Luke 24:27, commentary and pictures

On the walk to Emmaus after His resurrection Jesus joined two grieving, disappointed disciples as an unrecognized stranger and drew out their broken hopes before rebuking their slowness to believe all the prophets had spoken.
Beginning at Moses, the very Alpha of history, and continuing through all the prophets, He traced a connected chain of testimony concerning Himself, showing that He must suffer and die for sin and then enter into glory.
He deliberately kept His identity hidden until He had finished this exposition, so that their faith would take firm root in the unquestionable evidence of the typical law and the prophets agreeing with the facts of His life and death rather than resting merely on the joy of seeing Him risen.
As He expounded with authority, He opened their understanding to comprehend the Word, revived their failed hope, and made their hearts burn within them with holy joy.
The whole Scriptures thus testify of Him, and the very first step in imparting the knowledge of Christ is to direct minds to Moses and the prophets and expound what concerns Him.

Emmaus Setting and Sequence

The verse belongs to the walk to Emmaus after the resurrection, when Jesus joined two discouraged, grieving disciples who regarded His death as the destruction of all their hopes and did not recognize Him, for He appeared as an ordinary stranger and fellow traveler. He was the risen Savior and mighty conqueror of death veiled in humble companionship, yet He taught and comforted them as one who thoroughly understood the prophecies. He spent hours walking with them on their difficult road, drawing out their disappointed hopes with sympathy, and the truths He spoke sank deeply into their hearts. His teaching from Scripture brought their hearts alive to His presence, gave peace and life, and made them long for Him to remain with them.

Before expounding He rebuked them for unbelief and slowness of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken, for their hopes and faith had failed because they did not understand the prophetic Scriptures. He reproved them for not taking the word of God just as it reads, though the prophecies plainly described His suffering, death, resurrection, entering into glory, and the treatment He would receive. He then made explaining the Scriptures His first work instead of performing a miracle to convince them or first revealing Himself, though revealing Himself would have satisfied them with joy. He deliberately kept His identity hidden until He had finished interpreting the Scriptures, knowing that if they first recognized Him alive their joy would satisfy their souls and they would no longer hunger for the sacred truths He wanted to fix indelibly in their minds.

He withheld self-revelation so the truth would take firm root not because it rested on His personal testimony but because the typical law and the prophets of the Old Testament agreeing with the facts of His life and death give unquestionable evidence. That exposition led them to intelligent faith in His life, His character, His mission to earth, and His death and resurrection, rather than faith resting merely on the joy of seeing Him risen. He used the Old Testament prophecies to establish His identity as the risen Redeemer and show that what had happened to Him had been foretold, rather than relying on a miracle as proof. He wanted those truths learned from Scripture and indelibly impressed upon them so the disciples would impart them to others, who would spread that precious knowledge until thousands received the light given that day to the despairing disciples.

He continued opening the Scriptures to them after they reached home, unfolding what they taught about Himself to reveal the evidence of His divinity and the plan of salvation. When He broke bread their eyes were opened and they knew Him, and once that work was done He revealed Himself to make their joy full and then vanished from their sight. That opening made their hearts burn with a joy exceeding former despair and reversed their plan to return home, take up old employment, and conceal blighted hopes. The newly found knowledge of a living Savior risen from the dead made them forget hunger and fatigue, leave their prepared meal, and hurry back to Jerusalem late at night to impart their joy that all might rejoice together. They pressed on light-hearted through darkness over a rough, uncertain road, stumbling over stones and ledges and losing the track yet renewing their speed, and Jesus accompanied them unseen and heard their expressions of joy and gratitude by the way with gladness. They found the disciples assembled in excitement with hope and faith struggling for ascendency, for the report of Mary Magdalene and the other women had been heard by all but some were too hopeless to believe it, while the testimony of Peter about his interview with the risen Lord carried more weight and began to revive faith, and the joyful tidings from Emmaus further helped revive their faith in His resurrection.

Manner of Expounding Scripture

Beginning at Moses, the very Alpha of history, and continuing through all the prophets, he expounded in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. He traced a connected chain and line of prophecy from Genesis and the patriarchs down to his own time, showing he is the one of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the Author and Finisher of faith come from God to be the light of the world. His first work with the disciples was to start at the Alpha of the Old Testament to prove he was to come into this world and pass through the experiences of his incarnation, including his life and death. The Scriptures showed that Christ had to suffer and then enter into his glory.

