I would like to draw your attention this afternoon to a verse which is very familiar to you, I am sure: the 24^th chapter of Luke, verse 32. 'And they said' — they being Cleopas and whoever was with him — '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?'

These two on the Emmaus road were partakers of ever so many blessings: they were part of the living family of God.

In verse 13 they are described as 'two of them' — from the company which is spoken of in previous verses, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the other women, and also the eleven disciples. So what can we say of these two? Who are they? They are believers, regenerate people, saints; we could say of them that they were ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven; they were children of God, adopted, justified, on their way to Glory. That is who they were.

Then there was the blessing of it being the Lord's Day, and they had the benefit of it being the Lord's Day in the pristine freshness of its institution. There was the blessing of where they had been and what they had witnessed. They had been in Jerusalem, that type of the heavenly city above, and they had witnessed the most important event that this world has ever seen or ever will see. In comparison to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection, what is the decline and fall of the Roman Empire or the discovery of America or the falling of the Berlin Wall? They are all as nothing in terms of historical importance.

Then there was the blessing of Christian fellowship. Remember that we are told concerning Christian fellowship, 'they that feared the LORD spake often one to another' (Malachi 3:16); they were doing that. A promise followed: 'and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name'. Admittedly, these two on the Emmaus road were not of much help to each other, but they were speaking about the things of God — they were not speaking about the weather. The things of God weighed heavily upon them, upon their hearts.

Then there was the inestimable blessing of the Scriptures when the Lord Jesus Christ drew near to them. These Scriptures that the Lord Jesus Christ expounded were not unknown to them: they were not unread by them, they were not unloved by them. Later they had the blessing of the breaking of bread; there is something redolent of the Lord's Supper in this simple breaking of bread in an informal way with the Lord Jesus Christ, and in His company. But in spite of all these multiple blessings and privileges, they were still cold-hearted and they would have remained so had not the Lord Jesus Christ Himself drawn near.

I am sure that you have noticed in the past in reading this chapter that Jesus Himself drew near. The impact of this is that here we have the things of Christ in abundance, the things of Christ and Christianity, those things that I have just mentioned: fellowship with the saints of God, the Lord's Day, the experience of Jerusalem, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the Scriptures, something reminiscent of the ordinance. But what would all those things have been without Jesus Himself drawing near? 'Jesus himself drew near, and went with them' (v. 15). With all these blessings and privileges they still would have been very poor ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ and unable to show forth the praises of Him that had called them out of darkness into His marvellous light; they would have been very unprofitable as Christians had not the Lord Jesus Christ drawn near to them.

Now it seems to me that as far as we are concerned, and as far as evangelicalism generally is concerned, we can be in a similar situation to these two: in a cold-hearted condition, in a lukewarm condition, living amidst a multitude of blessings (not the least of which is the Scriptures) but lacking those near approaches of Jesus Himself. Oh that we might see our need of this and pray for this and be looking out for this very thing, so that if the Lord should so favour us, we might be able to say one day, 'It is the Lord; He has come, He has approached, He has drawn near'. But what did our Lord do after He drew near to them? He did not leave them in this cold-hearted condition; He did not leave them in this lukewarm condition. He set about ministering to them.

The First Thing Jesus did was to refer them to Himself in the Scriptures⤒🔗

He began at Moses and all the prophets and expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Now when we think of it, He could have revealed Himself to them right then as they walked, without referring to the Scriptures. But He knew, of course, that He would not always be physically present with them. So He gave them the means and showed them the way in which He is to be found in the future. Indeed, He is showing us the way in which He is going to be found; He has shown all Christians of all times the way in which He is to be found.

Surely this is a vital matter for us to grasp. Obviously then it is not through the working up of feelings: that is not the way that the Lord Jesus Christ is to be found. It is not that we are to create for ourselves a religious atmosphere; it is not through mysticism that the Lord is going to be found. But it is in the Word of God that Jesus is to be found.

