“They said to one another, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?’” Luke 24:32 (NKJV)
How did Christians live victoriously for over 2,000 years without all of today’s Christian self-help books?
The answer is quite simple: The old-time Christians purposely, personally, and prayerfully searched the pages of the Holy Bible on a daily basis. And if they were uneducated without the ability to read, their Holy Ghost-anointed preachers, with sermons lifted out of the text of the Bible, made sure that the Word of God got inside them!
Christians sometimes lose the victory. They feel like all hope has vanished.
Immediately after the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus and before His bodily resurrection, there were plenty of people who had been His followers who were gravely disappointed. Perhaps more accurately, they were feeling crushed. They wondered if Jesus was perhaps not who He claimed to be and their hopes were dashed concerning what they had hoped He would do.
Luke 24:13-35 (NKJV) describes this sense of loss and confusion of two of Jesus’ followers.
“Now behold, two…were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus…And they talked together of all these things which had happened…While they conversed…Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him…He said to them, ‘What kind of conversation is this…as you walk and are sad?’ Then one whose name was Cleopas answered… ‘Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem and have not known the things which happened there in these days?… But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel… And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
Because it was getting late, they invited Him to stay the night.
“As He sat at the table with them…He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us…And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.” Luke 24:30-32,35 (NKJV)
- They were walking from Jerusalem back to their home in Emmaus (a seven-mile walk).
- As they walked, they sadly conversed about the seeming end of Jesus’ life in defeat.
- The risen Jesus met them along the way, but their eyes did not recognize Him.
- Jesus asked what was troubling them.
- They said, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what just happened?! (Jesus let them describe what happened in their own words, even though He knew more about what had happened than anyone!)
- What did Jesus then do? On that dusty road, He conducted a Bible study!
- Later at supper, Jesus officiated a Eucharist in the blessing and breaking of their bread.
- THEN their eyes were opened and, suddenly, they recognized Him.
- He vanished from their sight.
- They immediately got up from the table and headed back to Jerusalem. “And they told them about the things that had happened on the road, how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.”
But before leaving the house, they said to one another, “DID NOT OUR HEART BURN WITHIN US WHILE HE TALKED WITH US ON THE ROAD, AND WHILE HE OPENED THE SCRIPTURES TO US?”
They said, “Did not our heart burn within us?” Have you ever experienced “Holy Ghost Heartburn?” Do you know what it feels like to have a “heart on fire” for God?
King David, the psalmist, knew what it felt like to be sad, and then have a fire start to burn in his heart:
“I was mute with silence. I held my peace [kept quiet] even from good; And my sorrow was stirred up. My heart was hot within me; While I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue…And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.” Psalm 39:2-3,7 (NKJV)
Jeremiah, the prophet, was feeling so low that he, in a fit of self-pity, said, “I’m not going to mention God anymore! I’m not going to do anything in His name again! But then what happened?
“Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” But His Word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.”Jeremiah 20:9 (NKJV)
It’s Biblical for you to feel a burning inside. It’s the opposite of feeling spiritually cold and dead.
I will be bold and say that it’s virtually impossible for us to feel the fire of God burning within while we are neglecting God’s Word. It was God’s Word that was burning in Jeremiah’s heart and bones. And it was God’s word that caused the hearts of the two on the road to Emmaus to burn within them.
And what about the breaking of bread that caused them to finally recognize Whom they were with while walking on the road, and as He sat at the table with them?
Do you still feel the importance of being in church on Communion Sunday? Do you still have a hunger for the elements representing His body and blood, “In remembrance of Me?”
“And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Luke 24:27 (NKJV)
The fire is bound to smolder and die out if we neglect the expounding of ALL the Scriptures concerning Jesus. This we get through the preaching of the Word by anointed preachers and by singing the Word of God together. (The best worship songs are the words of Scripture with musical notes wrapped around them!)
What God gave us in Luke 24:13-35 was given to us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for a purpose. The fire in the heart was not just for the psalmist David, the prophet Jeremiah, or the two dejected travelers on the Road to Emmaus. The Lord Jesus wants a fire burning in YOUR heart!
May the Lord grant you some good, old-fashioned Holy Ghost “heartburn!” In Jesus’ Name, amen!
Oh, that WE could have joined them for Bible study while walking on the Road to Emmaus!