He spoke as one having authority and not as the Jews, with unfaltering assurance of certain knowledge of past, present, and future. He is the truth itself speaking only principles of personal knowledge with no supposition, the truth embodied in ancient types and the fulfillment of ancient prophecies, knowing whatever he says is truth no matter what opposing error is presented or how old and deeply rooted in the popular mind that error is, since age does not make error truth or truth error. He never quoted the opinions and maxims of great men, and he reasoned from the Scriptures to prove himself, showing how every specification of prophecy relating to the first advent had been fulfilled in his life, death, and resurrection. That same Scripture reasoning was then used with doubting believers to encourage and strengthen faith, starting a new train of thought that he was more than a prophet, that no one but Messiah could triumph over death and burst the fetters of the tomb, and that he must pass through ignominy, suffering, and death to finally take his throne.

He made explaining the Scriptures his first work instead of performing a miracle to convince them or first revealing himself, though revealing himself would have satisfied them with joy. He hid his identity and gave a clear explanation of Scripture rather than using a miracle to prove who he was, tracing the inspired prophecies concerning his life, mission, suffering, death, and resurrection and showing they had been fulfilled to confirm his identity as the risen Redeemer. He pressed home that he came exactly as foretold, giving lessons to be repeated to followers in all coming time, and the same night in Jerusalem he again awakened faith not by pointing to his mighty works but by going back to Moses and the prophets to explain the Scriptures concerning himself. His death, which they had thought destroyed their hopes, was in fact strong evidence for their faith because the prophets foretold it, and this witness was necessary to establish the disciples' faith.

He laid the Scriptures open to their understanding, yet they could not at first take it in; his exposition carried an illuminating power in the Scriptures that quickened faith and made the heart burn within. He himself opens the mind to comprehend the meaning of the sacred Word, and the Holy Spirit conveys its true significance to the soul as not before seen or appreciated, so that the searcher for truth feels his heart burn within him while Christ talks with him and opens the Scriptures, and with opened eyes recognizes Christ himself. That opening of their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures is work he will still do for believers now, giving a clear, well-defined experience to all who claim the privilege of understanding what God has spoken, because what the Lord has revealed is for us and our children forever, and the same warming and kindling with the love of God happens when the Scriptures are searched with humble heart and received in simplicity as verity and truth. The Old Testament, no less than the New, contains his sayings and reveals him, and the Holy Spirit can bring their meaning and significance more fully to the mind, enlighten the mind, bring his teachings to remembrance, and guide into truth.

His exposition was distinct, simple, and spiritual, opening their understanding to understand the Scriptures and putting them in possession of truth whose value they little suspected. He revealed that those Scriptures taught about him, including truths whose full significance their human writers had not seen, for his words are bread from heaven, and as the disciples ate his words their understanding was quickened. His explanation opened their understanding, untangled their mistaken interpretation, and showed the unity and divine truth of the Scriptures, for the written prophecies and the facts of his life and ministry form a harmonious whole. The disciples' confusion came from accepting mistaken interpretations and traditions, and from maxims and traditionary lore that made truths spoken by the greatest Teacher lost truths to them; the Jews missed the prophecies' meaning because they bent them to their own ambitions and expectations. Passages that seem unclear become plain when studied carefully and compared with other Scriptures on the same subject, and as they diligently sought truth as for hidden treasure they better understood the value of his grace and righteousness, stepping in comprehension from the obscurity of dawn to the radiance of noon.

What Was Foretold Concerning Him

The Scriptures showed that the Messiah must suffer and then enter into glory, and Jesus traced that necessity through Moses and all the prophets to explain His own suffering, death and resurrection and the treatment He would receive from those He came to save. His suffering was not an accident but had been ordained in the counsels of the Father and the Son, and His rejection, humiliation, death and resurrection fulfilled what the inspired writers had foretold. The disciples' hopes and faith had failed because they did not understand these prophecies and were slow to believe all the prophets had spoken, yet when He recalled the promises linked with them their faith revived.

Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, the inspired testimony foretells His birth, life, character, mission and work, anointing by the Holy Spirit, rejection, humiliation, sufferings, death, resurrection and ascension, and the giving of the gospel to the Gentiles. Every specification and detail was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, clearly proving His identity with the Messiah and confirming Him as the risen Redeemer. Rather than performing a miracle to prove who He was, He gave a clear explanation of Scripture showing that fulfillment, and careful study and comparison of its passages brings clarity to teachings that may first seem dark.

The types, shadows, symbols and figures of the typical law and Jewish system point to Him, including the Passover and sacrificial lamb, the bronze serpent lifted in the wilderness fulfilled in His lifting on the cross, and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. At the crucifixion type met antitype, their meaning was made clear through His explanation, and those forms and ceremonies were rendered obsolete and valueless apart from Him. The Old Testament's histories, precepts, prophecies, sacrifices and religious system show His death and reveal the Redeemer, and new truth unfolds from old truth while the New Testament sheds light on the Old.

The prophecies showed His kingdom is not temporal power but spiritual, God's grace manifested in hearts, and that humiliation, suffering and death had to come before His kingdom of glory and throne. No one but Messiah could triumph over death and burst the fetters of the tomb, and He must pass through ignominy, suffering and death to finally take His throne triumphant over death and the grave, enduring the cross and despising its shame and ascending to heaven. This corrected mistaken understanding of prophecy and false teachings that had confused people about the Messiah and His mission as a man among men to redeem a lost world.

All the prophets definitely pointed out the time of His coming, and He urged the importance of prophetic study, especially the prophecy given to Daniel about their time, which the Jewish people had the privilege of understanding and recognizing in its fulfillment. The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets, so from the days of Adam it was His own voice speaking through patriarchs and prophets testifying beforehand of His sufferings and the glory to follow. Passages that seem unclear become plain when studied carefully and compared with other Scriptures on the same subject, while confusion came from accepting mistaken interpretations and traditions and bending prophecy to ambition and expectation.

His death, which the disciples thought destroyed all hope, was itself the climax and strongest evidence for faith, upon which faith must be established rather than resting on personal testimony alone. Comparing Old Testament prophecy with the New Testament account of His life, death and resurrection gives the strongest proof that He is the Messiah, the Son of God and the world's Redeemer, sufficient for all willing to believe, and its explanation renewed hope and led to acceptance of Him as the promised Messiah. His exposition stands with the empty sepulcher, the burial linens left behind with His body not seeing corruption, His self-revelation in the upper chamber to the eleven as one risen from the dead, and the risen saints, giving abundant, incontrovertible evidence that establishes the certainty of His resurrection and of Christianity and triumphs over falsehood. The Scriptures showed the Messiah would die for sin to bear the penalty of transgression and secure salvation for the human race, but His death would not end in defeat; it would lead to glorious, eternal victory.

Old Testament Witness to Christ

From Moses through all the prophets the Scriptures reveal and testify of Christ, and the whole Bible is a manifestation of Him and a source of spiritual life and power. The Old Testament points to a Saviour to come, while the New Testament records His coming exactly as the prophets predicted, so that comparing Old Testament prophecy with the New Testament account of His life, death and resurrection gives the strongest proof that Jesus is the world's Redeemer. Their light points to Him and their message links the Old and New Testaments together, for He identifies Himself as the One the prophets wrote about and centers in Himself the hope of eternal life. He treated those Scriptures as authoritative and understandable, and their meaning becomes plain when He opens them to His followers.

Beginning at its Alpha proves He was to come into the world and pass through the experiences of His incarnation, and the Old Testament remains of use and is not set aside by the New. His first work with the grieving disciples, to whom He came veiled as a stranger, was to explain the Scriptures rather than to perform a miracle or first reveal Himself, though revealing Himself would have satisfied them with joy. After rebuking their slowness to believe all the prophets had spoken about His suffering and entering into glory, He showed that His mission had been foretold by all the types and prophecies of the Old Testament and that His death was itself the very strongest evidence for faith upon which their faith must be established. His purpose was to enlighten understanding and fasten faith upon the sure word of prophecy, so that truth would take firm root not merely because of His personal testimony but because of the unquestionable evidence of the symbols and shadows of the typical law and the prophecies, stirring hearts and kindling faith so they were begotten again unto a lively hope even before He revealed Himself. So highly did He value the Old Testament as a witness to His mission, against the claim that it is no longer of any use, that He taught that those who do not hear Moses and the prophets will not be persuaded though one rose from the dead, and the risen Saviour thus gave testimony to the value and importance of the Old Testament Scriptures, making the very first step in imparting the knowledge of Christ to direct people to Moses and the prophets.