These two people on the road, of course, would have been familiar with the Scriptures. Indeed, they would have had a high view of Scripture; to them, these writings would have been the oracles of God (as indeed they are). Mr. Watts, in his little booklet The Lord Gave the Word, shows us how careful the Jews were — the Jewish copyists in particular, according to Philo and Josephus. The Jews would rather suffer torment or even death than change anything in the Holy Word of God. Early Christian believers, who were nurtured in all that reverence for the Scriptures, would have had no less a high view of them. But in spite of having the Scriptures, reading the Scriptures, meditating on the Scriptures, perhaps memorising them and believing them, these two had missed the mark woefully concerning the main thrust of Scripture, regarding the central theme of Scripture.

Would it not be extremely ironic if we as supporters of this worthy Society, the Trinitarian Bible Society, were in the same position as these two? As well as reading and meditating upon the Scriptures, even trembling before God's Word, perhaps involved with the translation or the propagation and distribution of the Scriptures, even our whole lives revolving in one way or another round the book: would it not be tragic and ironic if we did not realise that this book is about Jesus Christ!

There are all sorts of views of the Scripture — a casket where gems of truth are stored, a manual for living, a textbook for sorting out life's problems, a repository of teaching, a collection of wonderful histories. You may have the highest view possible of Scripture and hold that view genuinely and sincerely, but still the Lord Jesus Christ can be missed. We can fail to understand that this book is about the Lord Jesus Christ, first to last, and that He is everywhere spoken of within the covers of Holy Scripture. This is what He Himself declares: 'Search the scriptures; for ... they are they which testify of me' (John 5:39). Moses 'wrote of me' says the Lord (5:46); 'in the volume of the book it is written of me' (Hebrews 10:7). In the synagogue at Nazareth He opens the scroll of Scripture and begins to read, and after He has done that He gives the scroll back to the minister. What has He done? The Lord Jesus Christ has read about Himself (Luke 4:16ff).

So it is not a wonder that when it comes to preaching, the Apostles preached Christ. When the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, Peter got up and did not deliver a general sermon; no, it was about the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Apostle Paul went to Corinth, he determined to know nothing but Christ crucified (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:2). Philip, in his personal preaching to the eunuch from Isaiah 53, preached unto him Jesus; he understood that Isaiah 53 spoke about the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 8:26ff). When Paul exhorted the Philippian jailer, he said 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved' (Acts 16:31).

This was also the view, in the main, of the Church Fathers. Irenaeus, in the second century, spoke of Christ the treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament.¹ Augustine regarded the Old Testament as a Christian document, he said, because Christ is pictured throughout it.² Luther spoke of Christ wrapped in the swaddling clothes of the Old Testament.³ Calvin said that 'we ought to read the Scriptures with an express design of finding Christ in them'.⁴ We mention also a Welshman, the hymn-writer William Williams, dear Williams of Pantycelyn, who said, 'my Jesus is the marrow of the Bible'.⁵ The man who stood here, dear Spurgeon, said;

The Scriptures (with all reverence of them do we speak) are but the mine — Christ is the treasure! They are the fields, but He is the harvest! Take Christ out of the Bible and what is it? He is the sum and the substance of it all! And when you search the Scriptures you should search them that you may find Him and, listen to this, or else you misuse and abuse them.⁶

Now that is strong language!

So we could ask how exactly then is the Lord Jesus Christ spoken of in the Old Testament? What are we to look for so that this effect is produced, for surely we are after this effect, are we not? Their hearts burned: how did that come about?

