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In Luke 24:13-35 the Lord Jesus appeared to two disciples after His resurrection. Verses 25 through 32 are a record of part of the conversation that the Lord had with the two disciples: “He said to them, O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory? And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He explained to them clearly in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And they drew near to the village where they were going, and He acted as though He would go farther. And they constrained Him, saying, Stay with us, because it is near evening and the day is already gone by. And He went in to stay with them. And as He reclined at table with them, He took the loaf and blessed it, and having broken it, He began handing it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him; and He disappeared from them. And they said to one another, Was not our heart burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was opening to us the Scriptures?” The disciples did not recognize the Lord until their eyes were opened when He broke the bread. Later, the Lord spoke with all the disciples. “He said to them, These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and Psalms concerning Me must be fulfilled. Then He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures; and He said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise up from the dead on the third day” (vv. 44-46). At this time the mind of the disciples was opened to understand the Scriptures.
We will consider how our mind can be opened to grasp crucial spiritual matters related to life. Many saints do not know crucial spiritual matters, because their mind has not been opened. Although we have listened to messages for many years and have learned something concerning life, we have not entered into the experience of life. It seems as though we have not entered into the reality of the messages. It is doubtful whether many of us experience the divine life.
Some saints have spiritual experiences, but their experiences are fragmentary. For example, people who have not received formal education learn in fragments; they learn one word one day, another word another day, and another word after three or five days. This illustrates the spiritual experience of some saints. In order to receive a proper education, a person must attend school and progress step by step, beginning with elementary school. Similarly, spiritual lessons have a proper progression, but not many of us have progressed. Most saints love the Lord, but their knowledge and experience of spiritual matters are fragmentary. Few saints have crossed the threshold to properly learn spiritual lessons daily.
Certain events can be described as epoch making. In our Christian life we need to have an “epoch-making” experience, a turning point. Before such an experience, we lived haphazardly in the Lord, but after such an experience, our life in the Lord will become regular, and we will learn spiritual lessons daily. We may have been zealous and loved the Lord in the past, but our spiritual experiences were fragmentary. Now we can be compared to those who are enrolled in school and are receiving a formal education. We need a turning point in our knowledge of spiritual things and in our experience of the Lord.
When my family first arrived in Taiwan, my youngest child did not understand what we were doing. When we got on the boat, she got on the boat. When we took a pedicab, she took a pedicab, but she did not understand anything. Now, however, she is very clear. She knows that she was born in Shanghai and that she resides in Taiwan. Formerly, she was in the dark, but now she is clear. How many among us can say, “Lord, I praise You that I have crossed a threshold in my experience. I am now learning to live in You and to know You daily, not haphazardly but systematically.” Such a turning point does not happen by exhortation or encouragement from others; rather, it requires our spiritual mind to be opened.
According to the record in Luke 24, the Lord appeared to the disciples in order to open their spiritual mind. Although the disciples followed the Lord Jesus before His resurrection, their spiritual mind was not opened. They were with the Lord daily; they lived with Him and went to different places with Him. We can say that they lived and walked together with the Lord. They also believed in the Lord and wanted the Lord, but their spiritual mind was not opened. The situation of many saints today is similar to that of the early disciples. Peter gave up being a fisherman in order to follow the Lord Jesus. It would be unfair to say that he was not saved or that he did not love the Lord. Nevertheless, his spiritual mind was not opened.
In chapter 24 when the Lord and the two disciples drew near to Emmaus, the two disciples constrained Him to stay with them. As the Lord reclined at table with them, He took the loaf, blessed it, broke it, and handed it to them. Then “their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him; and He disappeared from them. And they said to one another, Was not our heart burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was opening to us the Scriptures?” (vv. 31-32). The disciples’ words indicate that while the Lord was opening the Scriptures to them, their heart was burning within them, but their eyes were not opened. Hence, our heart being burning is one thing, but having our eyes enlightened is another thing.
Chapter 24 speaks of two openings. The first opening enabled the disciples to recognize Christ (v. 31), and the second opening enabled them to understand the Bible (v. 45). These two openings are actually one, because the Bible is a portrait of Christ. When our mind is opened to know the Bible, our eyes will be opened to know Christ. In verse 27 the Lord Jesus helped the disciples by explaining to them “clearly in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” The Bible and Christ are one; the Bible is a record of Christ, and Christ is the living Word. Before the spiritual mind of the disciples was opened, their eyes did not recognize Christ, nor did they know the Scriptures. When their spiritual mind was opened, they had a turning point.
When the Lord was ministering on the earth, the minds of the disciples who were with Him were not opened. Some people may think that the minds of the disciples were not opened because the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. The disciples received the Holy Spirit on the evening of the Lord’s resurrection (John 20:22), but their minds were not opened immediately. They saw the Lord outwardly, but they did not see Him inwardly. Luke 24:45 indicates that He opened the minds of the disciples to understand the Scriptures when He stood in their midst on the evening of His resurrection. Why did the Lord wait until after His resurrection, not before, to open their minds? The Lord could not open their minds before His resurrection, because their hearts were zealous in a natural way. Moreover, they were veiled because of their impure intentions.
Various situations in the four Gospels indicate that while the disciples were following the Lord, the Lord was not their aim. For example, on the way to Jerusalem the Lord Jesus told the disciples that He was about to be crucified and that on the third day He would be raised (Matt. 20:18-19). After He finished speaking, the mother of the two sons of Zebedee said to Him, “Say that these two sons of mine will sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your kingdom” (v. 21; Mark 10:37). Not only so, the disciples argued with one another concerning who was greater (9:33-34; Luke 22:24). This shows that although they followed the Lord, they pursued things other than the Lord and desired to gain something for themselves.
