The Lord's Own Easter Sermon

The two disciples making their way to Emmaus that fateful Sunday were depressed and confused.

Their Savior was dead, their hope was gone, and the last thing they expected was a sermon

on the Old Testament prophets that predicted His coming and revealed His mission.

Welcome to the Bible Study Hour, a radio and Internet broadcast with Dr. James Boyce,

preparing you to think and act biblically.

As those two Christ followers walked that dusty road, a stranger joined them, and their

hearts burned as he preached a powerful sermon from Moses to Malachi.

Listen as Dr. Boyce examines Jesus' message to two disheartened disciples on that first

Easter Sunday, a sermon about Himself, His death, His resurrection, and His purpose for coming.

One of the great stories of the appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples after

the resurrection is the account of His appearance to the Emmaus disciples, which is recorded

for us in Luke 24.

It's an interesting story for a number of reasons, but one of the most interesting of all

is the fact that our Lord preached a sermon on that occasion.

It's what is referred to in verse 27, which says beginning with Moses and all the prophets

he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning Himself.

It's interesting that he preached a sermon, of course.

Here he was, the Lord Himself in His resurrected body,

appearing to disciples who had known Him in the days of His flesh before the crucifixion.

I suppose if we were designing the scene and we were

causing it to unfold according to the type of expectations we might have, we would

have Jesus simply presenting Himself to them in emphatic language.

They didn't know that He had been raised from the dead.

He asked them why they were downcastly explained.

It's because Jesus of Nazareth, whom we thought was a great prophet, has been killed.

And this is the third day since all these things happened.

We would expect Jesus to say, hey, guys, look, it's me here.

Take a look at the nail prints in my hands.

It's even me, Jesus, whom you know, but He doesn't do that.

Instead, we read that beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was

said in all the scriptures concerning Himself.

In other words, He did what we are to do.

We think that way today we say, wouldn't it be wonderful if we just had a special revelation

of Jesus to make everything clear?

That's not the way it is.

Jesus set the pattern and He said, if you want to know me, you must know me by searching

out the things that are written about me in the Word of God.

But you know, I've read that text many, many times and I suppose almost every time I've read it,

I've wondered to myself, what are those texts that the Lord must have referred to on that occasion?

Certainly this is a tantalizing verse beginning with Moses and all the prophets,

he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning Himself.

What were the passages he referred to?

I'd like to know those.

That would make a marvelous series.

Take all the passages that the Lord used on that occasion as referring to Himself and study

them and explain them and apply them to the problems of our day, but it doesn't tell us.

It simply says that he looked to the scriptures and did that.

And yet you know, I hate to give up

with a query like that and I find myself coming back to that again and saying,

but surely there must be some way to have some idea what the texts were upon which Jesus preached

this first great Easter sermon.

And you know as I think about it, I think there are some clues.

The first clue is the way that verse is written, beginning with Moses and all the prophets

he explained to them from all the scriptures, the things that concerned himself.

That's a clue because the Jews had a way of referring to the entire Old Testament,

what we call the entire Old Testament, in terms of those three things, the law,

that is the law of Moses, the prophets, and the writings, what is here called the scriptures.

They even had a little word for it. It was the word Tanakh and each of the three letters of that

Hebrew word stood for one of those three portions of the scripture. The tea stood for the Torah,

the end for the Nevaim, the prophets, and the cave for the ketuvim, the writings.

When Jesus is said here to have begun with Moses and preached from the prophets in all the

scriptures, the things that concerned himself, that's a way of saying that he surveyed the entire

Old Testament. So the first clue we have when we begin to say, well, what was his text for the

sermon is that it wasn't just a single isolated text. Jesus didn't merely say, well, you know,

way back in that prophet that you probably haven't even read, in that chapter which you skip over

because it follows the one in which all the difficult names occur. There is a verse hidden that

probably nobody has ever noticed that does speak about me. That isn't the way he did it at all.

