SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING IS A GIFT FROM GOD

In our lesson today, I want to consider a portion of the Luke 24 account of the two men who were walking to the village of Emmaus and encountered the Savior on that first Resurrection Sunday. This is another historical parable relating to the nature of salvation. Let’s pick up the reading in verses 32 and 44-45:

“And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?… And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.”

Our three points are:

• The Bible Either Softens or Hardens Hearts
• Christ Came to Fulfill the Law
• Spiritual Understanding is a Gift from God

The Bible Either Softens or Hardens Hearts

Notice how the “hearts” of these men now “burned” as a result of hearing the words of Scripture as explained by its Divine Author.

Previously, the Lord had classified them in verse 25 as

“fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken…”

John 6:63 explains,

“It is the spirit that quickeneth [makes alive]; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

These two individuals were being “cut” by the mighty “Sword of the Spirit” – the Bible – in the same manner as were those people 50 days later on the day of Pentecost. That momentous event is described in Acts 2:37:

“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

The words of 2 Cor 4:6 emphasize the work of God’s amazing grace in their lives:

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

Verse 44 emphasizes that everything the Lord Jesus said and did was a direct fulfillment of all the Scriptures:

“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”

Mat 5:17-18 asserts:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

Mat 13:35 (which quotes Psa 78:2) is a particularly interesting verse related to Luke 24:45:

“That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”

Spiritual Understanding is a Gift from God

Luke 24:45-48 states:

"Then opened he their understanding (νουν nous), that they might understand (συνιεναι suniemi) the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.”

In this passage, there are two words that appear similar in English but are really two different Greek words.

One is the word for “understanding”, or νουν nous (which is Strong’s #3563), that is translated as “mind” in Eph 4:23,

“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind (νοος nous)”

And the other is the Greek word for “understand” is συνιεναι suniemi (#4920) and is used three times in Mat 13:13-15:

“Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand (συνιουσιν suniemi). And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand (συνητε suniemi); and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand (συνωσιν suniemi) with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

Once again we are confronted with the astounding facts that God has given us the Truth in the Bible and also that the Spirit of Truth is our Teacher (if we are indeed His children), as John 16:13 affirms:

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.”