Easter Instruction from Christ Himself

Who better can give instruction concerning the mediatorial work of Christ than Christ Himself? It was He who gave that instruction to the travelers while they were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They did not belong to the disciples but to the circle of Jesus’ followers.

The name of one of the travelers was Cleophas; we do not know the name of the other. In any event, they were children of God who were bound to the Saviour. They felt great sorrow; Jesus had been crucified and was buried. These men missed Jesus and children of God understand each other in their missing. Suddenly, a Stranger appeared who asked them what they were talking about and why they were so deeply sorrowful. They declared unto Him all that was in their heart. How wondrously the Saviour can draw out what is in their heart so that everything is poured out before Him. Everything which lived in their heart concerning Jesus, how He had been delivered to be crucified three days ago, they told all to this Stranger. Now their hope had been destroyed. They summarized all their sorrow and hopelessness with the words, “We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel” (verse 21). Certainly, there had been the message from the women, and some of the disciples had gone to the grave, but Him they did not see (verse 24).

Then Christ opened His mouth to instruct them. That is the work which He enjoys the most, to instruct sorrowful sinners who walk about with so many unanswered questions. He first rebuked them saying, “Oh fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” Isaiah said, “For He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken” (Isaiah 53:8). How blind we are to the priestly work of the Saviour. There are sinners whose sins have been uncovered and who in sincere sorrow have turned unto the Lord, who have on occasion received some encouragement out of God’s Word in their hopeless condition but who do not understand the Mediatorial work of the suffering and dying Christ.

Do you know what the problem was with the travelers to Emmaus? They were not strangers of the prophetic ministration of Christ, but they did not understand anything of His priestly work. In a certain sense it was like Peter who had confessed Jesus as the Christ who had the words of eternal life. That is how it was with all of the disciples. They had learned to understand the power of the Word in the prophetic ministration; that is what had united them to Christ. However, when He began to speak of His suffering and dying, Peter was the spokesman for all of them when he said, “Be it far from Thee, Lord; this shall not be unto Thee.” It was no different with the travelers to Emmaus. With the dying of Jesus their hope had vanished.

Now pay attention to the instruction of the Saviour. “Must not Christ have suffered these things?” He must! Why? He must do the good pleasure of His Father wherein the entire plan of salvation was thought out. It must be so because of the holy justice of God which required satisfaction. It must be because the guilt had to be paid for and sins reconciled. It must be so to prepare the way whereby guilty sinners could be reconciled with God. It must be so, for God’s attributes had to be glorified. That is why the cross was necessary. That is why Christ had to be laid in the grave. That is also why the message from the woman was that He was alive. “Must not Christ…so enter into His glory?”

The way to the crown was via the way of the cross. That was the way Christ had to go. That was the instruction which Cleophas and the other man received. They received instruction out of the Scriptures about the priestly work of the Saviour. There is a desire born in the hearts of God’s people to be instructed out of the Scriptures. Thereby their hearts and their eyes are opened for the substance of His mediatorial work. Their eyes were opened under the breaking of bread so that they knew Him. Then they no longer saw Him, but their hearts “burned within them.” They returned to Jerusalem with blessed joy and wonderment to meet the brethren and to rejoice with them.

What do we need? We need the prophetic ministration of Christ to learn what we have become through sin, to learn what it means that God wants His justice satisfied. Then all grounds whereupon we build fall away, for who can stand before a holy and a righteous God? We also need the prophetic ministration of Christ to understand His priestly work in His bitter suffering and death. Christ must go that way. He must suffer that which was the due reward of His people. He had to be numbered with the transgressors in order to save transgressors. He had to enter death so that those who were guilty of death should live. Easter preaches unto us that the Father was completely satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ, that the guilt of God’s people is erased out of God’s book, that Zion will be saved by justice, that He is risen for our justification. This is the Easter instruction which the travelers received from that great Prophet on their way to Emmaus.

Their hearts began to burn when receiving this instruction, burning with love toward Him whose love for sinners was so great. The way to learn to know Him as the King of Easter, as the Resurrection and the Life, is by way of dying. On the way to Emmaus all of the travelers’ expectations regarding Christ had to die.

All grounds outside the priestly work of Christ must be destroyed. From our side nothing remains but our lost condition and death. The eternal wonder lies in the Easter instruction out of His mouth, “I live, and therefore thou shalt live.” How precious He becomes and how blessed is the salvation that is then tasted. “To you therefore who believe, He is precious.” What the King of Easter has obtained is for all of God’s children, but the comfort of it can only be savored insomuch as we may embrace this benefit with a believing heart (A. 60, Heidelberg Catechism). What does Easter mean to you? How often have you heard the Easter message? Has your heart ever burned within you because of His speaking? Oh, pay close attention to the King of Easter. He has conquered death. Shall He not be able to take death out of your heart? Oh, seek Him in His Word, for He instructs sinners out of the Scriptures. The call to come unto Him is still heard, and there is still room at His school. For whom? “For fools and slow of heart.” p

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