18 Days in the New Testament with Chuck SwindollSample

 Christ Is the Center

“THEN JESUS took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). What a great moment it must have been when Christ taught the Scriptures to these two people walking along the road to Emmaus!

Consider this: Could Jesus handle the Scriptures? Would He have done a fairly good job of explaining them? Look at the word "explaining". He didn’t simply point to a verse or two that proved He was the Messiah. He explained “all the Scriptures.” In other words, He took the Scriptures and interpreted them clearly for these two disciples to see the truth. He went to Genesis and then Exodus and then Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. Those are the books of Moses. He showed them how the books of Moses portrayed His own coming and His life, death, and resurrection before the fact. Then He took His listeners into the Prophets. And through all of the Prophets, He interpreted correctly the truth concerning Himself. These disciples had no doubt heard Scripture before, but they had missed Him in it—as do many who read the Bible today. So, through the skill of His understanding and interpretation of the Scriptures, Jesus explained to them how the Scriptures pointed to Him.

Then the two disciples urged Him not to go, saying, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late” (Luke 24:29). So He went in to stay with them, presumably continuing the conversation and opening Scripture to them even more.

Here they were enjoying a meal together, finishing it off with a little bread, and suddenly their eyes were opened. The scales fell off. They realized, "The One we’ve been talking to is the Messiah! That’s Jesus, the Son of God!" And immediately He was gone, taken out of their sight.

So they looked at each other and said, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32).

Imagine their conversation: “Remember how He handled the book of Leviticus? Remember what He said when He got to Deuteronomy? Remember how He explained Isaiah and Jeremiah and Lamentations and Daniel? Now we understand that all that has happened recently has been in fulfillment of the Scriptures we’ve known since we were kids!”

After Jesus had explained Scripture to His disciples and showed them how Moses and the prophets had spoken of Him, “their eyes were opened” (Luke 24:31). You know what the implication of that statement is? If you don’t see Christ in the Scriptures, your eyes aren’t open. He is there. He is the key that, when turned correctly, unlocks the truth and causes you to have insight you never dreamed possible.

That’s the way it is with the Bible. People read through Genesis, struggle to get into Exodus, and by the time they get to Leviticus, throw their hands in the air and say, “I cannot make heads or tails of the whole thing.” It’s because their eyes aren’t open yet. They haven’t had the Scriptures explained to them in light of Christ. He is the theme all the way through. Likewise, He is to be the central theme all the way through our lives.