Excursus on Messianic Prophecy:

What Jesus Might Have Told the Emmaus Travelers

Last week we looked at the home Jesus visited on His resurrection day—that amazing cottage in Emmaus where Jesus broke bread and suddenly vanished. The story is told in Luke 24. 

¹³ Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶ but they were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹ “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹ but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²² In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

Today let’s zero in on verse 27: And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures (the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament) concerning Himself.

This was one of our Lord’s favorite themes—how He fulfilled the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. He hit on it again and again. He told His critics in John 5 to diligently search the Old Testament, for it testified of Him. He told us that fulfilled Messianic prophecy was Exhibit A in terms of evidence for His claims.

I’ve often said that I could preach the rest of my life about Jesus Christ and cover every phase of His life and ministry and never open the New Testament. Every aspect of His background, birth, life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection was pre-drawn by the Old Testament prophets, and the fit was so exact that the New Testament writers used it as a centerpiece of evidence proving his divine identity. 

Someone said about the Old and New Testaments: The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed. Or to put it even better: The New is in the Old contained; the Old is in the New explained.

I don’t know how much material Jesus covered during that walk, which probably took two or three hours. It was a seven mile trip. But here is some of the material He might well have touched upon.

Verbal Prophecy

First, the Old Testament predicted the Messiah’s family tree. The Jews, more than anyone else in antiquity, valued their ancestry and kept meticulous records of their genealogies. Well, here’s the remarkable thing about the Testament. It’s not primarily the record of the peoples of antiquity; it’s the record of the Jewish people starting with Abraham in Genesis 12. And it’s not primarily the record of the Jewish people; it’s primarily the record of one particular branch of the family tree of Israel—the one that resulted in the birth of Christ.

In Genesis, we’re told that of the three sons of Noah, the Messiah would come through Shem (Genesis 9:26-27, Luke 2:32). Of the descendants of Shem, we’re told the Messiah would come through Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3, 22:18). Of the two sons of Abraham, the Messiah would come through Isaac (21:12). Of the two sons of Isaac, he would come through Jacob (Genesis 34:10-12; Numbers 24:17). Of the twelve sons of Jacob, we’re told the Messiah would come, not from the noble Joseph, but from the scoundrel Judah (Genesis 49:10, Psalm 78:67-68). Of the descendants of Judah, all were rejected except the family of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1-2). Of the sons of Jesse, all were rejected but the youngest, David (Jeremiah 23:5).

The Lord narrowed down the Messiah’s family tree until it could only be a descendant of Abraham through Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Jesse, and David. The first words of the New Testament are: A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1).

Consider these other prognostications:

We’re told that not only would Jesus be born from David’s family, but in David’s city — Bethlehem. Micah 5:2 says, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

We’re told that he would be born of a virgin and that he would be named Immanuel. Isaiah 1:12 predicts, “The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.”

Malachi 3:1 and 4:5 say the Messiah would be preceded by an Elijah-like figure who would live in the wilderness and cry out a message warning people to prepare the way for the Lord.

We’re told that the coming Messiah will fill three different offices, namely: Prophet, Priest, and King (Deuteronomy 18:18, Psalm 110:4, Zechariah 9:9).

We’re told that the Messiah would exhibit superlative character traits, that he would be holy, righteous, good, faithful, innocent, zealous, meek, forgiving, patient, loving, and full of justice (Isaiah 9:6-7, 11:1-5; 52:13-53:12).

We’re told that his ministry would begin, not in Judah or Jerusalem as one might expect, but in a largely Gentile area in the northern reaches of Israel called Galilee (Isaiah 9:1).

We’re told that His ministry which began in Galilee would climax in Jerusalem which the Messiah would humbly enter, riding on a young donkey before suddenly appearing boldly in the temple (Zechariah 9:9, Haggai 2:7, Malachi 3:1). Daniel 9 every predicts the exact year when Jesus would enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

We’re also told the Messiah’s ministry would contain the element of the miraculous, that He would heal the blind and deaf and lame (Isaiah 35:5-6); and that He would teach the people, uttering parables (Psalm 78:2). We’re told that, as incredible as it seems, this long-awaited prophet, priest, and king would be publicly rejected by His own people, the Jews (Psalm 118:22). We’re told that He would be betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver, and that the silver would be thrown on the temple floor and be used to buy a Potter’s field (Psalm 41:9, 55:12-14; Zechariah 11:12-13).

