"EYES ARE OPENED!"

Luke 24:28-35                                             (ESV)

"28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. HE acted as if he were going farther,

29 but they urged HIM strongly, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So HE went in to stay with them.

30 When HE was at table with them, HE took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.

31 And their "EYES WERE OPENED", and they recognized HIM. And HE vanished from their sight.

32 They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while HE talked to us on the road, while HE opened to us the Scriptures?"

33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,

34 saying, "The LORD has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"

35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how HE was known to them in the breaking of the bread."

The words THEY, US, THEIR, THEM and US are just some of the words used to depict the two CHOSEN who were on the Emmaus Road.  Apparently they weren't part of the original twelve disciples, but were followers of JESUS, or at least they were until HIS crucifixion.  Now it appears their belief that HE "was the one to redeem Israel" (v21) has been dashed!  JESUS had been crucified, and not just killed, but brutally tortured and then sacrificed for the sins of ALL mankind!  These two were walking on a road that led to Emmaus, but soon their Belief System, and their lives, would be catastrophically changed.

"JESUS HIMSELF drew near and went with them" (v15), "But THEIR EYES were kept from recognizing HIM"!  Even though the SON of GOD was right in front of their eyes, they didn't recognize HIM.  HE had been in their presence for 33 years, but they couldn't SEE HIM unless their "EYES WERE OPENED"!  

Sometimes our vision is clouded by our circumstances and surroundings.  We can't SEE blessings that GOD may have prepared for us for the busyness and problems that the enemy keeps our eyesight focused on.  Not just because Psalms 46:10 calls for us to "BE STILL", but the enemy has made it one of his most effective tools to get our world spinning so fast that we can't SEE the answer, even when HE is right in front of us!  Yes, JESUS CHRIST is the answer to ALL of life's questions, but HE wasn't SEEN by these followers, even though He was in their midst.  Jeremiah 29:1 says "You will seek ME and find ME when you seek ME with ALL YOUR HEART."  Where does JESUS fit into our thought process???

Colossians 1:18 says that JESUS is "preeminent" before ALL things!  There are those who act as though they are the "center of attention" and the entire world should revolve around them, as I once did!  But when the BREAD OF LIFE (John 6:35) revealed HIMSELF to the followers, their attention was suddenly changed from the things of "this world" to the LORD!  Then they RETURNED, but only after their "EYES WERE OPENED!"  We can't even follow HIM until our "EYES ARE OPENED"!  

ALMIGHTY GOD, it is my desire to walk the path YOU have planned for me and that I will wait until my "EYES ARE OPENED" to SEE clearly 'THE WAY' YOU have laid out for me!