And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
As He shared the simple evening meal in their Emmaus home at sunset, He took the head of the table and acted as head of the household in taking the bread, blessing it, breaking it, and giving it to them. That familiar manner and voice in blessing, with the nail marks seen in His outstretched hands, opened their eyes to know Him as their risen Lord and turned their sorrow to joy. He had kept His identity hidden while He expounded Moses and all the prophets concerning Himself, and revealed Himself only after He had led them to faith in His life, death, and resurrection. He did this because overwhelming joy at seeing Him alive would have satisfied them before the truth took root, and He wanted their faith to rest on the unquestionable evidence of the Scriptures rather than on His personal testimony alone. As they rose to worship Him He vanished from their sight, and forgetting weariness and leaving the food uneaten they hastened back by night to Jerusalem to tell how He had opened the Scriptures and revealed Himself as the living Saviour.
Context and Meal Action
The verse belongs to the walk to Emmaus after the resurrection, when the risen Jesus joined two disciples journeying toward Emmaus and walked and talked with them for hours to teach and comfort them. They were discouraged, sorrowing and perplexed, having left Jerusalem to go home to take up their old work and hide their crushed hopes. They did not recognize Him, for His appearance bore no special marks that immediately revealed Him as the Son of God. Yet His words sank deep into their hearts as He identified with His suffering followers and accompanied them even on a difficult road.
At sunset the disciples reached their home at Emmaus, and because the day was far spent and night was at hand they pressed Him to stay with them for the night. He entered to abide with them and to share a simple evening meal with them at their table. The prepared food was set before them for that evening meal.
As He sat at meat with them He took the place of honor at the head of the table and acted as head of the household, whose duty it was to ask the blessing on the food. Placing His hands upon the bread, He took it, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, as was His custom. The familiar act of taking, blessing, breaking and giving the bread then opened their eyes to recognize Him.
Recognition of Risen Jesus
The familiar act of taking the bread, blessing it, breaking it, and giving it opened their eyes to know their companion as their risen Lord, Master, and Redeemer, turning their sorrow into joy. At the evening meal He spoke and acted in His own familiar way of asking the blessing, though that duty belonged to the head of the family, and His familiar voice and words and manner made Him known. Their discovery that Jesus had risen filled them with joy and eagerness to tell that the living Saviour had risen. This recognition came immediately afterward, joined to His teaching from Moses and all the prophets concerning Himself, which had made their hearts burn as He opened the Scriptures and afterward opened their understanding to understand them.
As He extended His hands to bless and break the bread they saw the wounds and cruel nail marks of the crucifixion in His hands. That sight, with His familiar voice and manner of blessing, proved their companion was Jesus risen from the dead. When He began the blessing and spoke the familiar blessing they recognized His voice and the wounds together and knew He was their risen Lord.
As they rose to worship Him and glorify God, and would have embraced Him, He stopped hiding His true identity so their joy might be full and then suddenly disappeared and vanished from their sight. He had deliberately kept Himself hidden until after He had taught the Scriptures, and at the table in breaking bread and asking the blessing they knew Him as Jesus and saw the marks of the crucifixion in His hands. In that moment He let Himself be recognized before He was gone.
Reason for Delayed Revelation
He kept His true identity hidden while sitting with them and teaching, revealing Himself only after He had interpreted the Scriptures and led them to faith in His life, character, mission to earth, death, and resurrection. He did not first reveal Himself as risen and then teach, because He knew their overwhelming joy at seeing Him alive would satisfy their souls so they would no longer hunger for the sacred truths He needed to impress indelibly on their minds. He held back His self-revelation even at the table so that hunger would remain, that they would receive the light given that day on the way to Emmaus and then impart it to others, who would spread the precious knowledge until thousands received it.
He wanted truth to take firm root not because it was supported by His personal testimony but because the typical law and the prophets of the Old Testament agreeing with the facts of His life and death presented unquestionable evidence and an intelligent faith. Their earlier failure to recognize Him reflected ignorance of the prophecies about His life, suffering, death, and resurrection. Knowing those prophecies would have sustained their faith and kept their hopes steady.
Scripture Opened and Witness
On the way to Emmaus He began at Moses and all the prophets and expounded in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself, and afterward He opened their understanding so they could understand them. As He opened the Scriptures their hearts burned within them. He joined the two disciples as they walked to Emmaus and later revealed Himself in the upper chamber to those assembled there. It is the privilege of believers to understand what God has spoken and to have a clear, well-defined experience, for what the Lord has revealed is for us and our children forever. Christ Himself as divine Teacher talks with believers and enlightens all who seek truth with hearts open to heaven. The same enlightenment comes through the Holy Spirit shining upon the sacred page when Daniel, Revelation, and the other prophecies of the Old and New Testaments are studied with prayer.