He started with the Torah, the first five books, and he showed the things that were in them that

spoke of him. And he went on to the prophets, and he showed the things that were in the prophets that

spoke of him. And he did the same thing likewise with the writings, the third portion of the Old

Testament. That's the first clue. The second clue is even more helpful. And that is that although

we're not told here, precisely what texts the Lord Jesus Christ used when he preached this first

Easter sermon, it does seem natural to suppose that the sermons that the first apostles preached

would have followed roughly the same lines. That is those sermons that are recorded for us in the

book of Acts and the reflection of those sermons that we find in other portions of the New Testament.

That is particularly so because some of these sermons, certainly the sermon preached at Pentecost,

was preached without a great deal of study or premeditation within a very short time of the

events that are here recorded at the very last portions of the gospels. Other words, Christ rose. He

explained how that was necessary on the basis of the Old Testament in the hearing of the apostles.

Then he ascended into heaven, telling them to wait until the Holy Spirit should be given, the Holy

Spirit came, and on that occasion Peter stood up and without a great deal of premeditation,

and certainly without a great deal of prior study began to expound the text, the smoke of Jesus

Christ. Where did Peter get his outline from the teaching that Jesus had already given him?

That is particularly true because it was the nature of rabbinical teaching that what the master said,

the disciples memorized. He says departed from that somewhat. He was far more creative than the

writings, but nevertheless it was the pattern. He was the rabbi. They were the disciples and what

the rabbi said, they learn often by root. That's why we have in the different gospels, the sayings

of Jesus Christ, repeated again and again, sometimes in different settings by the different

writers who wrote the things down. They memorized them. They had a capacity for doing that that we

don't have. So if Peter and the others who were present when Jesus began to explain these things,

not only here on this occasion, but later as we're told in the chapter he did in the hearing of all

the apostles, they would have remembered the text. They would have said to themselves, so that's

what those texts mean. And when they had an opportunity as they did to stand up in themselves,

present the gospel, these quite naturally are the texts that came to their mind. So with those

two clues, let's look at some of the texts that Jesus must have used on this occasion. Peter's

speech on Pentecost, the first truly Christian sermon. You find it in Acts 2. Peter uses three

great texts in that sermon. One has to do with Pentecost itself. It's drawn from Joel, the prophecy

that in the last days God was going to pour out his spirit upon all flesh. Peter began with that,

naturally explained that that prophecy was fulfilled that day in Jerusalem and the sight and hearing

of all the people. And from there he went on to preach Jesus. Now as he did that, he threw in two

great texts from the Old Testament. The first one is from the 16th song. Peter quotes what we call

verses 8 through 16. I saw the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I will not

be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will live in hope.

Because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy ones see decay.

You have made known to me the paths of life and you fill me with joy in your presence.

This was apparently a popular text not only for Peter, but for other preachers of the gospel

in these early days as well. Because Paul, for example, also quotes this text later on. It acts on

the occasion that he had to preach at the synagogue at Antioch. Why was it so important?

Well the reason this text was so important to Peter and the others and is presumably one of the

texts that Jesus expounded that they may as disciples is that David, who is writing here, says,

you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy ones see decay.

Interesting thing about that, you see, is that David couldn't possibly have written that about

himself. This is what Peter points out as he begins to expound it. He says, David didn't write this

about himself because David did die and his body didn't see decay. The matter of fact, he says,

we still have the tomb of David around. All you have to do is walk and there's the tomb of David

and the very fact that the tomb of David is there is evidence of the fact that when David wrote this

in the 16th Psalm, he was not writing of himself. He wasn't writing of himself in what way was he

writing? Well obviously he was writing as a prophet and he was looking forward to the one who should

come and he was saying of him, you will not abandon his soul to the grave and you will not let your

holy ones see corruption. That is the body of Jesus Christ in the tomb and the three days between his

death and resurrection did not decompose. So those are the points of Peter's sermon. David did not

write it about himself. David wrote it about the Messiah, even Jesus. Number three, that prophecy

has been fulfilled and number four, we are witnesses that that saw. That's not the only text he used.

Later on in the sermon he referred to the 110th Psalm verse one. It's interesting that this verse

is the verse of the Old Testament which more than any other is quoted in the New Testament.

