As the two disciples walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, Jesus unveiled the Scriptures to them. He illuminated how everything written in the law, the prophets, and the psalms was a testament to Himself. Luke 24:44-45 reveals that Jesus can enlighten our minds to comprehend the Scriptures. It states, “These are my (Jesus’) words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he illuminated their minds to comprehend the Scriptures…” Jesus is the key to unlocking the entire corpus of the Old and New Testaments. It’s all about Him!
Arnold Fruchtenbaum says, “From the most ancient sources to modern rabbis, Jewish teachers have always divided the Scriptures into three sections: The Law, The Prophets, and The Writings. We see here (particularly in verse 44) that Jesus does the same. The Writings are sometimes referred to only as “the Psalms,” Psalms being the first book in the Writings. Jesus systematically covers all Scripture, revealing all things concerning Himself to His disciples.” The interesting thing about Jesus’ comment is that he opened their minds to the scriptures and then opened their minds to understand them as they referred to Himself as the Messiah. Jesus didn’t start with the Gospels but with the Old Testament to explain Himself. It all pointed to Him.
Nancy Guthrie truly underscores the significance of this for us. She says that Jesus “…didn’t use Old Testament characters or situations as examples to instruct the two disciples on how to live the life of faith, which is how many of us have always heard the Old Testament taught.” I must say that this is also the way I’ve taught it a lot. I’m not sure it still shouldn’t be taught that way at times but to do so is to miss the central message. She goes on, “It is doubtful that he (Jesus) turned to the story of Noah and began teaching them that they needed to obey God even when it meant going against the crowd. More likely he turned to the story of Noah, the one whose name means rest, and said, ‘Hide yourself in me like Noah and his family hid themselves inside the ark and were saved from the judgment.’ He didn’t turn to the story of Abraham offering Isaac and tell these disciples that they needed to be willing to give up what is most precious to them for their God. Instead, perhaps he said something like, ‘See how this father was willing to offer up his only son as a sacrifice? Can you see that this is what my Father did when I was lifted up on the cross.’?” Nancy concludes her discussion by pointing specifically to the book of Genesis and says, “Jesus didn’t work his way through Genesis to point out what we must do for God, but to help us to see clearly what God has done for us through Christ.” We always try to make the scriptures about us, when in fact they’re all about Jesus, the central figure of our faith!