Opened Eyes

 Luke 24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.

31 αὐτῶν δὲ διηνοίχθησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ καὶ ἐπέγνωσαν αὐτόν· καὶ αὐτὸς ἄφαντος ἐγένετο ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν.

Jesus had just walked to Emmaus with Cleopas and another disciple.  He interpreted the Old Testament to them and explained how it pointed to Him.  They didn't put two and two together until they shared a meal with Him and ιηνοίχθησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ.  In other words, it took something outside of themselves to understand the significance of what He told them.

This is true for us today as well.  We can search the Scriptures all that we want, but unless we have our eyes opened by the Holy Spirit we are not going to make the connection.  There are some who would say that we can learn everything we need about Jesus from the Old Testament or even the Pentateuch.  It is true that the Old Testament is a valid witness of Christ.  Somehow Anna and Simeon were able to understand the coming Messiah without what we call the New Testament.  They had the same Scriptures as the Pharisees.

The fact is that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.  There are so many illustrations for this, but the one I've heard lately is that you don't offer a cup of life-saving elixir at the morgue and expect the bodies to get up and drink from it.  They are dead.  They are incapable of doing anything.  This is how Scripture describes mankind in his unconverted state.  Therefore, there must be something external to "open our eyes" to the beauty of the gospel.

My prayer is that you would have open eyes as you consider who Jesus is.  And if your eyes are already opened I pray that you would have a much more profound sense of gratitude over what you have been saved from.