There's a little bit of trivia for you. Next time you're at a retreat and they play Christian

trivia. Ask that question. Which verse of the Old Testament is most quoted or referred to

in the New Testament? The answer is Psalm 110 verse one. People who count this opposite, it's there in

the New Testament either directly quoted or referred to at least 25 or 30 times. The Lord said to my Lord,

sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. One reason why this text

is so important is that it goes back to an incident that occurred in the lifetime of the Lord

himself. The people of the day were trying to trip them up. They were asking him all kinds of

difficult questions and he was spending them off easily. One would expect nothing ever caught him

by surprise and eventually he got to the end of their period of questioning and he said to them,

well now I'm going to ask you a question. You've been asking me questions. I'm going to ask you a

question. He says, when David in the hundred and tenth Psalm David writing says the Lord said to

my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet of whom is he

speaking? That's the Messiah. Now he said, is that his son? Traditional answer to that of course

was yes. Of course the Messiah's to come in the line of David. Everybody knew that. David

would have a son, would have a son, would have a son, would have a son and eventually one of

these sons, grandsons, great grandsons, great great great grandsons of David would be the Messiah.

Now said Jesus, if that's the case, if the Messiah is the son of David, how is it that David in

this verse calls him Lord? You see the problem? A son would call his father Lord. Well a father

would not call his son Lord. How is it? The David, the King calls his son, grandson, great

grandson, whatever it may be, Lord. The Lord said to my Lord, the Messiah, sit upon the throne. There's

only one answer to that. The answer is that Jesus called the Messiah his descendant Lord because

that descendant of his the Messiah was more than a mere man. That Messiah was going to be God.

And therefore though he is also the son of David, he is nevertheless at the same time,

David's Lord. And that text speaking not only of the divinity of the Messiah also speaks of the

plurality within the Godhead because it is the Lord, Jehovah, who speaks to Adonai, the Lord,

the Messiah, the God man, sit upon your throne until I make your enemies your footstool. You see

when you begin to look into the text that way, how significant that was for the early Christian

preaching. Peter on this occasion, remember the text as we might expect him to do and he said,

therefore, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you have crucified both

Lord and Christ. So we turn to that great sermon on Pentecost and already we have two of the great

texts that our Lord must have used in which we know on another occasion he did use to speak

about his ministry. In the fourth chapter of Acts we have another sermon of Peter's.

Here Peter is called before the Sanhedrin and he's defending himself. The record of it is in

verses 8 through 12 and in the midst of this a relatively short version of his sermon we have

reference to another text. It saw 118 verse 22. The way we have it quoted in Acts is this,

the stone you builders rejected has become the capstone. When the temple of Solomon was being built

the builders set up a stone that didn't fit and so it was laid aside and they went on with the

building of the temple and when they finally came to a great final stone the capstone of the

structure and they didn't have it they sent down to the quarry and said well we need the final

stone and the word came up the stone was sent up long ago so they looked around and as they

looked around they finally found the stone that they had laid aside and so became a proverb the

stone which the builders rejected has become the capstone. That in a way was a prophecy of Jesus

Christ. He was the capstone of God's structure of revealed religion and yet when he came he was

laid aside he was pushed aside he was crucified by the builders of Israel and yet God had determined

as being an incident which has interpreted profanically that that one who had been laid aside should

be the capstone of it all. In other words it's a way of saying that the crucified Messiah should be

both Lord and King. This incidentally was a favorite text of Peters because not only did he

preach it here before the Sanhedrin he incorporated it along with several other texts in his first

letter where he refers to Isaiah 2816 and Isaiah 814 to other texts that talk about the stone which

God has used to establish and build his church a sure foundation upon which we build. I find myself

asking sometimes why it is that the different writers have different texts that are favorite

texts for them and I think in Peter's case it's really not difficult to answer that question.

Why did Peter like these texts that talk about Jesus as the rock? The obvious answer is that Peter's

name was rock. Actually Peter's name was stone and you want to drop on the contrast that our

Lord makes in the 16th chapter of Matthew perhaps more properly to be taken as a little stone.