Our Lord Himself, as He led this most glorious Bible study, surely would have shown them that He was spoken of in three principal ways, which cluster together in the third chapter of Genesis — that woeful but wonderful chapter which provides the basis for the future revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ in Theophany←↰⤒🔗

First, He is spoken of in Person, in other words, in Theophanies or Christophanies. These are the mysterious appearances of Jesus Christ in person before He was fully incarnate. Let us just think of the revelation of Christ in that third chapter of Genesis. There is a Person who is denominated the Lord God; this Person is the Lord God who appears, walks, speaks and works. When the Lord God speaks in the third chapter of Genesis, He was not speaking in a disembodied voice from heaven but was a Person there present who spoke. I would suggest to you that it cannot be anybody else but the Lord Jesus Christ in theophanic manifestation.

The Lord God He is certainly, but the Father has never made Himself visible on earth, and the Holy Spirit is incorporeal. So it must be the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh the wonder of it! Just as the Lord Jesus Christ after the resurrection drew near to the two walking on the Emmaus road, so He does the same thing in the Garden of Eden: He comes to Adam and Eve. You will also remember further on in the Old Testament revelation that Isaiah prayed 'Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down' (Isaiah 64:1).

Unbidden, the Lord Jesus Christ has done just that: He has torn the veil between time and eternity and stepped through the rip, as it were, and He comes leaping over the hills of separation and skipping over the mountains of provocation. Nothing can keep Him away; He manifests himself to these rebels, these upstarts Adam and Eve. They disgrace themselves as they plunge the whole human race and their posterity into misery and shame. But what an amazing coming! He comes very quickly indeed. He is not going to let the sun go down upon His wrath. He comes in the cool of the evening, but how graciously, coming to talk with them and to walk with them rather than coming with thunderbolts to destroy them immediately.

Somebody is going to say, 'Wait a minute, was not this theophany awesome? Did not the Lord come for judgment?' Yes, He did. We see in the third chapter of Genesis the solemn wrath of the Lamb. After all, He is Jesus Christ the righteous. True to character, He brought our first parents to book, as He will bring all sinners to book. In the Garden, He addressed searching questions and tried their case: He adjudicated and found them guilty and passed sentence. He cannot do otherwise as a righteous and a Holy God. But in wrath He remembered mercy and set to work for them, making coats of skins for Adam and Eve.

It reminds me of bespoke tailoring, when somebody bespeaks a suit. You go to your tailor and bespeak a suit: you ask the tailor to make a suit of your choice. But that is not what happens here. It is the divine Tailor setting to work unbidden. So it is all of grace. It is the love and the pity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He looks at these two; they are pathetic. Their attempts at self covering, self justification with fig leaves, was fruitless. Those fig leaves were just a mockery of a covering and left our first parents vulnerable and fearful and shivering and blame shifting: found out, condemned.

Has he come to you and clothed you with the garments of salvation and decked you with the robe of righteousness from the heavenly wardrobe? What is this robe of righteousness? It is the active obedience of Christ woven in loving faithfulness; it is the fulfilment of the law of God. These form the warp and the woof, the weave of the garment of righteousness. We are naked no more. We are shivering no more. We are no more on the run from God, trying to excuse ourselves, trying to prevaricate, trying to hide. We are not doing those things now because the Lord Jesus Christ has provided a covering for us.

The theophanies of the Old Testament encourage us to look for and desire that the Lord Jesus Christ would come and show Himself to us, would manifest Himself for His gracious purpose. We read of this in that wonderful verse in Proverbs (8:31) that His delights are with the sons of men. It is an encouragement for us to look out for Him and to desire His coming to us.

When He comes in the Old Testament in these theophanies, it is always for some gracious, rescuing purpose. He came to rescue Jacob and wrestle the self-sufficiency out of him. He came to rescue Abraham from barrenness; He leads him out and shows him the stars of heaven and indicates that his progeny would be that numerous. He came to rescue Elijah from the terrors of the law. Poor Elijah got himself back under the law; he had gone to Sinai, he had gone to Horeb, but it would have been far better for him to go to Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus Christ has to rescue him and says, 'What doest thou here, Elijah?' (1 Kings 19:9ff). He does not speak to him in the earthquake or in the fire or in the wind, but in a Gospel way, in a gracious way, in a still small voice. That is the sort of thing that the Lord Jesus Christ does when He comes in theophany in the Old Testament.

