And the

Word of Christ is all of Scripture, if you think about it. But it's only opened and understood and apprehended and properly believed and applied when we understand that it testifies about him and his great work in saving sinners such as me and such as you.

We thank the Lord that he has opened up the Bible so that we do not have to wander around in the dark and stumble over our own dark and sinful natures, but that we can now, because he's opened up the

Scriptures, see the light of Christ shining in every page and the great work that he has done for us.

What a blessed Savior we have, what a loving God we have. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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