Most Christians are familiar with the account from Luke 24 of the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus. Is there any relevance in that story that applies to the situation we are in today?
Let’s review it. Jesus was crucified in Luke 23. Joseph of Arimathaea buried His body, and certain women from Galilee watched and planned to return to anoint Christ’s dead body. When the women arrived early on Sunday morning, the tomb was empty, and angels announced His resurrection. Peter went to see the empty tomb, but the apostles didn’t believe the words of the women and considered them “idle tales.” Luke 24:11.
That afternoon, two disciples decided to leave Jerusalem, headed for Emmaus, 60 furlongs (7.5 miles) away. They were leaving Jerusalem, probably intending to go all the way back to Galilee. Who were these men? We know for certain that one was Cleopas. Luke 24:18. Non-biblical sources say he was Joseph’s brother, and thus Jesus’ step-uncle. Importantly, he was married to Mary, one of the women from Galilee who probably was among the “other women” who were the first witnesses of Christ’s resurrection. See John 19:25; Luke 24:10.
There is some dispute as to who the other disciple was. I believe it was Simon Peter. Why? Because in Luke 24:34, the apostles said, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.” This was immediately after the two men returned from Emmaus to report what had happened. Also, when Paul listed the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, he said in I Corinthians 15:5 that the Lord appeared to Peter before he appeared to the twelve.
They were going to Emmaus because they were discouraged and afraid. They thought the movement had failed. Jesus appeared to them incognito and asked why they were “sad.” Verse 17. They had seen their Master cruelly killed. They didn’t believe He resurrected. Things hadn’t gone the way they expected. They were discouraged by the awful calamities and indisputably terrible events. They were probably in fear for their lives. The normal pattern of that day wasn’t just to kill the leader of a “dangerous” group, but to round up and kill all the members. They couldn’t leave Jerusalem on the Sabbath, so the next day they started their journey. Peter was a known member of the Jesus sect – and had physically-assaulted the high priest’s servant. He rightly feared for his life.
In verses 15-16, Jesus started to walk with them, but they didn’t know it was Him. There’s a lesson in that for us: even in our darkest, loneliest time He is always near – it’s just that sometimes we don’t know it. So the Lord asked them what they were discussing and why they were so sad.
They recounted the sad story in verses 18-24. Their teacher, their leader, their everything, had been killed. He was a “mighty prophet” – but He was dead. They thought some things would happen (“we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel,”) but that didn’t happen. They were so disappointed and so discouraged and so afraid.
They didn’t know that Jesus was with them. In your dark moments of life; in the times you are sad, or depressed, or discouraged, or disappointed, the Lord is still with you. He said He would never leave nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:5.
Verses 25-27 summarize the Lord’s response. It must have been about a 2-3 hour discussion, as they were walking more than 7 miles. Starting in Genesis, with the prophecy that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent, explaining Isaiah’s prophecy that He would be wounded for our transgressions, and continuing to Malachi’s assurance that the Sun of righteousness would arise with healing in His wings, Jesus expounded “in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
The wonderful news was that every seemingly-bad thing happened correctly; according to God’s plan. What they perceived as incredibly bad was actually incredibly good. If there had been no cross, there’d be no salvation. The death of Jesus made an atonement. He was the Lamb sacrificed, His blood was the price of redemption, His death absorbed the wrath of God against sin. We serve a God who can take what seems awful, and turn it into something incredibly good.
Jesus called them “fools and slow of heart.” It wasn’t merely an insult; He was showing them that it was foolish to refuse to believe Christ’s oft-repeated words. It was foolish to refuse to believe prophecies in the Word of God. During that discussion their foolish and slow hearts began to burn with excitement, belief, and passion. Verse 32.
So, why were they leaving Jerusalem? Nothing great was going to happen in Emmaus. Jerusalem was where the great events would occur – the Resurrection, the Day of Pentecost, etc. Why leave the Holy City, where some had even said Jesus had risen from the grave? It was the wrong time to walk away.
