Subscription Lists
Word from Scotland
by Sandy Shaw
We were reading of these two disheartened and downcast disciples of Jesus Christ as they left Jerusalem on resurrection afternoon to make their way to Emmaus. It is all recorded for us in Luke Chapter 24. The conversation is serious and these men are disappointed or angry and we might even suggest depressed.
In verse 25 Jesus takes over. How foolish and how slow you are to believe, ALL THAT THE PROPHETS HAVE SPOKEN.
The risen Jesus gave them a Bible Study, from Moses and the prophets. Some people think Bible Studies are dry dull and boring. Not a bit of it!
Jesus acted as though He was going to go on and leave them, and so they urged Him strongly. "It'll soon be night. Spend it with us" and Jesus accepts the invitation.
"Abide with me". This is the day to say or sing that. There always has to come to that point where Jesus is invited in.
A meal is prepared and they sit down to eat. Jesus takes bread and blessed and broke it, and gave them to eat, and their eyes were opened, and they recognised that this was the Christ. The hands had come above the table and for the first time they saw the marks of the nails, and they knew, and He vanished from their sight.
But now they knew that He Who hung and suffered on the Cross and Who shed His Blood to wash away all sin, was Risen and Alive.
Then, they began to share something of their feelings. “Were not our hearts burning within us as He opened up the Scriptures to us? I knew there was something different about Him. I sensed something unusual and unique. Come on, we must return to Jerusalem and tell the others.”
When your eyes are opened and when you see that Jesus is risen and alive, you are just bursting to tell someone and testify to what you have experienced.
They wanted to get back into the Fellowship. Their hearts were touched. Their eyes were opened, and they wanted to be with all the others.
When they reached the Fellowship, and in the middle of sharing their experience, Jesus appears in that room and speaks a word of peace. He takes them back to the Word and speaks of the Cross and the Resurrection and of Repentance and Forgiveness and of being Witnesses, and of the coming power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is giving a Bible Study. That must have been some study!
Jesus tells His men to stay in the city, until you receive that power of the Holy Spirit. Do not go rushing out preaching and witnessing and trying to heal the sick, yet.
Jesus wants us not only to have a personal experience of Him and of the Holy Spirit, and also Jesus would have us be strong in the Word. We are to be centred in the Word and focused on the Word. We are to know the Word of God as best we can.
Jesus showed them His Body and He gave them the Scriptures. Note how the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ spoke and taught from the Old Testament. It is a book all about Him.
All of this is written up by a medical doctor, Luke.
There is a man who travels across Europe and he keeps saying to me. “Stay in the BOAT and in the BOOK! Stay in the Church of Jesus Christ and stay in the Word of God and there you will be safe and there you will have security, and not be led astray or deceived by false teaching.
Then Jesus led them out to the Mount of Olives, where He blessed His men, and He ascended.
They worshipped and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and kept attending the Temple, and praising God. They ought to have been desolate and sad and if they had trundled back to Jerusalem in silence we would have understood. Luke’s words here may surprise us.
And then, ten days later, it happened! The risen, living, and ascended Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit.
(And after 164 weeks we have completed our study of the Gospel of Luke)
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
Receive the newest devotional each week in your inbox by joining the "Word from Scotland" subscription list. Enter your email address below, click "Go!" and we will send you a confirmation email. Follow the instructions in the email to confirm your addition to this list.