We’re told that He would be smitten and that His followers would disperse like sheep that have suddenly lost their shepherd (Zechariah 13:7). We’re told that the Messiah would be attacked and rejected, accused by false witnesses, and that He would remain silent, refusing to come to His own defense (Psalm 35:11, 38:13; Isaiah 53:7). We’re told that He would be scourged and slain for the transgressions of those He came to save, and that His death would be painful. Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, as woven together below, present a powerful and remarkable portrait of the details of the execution of the Messiah, including these elements:

• That He would be despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with grief.
• That He would be smitten by God and bear His wrath.
• That He would be disrobed, and his clothing was gambled away by his executioners.
• That He would be executed with criminals
• That His hands and feet would be pierced.
• That He would question why God had forsaken Him.
• That those witnessing His execution would mock Him and shake their heads in disgust.
• That nearby mockers would scornfully say, “He trusts in God; let the Lord deliver Him.”
• That He would suffer acute thirst after massive losses of bodily fluids. 
• That His bones would be twisted from their joints, and His heart would melt and break from grief.
• That despite severe pain and sorrow, He would utter no complaints.
• That this rejection, humiliation, and excruciating death would be redemptive, comprising God’s plan for saving His people from sin, death, and hell.
• That His corpse would be laid to rest in the borrowed tomb of a rich man.
• That after His suffering and death, He would again see the light of life.
• That His death would justify many.
• That following His return to life, He would be considered great.

These are only some of the prophecies made about Christ hundreds of years before His birth. Overall, about 300 predictions stretch through all the books of the Old Testament. 

Visual Prophecy 

But there’s something else. We should not only consider the three hundred predictions scattered here and there through the Old Testament, but the whole tenor and tone of these 39 books. If all we see are the specific predictions, we haven’t grasped the whole picture. There are what we call the types of Christ peppering the pages of the Old Testament. A “type” is an Old Testament person, object, or event that in some striking way prefigures the person of Christ. Think of the word “prototype.” It is visual, rather than verbal, prophecy. The New Testament says that there were Old Testament personages, objects, and events that were patterns or shadows or copies of Him who was to come (Romans 5:14; Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 8:5). Jesus used the word “sign” to describe these types (Matthew 10:39). I’ll give you some examples:

• The Passover Lamb was a foreshadowing of our Lord’s substitutionary atonement.
• The manna in the wilderness was a foreshadowing of our Lord’s role as the Bread of Life who came down from heaven.
• The rock in the wilderness that was smitten with the rod and out of which came a river of life-giving water for the Israelites was a type of Christ. The Bible says, “And that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).
• The Tabernacle in the wilderness was a type of Christ in many ways.
• Even the prophet Jonah was a type of Christ. Jesus said, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 10:20).

Visionary Prophecy

So we have the Old Testament prophecies and predictions; we also have the types and foreshadowings. But there’s something else. It is impossible to read the Old Testament without noticing that the entire warp and woof of its content is held together by the threads of redemptive anticipation. There is an atmosphere of anticipation that blows like a never-ending breeze through the pages of the Old Testament. The Old Testament creates a vision for something more.

A. T. Pierson observed, “No miracle which He wrought so unmistakably set on Him the seal of God as the convergence of the thousand lines of prophecy in Him, as in one burning focal point of dazzling glory. Every sacrifice lit, from Abel’s altar until the last Passover of the Passion Week, pointed as with flaming fingers to Calvary’s Cross.”

For example, in Genesis we read of Adam and Eve’s disobedience of the Lord, resulting in death and a curse falling over all the earth. While meeting the fallen couple immediately afterward, God promised to provide a way of escape, of salvation. He promised to send one who would crush the serpent’s head though being hurt himself in the process (Genesis 3:15). As a token, an innocent animal was slaughtered to provide covering for the two sinners.

