The Renewal Of Hope

by Micky Galloway

Luke 24:32 “And they said one to another, Was not our hearts burning within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures?”

There have been recorded in the Bible, so many distinct, profound, and mind-stopping events preserved for our benefit and learning. What a wonderful blessing our God has bestowed on us to share these truths with us. Luke 24:13-35 is just such a passage. Please take the time to read it carefully in its entirety. This account of two disciples walking alone on the road to Emmaus has been recorded, preserved, and should be read with frequency to keep our hope alive and fresh.

The events recorded in Luke 24 occur on the very day that Jesus arose from the grave. Luke describes how two of His disciples were traveling on the road to the village of Emmaus (some seven miles from Jerusalem) and they were discussing the events of the last few days (Luke 24:13-15). As we read of their conversation, their disappointment is obvious. Their sadness is overwhelming! “But we had hoped (past tense, mg) that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21 ESV). They are obviously discouraged, and their spirits are crushed. Jesus comes alongside of these two disciples as they are trying to make some sense out of all that has happened. Unable to recognize Jesus for who He was, the conversation begins (Luke 24:16-26). They are perplexed to say the least. Their anticipations for deliverance from Rome are gone. There was no King; there was no Kingdom. They are in a state of despair, their hope is gone!

What the men from Emmaus knew about Jesus of Nazareth.

• These two men had been in the presence of Jesus. These disciples had witnessed His power; He had worked miracles, raised the dead, healed the sick, etc. They have also heard His powerful teaching. Therefore, they declared that He was “a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people” (Luke 24:19). Indeed, as Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem, “all the city was stirred, saying, Who is this? And the multitudes said, This is the prophet (cf. Deuteronomy 18:18), Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee” (Matthew 21:10-11). Jesus had presented powerful evidence in their presence to support His claims to be the Son of God, the Savior of the world (cf. Luke 2:10-11).


• These two men had also been in Jerusalem where, “The chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him” (Luke 24:19-20). One of them, Cleopas, is amazed that Jesus seems unaware of these major events that had so stirred the city just three days before. Surely, He must be the only one in all of Jerusalem that didn’t know. “Dost thou alone sojourn in Jerusalem and not know the things which are come to pass there in these days?” (Luke 24:18). Jesus had told the disciples earlier in His ministry, “… that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up” (Matthew 16:21; cf. 17:23; 20:19).


• Credible witnesses (including Apostles) had testified that Jesus was raised from the dead. Angels had affirmed, “… He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke 24:5-7). Witnesses from the company of these very men had seen Him alive (Luke 24:22-24). The proof was there! The longer Cleopas talked, the more he indicted himself and his friend for their unbelief.

What was their problem? They did not believe the Scriptures! They did not believe all that the prophets had written about the Messiah. They saw the Messiah as a conquering Redeemer of Israel, but they did not see Him as a Suffering Servant, the Savior of the world. As they read the Old Testament, they saw the glory but not the suffering, the crown but not the cross. Jesus rebuked them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26). Jesus had taught so many times before from the Scriptures (cf. Matthew 21:42; 22:29; 26:54-56, etc.). And now again, “… beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). (See for example: Psalms 2, 16, 110; Isaiah 53).

What do they know now? Jesus opened the Scriptures. These disciples had often read or heard the Scriptures, but never until now, did they fully understand that the Messiah must suffer before He would enter into His glory. Jesus then opened their eyes. Now they realized that Jesus, the Son of God “God with us” (Matthew 1:23) was not only alive, but right there with them in their presence! Imagine the greatest Teacher explaining the greatest themes from the greatest Book and bringing the greatest blessings to men’s lives: eyes open to see Him, hearts open to receive with understanding the Word, and lips open to tell others what Jesus said to them!

What was their response? “And they rose up that very hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they rehearsed the things (that happened) in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:33-35). They thought they had stopped for the night, yet with great joy they immediately hastened to tell others that Jesus, the Son of God, “The Lord is risen indeed!”

Note again what prompted this response. “Was not our hearts burning within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). Here we find the affirmation of our opening text. These disciples have gone from no hope to a “living hope” because they now understand the application of the Scriptures to Jesus! “Blessed (be) the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1:3).

Do the Scriptures build a fire in your heart? The driving message of the early church was the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He “was declared (to be) the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; (even) Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:4). The resurrection produces hope! The “King of kings” is alive, and He sits at the right hand of the Father! He said to discouraged and persecuted Christians, “Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades” (Revelation 1:17-18)