What of us? Are we not in a position where we need to be rescued? Our little causes need to be rescued. Our non-influential testimony needs to be rescued. Our coldness, our barrenness, really calls out for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to us, as He was so willing to do seemingly in Old Testament times.

Christ in Prophecy←↰⤒🔗

Again in Genesis 3 there is the prophecy, the proto-evangel. Thinking of the setting of that is quite amazing. There is a preacher-prophet here who predicts certain things: it is Jesus who is the preacher; and there is a hearer here who is the serpent, Satan. There are also Adam and Eve: the whole human race is listening in, a congregation of two — defeated, vanquished, miserable sinners. Satan has plundered their privileges and blessings, and is gloating. Amazingly, however, the Lord Jesus Christ, in speaking to Adam, is speaking to the One who would be His ancestor as far as His humanity was concerned! What a strange and a wonderful thing!

First we see prophesied the incarnation: the seed of the woman, an intimation of the miraculous conception that causes a virgin to conceive and bear a Son. The Apostle Paul confirms it in the Epistle to the Galatians, 'made of a woman, made under the law' (Galatians 4:4) — of a woman with no involvement of a man. Then we see enmity prophesied, all-out war: conflict between Christ and Satan and Christ's seed and Satan's seed.

Then is prophesied the bruising of the serpent's head and the seed's heel. But I would encourage you this afternoon to see the disparity here. The heel of the woman's seed would be bruised. We would not minimise the Saviour's sufferings, but when we consider the sufferings of the Saviour as inflicted by Satan and what Satan was allowed to do, he was only able to inflict, as it were, a flesh wound on the Saviour's heel. He will recover from that flesh wound and travail in the greatness of His strength, mighty to save, and declared to be the Son of God with power.

On the other hand, Satan's head will be bruised: a fatal injury in a strategic place, the head. Treading gently here, are we to understand that Satan's intellect has been irreversibly marred because of this head wound? Is it too much to say that Satan is brain-damaged and has learning difficulties? There is evidence that it is so because, after being told by the Lord Jesus Christ in no uncertain terms that the incarnation will take place, Satan persistently tries during the Old Testament centuries to prevent it. What can we say about that? Perversity certainly, evil certainly, but maybe Satan is slow to learn as well.

The bruising of Satan's head means the breaking of his regal power. It means the clearing away of sin. It means the destruction of death by the resurrection. It means captivity taken captive. It means the ascension. It means the victory of the Gospel and the descent of the Spirit. It means the ultimate casting of the devil and his minions into the lake of fire. All that is included in the bruising of his head. Did not our hearts burn within us?' What a wonderful day it will be when we see this actually coming to pass. What a great hallelujah will come up from the church of God when we see Satan finished off once and for all.

So a Person, a prophecy, pictures, types are seen. The animal that had been slain in order to obtain coats was the first actual death in the world, and it was instigated at the hands of the Lord Jesus. An innocent victim was slain, but that death was purposeful and it was productive, so we cannot fail surely to see there a foreshadowing of Calvary, the atonement: there is something so poignant here. Now I do not know how exactly the Lord Jesus Christ killed the animal — we are not told, but if it was a knife that He used, wasn't it a poignant moment for the Saviour knowing what would happen when His Father would unsheathe the glittering sword of justice and plunge it into His bosom, as it were.

This brings us back to the coats of skins. They are types or pictures, and are in marked contrast to fig leaves. Those fig leaves would have been hopeless coverings. You have probably never tried to sew fig leaves together; it would be a fruitless task. They would be wilting before you started, tearing apart. What a silly thing to do, sewing fig leaves together. Worse, they just would not cover. But the skins would have given adequate, sufficient covering for Adam and Eve's nakedness. This type tells us about the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ which is imputed to us. When we wear the robe of Christ's righteousness we are justified from all things; this is the all-sufficient nature of the covering.

