(44)  And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
(45)  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

Luke 24:44-45

Explanation:

After Jesus showed them his physical body and let the experience seeing him eat and drink, He pointed to His Word for confirmation of what they experienced. He speaks to two sources of revelation to which they would be a witness.

First, He called them to remember the Word He had spoken to them.

Jesus had predicted His death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus had even told them the reason for which He would die and rise again.

(21)  And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; (22)  Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

Luke 9:21-22

(31)  And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Mark 8:31-33

Some of these apostles would be instrumental in writing down Jesus’ prophecy concerning Himself and much more.

Secondly, He called them to understand the Word He had written, by the Spirit, in “Moses”, “the Prophet”, and “the psalms”.

The term “Moses” here was a reference to the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible written by Moses. The term “the prophets” was a reference to the rest of the Bible not including the last category termed “the Psalms. He was saying that all of the then written revelation of God, the scriptures, pointed to Himself! The Bible is about Jesus! And look at that wonderful phrase about what happened next in verse 45.

(45)  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

Talk about an incredible Bible study! Like He had done on the road to Emmaus, Jesus walked through the scriptures and showed Him that the Bible pointed to them. It’s as if they had all of these blanks in their own minds regarding the Old Testament, and once Jesus rose again, all of the blanks begin to be filled in. 

Can you imagine when he took them to Isaiah 53 or Psalm 22 and they thought, “I saw that come true.  I was there!”  Incredible. These disciples were a witness to the resurrected work of God, and to the inspired Word of God.

Application:

Discipleship cannot happen apart from the Word of God. Jesus is the Word. Jesus wrote the Word. Jesus taught the Word. Jesus passed the word on to His disciples. He told His Father in that prayer in the garden, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” (John 17:6).

Response:

What is your relationship with the Word of God today?

(36)  And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (37)  But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. (38)  And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? (39)  Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. (40)  And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
(41)  And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? (42)  And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. (43)  And he took it, and did eat before them.

Luke 24:36-43

Explanation

(36)  And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.The passage seems to indicate that they had just gotten the  news from those on the road to Emmaus. 

They were sharing that they had seen Jesus, and that He had taught them the Word about Himself. We are not sure how much of that story they got out when, all of a sudden, Jesus appears “in the midst of them”. He says what the angels always seemed to say when they appear to people in the scriptures: “Peace be unto you”. Clearly they were scared.  Look at verse 37.

(37)  But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.They were terrified AND affrighted. 

As you and I would be as well. Their brains had to process what they were seeing. It says that they “supposed that they had seen a spirit.” We forget how incredible the resurrection of Jesus was. We think about it sometimes as even part of our doctrine. Here it was something totally new that they were experiencing. To the point at which, in their minds, in that moment, it was more plausible to be a ghost than Jesus resurrected. So Jesus responds in verse 38 and 39.

(38)  And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? (39)  Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

Do not be troubled!  Why are you worried?  It’s me! He tells them that Spirits do not have bodies- flesh and bones. He tells them to look!

(40)  And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.

Why His hands and His feet? Well, at least at some level, it would have been because His hands and His feet have the wounds. Remember that Thomas said He wouldn’t believe until He could put his hands in Jesus’ wounds. They were still there.

Look at their reaction:

(41)  And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?

It says they “yet believed not for joy”. The idea is that they had a hard time believing something they terribly wanted to believe. You’ve heard of news that was too good to be true. It’s as if they are saying, “Is something this incredible even possible?!??!” Every jaw is agape. Every eye is wide.  They cannot believe what they are seeing! There is an awe to what they are experiencing. At the end of that verse we see that Jesus asks for food.  He wanted them to see His physical nature.

(42)  And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. (43)  And he took it, and did eat before them.

The disciples experienced seeing the risen Christ in the flesh. Jesus wanted them to know that He had risen. He wanted them to know that He had risen bodily.  This wasn’t just a spiritual appearance.  It was a physical resurrection. They were incredibly joyful, to the point of it being difficult to believe because it was so good. They were witnesses of Jesus fulfilling a refutable claim. We will continue to see why He was making this appearance to them in the coming verses.  He says it clearly in verse 48.

