“The Church is... where the Lord is acknowledged, and where the Word is.” - The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine §242
Kempton New Church

Week 6
Day 4

    Listen:

Luke 24

Their eyes are opened.

Luke 24

27 And beginning from Moses, and from all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
28 And they drew near to the village where they were going, and He made as though He would go further.
29 And they pressed Him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day has declined. And He went in to abide with them.
30 And it came to pass, as He reclined with them, taking bread, He blessed it; and breaking, gave it to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He became invisible to them.
32 And they said to one another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He spoke to us in the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?
33 And standing up in that same hour, they returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven assembled, and those who were with them,
34 saying, The Lord has truly risen, and was seen by Simon.
35 And they explained the things done in the way, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

AC 1540:1-2. …The internal sense makes the Word to be Divine. That the internal sense is the Word itself is evident from many things that have been revealed, as, “Out of Egypt I have called My Son” (Matt. 2:15); besides many others. The Lord Himself also, after His resurrection, taught the disciples what had been written concerning Him in Moses and the Prophets (Luke 24:27); and thus that there is nothing written in the Word that does not regard Him, His kingdom, and the church. These are the spiritual and celestial things of the Word; but the things contained in the literal sense are for the most part worldly, corporeal, and earthly; which cannot possibly make the Word of the Lord. At this day men are of such a character that they perceive nothing but such things; and what spiritual and heavenly things are, they scarcely know….

AC 5405. …In the Ancient Church bread was broken when it was given to another, and by this was signified to communicate good from one’s own, and [at the same time] to appropriate it from one’s own, thus to make love mutual. For when bread is broken and given to another it is communicated from one’s own; or when bread is broken among several, then the one piece of bread becomes a mutual possession, and consequently there is conjunction through charity. From this it is plain that the breaking of bread was significative of mutual love.

AC 3863:14. …By this [that He was known to them in the breaking of bread] was signified that the Lord appears by good, but not by truth without good, for “bread” is the good of love…. “Seeing,” in the internal sense, signifies faith from the Lord, for there is no other faith which is faith than that which comes from the Lord. This also enables man to “see,” that is, to believe; but faith from self, or from what is man’s own, is not faith, for it causes him to see falsities as truths, and truths as falsities; and if he sees truths as truths, still he does not see, because he does not believe, for he sees himself in them, and not the Lord.

AC 9412:6. From all this it can be seen what is signified by the eyes of the disciples being opened, and their knowing the Lord, when He broke the bread and gave it to them (Luke 24:29-31); for “breaking the bread and giving it to them” in the spiritual world signifies to instruct in the good and truth of faith, and by this means, the Lord appears. It can also be seen what is signified by the bread and wine, and by eating and drinking, in the Holy Supper….

TCR 777:2. …The Lord is now to appear in the Word. He is not to appear in Person, because since He ascended into heaven He is in His glorified Human, and in this He cannot appear to any man unless the eyes of his spirit are first opened; and this cannot be done in anyone who is in evils and consequent falsities, thus not in any of the goats whom He sets on His left hand. Therefore when He showed Himself to His disciples, He first opened their eyes, for it is written:

And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight (Luke 24:31).
Questions and Comments
  1. In the sense of the letter, in Hosea, “Out of Egypt I have called My son” is about Jehovah rescuing the nation of Israel from Egypt. But Matthew 2:15 shows that it has a deeper meaning, about Jesus being called out of Egypt as a Child. Probably these are the kinds of inner meanings Jesus pointed out to the disciples. Arcana Coelestia shows even deeper levels of meaning, about the states the Lord went through as He was growing up and being educated.
  2. What would it have been like for those disciples to have their eyes opened, and then the Lord became invisible? But now they could really see who He was, so perhaps they did not need the physical image as much anymore.
  3. Can you think of an example of a person not really seeing or understanding till their love became stronger or more affirmative?
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