He is the key that unlocks the Old Testament and gives access to its treasures, and the Old Testament as the sure word of prophecy is the only key that unlocks the New Testament Scriptures and proves that Jesus revealed in the gospel is the Son of God, the long-expected Messiah. Drawing out disappointed hopes with sympathy and then reproving unbelief for not taking the word of God just as it reads, He opened from Moses and the prophets the Scriptures concerning His mission and work and pressed home that He came exactly as foretold, clothing the Old Testament with new life and power so hopes revived and hearts burned within them and they were ready to receive Him as the risen Saviour when He made Himself known. The same night in Jerusalem He again awakened faith not by pointing to His mighty works but by going back to Moses and the prophets to explain the Scriptures concerning Himself. The prophecies of Moses and the prophets agree with His life and teachings and give inspired proof of His mission, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension, identifying Him with the Messiah, for it was His own voice speaking through the prophets and patriarchs from the days of Adam. The Passover and the bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness point to Him and His lifting upon the cross, so that the Passover cannot be explained without Christ revealed in the Old Testament and all religious services and ceremonies are valueless if the Saviour represented in them is rejected.

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments form a harmonious whole, with the written prophecies and the facts of His life and ministry agreeing together. New truth unfolds from and depends on understanding the old, the New Testament sheds light on the Old, and the fresh unfolding gives old truths renewed meaning and power. The Old Testament's histories, precepts, prophecies and religious system point to Christ; its sacrifices show His death, and its symbols and promises reveal the Redeemer, so understanding the Old Testament is necessary to appreciate the plan of redemption and to see His life and teachings clearly. Passages that seem unclear become plain when studied carefully and compared with other Scriptures on the same subject, for the disciples' confusion came from accepting mistaken interpretations and traditions, and the Jews missed the prophecies' meaning because they bent them to their own ambitions and expectations. Their fulfillment in His life, death and resurrection confirms their harmony and reveals the plan of salvation.

The things concerning Himself beginning at Moses and all the prophets are that He came into the world for the express purpose of vindicating His Father's law, not disregarding it or teaching it of no effect, that He is the originator of the entire Jewish system of sacrifices, and that at the crucifixion type met antitype in His fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Redeemer of Israel. All the Scriptures testify of Jesus so that every true doctrine makes Christ the center and every precept receives force from His work. This Christ-centered exposition beginning at Moses and the prophets is to be presented in the most simple manner, and holy convocations honored by God are to be made as effective as possible by that simple presentation.

Effect on the Disciples

His purpose was to enlighten understanding and fasten faith upon the sure word of prophecy so that truth would take firm root, kindling an intelligent, lively hope even before He revealed Himself. He deliberately stayed disguised and kept His identity hidden until He had finished interpreting the Scriptures, because He knew overwhelming joy at seeing Him risen would satisfy their souls so they would no longer hunger for the sacred truths He needed to fix firmly and indelibly in their minds. He wanted their faith to rest not merely on His personal testimony nor on the joy of seeing Him risen, but on the unquestionable evidence of the symbols and shadows of the typical law and the prophets of the Old Testament agreeing with the facts of His life, character, mission to earth, death and resurrection. That scriptural understanding was to take firm root in them so they could impart it to others until thousands received the light given on the road to Emmaus, and only when that work was done did He reveal Himself to make their joy full and then vanish from their sight. Followers need this intelligent faith both for themselves and to carry the knowledge of Christ to the world.