When the Scriptures are searched with humble heart and believed as simple verity and truth, their illuminating power quickens faith and kindles the heart to burn with the love of God. The same burning happens when those seeking the righteousness of Christ dwell on the themes of the great salvation, feed on the Bible as nourishing food for the soul, meditate on the incarnation of Christ, and contemplate the great sacrifice made to save from perdition and bring pardon, peace, and everlasting righteousness. Then the soul glows with grand and elevating themes, holiness and truth, grace and righteousness occupy the thoughts, self dies, and Christ lives in His servants. Joining the two on the way and appearing in the upper chamber gave abundant, certain evidence that He was a living Saviour risen early in the morning of the first day of the week. His body had not seen corruption, for the disciples had gone to the sepulcher and found it empty and had seen the shroud but not Him, and then had seen Him and talked with Him.
Made calm and joyful by belief of the truth that Christ had risen from the dead, the disciples bore unflinching witness that could not be controverted. This decided triumph made of none effect the falsehood of the priests and established Christianity by evidence that could not be controverted. The chapter presents His saving work in which through His suffering and death He made salvation possible. All who repent, are converted, and come to the Father through faith in Him may receive forgiveness of sins and be sanctified through belief of the truth. After His resurrection He continued His earthly work as educator and one who spoke as never man spoke, opening the Scriptures to the lonely, disappointed travelers and to those in the upper chamber and binding their hearts with a holy, new, and sacred hope and joy.
Christ Present With Followers
Though He had conquered death and held all authority, He humbly walked with two suffering and perplexed disciples to teach and comfort them, even along a difficult road. In doing so He identified Himself with His followers in their trouble, showing that the same human sympathy and love He manifested before His death continue with His people after His resurrection and ascension. He remains with them in their hardest paths.
As He was beside the despondent disciples on the way to Emmaus, so He is beside despondent, sorrowing, and grieving people today to walk with them. He brings them consolation, and gives peace and life to all who accept Him. Fellowship with Him is a source of joy.
The meal at Emmaus is linked with feeding on the Bread of Life, while hearts burn in holy joy at the Saviour's unseen presence beside His followers as He opens the Scriptures. That fellowship parallels believers meeting and conversing with their Redeemer in lonely retreats, as with the Waldenses. As He opened the truths of Scripture to the two disciples, so He strengthened them to reject false guides and to worship God alone.
Living Application
Once He was made known to them their joy was greater than their former despair, for they had left Jerusalem to go home to take up their old work again and hide their crushed hopes, but the discovery that Jesus had risen filled them with eagerness to tell the others of a living Saviour risen from the dead so that all could rejoice together. Forgetting hunger and tiredness, they could not stay to eat the prepared food or remain at home, but though it was late they started back to Jerusalem at once over the rough, dark road. On arriving they told how He had opened their eyes and revealed Himself to them in the meal and the breaking of bread, and how He had shown them the chain of prophecy from the patriarchs to that time foreshadowing what had happened to their Saviour.
Their return is the true course for anyone who receives light by seeing Jesus and talking with Him. Such a one should follow their example by returning to those whom God has led and is still leading, telling them how he has seen Jesus and talked with Him. He should seek counsel from those of deep experience who bear the living testimony and the last message of warning, and strengthen unity instead of taking a different line and breaking up the church.
The meal teaches to long for His presence and company, to search the heart and invite Jesus to abide in the home and remain because the day is far spent and night is at hand. At the table, in breaking bread and asking the blessing, they knew Him as Jesus, saw the marks of the crucifixion in His hands, and glorified God, and as they would have embraced Him He was gone. The same burning of hearts in holy joy comes when those seeking the righteousness of Christ dwell on the themes of the great salvation, feed on the Bible as nourishing food for the soul, meditate on the incarnation of Christ, and contemplate the great sacrifice made to save from perdition and bring pardon, peace, and everlasting righteousness. Then the soul glows with grand and elevating themes, holiness and truth and grace and righteousness occupy the thoughts, self dies and Christ lives in His servants, and the meal setting becomes feeding on the Bread of Life in the Saviour's unseen presence beside His followers.
Recognition of the risen Christ comes when He personally reveals Himself, for at Emmaus they had seen Him only as a weary traveler and had failed to take in His tracing of His own history from Moses and the prophets until His familiar manner of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving the bread disclosed His ways and the cruel nail marks in His hands before He vanished from their sight. When the Scriptures are searched with humble heart and believed as simple verity and truth, their illuminating power quickens faith and kindles the heart to burn with the love of God. The same opening of the understanding to know what is truth comes through the Holy Spirit shining upon the sacred page when Daniel, Revelation, and the other prophecies of the Old and New Testaments are studied with prayer and with humble, believing hearts.
