“Now, behold, two of them were travelling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
So it was, while they con-versed and reasoned that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained so that they did not know Him” – Lk. 24:13-16.
The Unveiling Ministry
When our blessed Lord Jesus resurrected from death, He engaged in two types of ministry to believers or His followers.
The first was the unveiling of Himself through the Scriptures of the Old Testament – Lk. 24:27, 44-45. And the second was the further unveiling of the Kingdom of God – Acts 1:3.
The ‘Hiding’ Jesus
Before His resurrection, Jesus went about doing good acts and healing all who were oppressed by the devil – Acts 10:38. In this light, He performed a lot of miracles. But when He rose from death, Jesus did not go round doing good works and healing.
In fact, there is no record in the Bible that Jesus healed any one after His resurrection or engaged in public ministry. This is unlike what the average person would have done.
If you were Jesus, maybe you would have organized a massive public crusade where you would show yourself physically to everyone. Then you would testify to all about how you have defeated death; and how
your words that you will resurrect from death have been fulfilled; and maybe showed off some enhanced healing powers.
But our Jesus did not do that. He stayed away from the public as if He had not resurrected.
He only focused on ministering to His believers. Two of such were on a road to a village called Emmaus.
How to know Jesus
When Jesus joined Himself to them, He did not want them to recognize Him physically. Can you imagine that?
So their eyes were restrained from identifying Him as the risen Lord. Rather He wanted them to see Him through the pages of the Bible – Lk. 24:27,
“And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself”.
Jesus ministered in a similar way when He suddenly stood among His eleven apostles and some other disciples of His who were gathered together – Lk. 24:44-45,
“Then He said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the psalms concerning Me. And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures”.
The Prototype Ministry
By the law of first mention, this post-resurrection ministry of Jesus unveiling Himself in the Bible is a prototype of the kind of ministry God wants us to have towards believers.
The Ultimate Ministry
The ultimate blessing that God wants to give you is not having all the monies in the world or travel opportunities to see the whole world including outer space. It is not having a family, a wonderful job or a thrice-successful ministry. It is rather to let you see Jesus in the pages of the Bible. Hallelujah!
You know, some people take their Word-life for gran-ted. They feel that what is important as a believer is having the anointing, seeing Jesus in a dream or vision or even literally etc.
But that is not it. If the Holy Spirit came to glorify and testify of Jesus, and we are still in His dispensation, then seeing Jesus in the Scriptures is relevant for the Holy Spirit and for you now – Jn. 15:26; 16:13-14.
Yes, seeing Jesus in a vision or literally is to be subject to the ‘picture’ of Jesus that the Bible gives us about Him. Therefore, seeing Jesus in the pages of the Bible is of higher importance in God’s will for you, especially in this post-resurrection era.
You know, as it was in the beginning when Jesus just resurrected, so will it be in this end-time. Yes, this is the time when our dearest Christ Jesus is just about to come physically again, in the rapture and second coming.
