Jesus is with us in the journey, not just the destination.
In Jesus’ days, Emmaus was a very strategic place. It was a layover/refreshing stop for people traveling from Jerusalem to Jaffa.
Emmaus was the place where Yeshua appeared to His disciples when they were on the road.
With so many lessons to learn about Emmaus, first being it’s location.
It’s located at the very end of Judean Hills, right where Ayalon Valley starts. It’s geographical importance was in that whomever controlled the town of Emmaus controlled the road to and from Jerusalem.
When you walk across the land of Israel, along the very same places and paths where so much of the biblical events took place, you truly start feeling a deeper connection to the Bible, seeing it all come to life before your very eyes.
Luke 24:13-16 — “Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.”
As the disciples were making their way from Jerusalem via Emmaus, they left everything that happened in Jerusalem behind them and were heading to Jaffa, with the plan being to spend the night in Emmaus.
Can you imagine? As they are walking, Jesus joins them, and they don’t recognize Him!
Oftentimes, when we’re on the road or on our way somewhere, our minds are occupied with thoughts and plans for the journey ahead. We’re focused so much on the journey, that sometimes we will fail to recognize Jesus walking alongside us this whole time.
When I think about my own life, the different moments I’ve lived, challenges I’ve faced and roads I’ve taken, looking back I can genuinely say Jesus was walking with me.
His Spirit is ever present and is always walking alongside us.
Sometimes you will be on a journey, focused on the destination, absorbed in your own thoughts and plans, but know that even if don’t recognize Yeshua’s presence, He is there, walking that road by your side. Only looking back through what you’ve been through, the journeys you’ve made, you can genuinely say: “Yes. Jesus was with me through it all.”
Once you recognize Yeshua’s presence through the roads and paths you take in life, you will not only be focused on the destination, but you will learn to enjoy the process of getting there, knowing He is the one who is walking alongside you throughout this journey you’re on.
Beit Hallel is a Messianic Jewish congregation in Ashdod, led by pastor Israel Pochtar, serving holocaust survivors and the poor and needy locally and throughout the nation of Israel, while building up the body of Messiah in the promised land of Israel.