In Exodus, we read of the Passover Lamb, the blood of which would atone for sin; yet it seemed to be pointing to something more. It appears that a scarlet cord was being stitched into the story. Moses promised the people that one day the Lord would raise up “a prophet like me” whose words would save the people (Deuteronomy 18:18, Acts 3:22), and even the heathen prophet Balaam, touched momentarily by the Holy Spirit, said, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17). We want to ask, “Who were Moses and Balaam talking about?”

Job came along and cried, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). We want to ask, “Who is this redeemer? Who is Job talking about?” Then the prophets come, all of them talking about a future coming savior. Isaiah said, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). We’d like to ask Isaiah, “Who are you talking about? Who is this strange child?”

We continue reading, soon coming to the end of the Old Testament, to the final book of Malachi. In Malachi 3, God promised to send his messenger to pave the way for the coming king. But in the next chapter, Malachi finished his writing and the Old Testament abruptly ends with the cryptic words, “…or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

Is that any way to end a book? For a thousand years through thirty-nine installments stretching from Genesis to Malachi the story has been building, issues have been raised, promises have been made, the anticipation has grown. Everything has pointed to a savior who would be of the lineage of Abraham and David, and who would deliver humanity from sin and despair. But the story abruptly concludes with the depressing words “…or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

It seems like a bad ending, like an incomplete story. It seems like we’ve come to an intermission in which only the first half of the story is completed. Surely, we think, there must be more, another part, a completion.

Then we turn the page, passing over four hundred years of history, and we are greeted with the Gospel, with the words, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” 

As we continue reading we meet someone who has descended from Shem, through Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob, through Judah, through Jesse, and through David. We see one who was born of a virgin and named Immanuel. We see one who was born in the city of Bethlehem, though it was small among the clans of Judah. We see someone who was preceded by a forerunner after the tradition of Elijah. We see someone who was superlative in character traits, being holy, righteous, good, faithful, innocent, zealous, meek, forgiving, patient, loving, and full of justice; and who in the tradition of Melchizedek, was prophet, priest, and king. We see someone who began his ministry in Galilee and climaxed it in Jerusalem, and who healed the sick and taught the masses. We see one who was rejected by his own people, betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver, deserted by his followers, accused by false witnesses, beaten and whipped and publicly stripped, his clothing being gambled away by soldiers. We see one who was executed between two criminals, whose hands and feet were pierced. We see one who suffered acute thirst, dying a death in which his bodily fluids were poured out, his bones were twisted out of their joints, and whose heart melted like wax within him. We see one who was buried in the borrowed grave of a rich man, and who, following his suffering, again saw the light of life. We see one who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. We see the one all whom the world has awaited.

Conclusion

Now let me go back to a question I asked last week. Why did Jesus appear to the two disciples on the Emmaus Road incognito? Why was His true identity withheld? This is an oddity in Scripture. Nowhere else in the New Testament did Jesus disguise Himself, as it were. Nowhere else were His disciples prevented from identifying Him. Why didn’t Jesus want these two men to know who He was?

The answer is exceedingly simple. Jesus wanted His disciples – including us! –  to know beyond any shadow of doubt that he was Messiah, King of Kings and Prince of Peace, risen from the dead. He had two ways of proving this. The first was to appear physically before them and by His concrete, resurrected body to provide empirical proof of His resurrection. 

But the second way was more important, more convincing, and more durable. He could prove His resurrection by showing them how He alone fulfilled—and with utmost perfection—the predictions and prophecies about His life, death, and resurrection made hundreds of years before by Old Testament prophets. So the Stranger of Galilee led these two disciples on a tour of biblical prophecy, and by the time He had finished they were so convinced that Christ was the risen Messiah that their hearts burned like a fire within them. Only after they had been convinced through fulfilled prophecy did He allow them to be convinced by visual evidence.

By hiding His real identity and directing us into the Old Testament, Christ pointed us to the overwhelming body of evidence for the veracity of Christianity found in the fulfillment of Old Testament Messianic prophecy.

We are just like these two disciples on their way to Emmaus. He is with us truly and in reality, though we don’t always recognize Him as we should. We can be absolutely certain He rose from the dead because of the miracle of fulfilled Messianic prophecy. And one day soon we shall see Him as He is.