Carpenter Diem (Because Jesus Was a Carpenter and Is Now Preparing a Home for His People)
The resurrection of God the Son, Jesus Christ, is crucial to the Christian faith. In Luke 24:13-35, we read of the resurrected Savior walking the road to Emmaus. This specific geographical reference reminds us of the absolute accuracy of God’s Word in all areas. In verse 27, Jesus begins to teach from the Old Testament; He not only walked the talk but also talked the walk! This passage does not reveal the exact Scriptures Jesus employed to teach these journeying believers, but we do know that He fulfilled the entire Old Testament (Matthew 5:17,18). Fulfilled prophecy is one of the major reasons that we can be certain that our faith in Jesus is not misplaced. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
As I have already said, we do not know exactly which Old Testament verses Jesus employed with the Emmaus disciples, but Habakkuk 3:18-19 certainly would have been appropriate. He came to bring us “salvation” (verse 18); in fact, the very name of Jesus means “the Lord is salvation.” The disciples walked about six miles with Jesus to Emmaus and then returned to Jerusalem (Luke 24:33). Thus, they covered twelve miles (eighteen if they started the day in Emmaus rather than Jerusalem), a goodly distance even in a culture that was used to walking. Jesus had made their feet to be “like hinds’ feet”! Moreover, they had walked upon “high places,” for Jerusalem was significantly uphill from Emmaus. There is no doubt that this interaction with Jesus was transformational (Luke 24:33) and prompted an immediate and specific response. Where does Jesus want our feet to travel today? He has “high places” where each one of us can be of significant use in the lives of others.