Luke 24:16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

Perhaps for the sake of this devotional perhaps the CEV would be better than the KJV.

But they did not know who he was. CEV

These two men, on their walk to Emmaus, encountered Jesus. They were disciples of Christ. They had met Him, they had talked with Him, they had seen Him die. But they had not until this moment seen Him resurrected.

All that they had seen and heard and believed was great and miraculous, but nothing in all of scripture is  as telling as this moment with these two men. While they knew, followed and loved Jesus Christ, they met and came to know the Risen Christ.

Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

For all the miracles, healings, truth, wisdom and examples which Jesus did in His three year ministry, were meaningless and powerless to change anyone’s life without His death and resurrection. If Jesus was not resurrected we are all lost. Thank God He was and thank God that these two men, on their walk to Emmaus, showed us that it is not the life of Christ that makes the difference, but the Risen Lord which has power to conform us into His present condition and not His past condition.

Which Jesus do you want to be, the one who walked in perfection, or the one who sits upon the throne?

Here is a hint, we already blew the opportunity to walk in perfection.

2 Peter 1:4a Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,

Volumes of workers presented to us by those who have dedicated a life to serving God are available to us today. We do not even have to own a library full of rows upon rows of books containing those works, we have the internet now. Much of what has been written has been scanned into posterity for anyone to read. I personally have spent decades reading some of the great masters of the past. I have not come close to reading every word of even one of them.

I have not dedicated my life to reading. I’ve dedicated my life to Christ.

I’ve read every word in the bible, every word, more than twice. I have read Romans 8 in its entirety perhaps fifty times. Some verses within chapter 8 perhaps 100 times or more. That isn’t to say I haven’t learned it. That isn’t to say I do not understand it. The Lord does however bring it into memory at times when I need to be comforted in a moment because of something going on in my life.

Other passages are brought into focus from time to time because of what is going on in my life. I don’t not receive the same comfort and peace from all those great students of the bible as I do from the bible itself. Yes those works are great to understand in context how great loving, kind and gracious men of God were moved, motivated and dedicated, but I do not have a personal relationship with them.

He who inspired the writers of the bible to put to pen those original words lives in me. No other man no matter how dedicated, no matter how wise, no matter how well read can come close to touching me as the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit knows me as well as He knows the bible; that is divine nature.