Jesus Opened Their Minds
Luke 24:36 – 48 (45)
“And as they spoke this, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you.’
But being dismayed and becoming afraid, they supposed they were seeing a spirit.
And he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled and why do thoughts come into your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that I am Myself. Handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see I have.’
And saying this, He showed them His hands and His feet.
Because they still yet disbelieved for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, ‘Have you any food here?’
And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of honey from the comb, and taking it, He ate it in their sight.
And He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still together with you, that it was necessary to fulfill all that was written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, about Me.
Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was binding Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and to be proclaimed in His name repentance and remission of sins to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.’”
After Jesus revealed Himself after His crucifixion and resurrection, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, expounded the things concerning Himself”, those two joined the rest of the disciples hiding in a locked room inJerusalem , proclaiming to the others that they had seen Jesus. When Jesus appeared to them in the room, they had a hard time accepting that He was really there with them, despite His having shown them the nail-prints in His hands and feet. After eating some food to prove He was not just a ghost or apparition, Luke writes, “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures…” This does not refer to some mystical event by which Jesus miraculously removed some spiritual blinders preventing their understanding, as some today believe. The text specifically and clearly states exactly what Jesus did to ‘open the disciples’ minds: beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He showed them thoroughly how every part of the Law, Psalms, and Prophets pointed to His incarnation, life, death, and resurrection, and that redemption through repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed to all nations.
In other words, Jesus carefully and meticulously taught the about Himself from the Scriptures, instructing their minds which were previously closed because they neither knew thoroughly nor could they understand those things which they had not heard.
Today, if we desire to know the fullness of God’s self-revelation like the first disciples, we need to thoroughly know the “whole counsel of God” through the diligent study of His word. Our minds are instructed and renewed when we come to possess all that God has provided for our instruction and direction.
Deuteronomy 29:29 The hidden things belong to the LORD, but that which is revealed belongs to us and our children forever.”
2 Tim 3:17 “All Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to all good works.”
Romans 10:8 “But what does [the Scripture] say? ‘The word is near you; in your moth and in your heart: that is the word of faith, which we preach: that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.’”
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