Don't forget the key--or you won't get in. (part 1)

The Word for today:
Jeremiah 34

I teach the Bible. I teach big classes, small classes, beginner's classes, advanced classes. But no matter the class, I have just one lesson plan:

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27)

That's it. That's the syllabus and the entire curriculum.

The verse is taken from an incident which occurred on the road to Emmaus, when a stranger happens alongside two disciples who were disheartened following the death of Jesus, and puzzled about reports they'd heard--that he was alive again.

So the stranger proceeded to give them a guided tour of Scripture. Starting in the beginning, then going verse by verse, he pointed out references to the Christ, the Savior.

It wasn't until they'd stopped for a meal that they realized the "stranger" was Jesus. All the way down the road, the stranger had been explaining things the Bible says about him!

Then, just as suddenly as he'd appeared beside them, he was gone. The two disciples asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32)

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What we sometimes overlook is that all the things he explained about himself were from the Old Testament. (The New Testament had not yet been written.)

The disciples' hearts were burning because the Scriptures, which they'd studied all their lives, were for the first time opened to them.

You, too, will have your Road to Emmaus experience if you continue to systematically study the whole Bible. One day the key--Jesus--will be placed in your hand and the Old Testament will open before you as if you'd never seen it before. Suddenly, it's not about lambs and burning bushes; and it's not about Abraham and David. You will clearly see that those are just props and role players in the what the Bible really is--the Story Of Jesus.

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When you return tomorrow, we'll pretend we're on the road to Emmaus with Jesus, as he points out the things concerning himself in the chapters that we are currently reading.

Until then, don't forget the key--or you won't get in.

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