WEEKLY DEVOTION

— “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 to us the scriptures?“ Luke 24:30-32 (Read Luke 24:13-43)

Not desiring that these two disciples go away in unbelief and filled with doubts over what had occurred in Jerusalem and the accounts they had heard of His resurrection, Jesus joined them on the road to Emmaus that first evening following His resurrection and showed them from the Old Testament Scriptures that it was indeed necessary for the Messiah to suffer and die for the sins of all the world and to rise againon the third day.

Their hearts burned within them as Jesus taught them from the Word of God and opened up to them the Scriptures. And, as we read, in the breaking of bread, their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus, alive from the dead.

Jesus does not want us to come away from hearing again the events of that first resurrection Sunday without faith. He doesn’t want us to leave perplexed or troubled by doubts and fears over what happened and what it means to us, and so, by His Holy Spirit, He comes to us and shows us from His Word that it truly was necessary for Him to suffer and die upon the cross and be forsaken and condemned of His own Father on account of our sins. He opens up the Scripturesto us and shows us that He was to die for the sins of the world and rise again on the third day (cf. Isa. 53) that we and all sinners might have God’s pardon and forgiveness and through faith in Christ’s shed blood receive life everlasting.

And though we may not yet see with our eyes His bodily presence with us, Jesus reveals Himself to us as our crucified and risen Savior through the Scriptures. He opens to us the divine Word that we might see Him and know and trust in His great love and mercy toward us.

And do not our hearts burn within us as we hear the Word of our God and Savior? Through the Scriptures, He reveals and makes known to us that indeed “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures … He was buried … and He rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3,4). He makes known to us that “He [God the Father] hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:6,7).

Dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, grant that we not come away from the hearing of Your innocent sufferings and death upon the cross, and of Your glorious resurrection, troubled by doubts and fears. Come to us by Your Holy Spirit and open up the Scriptures to us that we may come to see You and know and believe that in You we have forgiveness for all our sins and life everlasting. Amen.

[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture

Quotations from the King James Version of the Bible.]

For the Record, Pages 4 on 05/11/2011