A couple of months ago, I printed and inserted a copy of John Piper’s brief I.O.U.S. prayer and inserted it into the Bible that I use for my morning Bible reading. It is a daily reminder that I need the Lord to move my heart towards Him and I need the Lord to give me understanding of His Word.
After praying a portion of that this morning, I then read Luke 24 and had two reminders of the need for God to open my mind to comprehend His Word.
First, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus were prevented from recognizing Jesus (v. 16). Think about that for a moment. While we don’t know the identity of these disciples, they were close enough to the Twelve (temporarily Eleven) that they knew where to find them in Jerusalem and were quickly taken into the group that was meeting with the Eleven (v. 33). They had undoubtedly traveled often with Jesus and knew Him personally. Yet despite their intimacy with Him, they were kept from identifying Him and comprehending who He was. Seeing and recognizing Jesus was not dependent on their physical abilities to see, but on the Lord allowing them to comprehend with their minds what their eyes were seeing. (Numerous other stories also reveal that the Lord is the One who also enables our physical eyes to function; cf. Saul in Acts 9:1-9.)
Then, in vv. 31-32 it says that the Lord opened two things for the disciples: He opened their eyes to comprehend who He was, and He opened (“explained,” NASB) the Scriptures to their minds (cf. also v. 45 where the same verb is repeated again). They had not understood the significance of the Old Testament Scriptures to point to Christ, He made it discernible to them. Christ did for them what the Holy Spirit does for all believers. He gave them understanding (1 Cor. 2:6ff).
The phrase indicates that finally Jesus pulls the blinders away from their eyes and allows them to see and understand the truth of His death and resurrection. “Whereas their understanding was once dull (9:45), they finally saw clearly (cf. Ps. 119:18; Is 29:18, 19; 2 Co 3:14-16).” [MacArthur Study Bible.]
What a gift that God opens our minds and hearts to comprehend — and to desire to comprehend — the Scriptures.
If you are a believer in Christ, give thanks that He has done this for you. And pray that He would continue to open your eyes to give you increasing comprehension of and joy in our Savior and Master, Jesus Christ.
Words of Grace 