Additionally these skins would have been protective. Remember that thorns and thistles were going to spring up and would prick Adam and Eve as they walked, so they needed these skins in order to protect them as well as to make them decent. The justification provided by the Lord Jesus Christ is protective as well. 'Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth' (Romans 8:33). What a protection for us! We can face our enemies; we can face devils; we can face the accusations of our own consciences with this righteousness on.

We must not think of Adam or Eve walking around like some primitive cavemen; the skins surely would have been beautiful. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ would not make anything that was ugly, rudimentary or unbecoming. He will do all things well, and these skins would have beautified Adam and Eve. Certainly the righteousness of Christ which we wear is the most beautiful thing in the universe.

These skins needed to be long-lasting as well. Adam lived for centuries and centuries. The skins would have to wear well; and the robe of righteousness which you wear (if you are the Lord's) will last forever and ever and will never wear out. You may wear it now; you may draw it close to you in death; you may wear it in Heaven; you may wear it at the judgment; you may wear it in the new heavens and in the new earth, because He has brought in everlasting righteousness. Everlasting: it does not wear out.

On the Emmaus road, the Lord Jesus Christ drew attention to two streams of suffering and glory: the cross and the crown, conflict and conquest. We see them very clearly in the third chapter of Genesis. The victim suffered as a foreshadowing of the Lord's suffering in His humiliation. We see another hint of His humiliation in that He condescended to work and to make these coats of skins. He took upon Himself the work of an artisan and would do so again when He was fully incarnate in the carpenter's shop where He would have sweat on His brow and sawdust on His clothes. We see that side of things in the third chapter of Genesis, but there is also glory in the victory promised and these beautiful provisions of the tailor-made coats of skins.

Had Cleopas and his companion understood and believed these things, they would not have been disappointed or dejected and perplexed as they were. Rather, they would have been filled with solemn joy, because the Lord had fulfilled His word. But if we miss such revelations of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, what are we left with?

As preachers we will resort to preaching principles, practices, precepts without Christ. We'll have our character studies and subjects and histories, and our congregations will say, 'They have taken away my Lord' (cf. John 20:13). God forbid!

Now friends, I hope you will indulge me. I have two more things; that was the first and longest point; the other two points are much shorter.

Second, the Two on the Emmaus road were led to find Christ in the Scriptures←⤒🔗

The Lord Jesus Christ did not just tell the two on the Emmaus road what they had been missing. He could have produced scrolls of Scripture and told them to look for the promised Messiah in Scripture, the conflict and the triumph: He could have given them the clue and left them to it. But He did not do that. He took them through the Scriptures. He led them and taught them. And He promised that, after He had gone back to Heaven, they would not lack a teacher. The church would have the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, as their teacher.

It is a temptation to regard the ministry of the Holy Spirit as an additional luxury rather than a vital necessity. We feel that we are very blessed these days with commentaries; we have our intellect, we have been college-trained, and we have our exegetes. But what are we left with? Cold hearts, because we rely on these things. But to have the burning heart we must have the Holy Spirit, not as an additional luxury but as a vital necessity.

What will the Holy Spirit do regarding the Lord Jesus Christ in the Scriptures? The Lord Jesus says gloriously, 'He will guide you into all truth' (John 16:13). Surely what is meant here is the truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. But look at the image of guiding. The Holy Spirit guiding: that suggests that we, naturally speaking, are like blind people. We are groping and unable to find the way; we are unable naturally to find the Lord Jesus Christ in Scripture in such a way as to cause the burning heart.