Recalling the promises linked with prophecy revived their failed faith and hope, for their hopes and faith had failed because they did not understand the prophetic Scriptures that plainly foretold His suffering, death and resurrection and the treatment He would receive from those He came to save. Understanding them would have sustained faith and kept hopes firm after His death, and when He recalled those promises their faith revived and their hearts were stirred. He first gave them lessons they would not forget, preparing to comfort them in their grief and confusion, drawing out their disappointed hopes with sympathy and then reproving their unbelief and slowness to believe all that the prophets had spoken and to take the word of God just as it reads. Beginning with Moses and the prophets He opened the Scriptures concerning His mission and work and pressed home that He came exactly as foretold, giving lessons to be repeated to followers in all coming time, and as the Old Testament was clothed with new life and power their hopes revived and their hearts burned within them while He talked with them by the way. That exposition carried an illuminating power that quickened faith and made the heart burn, laying open His very history as the Christ of God to show everything in His suffering and crucifixion was written there, though at first they could not take it in, and the same warming and kindling with the love of God happens when the Scriptures are searched with humble heart and received in simplicity as verity and truth. The opening of their understanding to understand the Scriptures is work He still does for believers now, giving a clear, well-defined experience to all who claim the privilege of understanding what God has spoken, and when He broke bread their eyes were opened and they knew Him, ready to receive Him as the risen Saviour. The same night in Jerusalem He again awakened faith not by pointing to His mighty works but by going back to Moses and the prophets to explain the Scriptures concerning Himself.

Contemplating the Word made their hearts burn as they meditated on His incarnation and saving sacrifice, lifting thoughts to Christ and the salvation He brings with pardon, peace and everlasting righteousness. His words are bread from heaven and spirit and life, and as the disciples ate His words their understanding was quickened and their souls were nourished. He put them in possession of truth whose value they little suspected, opening their understanding to understand the Scriptures and explaining the Old Testament so they saw in its teaching a meaning the writers themselves had not seen, opening their eyes to wonderful things as a new revelation. As they diligently sought truth as for hidden treasure they better understood the value of His grace and righteousness and the worth of His teachings, stepping in comprehension from the obscurity of dawn to the radiance of noon.

Correctly understood, every prophecy about the Messiah had been exactly fulfilled in His life and death, and those prophecies would have relieved confusion and unbelief. They had expected a temporal kingdom at His first coming and had seen His crucifixion as the end of hope, but now understood that His suffering and death were themselves the climax of the evidence that their faith was right, restoring and strengthening faith. His explanation opened their understanding, untangled mistaken interpretation, showed the unity and divine truth of the Scriptures, and corrected false teachings that had confused people about the Messiah and His mission. This understanding included the necessity and certainty of His suffering, death and resurrection, including the necessity of His death to bear the penalty of human transgression and that the Messiah would reach His throne through shame, suffering and death, strengthening followers to walk in God's commandments.

What He explained later came clearly to mind with the veil removed, for under heavenly illumination those explanations stood out with the luster of perfect truth and the veil that had prevented seeing to the end of that which was abolished was removed. They comprehended with perfect clearness the object of His mission and the nature of His kingdom and gained knowledge that helped them understand the events they had witnessed. That clearness gave power to speak of the Saviour and to unfold the plan of salvation, so many were convicted and convinced, the traditions and superstitions inculcated by the priests were swept away, and His teachings were accepted. This opening of Scripture prepared them to recognize Him as their risen Lord when He blessed the meal, and seeing the marks of the nails they rose to worship Him, and after receiving the Holy Spirit to continue His work by preaching the gospel.

The opening made their hearts burn with a joy exceeding former despair and reversed their plan to return home, take up old employment and conceal blighted hopes. The newly found knowledge of a living Saviour risen from the dead made them forget hunger and fatigue, leave their prepared meal, and hurry back to Jerusalem late at night to impart their joy to their companions that all might rejoice together. They pressed on light-hearted through darkness over a rough, uncertain road, stumbling over stones and ledges and losing the track yet renewing speed to deliver their message, and He accompanied them unseen on that return and heard their expressions of joy and gratitude by the way with gladness. The resurrection thus opened from the Scriptures is the great truth around which all the faith and hope of the church centers, tidings such as human lips had never before proclaimed, bringing joy in the risen Saviour.

