An encounter with Jesus Christ is a most telling experience. An account of such an encounter is recorded in Luke 24:13-35. Note there are three acts.

Act one could be called hopelessness (Luke 24:13-27). One of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus named Cleopas told the unrecognized Jesus, "But we were hoping that it was (Jesus) who was going to redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21). In The Bible Code, O. S. Hawkins explains, "They were walking proof that there is never any power in the present when there is no more hope in the future." George H. Morrison comments, "That evening, journeying to Emmaus, they were men convinced that they had lost their Lord, and having lost Him they had lost their hopes." Here we see their burdened hearts. Their foolishness was exposed. Luke 24:25 reads, "Then He said to them, 'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!" Then Jesus "expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27).

Act two could be called happiness (Luke 24:28-32). Alexander Maclaren comments, "Happy are they who, having felt the sweetness of walking with Him on the weary road, seek Him to bless their leisure and to add a more blissful depth of repose to their rest!" Maclaren continues, "His bodily presence was no longer necessary when the conviction of His risen life was firmly fixed in them. Therefore He disappeared." Their fear was expelled. This happened to them when "their eyes were opened and they knew Him" (Luke 24:31). Recounting when Jesus opened the Scriptures, they confessed they had burning hearts.

Act three could be called helpfulness (Luke 24:33-35). Dr. Luke writes, "So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, 'The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!' And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread." Here we see their faith was expressed. Cleopas and his companion "strengthen(ed) (their) brethren" in Jerusalem as Peter was earlier instructed to do (Luke 22:31-32). Vance Havner comments, "A few minutes later these Emmaus disciples were not like the same persons. They had a glowing testimony, and as they related it, He appeared again! His resurrection was no longer a Report but a Reality!" You might say they had burgeoning hearts. It is here they began to grow and flourish. Adrian Rogers explains, "There's no lasting joy without Him. He's the One you need. God has engineered it that you're not going to have joy without Jesus. And you're not going to know Jesus apart from the Scriptures. We need to have our eyes opened and our hearts set aflame. We don't need a dead orthodoxy—we need a living faith. He is risen indeed!"

Have you had an encounter with Jesus Christ?

Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, of Robertsdale, is the author of "Don't Miss the Revival! Messages for Revival and Spiritual Awakening from Isaiah.