A Method Of Teaching

The Bible records the story of two men walking from Jerusalem to the town of Emmaus. They were in deep discussion. In the last few days, Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified outside the city walls. Now it was Sunday, and several individuals that these two men knew well—had talked to directly—were stating dogmatically that they had just seen Jesus alive.

As they walked along discussing these events, a stranger joined the twosome. Over the next several hours, the stranger took that ancient collection of books—the Bible—and starting at the very beginning, explained it to them in a way that made incredible sense. The stranger’s message drove all confusion from their minds. So thrilled were they by their new understanding that they had hurried all the way back to Jerusalem to tell their friends.¹ Somehow, somewhere, they too needed to hear this message—the message they had heard on the road to Emmaus.²

Of course, we now know that the Stranger in question was none other than God Himself—come in human flesh. Jesus Christ was the stranger who taught the two men on the road to Emmaus. In explaining the Scriptures in this particular situation, Jesus applied four principles of communication we would do well to imitate.

The Bible says that Jesus started by ". . .beginning with Moses. . ." ³ This does not mean that Jesus began with a lecture on the life of Moses. Rather, because Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. If we were to say the same thing today, we would say that Jesus started "at the front." But he did not stop there. It says he also used "the Prophets." The Jewish people used the phrase⁴, "Moses and the Prophets" as an all-inclusive synonym for what we call the Old Testament. So when the Bible says that, ". . . beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures," the text is saying that Jesus literally began at the beginning of the Bible—Moses—and did not complete his lesson until he had included the rest of the book—the prophets.

This brings us to our first principle of learning. When dealing with history, it’s necessary to communicate those facts in a chronological format if you want the facts to make sense. One does not read a story by starting halfway through the book, jumping to the last chapter and then wrapping it up on page one. That would be very confusing. The message Jesus taught started at the beginning and then worked its way through the Bible to a satisfactory completion. The two men got the whole story—the whole picture.

In starting at the beginning, Jesus would have been teaching the book of Genesis. Genesis is the foundational book of the Bible. In the first few chapters we learn how the universe came into existence, how life all began, where man came from, the origins of evil, language, government, nations, religions and so on. Author and scientist, Henry Morris, lists 14 major topics⁵ that have their foundations in Genesis. If you haven’t read Genesis then the rest of the Bible is very perplexing. So the second key to understanding the Bible is to build from the foundation up, from simple to complex—a very simple educational concept! You don’t start children in kindergarten by teaching them algebra. Rather, you begin with basic numbers, and move from the simple to the complex. If you skip the fundamentals, even elementary algebra will be beyond your grasp. It’s the same way with the Bible. If you neglect the foundations, your understanding of the Bible will be confused.

The third principle of communication has to do with message priorities. In the middle of a raging battle, a soldier does not report to his commanding officer that his jeep is due for an oil change. The commander only wants critical information pertinent to the conflict. Certain messages are more important than others. In teaching the two men from Emmaus, Jesus focused on the most important subject in the Bible—the work he did on the cross. Jesus said, "Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" Jesus was not discussing dietary laws or the nuances of wisdom. His message majored on the major of all majors—the gospel message. Because the Bible is a thick book, if you focus on the details and miss the major point you will end up confused, even bogged down. One can be studying things sequentially, laying firm foundations, but if you take too long or get hung up on unrelated details, your Bible study will lose its sense of continuity and perspective.

Lastly, Jesus had only one theme in his message. The Bible says that ". . . he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." There are only a few key themes that run throughout the entire Bible. If you mix them unwittingly, you get confusion. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus had just a few hours to teach. Undoubtedly he covered key biblical events, stringing them together in logical sequence. Those events tied together in one continuous message—about Himself.

So we find that Jesus used four principles of communication as he taught the Emmaus road message.

1. He taught His history sequentially or chronologically. It had a logical flow.
2. He knew concepts must have foundations—He moved from the simple to complex.
3. He had message priorities. He majored on the majors.
4. He stuck to only one theme.