Think of the picture: a person outside the Metropolitan Tabernacle, wanting to cross this busy road, but the person is blind. Then a kind passerby notices the white stick and comes alongside and very gently asks, 'Would you like me to take you over?' 'Oh, yes please, thank you very much indeed'. Gently the kind helper guides the person across the road. That is the kind of help that we must have from the Holy Spirit, guiding us to the Person, to the work and the offices and titles and characters and relationships and the fullness and sufficiency and comeliness and suitability of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, Holy Spirit, guide us to Jesus!

But although He taught the early disciples from the Old Testament Scriptures, we need Him to guide us to Jesus in the New Testament as well if we are to have that real savour of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are to view Him with the eye of faith, if we are to hear Him speak, if we are to have a living experience of Him, we need the Holy Spirit to help us. So we need to put our arm in the arm of the Holy Ghost, as it were, so that He might lead and guide us.

Then what else? The Lord Jesus Christ promised 'the Spirit of truth ... shall glorify me' (John 16:13-14). He will turn the floodlights on Me, He will illuminate Me, He will show off My manifested excellence. He will eulogise Me, He will preach Me so that believers will realise that there is none like unto Me. When the Holy Spirit has led you, you will say He is all together lovely, you will say He is precious and worthy of all praise.

Then the Saviour promises that the Holy Spirit will take of the things of Christ and show them to His people (John 16:15). He will take the blood and substitution, the love and grace, the mercy and truth of Christ and show them — bring them near and bring them home to the believer so that there is a personal interest in Him.

'He shall testify of me', says the Saviour (John 15:26). It's as if the Holy Spirit takes the witness box and goes on oath to testify concerning Christ. And who better to do so? He was there at our Lord's conception, baptism and temptation, crucifixion and resurrection. I would rather believe the testimony of the Holy Spirit than that of unbelieving clerics who say that He only arose in the minds of the disciples and so on. They were not there. The Holy Spirit was! — the Divine Witness.

'He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you' (John 14:26). And oh, what a teacher! All that you have received from the Holy Spirit you will really have learnt and you won't be shaken. When people change their minds concerning the cardinal truths, it's because there has been human teaching only, resulting in an opinion, a notion lightly held. But when the Holy Spirit teaches, He teaches the heart and there is heart conviction, heart knowledge and application.

Spirit of God my teacher be Showing the things of Christ to me.⁷

So I say if we are to have the burning heart, first we must find Christ in the Scriptures, and second we must be led to Him by the Holy Spirit.

Third, there must be the Exercise of God-given Faith←⤒🔗

'O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken' (Luke 24:25). If we want burning hearts there must be connection, engagement with and appropriation of the Lord Jesus Christ found in Scripture. There must be a trusting of Him, a launching out upon Him, and not a leaving of Him on the page as it were.

Who shall be our example in trusting the Saviour? Perhaps the two culprits in Genesis 3! If Adam had not trusted Christ he might well have called his wife Death or some other doom-laden name; but no, he called her 'Eve; because she was the mother of all living' (v. 20). Surely if he believed what he had been told concerning the coming of the woman's seed, he would recognise that there had to be a human race and a mother producing progeny. Although Eve hadn't borne any children as yet, he calls her the mother of all living. Adam had started to walk by faith and not by sight.

Following his believing, he is clothed and Eve is too. Would the Lord have vested them just to tantalise them? Perish the thought. Surely we have portrayed here;

 Thy righteousness which grace imputes, And faith alone receives.⁸

When Eve conceives, she says that she has got a man from the Lord (Genesis 4:1), using the covenant name LORD.

Is it too much to surmise that Abel was shown what sort of offering to bring in faith by Adam and Eve — that they had become evangelists! Did they make plain the way of salvation, saying,

There is a way for man to rise
To that sublime abode:
An offering and a sacrifice,
A Holy Spirit's energies,
An Advocate with God.⁹

Friends, we have a far fuller revelation of Christ than Adam and Eve had. Oh, for believing engagement with the Lord Jesus Christ of the Scriptures. May our hearts burn within us in our Spirit-led encounters with Him in His Holy Word.