The Road to Emmaus

A Walk with a Stranger from Jerusalem

Warren Austin Gage

with

Leah Grace Gage

Fort Lauderdale: St. Andrews House, 2012

www.saintandrewshouse.com

“… and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.”

~ Luke 24:27

© Warren Austin Gage 2012

for Dennis Jernigan and Louise Cowan,

and in celebration of my fellow exile and pilgrim forefather,

Dante Alighieri

Table of Contents

Author’s Introduction

Book I

The Evening of the First Day

The Morning of the Second Day

The Evening of the Second Day

Book II

The Morning of the Third Day

The Noon Hour of the Third Day

The Mid-Afternoon of the Third Day

Book III

The Evening of the Third Day

The Return to Jerusalem

Jerusalem Comes Into View Again

Author’s Introduction

For the Christian there cannot be a more authoritative interpreter of the Old Testament than the Lord Jesus. The testimony of Father God regarding his Son Jesus is that we must “Hear him!” (Matt 17:5). This text from the transfiguration preview of Messiah’s glory resonates with Moses’ own testimony to Israel that a prophet would arise like Moses whom Israel should especially hear (Deut 18:18–19). We are told explicitly that Jesus’ revelation to his church is the better revelation and the more authoritative in its prophetic finality (Heb 1:1–2). The Old Testament was the shadow whose substance is Christ (Col 2:17). Consequently, when the Lord Christ states that the theme of the Hebrew Bible is the suffering and glory of Israel’s Messiah (Luke 24:44), culminating in his third day resurrection from death (Luke 24:46–47), no other interpretative framework of the Old Testament can be permitted. In fact, any lesser theological “center” is sub-Christian. Christian hermeneutic, therefore, must be driven by typological interpretation, which constitutes the bridge from the Hebrew Bible to its New Testament fulfillment. The suffering of the Savior culminating in his third day resurrection glory is nothing less than the fulfillment of all prophecy; the resurrection of the church will constitute the climax of all redemptive history (1 Cor 15:23–24).

The Resurrection Hermeneutic of Jesus

Upon reflection it should not surprise us to recognize that Jesus has much to say about the hermeneutic of resurrection and Old Testament interpretation. The Savior actually addresses three hermeneutical hindrances to seeing the resurrection in Old Testament texts when he rebukes Nicodemus the Pharisee (“Are you a teacher in Israel and do not understand these things?” John 3:10), when he publicly scolds the Sadducees (“You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God” Matt 22:29), and when he reproves his Emmaus disciples (“O foolish men and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” Luke 24:25). Each of these rebukes is spoken in a context of discussion about the resurrection. Taken together they warn us about a literalist reading of the Old Testament (Nicodemus ...