As He shared the simple evening meal in their Emmaus home at sunset, He took the head of the table and acted as head of the household in taking the bread, blessing it, breaking it, and giving it to them.
That familiar manner and voice in blessing, with the nail marks seen in His outstretched hands, opened their eyes to know Him as their risen Lord and turned their sorrow to joy.
He had kept His identity hidden while He expounded Moses and all the prophets concerning Himself, and revealed Himself only after He had led them to faith in His life, death, and resurrection.
He did this because overwhelming joy at seeing Him alive would have satisfied them before the truth took root, and He wanted their faith to rest on the unquestionable evidence of the Scriptures rather than on His personal testimony alone.
As they rose to worship Him He vanished from their sight, and forgetting weariness and leaving the food uneaten they hastened back by night to Jerusalem to tell how He had opened the Scriptures and revealed Himself as the living Saviour.
Context and Meal Action
The verse belongs to the walk to Emmaus after the resurrection, when the risen Jesus joined two disciples journeying toward Emmaus and walked and talked with them for hours to teach and comfort them. They were discouraged, sorrowing and perplexed, having left Jerusalem to go home to take up their old work and hide their crushed hopes. They did not recognize Him, for His appearance bore no special marks that immediately revealed Him as the Son of God. Yet His words sank deep into their hearts as He identified with His suffering followers and accompanied them even on a difficult road.
At sunset the disciples reached their home at Emmaus, and because the day was far spent and night was at hand they pressed Him to stay with them for the night. He entered to abide with them and to share a simple evening meal with them at their table. The prepared food was set before them for that evening meal.
As He sat at meat with them He took the place of honor at the head of the table and acted as head of the household, whose duty it was to ask the blessing on the food. Placing His hands upon the bread, He took it, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, as was His custom. The familiar act of taking, blessing, breaking and giving the bread then opened their eyes to recognize Him.
Recognition of Risen Jesus
The familiar act of taking the bread, blessing it, breaking it, and giving it opened their eyes to know their companion as their risen Lord, Master, and Redeemer, turning their sorrow into joy. At the evening meal He spoke and acted in His own familiar way of asking the blessing, though that duty belonged to the head of the family, and His familiar voice and words and manner made Him known. Their discovery that Jesus had risen filled them with joy and eagerness to tell that the living Saviour had risen. This recognition came immediately afterward, joined to His teaching from Moses and all the prophets concerning Himself, which had made their hearts burn as He opened the Scriptures and afterward opened their understanding to understand them.
As He extended His hands to bless and break the bread they saw the wounds and cruel nail marks of the crucifixion in His hands. That sight, with His familiar voice and manner of blessing, proved their companion was Jesus risen from the dead. When He began the blessing and spoke the familiar blessing they recognized His voice and the wounds together and knew He was their risen Lord.
As they rose to worship Him and glorify God, and would have embraced Him, He stopped hiding His true identity so their joy might be full and then suddenly disappeared and vanished from their sight. He had deliberately kept Himself hidden until after He had taught the Scriptures, and at the table in breaking bread and asking the blessing they knew Him as Jesus and saw the marks of the crucifixion in His hands. In that moment He let Himself be recognized before He was gone.
Reason for Delayed Revelation
He kept His true identity hidden while sitting with them and teaching, revealing Himself only after He had interpreted the Scriptures and led them to faith in His life, character, mission to earth, death, and resurrection. He did not first reveal Himself as risen and then teach, because He knew their overwhelming joy at seeing Him alive would satisfy their souls so they would no longer hunger for the sacred truths He needed to impress indelibly on their minds. He held back His self-revelation even at the table so that hunger would remain, that they would receive the light given that day on the way to Emmaus and then impart it to others, who would spread the precious knowledge until thousands received it.
He wanted truth to take firm root not because it was supported by His personal testimony but because the typical law and the prophets of the Old Testament agreeing with the facts of His life and death presented unquestionable evidence and an intelligent faith. Their earlier failure to recognize Him reflected ignorance of the prophecies about His life, suffering, death, and resurrection. Knowing those prophecies would have sustained their faith and kept their hopes steady.
Scripture Opened and Witness
On the way to Emmaus He began at Moses and all the prophets and expounded in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself, and afterward He opened their understanding so they could understand them. As He opened the Scriptures their hearts burned within them. He joined the two disciples as they walked to Emmaus and later revealed Himself in the upper chamber to those assembled there. It is the privilege of believers to understand what God has spoken and to have a clear, well-defined experience, for what the Lord has revealed is for us and our children forever. Christ Himself as divine Teacher talks with believers and enlightens all who seek truth with hearts open to heaven. The same enlightenment comes through the Holy Spirit shining upon the sacred page when Daniel, Revelation, and the other prophecies of the Old and New Testaments are studied with prayer.
