What the Emmaus Road Reveals About the Old Testament
The story of Jesus and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus has always been a favorite of mine. Could you imagine walking along with a stranger who seems to have the answer to everything you ever wondered about the Bible? In your excitement, you ask him to stay and eat dinner with you. Then as he blesses your food, a transformation happens. Suddenly, you recognize the person you had been talking with for the past few hours. And then, just as quickly, he disappears! This has to be one of the most bizarre stories of the Bible.
Luke records the account. One verse in particular strikes me, Luke 24:25:
“And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”
Often when I read the Old Testament, I get bored easily. There are long lists of names I can’t pronounce, identifying people who lived thousands of years ago, in places I can’t find on a map! Some sections contain strange laws and even weirder sacrificial practices which seem to have no bearing on my life. It is easy to give up on the OT.
However, here in this one verse, Jesus is inviting us to find Him in the Old Testament. It’s kind of like a treasure hunt, like a supernatural Where’s Waldo?
Certainly, there are prophetic passages like the ones we read at Christmas time, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’)” (Matt. 1:23), but I think Jesus is inviting us to dig deeper.
One day I was reading Psalm 107. In verses 28-30 we read;
“Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.
They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.”
That’s the account of Jesus calming the storm (Mt. 8:23-27)! It’s almost word for word how it happened in the Gospels. In fact, in John’s version (6:21), it ends with this line, “and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.” I don’t know if Jesus supernaturally sped the boat up to get to their destination, but it matches the line in Psalm 107, “and he guided them to their desired haven.”
I’ve been studying Daniel recently. It’s a fascinating book. So far, I think Jesus shows up at least seven times in that book. Let’s look at one example. In Daniel 10:5-6 we read these verses;
“I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.”
If you google the “man in linen,” you will find all kinds of crazy theories. I prefer to start my research in the Bible. In the beginning of the book of Revelation, the Apostle John has a similar encounter (Rev.1:13-15):
“And among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.”
When we compare the two accounts, they are almost identical. Daniel and John saw the same person. It was Jesus! Remarkably, both men responded in the same way, by collapsing onto the ground as if they were dead.
This makes me wonder, who did Abraham have dinner with before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18)? Who did Joshua encounter before the fall of Jericho (Josh. 5:13-15)? Who was the Angel of the Lord?
Many have noted the interesting expression in Proverbs 8:27-31:
“I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.”
“Then I was constantly at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.”
Though the passage is talking about Wisdom personified, it sure sounds like Jesus is actually the One who is speaking.
Paul goes so far as to say that Jesus was the rock from which the Israelites drank in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:3-4). I never would have drawn that conclusion, but that’s what the Bible says.
I encourage you to look for Jesus in the OT. He’s there in so many ways. Sometimes we just catch His shadow. At other times, He’s on full display. Look for His footprints. He wants to be found! Are you willing to search for Him?
