Luke 24:25 Commentary and Bible Study

The Lord’s rebuke of their unbelief is resolute and uncompromising, although surely he said it gently. He explains to them that all that has happened in Jerusalem is just as it was foretold in the word of God, so they shouldn't be surprised. These are the first words he has spoken which comment on their response to these events, and he opens by calling them fools: ‘O fools, and slow of heart to believe.’ Would that have offended them? Not at all. They soon saw that the one who was speaking to them spoke with absolute assurance that what he said was true, and he had a profound understanding of all that had occurred. If the word ‘fool’ jarred with them, they soon swallowed their discomfort as they realised how welcome this rebuke was. When they heard what he said they agreed they were fools to have seen things as they did. Furthermore, they were slow of heart. Right back from the first book of the Bible it is predicted that a Messiah would come, a Saviour, and that he would suffer. The Jews of old rightly interpreted that great statement in Genesis 3:15 which says that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent, that is the devil, and the serpent would bruise the heel of the woman's seed. That means that there would be a descendant in the course of history, a great descendant would come, somebody born into the human race, who would bruise or crush the devil's head, and the devil for his part would be able to bruise his heel. The Jews rightly interpreted this to mean that God would send a Saviour who would end the power of the devil and deliver the human race from their sin, and in the process he himself would suffer great hurt. Now that is one of the more mysterious of the prophecies, right back in the beginning of the Bible, but they become more explicit, more clear, and they tumble over themselves in profusion. Jesus himself had said to the disciples, ‘The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: ²³ And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry (Matthew 17:22-23). ’ Why would they be sorry? Because at the time they understood it, but they had forgotten it. Even the disciples who had been with the Lord did not really understand what he was doing. They loved him, they admired him, they were amazed at him and his power, they knew he was the Lord from heaven, and yet they didn't understand what he had come for, or why he allowed himself to be arrested in apparent weakness and to suffer and die. They didn't understand any of this because these are spiritual things.