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.)
Exodus 12 institutes “the Lord’s passover” (verse 11). God was keeping His promise to bring the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt (see Genesis 15:13-14). By sacrificing a lamb and placing the blood on the doorway, each family would demonstrate its faith in God, would be spared God’s judgment, and would be delivered from bondage. This Feast of Passover prefigures the atoning work of Jesus Christ in at least four ways. I Corinthians 5:7 specifically calls Jesus “our passover.” Second, the “lamb shall be without blemish” (verse 5); I Peter 1:19 states clearly that we are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Third, the lamb must be slain (verse 6); Revelation 13:8 tells us that our Savior is “the Lamb slain.” Fourth, the blood of the passover lamb must be applied (verse 7); Revelation 1:5 says that Jesus “loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” If we have asked Jesus to free us from our sins, we can be certain that our own trek on the Emmaus Road leads us to streets of gold in heaven. Only an infinitely good and powerful good God could bring forth life eternal out of His own sacrificial death.