Jesus had to explain that what seemed so terribly bad was God’s plan from the beginning. They’d heard it before, but it didn’t “click” until they saw it with their own eyes, and had it explained to them once again. When they heard again the prophecies, and saw for themselves that Jesus had, indeed, resurrected, it clicked in their minds.
When the Lord began to break bread with them, their eyes were opened, and they knew it was Jesus. He vanished out of their sight. But even though it was late in the day, they left Emmaus immediately and walked another three hours to get back to Jerusalem and tell the other disciples what they had learned.
What about Today?
Isn’t it much the same today? Have some left the Holy City to walk the road to Emmaus? We’ve seen so many calamities; so many disappointments in recent months. Precious ministers and saints have been struck down by COVID. We are all living in fear that we might be infected.
We’ve seen unprecedented political turmoil. We’ve seen that our freedoms and rights are far less secure than we once thought they were. We see the moral erosion of our society and live in fear for the direction of the nation. We see more embrace of sin, and an increasingly antiChristian society. In addition, there is social upheaval – riots, violence, and an increasingly unsafe world. Immensely destructive forces have been unleashed in our society – by radicals on both the left and right. Economic uncertainty raises doubts and worries and stress.
We are starting to see 2000-year-old prophecies being fulfilled before our eyes. The beast of Revelation 13 that starts lamb-like is beginning to speak as a dragon. A terrible pestilence has hit this world, causing millions of deaths, and even more deadly diseases will stalk us in the future. Psalms 82:5 foretells a time when “all the foundations of the earth are out of course.” Is that now? Are we in what Jesus called “the beginning of sorrows?” Matthew 24:8. It is a frightening and uncertain time.
But let’s not leave the Holy City to go to Emmaus. Isn’t this what our fathers in the Lord said would happen? If anyone is reading this who used to be in one of our churches in the past, but for whatever reason walked away:
• Please remember that this is what your pastor talked about all those years ago.
• We are sorry for whatever happened that caused you to feel you had to walk away.
• Please come back.
• Just as Noah’s Ark was the only safe place on earth before the Flood; so the body of Christ is the only safe place on earth. We will see even worse days for this world as we approach the Last Prophetic Hour.
• You are very welcome here; we love you and we miss you.
• There is a place for you here, and a work you can do for the Lord.
• You might have retained some knowledge of the truth in your heart, but what about your children and grandchildren? Don’t they need to hear the messages that once thrilled your heart? Bring them back with you.
• You’ll find something here that will cause your heart to begin to burn once again.
In crisis times, some are tempted to leave the Holy City to go to an earthly place. But the body of Christ is the Jerusalem from above. Galatians 4:26. This body is making up the new Holy City – the new Jerusalem that will come down from heaven as a bride for Christ. Revelation 21:2.
Some today are tempted to leave; physically, or at least in their minds. But this is no time to go to Emmaus. Dramatic events – prophesied in the Bible – will soon be occurring. Get in the Ark; stay in the Ark! You’ll never survive the coming flood of judgment outside of the body of Christ.
The Book of Revelation paints a dramatic picture of end-time calamities. It describes 21 discreet, horrible events – 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 vials of judgment. But remember, 7 Is God’s number; God is in these seemingly-horrible events. Like the lesson from the road to Emmaus, what seems incredibly bad is actually incredibly good.
There will be terrible calamities in the endtimes. If you have been a part of this body for years, you’ve heard these messages. You may think you’ve forgotten them; but they are locked away somewhere in your mind. You will be able to recall them – particularly as you witness these events unfold. Like Peter and Cleopas on the road to Emmaus, things you knew will “click” in your mind, and you will remember and understand. If you haven’t been part of the body very long, these truths will be proclaimed again in your ears. We will keep them alive in the hearts and minds of the saints.
