On the Road to Emmaus
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
The Suffering Servant
1 Awake, awake, Zion,
clothe yourself with strength!
Put on your garments of splendor,
Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
will not enter you again.
2 Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
Daughter Zion, now a captive.
3 For this is what the Lord says:
“You were sold for nothing,
and without money you will be redeemed.”
4 For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“At first my people went down to Egypt to live;
lately, Assyria has oppressed them.
5 “And now what do I have here?” declares the Lord.
“For my people have been taken away for nothing,
and those who rule them mock,”
declares the Lord.
“And all day long
my name is constantly blasphemed.
6 Therefore my people will know my name;
therefore in that day they will know
that it is I who foretold it.
Yes, it is I.”
7 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the Lord returns to Zion,
they will see it with their own eyes.
9 Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord will lay bare his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
11 Depart, depart, go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure,
you who carry the articles of the Lord’s house.
12 But you will not leave in haste
or go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you,
the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
13 See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so he will sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.
The Suffering Servant
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 64:1-12
God Came Down to Earth
1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.
8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
for we are all your people.
10 Your sacred cities have become a wasteland;
even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned with fire,
and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
12 After all this, Lord, will you hold yourself back?
Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
On the Road to Emmaus, Jesus was not recognized by two of His followers...And yet He was walking and talking with them for miles of the road....The two had questions about Jesus, as well as questions for Him...They said that Jesus had been a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people...The chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him; but they had hoped that He was the One who was going to redeem Israel...And what is more, this was the third day since all this took place...In addition, some of our women had amazed them...The women went to the tomb early this very morning but didn't find His body...His body had disappeared...The women came and told His followers that they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive...Then some of their companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus...The tomb was empty...
Jesus said to them that they were slow in believing all that the prophets had written...The Old Testament has told such a story about the Messiah...Jesus told the two that the Messiah "had" to suffer these things to enter His glory...At the beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained these things to His two followers on the road to Emmaus...
Jesus said He "had" to suffer...He makes that very clear, that He "had" to suffer...He explained why He had to suffer to His two followers, but He did not explain why He had to suffer to others that we know of...He just says in the text of the Bible that the Messiah had to suffer these things and then He would enter His glory...We are not explained in any detail, why this suffering on the cross had to happen...Could He have came to earth and saved us without suffering on the cross?...After all, He did come from God and He can do all things...Or was His suffering just a part of His fulfilling all the prophecies (and no more) in the Old Testament that He is our Messiah?...We know that Isaiah wrote many verses about the Suffering Servant, who would reach glory...While many believe the Suffering Servant is the nation of Israel, followers of Jesus identifies, the Suffering Servant as Jesus...Isaiah wrote how the world would react to God's Suffering Servant, His Son, the Messiah...And God, being God could have saved us in a different way -without the suffering and pain...Yet, God chose the Way of the Suffering Servant...
The cross was a part of God's very interesting Plan...And God's Plan is a great mystery for us...When Isaiah said, "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!"...He did come down from heaven...And He did do awesome things and miracles, that we did not expect...And afterwards, we hung Him from a cross...So He suffered and died...And after His sufferings and tortuous pains on the cross and then death, He later would ascend up to heaven...
The cross, only because of Jesus, is very important to believers...It is where Jesus died and saved us...He saved us from our own sins on the cross...He saved us through His sufferings on the cross...Jesus has made the cross an important part of His followers lives...So can we assume something else about suffering in life?...Should we just assume that suffering is a part of life, and a necessity in life's experiences?...After all, Jesus said He "had" to suffer...Do we better relate to Jesus, when we suffer and have trials in our lives -knowing that He "had" to suffer for us and our sins...Certainly, He did nothing wrong in His life, to suffer on the cross...His trial and His early death were no causes of His own...We put Him on the cross, or it is better to say our sins, my sins, the world's sins, put Him on the cross...Do somehow we grow closer to Him through our sufferings?...Is there always going to be a point (in one's life) where one does suffer, and we cannot escape suffering in our lifetime?...Is death the ultimate of our suffering?...
Isaiah writes that yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, He will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand...After He has suffered, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge My Righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities...Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors...For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors...In these verses the LORD says I will cause Him to suffer...The LORD cause His own Son to suffer...Suffering is inevitable for followers of Jesus...It is part of our lives, and God has made it a part of our lives and our faith...If we are to grow our faith and be faithful, suffering will be a part of our faith that we have in Jesus...He died for us...He saved us with His suffering and His death...Suffering will happen in the lives of the believer in Him...
It seems God has made suffering a part of His Son's life and also a part of our lives...We are told to trust in the LORD, and the question for me, is it easier to trust in the LORD when I suffer, or is it easier to trust Him, when everything is going good and has always been good?...When I really think about this, and think if I had always had everything I had ever wanted and never had one single day of suffering, how would I look at Jesus?...Would I think about Him differently?...Jesus having to suffer if a Divine Mystery to me...But it is in this mystery, how we think about Him...Maybe I do need suffering in my life, even though I do not like it...Maybe I need to suffer for my sins, so I can relate better to Him...Even though Jesus has died for my sins...And we know as Isaiah writes, LORD, You are our Father...We are the clay, You are the Potter; we are all the work of Your hands...Do not be angry beyond all measure, Father; please do not remember our sins forever...Oh, look on us and over us, and we pray, for we are all Your people...We are Your children...God, You mold us, and maybe our sufferings and trials are a part of this molding process and part of our being reborn and getting into heaven...