Luke 24:45

Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, THEN OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING, THAT THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES. A statement of unspeakable value: expressing, on the one hand, Christ's immediate access to the human spirit and absolute power over it, to the adjustment of its vision, and its permanent rectification for spiritual discernment; and, on the other hand, showing that the apostolic manner of interpreting the Old Testament, in the Acts and Epistles, has the direct sanction of Christ Himself....

45._Then he opened their understanding. _As the Lord had formerly discharged the office of Teacher, with little or no improvement on the part of the disciples, he now begins to teach them inwardly by his Spirit; for words are icily wasted on the air, until the minds are enlightened by the gift of understanding. It is true, indeed, that the word of God is like a lamp, (Psalms 119:105;) but it shines in darkness and amidst the blind, until the inward light is given by the Lord, to whom it peculiarly belongs to _enlighten the blind, _(Psalms 146:8.) And hence it is evident how great is the corruption of our nature, since the light of life exhibited to us in the heavenly oracles is of no avail to us. Now if we do not perceive by _the understanding _wh

36-49 Jesus appeared in a miraculous manner, assuring the disciples of his peace, though they had so lately forsaken him, and promising spiritual peace with every blessing. Many troublesome thoughts which disquiet our minds, rise from mistakes concerning Christ. All the troublesome thoughts which rise in our hearts at any time, are known to the Lord Jesus, and are displeasing to him. He spake with them on their unreasonable unbelief. Nothing had passed but what was foretold by the prophets, and necessary for the salvation of sinners. And now all men should be taught the nature and necessity of repentance, in order to the forgiveness of their sins. And these blessings were to be sought for, by faith in the name of Jesus. Christ by his Spirit works on the minds of men. Even good men need to have their understandings opened. But that we may have right thoughts of Christ, there needs no more...

Verse 45. _THEN OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING_] διηνοιξεν, _He_ _fully opened_. They had a _measure_ of _light_ before, so that they discerned the Scriptures to be the _true word_ of God, and to speak of the Messiah; but they had not light _sufficient_ to enable them to _apply_ these Scriptures to their Lord and Master; but now, by the influence of Christ, they see, not only, the _prophecies_ which pointed out the _Messiah_, but also the _Messiah_ who was pointed out by these _prophecies_. The book of God may be received in general as a Divine revelation, but the proper _meaning, reference_, and _application_ of the Scriptures can only be discerned by the light of Christ. Even the _very plain word of God_ is a dead letter to those who are not enlightened by the grace of Christ; and why? because this word speaks of _spiritual_ and _heavenly_ things; and the carnal mind of man cannot disc...

OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING - Enabled them fully to comprehend the meaning of the prophecies which foretold his death and resurrection. They had seen him die, they now saw him risen. Their prejudices were now, by his instructions, and by the facts which they could no longer call in question, removed, and they no longer doubted that he was the Messiah, and that all the “facts” in the case which had before confounded them could be easily accounted for. Hence, we may learn: * That “facts,” or the farther disclosure of truth, will yet remove the “mysteries” that we now see in religion. * That our prejudices and our preconceived opinions are one cause of our seeing so many mysteries in the Bible. If a man is willing to take the plain declarations of the Bible, he will commonly be little perplexed with mysteries. * That God only can open the mind so as fully to comprehend the Scripture...

EXPOSITION LUKE 24:1 THE RESURRECTION. All the four evangelists give an account of the Resurrection. None of the four, however, attempt to give a _history _of_ _it simply from a human point of sight. Each Gospel probably reproduces the special points dwelt on in certain great centres of Christian teaching, in what we should now term different schools of thought. (Attempts have been made by theological scholars to _classify _these as Jewish, Gentile, Greek, Roman; but only with indifferent success). The teaching which St. Matthew's Gospel represents, evidently in the Resurrection preaching dwelt with peculiar insistence on the great Galilaean appearance of the Risen. St. Luke confines himself exclusively to the appearance, in Judaea. St. John chooses for his Resurrection instruction scenes which h

THEN OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING,.... He not only opened their hearts, to attend to what he said, and the proofs he gave of his resurrection from the dead in a true body; but he removed the veil from the eyes of their minds, and gave them an understanding of the sacred writings, respecting this matter: THAT THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES; concerning his sufferings, death, and resurrection, which they were very ignorant of before, and which were as a sealed book unto them, John 20:9 though they had been from their infancy brought up to the reading of the Scriptures, and had had the advantage of Christ's ministry for some years; which shows the necessity of the special illumination of the Spirit, and the influence of his grace to remove the darkness of the mind, and give the true sense of the sacred writings....

Luke 24:1. _Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:_ Brethren, they might have been much more perplexed if they had found the body of Jesus there, for then his promises would not have been fulfilled, and all their hopes would have been blighted forever. Unbelief is often the mother of needless perplexity. The resurrection of Christ is plain enough to us now; but to those who had seen him die, and whose faith was so very weak, it was a cause for perplexity that they could not find his dead body. They meant to embalm it, they had brou

VII. HIS RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION CHAPTER 24 _ 1. The Resurrection. (Luke 24:1)_ 2. The Walk to Emmaus; the Appearance of the Risen Son of Man. (Luke 24:13) 3. The Appearance to the Eleven. (Luke 24:36) 4. The Commission. (Luke 24:46) 5. The Ascension. (Luke 24:49 .) The account of the Resurrection in Luke's Gospel has also its characteristic features. He alone reports the full account of the walk to Emmaus. It is a precious story showing forth the fact that the risen One is the same tender, loving, sympathizing f

THE LAST WORDS AND THE ASCENSION. Jesus reminds His disciples how He had told them that Scripture predictions about Him must be fulfilled. He goes over the ground again (with Luke 24:45 _cf._ Luke 24:27), and adds that the gospel of repentance and forgiveness in His name should be preached everywhere. It is not clear whether the instruction to preach is regarded as contained in the OT Scriptures. Syr. Sin. has in my name, and perhaps we should take the Gr. infinitive (should be preached) as an imperative. LUKE 24:44. THE PSALMS: the third division of the Hebrew scriptures, including other writings than the Psalter, though this was particularly rich in Messianic prophecy....