Jesus said to Peter after his great confession of the deity of Christ behold you are Peter and the

word there Petros means a little stone but upon this stone and he was referring to himself this

rock I'm going to build my church. I guess even in Peter's day there were people who went about

saying well Peter you certainly are a rock. You certainly are a firm foundation for us to build

upon and the reason these texts in my judgment were so important to Peter is that Peter wanted to

say and he knew deeply in his own heart because after all he had denied the Lord that he was no rock.

No man is a rock. The best were a pebble were scattered about where not stable at all and Peter

wanted to say and he did say said it faithfully again and again if you want a rock and you want

a sure foundation look to Jesus Jesus is the rock and so he drew those great texts out of the Old

Testament to refer to Jesus ministry. After Peter and the others are released by the Sanhedrin they

go to the others in Jerusalem the other Christians and at the end of that fourth chapter we have

these believers in Jerusalem bursting into another hymn of praise in which a fourth great text from

the Old Testament is quoted. They quote from the second Psalm verses 1 and 2 why do the nations

rage in the people's plot and vain the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather

together against the Lord and against his anointed one. Paul also quotes from this Psalm at

Antioch and that's Erman I mentioned earlier you know the second Psalm. The second Psalm is mocking

description of the way in which the kings and the rulers of this world take counsel against the

Lord and against his anointed they say look if we're going to shake off the bonds of God we're

going to have to get together and do it jointly to strengthen the numbers well they band together

and they say let's take our stand against God let's declare ourselves independent let's cast off his

yoke let's do our thing let's forget about the law of God. God who looks down upon this act of

cosmic treason does not tremble on laughs and is laughed as a laugh of derision he says behold

I have set my king upon my holy hill my holy hill of Zion and the king is Jesus Christ that text

is an Old Testament way of saying what Paul says in the letter to the Philippians namely that the

day is coming in which before him every knee shall bow. The ninth chapter of Acts we have

another suggestive text here Philip has been sent by the Holy Spirit to the Ethiopian and the

Ethiopian when he comes to him is reading from a manuscript a manuscript he perhaps acquired in

Jerusalem it turns out that it was Isaiah and the portion from which he was reading was Isaiah 53 he

was led like a sheep for the slaughter and as a lamb before his shears is silent so he did not

open his mouth and his humiliation he was deprived of justice who can speak of his descendants for

his life was taken from the earth the unit turned to Philip and said to him of whom is the prophet

speaking as he speaking about himself or is he speaking about another and Philip we are told

took that text and on the basis of that passage began to teach Jesus Jesus you see

who was led like a lamb to the slaughter who as a lamb before his shears is silent opened

not his mouth and so on that great chapter from the heart of that great Old Testament prophecy

in a clearer way than any other text in scripture unfolds the reality of what we call in theology

of icarious atonement that is one dying on behalf of another the innocent paying the price

of the guilty and Philip took that great text and said that was written of Jesus that was not

written of Isaiah it was not written of the Jewish people it was not written a mankind in general

that was written of Jesus because only Jesus was the innocent one the perfect lamb who was able to

pay the price of sin and he did it in Jerusalem and what we call good Friday he turned a little

further on the New Testament come to Hebrews I mentioned Hebrews because it presumably is written

by a Jew that we don't have his name to Jews to explain how Jesus the Jew was the fulfillment of

everything in Judaism and as the Savior of the Gentiles as well I mention it because in the first

chapter of Hebrews alone seven Old Testament prophecies are quoted as having been fulfilled by

Jesus Christ Psalm 27 second Samuel 714 Deuteronomy 32 43 Psalm 104 verse 4 Psalm 45 verses 6 and 7

Psalm 102 verses 25 to 27 and Psalm 110 verse 1 the verse we already looked at earlier and then

just in case that isn't enough we have the second chapter and in the second chapter four more

texts Psalm 8 verses 4 to 6 Psalm 22 verse 22 Isaiah 8 verse 17 and Isaiah 8 verse 18 according to

the author of Hebrews these texts and all the great texts and themes of the Old Testament point

to Jesus you know when we begin to talk about the Old Testament texts and themes we open up

whole new box possibilities because you see as you read these new testament books it's not just

a case of here and there scattered throughout the Old Testament a collection of texts that refer to

