When Jesus rose from the dead after the crucifixion, he visited several people. Two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus.

As followers of Jesus, these disciples were reflecting on everything that had happened recently: the healings he performed, his trial before Pontius Pilate, the tragedy that had occurred at the cross, and of course, his missing body and the report from the women who had said he had risen from the dead. Unsure what to make of it all and where to put their hope, they began the seven-mile trek from Jerusalem.

On the journey, they crossed paths with a third man who walked alongside them and inserted himself into their conversation:

“What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?”

They stood still, with sad faces. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have been happening there these last few days?”

“What things?” he asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free!” (Luke 24:17–21 GNT).

What these Jesus followers failed to see was that this third man was actually Jesus himself. He stood face to face with them, walked alongside them from Jerusalem to Emmaus, talked with them intently—and they still couldn’t recognize their risen Savior with their physical or spiritual eyes.

A Savior Who Reveals Himself

Have you ever experienced something like this?

Maybe you’re a long-time believer and the fundamental rhythms of faith (Bible reading, prayer, corporate worship) have grown stale. You may even feel like you’re not consciously experiencing Christ. Or maybe you’re exploring the Christian faith for the first time, and all these Bible stories have you more confused than enlightened. Either way, you’re not alone.

There is a big difference between reading or talking about Jesus and actually encountering him—recognizing his voice, knowing his heart, and calling him Lord.

Like the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, we are powerless to open our own eyes. We are at the mercy of a good God who wants to fellowship with us, and we need him to intervene for our eyes to be opened and our hearts to be transformed:

Then Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?” And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets.

As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther; but they held him back, saying, “Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark.” So he went in to stay with them. He sat down to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, “Wasn’t it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:25–32, GNT).

The disciples knew the prophecies and promises about the Messiah from Scripture. They had heard personal stories from their community of redemption, healing, and the resurrection. Yet these stories and the Scriptures that foretold all of it were still insufficient on their own (John 5:39-40).

Their hearts burned because God was at work within them. The Author himself was now opening the Scriptures up before their eyes and revealing himself to them. The scales were falling away, their vision was coming into focus, and these disciples were moving from simply reading Scripture and talking about Jesus to having a real, life-changing encounter with him.

An Encounter We Can Have through Scripture

At American Bible Society, we uphold Scripture as a treasure worthy of profound honor and respect. On its pages, we discover a text unlike any other—one that is divinely inspired and carries the weight of divine authority. But we also acknowledge that the Bible itself does not comfort, convict, or save us; God does this, often using the content of Scripture. The Bible is not an end in itself. It’s a means to an encounter with the life-changing Word of God: Jesus!

So how can you know if you’re just going through the motions of religion versus encountering Jesus Christ?

There is no perfect formula you can follow, or a magic genie lamp we can rub, but there is a role we all play in our own encounter story—the humble seeking of the presence of our Heavenly Father.

When we read Scripture as information, we move our eyes across the page, learn facts, commands, and stories. Though our minds are engaged, our hearts are distant. When we read Scripture as a means to encounter God, we’re not just seeking information; we’re humbly asking the God of the universe to speak to us and transform us from the inside out. That desire to truly know God—not just about him—and to be like him is integral to a personal relationship with him. When we seek a relationship over information, the Spirit uses the Word to search, comfort, correct, and reorient us. And most importantly, when we experience God in this way, we respond—through faith, repentance, worship, and obedience.

A true encounter is more than knowledge gained; it’s where our hope is, where joy abounds, where peace and comfort take hold. We were created to know and experience God personally. And God has given us his Son—the living Word—so that this relationship we long for is possible.

Five Steps You Can Take to Humbly Seek God More

Below are five steps you can take today if you want to journey closer to Christ this week. We also invite you to meditate on the accompanying Bible verses as you pursue a deep encounter with your Creator!

1. Pray and ask God if there is anything in your life that is preventing you from seeing him—unaddressed sin, disobedience, distraction, whatever it may be. Ask God to reveal it to you.

Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way. —Psalm 139:23–24 (GNT)

2. Get to a place where you can encounter him. In our fast-paced, digital age, one of the biggest barriers to a life-changing relationship with Jesus is noise. Find a quiet place, put your phone away, and limit all other distractions.

There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat. So he said to them, “Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest a while.” So they started out in a boat by themselves to a lonely place. —Mark 6:31–33 (GNT)

3. Open your Bible. Often, we want God to shout from the rooftops or send us a sign, but the reality is that God has already spoken to you through his Word. He promises to meet you in it.

Everything written in the Scriptures was written to teach us, in order that we might have hope through the patience and encouragement which the Scriptures give us. —Romans 15:4(GNT)

4. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to you. Our God is a self-revealing God—we need him to intervene if we’re going to experience him.

When, however, the Spirit comes, who reveals the truth about God, he will lead you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own authority, but he will speak of what he hears and will tell you of things to come. He will give me glory, because he will take what I say and tell it to you. All that my Father has is mine; that is why I said that the Spirit will take what I give him and tell it to you.
—John 16:13–14 (GNT)

5. Sit with him and his Word until you encounter him. Don’t be in a hurry to finish up or rush out; take a deep breath, keep reading, wait for him to speak to you. He promises that if we seek him, we will find him.

You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart. —Jeremiah 29:13 (GNT)

Our Mission

At American Bible Society, we believe everyone should have the opportunity to know and experience God personally. That’s why all the work we do revolves around one goal: to help people encounter the life-changing Word of God by making the Bible accessible to all.

From translation and distribution projects to Bible-based healing programs and resources, we’re looking to connect people to Jesus in a personal way through his written Word, so that they are not only informed, but actually changed.

You can learn more about our work and ways to get involved at https://www.americanbible.org/the-mission/.