When the Scriptures are searched with humble heart and believed as simple verity and truth, their illuminating power quickens faith and kindles the heart to burn with the love of God. The same burning happens when those seeking the righteousness of Christ dwell on the themes of the great salvation, feed on the Bible as nourishing food for the soul, meditate on the incarnation of Christ, and contemplate the great sacrifice made to save from perdition and bring pardon, peace, and everlasting righteousness. Then the soul glows with grand and elevating themes, holiness and truth, grace and righteousness occupy the thoughts, self dies, and Christ lives in His servants. Joining the two on the way and appearing in the upper chamber gave abundant, certain evidence that He was a living Saviour risen early in the morning of the first day of the week. His body had not seen corruption, for the disciples had gone to the sepulcher and found it empty and had seen the shroud but not Him, and then had seen Him and talked with Him.
Made calm and joyful by belief of the truth that Christ had risen from the dead, the disciples bore unflinching witness that could not be controverted. This decided triumph made of none effect the falsehood of the priests and established Christianity by evidence that could not be controverted. The chapter presents His saving work in which through His suffering and death He made salvation possible. All who repent, are converted, and come to the Father through faith in Him may receive forgiveness of sins and be sanctified through belief of the truth. After His resurrection He continued His earthly work as educator and one who spoke as never man spoke, opening the Scriptures to the lonely, disappointed travelers and to those in the upper chamber and binding their hearts with a holy, new, and sacred hope and joy.
Christ Present With Followers
Though He had conquered death and held all authority, He humbly walked with two suffering and perplexed disciples to teach and comfort them, even along a difficult road. In doing so He identified Himself with His followers in their trouble, showing that the same human sympathy and love He manifested before His death continue with His people after His resurrection and ascension. He remains with them in their hardest paths.
As He was beside the despondent disciples on the way to Emmaus, so He is beside despondent, sorrowing, and grieving people today to walk with them. He brings them consolation, and gives peace and life to all who accept Him. Fellowship with Him is a source of joy.
The meal at Emmaus is linked with feeding on the Bread of Life, while hearts burn in holy joy at the Saviour's unseen presence beside His followers as He opens the Scriptures. That fellowship parallels believers meeting and conversing with their Redeemer in lonely retreats, as with the Waldenses. As He opened the truths of Scripture to the two disciples, so He strengthened them to reject false guides and to worship God alone.
Living Application
Once He was made known to them their joy was greater than their former despair, for they had left Jerusalem to go home to take up their old work again and hide their crushed hopes, but the discovery that Jesus had risen filled them with eagerness to tell the others of a living Saviour risen from the dead so that all could rejoice together. Forgetting hunger and tiredness, they could not stay to eat the prepared food or remain at home, but though it was late they started back to Jerusalem at once over the rough, dark road. On arriving they told how He had opened their eyes and revealed Himself to them in the meal and the breaking of bread, and how He had shown them the chain of prophecy from the patriarchs to that time foreshadowing what had happened to their Saviour.
Their return is the true course for anyone who receives light by seeing Jesus and talking with Him. Such a one should follow their example by returning to those whom God has led and is still leading, telling them how he has seen Jesus and talked with Him. He should seek counsel from those of deep experience who bear the living testimony and the last message of warning, and strengthen unity instead of taking a different line and breaking up the church.
The meal teaches to long for His presence and company, to search the heart and invite Jesus to abide in the home and remain because the day is far spent and night is at hand. At the table, in breaking bread and asking the blessing, they knew Him as Jesus, saw the marks of the crucifixion in His hands, and glorified God, and as they would have embraced Him He was gone. The same burning of hearts in holy joy comes when those seeking the righteousness of Christ dwell on the themes of the great salvation, feed on the Bible as nourishing food for the soul, meditate on the incarnation of Christ, and contemplate the great sacrifice made to save from perdition and bring pardon, peace, and everlasting righteousness. Then the soul glows with grand and elevating themes, holiness and truth and grace and righteousness occupy the thoughts, self dies and Christ lives in His servants, and the meal setting becomes feeding on the Bread of Life in the Saviour's unseen presence beside His followers.
Recognition of the risen Christ comes when He personally reveals Himself, for at Emmaus they had seen Him only as a weary traveler and had failed to take in His tracing of His own history from Moses and the prophets until His familiar manner of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving the bread disclosed His ways and the cruel nail marks in His hands before He vanished from their sight. When the Scriptures are searched with humble heart and believed as simple verity and truth, their illuminating power quickens faith and kindles the heart to burn with the love of God. The same opening of the understanding to know what is truth comes through the Holy Spirit shining upon the sacred page when Daniel, Revelation, and the other prophecies of the Old and New Testaments are studied with prayer and with humble, believing hearts.