After the Lord resurrected, the disciples who had followed Him did not gain anything earthly. They did not have earthly enjoyment or blessings, nor did they receive the things they requested. In the Gospels the disciples had sought to gain something for themselves when they followed the Lord. In Acts, however, the disciples followed the Lord not for their own gain but for the Lord Himself. The turning point was in Luke 24. The first thing the Lord Jesus did when He appeared to the two disciples was to unveil Himself to them. When the Lord expounded the Scriptures to them, He revealed Himself, the resurrected and ascended Christ, to them. His words showed them that they should pursue only Christ, who had passed through sufferings and entered into glory; they should no longer seek to gain something for themselves. Hence, when they sat down in the house, their eyes were opened (v. 31).
The record in the Bible is very meaningful. In Luke 24 the Lord Jesus did not bring any bread, but in John 21 He prepared bread for the disciples (vv. 12-13). In John it seems that the disciples felt hopeless when the Lord Jesus left after His resurrection. Because they were without faith, Peter took the lead to go fishing, and the other disciples followed (v. 3). This was the situation when the Lord appeared to them and asked, “Little children, you do not have any fish to eat, do you?” (v. 5). When the disciples got out of the boat and onto the land, “they saw a fire of coals laid there, and fish lying on it and bread” (v. 9). The Lord did this to show the disciples that He could support them without their relying on the sea. The disciples caught nothing the whole night (v. 3), but at the Lord’s word they cast their net and caught a hundred and fifty-three large fish (vv. 6, 11). The Lord did not use any of the hundred fifty-three fish; rather, He brought the bread and the fish (v. 13). The Lord wanted them to learn the lesson of living by faith instead of relying on the world. After the disciples ate and were satisfied, the Lord asked Peter, “Do you love Me more than these?” (v. 15). Here the Lord’s intention was not to open their eyes but to touch their heart.
The situation in Luke 24 is different from the situation in John 21. In Luke the Lord did not bring bread to the disciples; the disciples prepared the bread. This situation is a great turning point and shows how a person’s mind can be opened. Those who are content with receiving bread from the Lord cannot have their eyes opened. Only those who offer the bread in their hands to the Lord and let Him break it can have their eyes opened. If we are willing to put the things that we cling to and depend upon for our livelihood into the Lord’s hand and let Him break them, our eyes will be opened.
When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, the eyes of the disciples were not opened, because they sought things other than the Lord. On the way to Emmaus the Lord showed the two disciples that those who follow Him should seek only Him. In order to follow the Lord, a person needs to hand himself over to the Lord unreservedly. In John 21 the Lord brought bread in order to touch the heart of the disciples, but in Luke 24 when the disciples committed their livelihood into the Lord’s hand and let the Lord break it, their eyes were opened.
When we follow the Lord zealously, we often seek other things. We may be zealous and pursue the Lord, but our motives and intentions are questionable, for we often seek things other than the Lord. This will continue until the day that we receive mercy from the Lord to see that we are following Him for our own gain and benefit. Such a seeing will cause us to place our “bread” into His hand. Our situation is not like Peter’s, who in John 21 received bread from the Lord’s hand. Rather, our situation is like that of the disciples, who in Luke 24 handed bread to the Lord and let Him break it. This is the way for our eyes to be opened so that we may see the Lord and know Him.
Many saints have not had their mind opened, because they are still seeking something for themselves. This situation will continue until by the Lord’s mercy they see that He is the Lord, He is Christ, He is appointed by God, and He is also the goal in God’s plan. When we pursue Him and are for Him one hundred percent, not wanting anything for ourselves, our consecration will be genuine. The bread placed in the Lord’s hand represented the genuine consecration of the disciples. It was also the means for the disciples’ minds to be opened. We must be led by the Lord to see that God visits us and gives grace to us, not for ourselves but for Christ.
We often give thanks and praise because we have received a blessing from the Lord. This proves that we have not been delivered from our sphere, our preference, and our requests. A brother may drop his job and forsake the world in order to serve the Lord. However, it is possible for his service to the Lord to be for himself. Such a brother may have a personal seeking. We are the same as the disciples in the Gospels; they were full of mixture in their zeal for the Lord because they sought their personal gain and had their own goals. It was not until after the Lord’s resurrection that they pursued the Lord for Himself. The bread that the Lord broke signified their consecration, which was not for themselves; hence, their eyes could be opened. It was then that the disciples handed themselves over to the Lord and learned to follow the anointing and receive the discipline of the Holy Spirit in their environment. Otherwise, they might have remained in their former condition.
Before the Lord’s resurrection the disciples lived in themselves; after His resurrection they lived in the Lord and did not seek anything in the world or in the Lord for themselves. When the disciples did not seek worldly things or spiritual things for themselves, the Lord broke the bread they consecrated and caused their eyes to be opened. It was also at this point that He opened their minds and caused them to understand the Scriptures. Their minds could not be opened until this time.
It is possible for a person whose eyes are not opened to zealously and earnestly seek the Lord. Our basic problem is the self. The greatest problem in our pursuing of the Lord is our self-seeking. This serious, subjective, and hidden veil will prevent us from seeing light. When we receive mercy to see that everything God has is for Christ, not for ourselves, and that the blessings we receive are for Christ, we will surrender ourselves to Him, hand ourselves over to Him, and stop our self-seeking. Then our minds will be opened.