Pattern for Teaching and Living

The very first step in imparting the knowledge of Christ is to direct people to Moses and the prophets, beginning there and expounding in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself, for this is the pattern for preaching Christ. Peter, Stephen, and Paul followed this example, tracing prophetic history from Adam to Christ and His crucifixion, showing the agreement of prophecy with His life and teachings and with His mission, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension, and then calling sinners to repent and turn to God. The same exposition proves the identity of Jesus of Nazareth with the Messiah, shows it was the voice of Christ speaking through patriarchs and prophets from the days of Adam, and enables the prophecies of His first coming to be seen fulfilled in His life, death and resurrection. Christ's representatives are to follow that model by teaching the practical lessons of godliness in Scripture and magnifying Christ as exalted and all in all in every discourse. That Christ-centered exposition, in which every true doctrine makes Christ the center and every precept receives force from His work, is to be presented in the most simple manner, and holy convocations honored by God are to be made as effective as possible by it.

He withheld full self-revelation until the interpretation was finished so the sacred truths learned from Scripture would be fixed indelibly in their minds and take firm root, resting not on His personal testimony or the joy of seeing Him risen but on the unquestionable evidence of the typical law and the prophets agreeing with the facts of His life and death. Those truths indelibly impressed were to be imparted to others, who would spread that precious knowledge until thousands received the light given that day to the despairing disciples. This scriptural understanding was to take firm root in them so they could share it with others, bearing witness first in Jerusalem and then to all nations. That witness, empowered by the Holy Spirit, brought many to faith, and the church is to continue carrying the gospel and present truth to people in places still in darkness with zeal and compassion. Light received from Christ does not lead to taking a different line from the church and breaking up its unity, but to returning to those whom God has led and is still leading, testifying to the believers, going to those chosen to bear a living testimony, giving evidence that better qualifies to prepare a people to stand in the great day of God, and seeking counsel of those who have deep experience in the things of God and are bearing the truth and the last message of warning.

The work of bringing men to repentance is done by revealing truth and testifying of Christ by presenting in forcible light not new truth alone but old truth that has been forgotten and buried up. Believers now may claim the privilege of having understanding opened as the travelers had, giving a clear, well-defined experience to all who claim it, since what has been revealed is for us and our children forever. The same warming and kindling with the love of God happens when the Scriptures are searched with humble heart and received in simplicity as verity and truth, with illuminating power that quickens faith and makes the heart burn within. The disciples were to study the ancient prophecies diligently and compare them with the facts of His life, death and resurrection to see their fulfillment in Him, including Daniel, Revelation and other prophecies studied with prayer until hearts burn. His rejection, humiliation, death and resurrection were not accidents but had been ordained in the counsels of the Father and the Son, fulfilling the prophecies concerning the Messiah and showing His kingdom to be spiritual rather than temporal, securing salvation for the human race.

Christ still expounds His sacred word through chosen servants as His representatives to explain and enforce its truths, as one important channel by which He communicates His will to men. Listeners feel the same burning of heart when hearing the reasons of the faith as the disciples felt while the Scriptures were opened on the way, so those who reject these opportunities lose the message He sends by His servant. Diligent Christ-centered study as for hidden treasure, tracing from Moses and all the prophets what is said concerning Christ's first advent, sharpens memory of prophecy under the Holy Spirit's conviction, removes prejudice and unbelief that clouded spiritual perception, and makes plain what was rejected in blindness. That enlightened study exposes the mistakes of the life and the far-reaching claims of the law of God, strips away pride in being justified by good works, brings humility and confession of unworthiness, leads to pleading the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour and fervent supplication for pardon and communion with the Father and the Son, transforms the inmost thoughts and emotions by divine grace, brings the faculties into harmony with the eternal purposes of God, makes Christ and His righteousness more valued than the whole world, and strengthens walk in God's commandments.

In their lonely retreats the Waldenses likewise met their Redeemer and received from Him understanding of His word, which strengthened them to reject false guides and worship God alone. The despondent may know Jesus is just as near to them as He was to those disciples, for the risen Christ comes near to those in grief bringing peace, life, consolation and peace if they accept Him. Their experience illustrates the joy that comes from conversation centered on Christ and the plan of redemption, felt as He walked with them. Followers of Christ need this intelligent faith both for themselves and to carry the knowledge of Christ to the world, and the risen Saviour thus gave testimony to the value and importance of the Old Testament Scriptures, whose symbols, shadows and prophecies give evidence of Christ and fasten faith upon the sure word of prophecy.