Looking into the Book of Revelation
Before closing this article, we’ll provide just a very brief overview of the Book of Revelation. As it says in its first verse, it is about the appearing of Jesus Christ; His second advent. It contains a summation of end-time events. We don’t have the space to go into detail, but even just the briefest overview shows us how the Lord is going to use what seems very evil to cause something wonderfully good to happen. We, of all people, should have an understanding of end-time events.
Chapter one introduces Jesus as the Son of Man who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Those candlesticks are churches. He holds the stars, or the pastors, of those churches in His right hand. In chapters two and three, each of the seven churches in the Roman province of Asia received a message – praising what was right, warning against what was wrong, and making promises to overcomers. We believe the Lord still walks in the midst of the candlesticks today, and still holds the stars in His hand.
We get a glimpse into heaven in chapter four, the 24 elders and the four living creatures. Perhaps it is heaven’s ruling staff. The symbolism tells us that God knows all things and is in control of all things. Chapter five establishes the authority of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. He alone is worthy to bring to pass the events recorded in this book.
The opening of six of the seven seals is in chapter six. Before describing the seventh seal, chapter seven shows the sealing of God’s people – 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, plus a great number that no man can number of every nation, kindred, people and tongue. To allow those saints to have the opportunity to be sealed with the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the four winds of heaven must be held back for a while. Those four destructive winds are ideologies: religious, political, social, and economic.
Chapters eight and nine tell of the opening of the seventh seal, which allows seven trumpets to sound with judgments. Seven thunders speak in chapter ten, but their message is sealed until the time of the end. The seventh trumpet starts to sound in verse 7, but before describing it in Revelation 11:15, some parenthetical information is given us in chapter 11.
That eleventh chapter reminds us that the temple, the altar, and they that worship there are measured, but those in the outer courts are not. Those in the body of Christ strive to come up to “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13. Those outside the body of Christ, in the courts, love the Lord, but have no opportunity to measure up to the fullness and be a part of the bride of Christ. Revelation 11 also speaks of the two witnesses, the Old and New Testaments; law and grace; in a people with an end-time mission and message.
Chapter 12 tells of a woman (the true church) that produces a man-child that is raptured to the throne of God. After producing those who will rule the nations, she flees persecution but is protected by the Lord. We see beastly human governments in chapter 13. Specifically, there is a sevenheaded beast that represents seven great empires that dominated the Middle East and held the fate of the Jewish people in their hands. The seventh head is wounded, but a new beast arises that facilitates the healing of the seven-headed beast.
The bride of Christ, 144,000 overcomers, is seen in chapter 14. Chapters 15 and 16 focus on the seven last plagues of the wrath of God. These are horrendous judgments that will fall on the earth after the rapture. Remember, though, that what seemed incredibly bad to the men on the road to
Emmaus was actually incredibly good. The horror of the plagues are actually quite good because they open the way for the return of the Lord and the establishment of His millennial kingdom.
But before that kingdom can be established, Mystery Babylon has to fall. That fall is shown in chapters 17-19. While all of this is highly-symbolic of a false religious system, you see the fall of religious Babylon in chapter 17, the fall of commercial Babylon in chapter 18, and the return of the Lord in chapter 19 means the fall of political Babylon.
Chapter 20 reveals the first resurrection and the establishment of the 1000-year reign of Christ, as well as the final judgment at the end of that millennium. The last two chapters of Revelation reveal the glory of Christ’s throne and an everlasting kingdom. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” Revelation 21:4-5.
Then the Lord told John to write it down. He knew there would be a time when the body of Christ would need this message. Our young people didn’t get to hear these messages 40 or 50 years ago. We need to proclaim them again! Let them be written on the hearts of the coming generations! They need to know that the coming catastrophes are actually good things. Jesus said, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Luke 21:28.
The body of Christ will have the knowledge that provides stability in the coming unstable times. “And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation.” Isaiah 33:6. Don’t settle for Emmaus when you can be a part of the great work of God in Jerusalem.