(48)  And ye are witnesses of these things.

These disciples were the witnesses of Jesus’ bodily resurrection. He was alive.  They saw Him, spoke to Him touched Him, and knew He was alive. To the point that they were even later willing to die. The religious leaders that were used to help crucify Jesus looked at Peter and John and told them to stop preaching in Jesus name.  They replied this way in Acts 4:20:

But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.  (20)  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Acts 4:19-20 

All of the 11, except for John, died a martyrs death.  John died a natural death in the midst of persecution on the Isle of Patmos.  The claim wasn’t just that Jesus was a good teacher, moral man, incredible philosopher, or good example.  Their claim was that they saw Him die and rise again.  Their claim was that He predicted that He would die and rise again. They were a witness to His resurrection.  Jesus wanted them to experience that so they could be a witness to it.

Application:

Jesus wanted these people to be witnesses to His resurrected body. This would mean that they would have to sacrifice themselves for that truth as they proclaimed that truth to the world. Do we have any less responsibility? If they were to testify to the risen Savior, do we have that same responsibility. The truth of Jesus’ resurrection came to us as it was on its way to someone else. We must pass it on as well.

Jesus is risen indeed!

Response:

Who do you need to share the truth of the resurrection of Jesus with today?

(32)  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? (33)  And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, (34)  Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. (35)  And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

Luke 25:32- 35

Explanation:

Look at what they said:  “Did not our heart burn within us”.  This wasn’t a matter of digestion.  It was a matter of conviction. Were we not convinced?  What convinced us?  “while he opened to us the scriptures”. Their conviction lead to their commission. If Jesus is real, we have to reveal. If it is true, we must tell. If He is God, then we must go!

Look at what they did:

(33)  And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, (34)  Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. (35)  And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

Luke 25:33-35

What did Jesus tell the disciples that He was going to do in their lives?

“Follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of men!”

Application:

Is it true that Jesus is who He said He was? Is it true that the whole Bible speaks about Him? Is it true that His identity, rightly identified, is the issue in being saved? Then we have to realize that to know Christ is to be a follower of Jesus Christ!

Paul put it this way in Romans 10:

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  (14)  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?  (15)  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!  (16)  But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?  (17)  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:13-17

Response:

Who do you need to tell about Jesus, today?

(28) And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.  (29)  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.  (30)  And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.  (31)  And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

Luke 24:28-31

Explanation:

It looked as if Jesus wanted to continue on without them, but they pleaded with Him to stay and eat with them. They certainly must have begun being convinced as to who Jesus was, and yet He was still unknown in that moment to them as we will see.

Jesus does stay with them. They sit down for a meal. When they started the meal He prayed, then broke the bread, and handed it to them. He had broken bread with them so many times:

• The disciples had lived with Jesus for so much of His ministry.  I’m sure they ate together a lot.
• They brought Him food when he talked to the Samaritan woman.
• They had seen him multiply bread and fish when he fed the 5,000.
• He had broken the bread with the disciples and told them that it was His body that was broken for them.
• He had even instituted the Lord’s supper where they would remember His broken body.

And it was in this moment, where the bread was broken, that these disciples’ eyes were opened. They had been convinced by the scripture Jesus taught, and now they were being convinced by seeing their Lord Himself.

Immediately when they rightly identified Him, He vanished.

Application:

This is the stage that so many need to get to in their identity of Jesus. Those who are confused by who Jesus was, need to be convinced through the scripture. But it is not just to know that the scripture speaks of Him.  It’s not enough to know that He died on the cross for our sins.

There must come a point in time where each person is convictional about the identity of Jesus. There must come a point where one personally believes- He is the Christ.  He is my Lord.  He is my Savior.  It must come to the point of conviction. Paul said it this way:

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus; and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Romans 10:9-10

Response:

Who is Jesus to you? How do you identify Him?