Jesus and are fulfilled by him it's a far more profound situation than that what they say again

and again in a variety of ways is that the whole Old Testament all of it all its themes all its

parts properly understood point to Jesus see you go back and you start with Genesis and it's not

just a text like Genesis 315 the proto Evangelium that speaks of Jesus spoken to Satan of the seed

of the woman who one day would crush his head though he would wound his heel that's a prophecy of

Christ who would be hurt by Satan but who would destroy Satan and his works yes that but it's not

just that it's the themes of Genesis 2 and so you turn to Genesis and you find Jesus is the seed

of the woman and Jesus is the seed of Abraham and Jesus is the expectation of all the prophets

and of the patriarchs turn to the book of Exodus and you find Jesus prefigured in the tabernacle

that book gives the instructions for how the tabernacle was to be built the tabernacle illustrated

the way to God it had a great altar outside upon which the lamb was placed upon which the blood

was poured out it had within the tabernacle the incense and the showbred and finally the great veil

that led into the holy of holies all of that is a type that points to Jesus Jesus as the lamb

slain he is the altar he's the showbred he said I'm the bread of life he's the incense within

and when the veil is torn it showed how the way was opened into the holy of holies by Christ death

all of that in Exodus it turned to Leviticus and you find Jesus in the sacrifices that's the book

which above all in the Old Testament shows how the sacrifices were to be performed in Israel Jesus

is a scapegoat bun whose head the sins of Israel were confessed and which was then driven into

the wilderness Jesus is the animal killed on the day of atonement whose blood was sprinkled on

the mercy seat within the holy of holies of the tabernacle Jesus is seen there turned to numbers

there you have that great story of the people and the snakes and the death and the camp and how they

tried out to Moses and how Moses tried out to God and how they erected a bronze serpent upon a

staff and the word went out whoever looks to that serpent on the staff will be healed and those

who looked were healed it was a great prefiguring of Jesus Christ one that John the evangelist

picks up at his gospel in the third chapter and says just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the

wilderness so was the son of man lifted up that whoever looks upon him and believes on him should

be saved turn to Deuteronomy and there you find the prophecy of a prophet who should come who should

speak the words of God one like unto Moses and one who is superior to Moses in every way and

so on through all the books of the Old Testament until you come but last to Malachi the last book of

hour arrangement of the Old Testament and there Jesus appears as the son of righteousness risen

with healing in his wings now I confess that I don't know how much of that sermon the Lord

preached on that trip from Jerusalem to amaze that day but it was a long way would have taken

several hours I suppose he preached that in a great deal more what I do know although I can't give

you with certainty the details of the Lord's sermon is this the Lord Jesus did not only preach

the sermon that day that is the sermon the Lord Jesus Christ continues to preach to all who turn

to this word to seek out where he the subject of it all might be found and you know that's what

he did with the amaze disciples when he appeared to them he opened their eyes to understand who he

was and he did that on the basis of the scriptures which he opened to them but once he had opened the

scriptures and opened their eyes were told at the very end of that chapter then he opened their

minds that they might have understanding of all those things in the scripture that were written

of himself you want to be wise that's the way to be wise if you want to grow in knowledge that's

the way to grow in knowledge read this book beginning with Genesis and going the whole way through

to Revelation and as you read it ask the Lord Jesus Christ who speaks in it to preach that sermon

to your heart and if you do that I assure you that the Bible will never be the same for you again

and what is far more important you will never be the same because you'll find the Lord Jesus

Christ everywhere and it'll be your great delight and joy to go out and serve him of us pray

our Father do bless this sermon of the lords to our hearts and give us ears to hear

give us minds and wills that are ready to obey and give us a love for those words that will

cause us to study them and seek them out regularly and faithfully and obediently and so grow not

only in knowledge but also in love for Jesus about whom this book speaks are we pray in his name

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I'm Mark Daniels and I'm glad you listened in the road to Emeas is a road everyone who would be

a better Christian must walk it's a journey that starts in doubt and ends in joy, love,

and true devotion join dr. James boys as he visits the scene of the two disciples who lost their

faith were headed home in sorrow on the road to Emeas that's next time on the bible study hour

preparing you to think and act biblically