James Carter Facebook ad: “Read This If You Read the Bible”

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After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to two of His followers on a road outside Jerusalem. He walked with them for 7 miles. They didn't recognize Him. And during those 7 miles, He did something that most Christians have never fully considered. He opened the Old Testament, starting from Genesis, moving through every prophet, and explained how all of it pointed to Him. The Author of the book walked two readers through it. On a dirt road. In real time. And they'd been reading those same texts their entire lives without seeing what was in them. Luke 24 isn't just a resurrection appearance. It's the most important Bible study ever given. And it reveals exactly what most Christians are missing when they open the same book today. Here's what happened. Two disciples are walking from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus, about 7 miles. It's the same day as the resurrection, but they don't know yet. Not really. They've heard the rumors. Some women went to the tomb and found it empty. Angels spoke. But the text says four words that stop everything: "Him they did not see." They have the facts. All of them. The life. The teaching. The miracles. The arrest, the trial, the crucifixion. They even know the tomb is empty. And none of it has clicked. They're walking away from Jerusalem discussing everything that happened, and a stranger falls into step beside them. Luke 24:16 says they were kept from recognizing Him. He asks what they're talking about. They stop. Their faces fall. "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" They tell Him everything. Jesus of Nazareth. A prophet. Powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. Handed over by the chief priests. Condemned to death. Crucified. Then they say the most devastating sentence in the entire passage. "We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel." Had hoped. Past tense. Their hope died on Friday. They're walking away from the city because there's nothing left to walk toward. They're two people carrying the most complete set of facts in human history, and they can't see what any of it means. Now watch what Jesus does. He doesn't reveal Himself. He doesn't say "it's me." He doesn't show them His hands or His feet. He opens the Scriptures. Luke 24:25-27. "How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And then one of the most extraordinary sentences in the entire Bible. "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." Beginning with Moses. That's Genesis. All the Prophets. That's Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the 12 minor prophets. All the Scriptures. Every section of the Hebrew Bible. He started at the first page and walked them through the entire Old Testament, showing them, passage by passage, prophet by prophet, how every story and every promise had been pointing to Him the entire time. This wasn't a sermon. It wasn't a Sunday school class. It was the Author of the book walking two readers through His own story, in person, on a dirt road, explaining what they'd been reading their whole lives without ever seeing. The first complete Bible study in history. Given by God Himself. To two people who had all the right texts and none of the right context. Now watch what happens when they arrive at the village. They reach Emmaus. Jesus acts as though He'll keep walking. They urge Him to stay. "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening." He sits at the table. He takes bread. He gives thanks. He breaks it. He hands it to them. Luke 24:31. "Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight." The breaking of the bread. The same action as the Last Supper. The same hands. The same gesture He'd already given them as a memorial three days earlier. And the moment the bread broke, they saw Him. Then He vanished. He didn't stay to be studied. He didn't remain to be questioned. He gave them the Scriptures on the road and revealed Himself at the table. Then He was gone, leaving them with the opened Word and the broken bread. And then they said the line that has echoed through 20 centuries. Luke 24:32. "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" Burning. Not from fire. Not from pain. From recognition. The feeling of suddenly seeing what had always been there. The roots connecting. The stories locking into place. The Old Testament becoming a single story they'd never fully seen, even though they'd been reading it their entire lives. They didn't recognize Jesus with their eyes. They recognized the feeling of having the Scriptures opened. And that feeling burned. The Emmaus road was never just a resurrection appearance. It was a picture of what happens when someone who's read the Bible their entire life is finally given the roots, and everything they thought they knew becomes something they've never actually encountered before. That's exactly what happened to a man named Robert three years ago. Robert had been a churchgoer for 25 years. He knew the stories. He could retell Moses and David and Elijah and Daniel. He'd read the New Testament more than once. He sat in my office one afternoon and said something I've heard dozens of times since. "Pastor, I know the stories. I can name the characters. But I've never seen how they connect. It feels like a collection of disconnected chapters. I read Genesis and then I read Matthew and I can't tell you why they're in the same book." I opened to Luke 24:27 and read it to him. "Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." "Robert, that's what you're missing. Not the stories. The thread. Jesus walked two people through the entire Old Testament and showed them that every page was about Him. They had the same texts you have. They just didn't have the context." He couldn't see it. And that wasn't his fault. Nobody had ever given him the roots. The next morning I started writing. And I quickly realized this was bigger than me. So I reached out to a group of Bible teachers and pastors I've trusted for years, people who've spent their lives teaching Scripture in plain language. Together, we started with Genesis. Everything someone needs to know before they read each book. Who wrote it. When. Why. What was happening. The main themes. How it connects to the larger story. Not a commentary. Not a devotional. Just the roots. Every page was written, checked, and rewritten by multiple teachers until my teenage son could read it and understand it fully on his own. 66 pages. One page per book. Three months of combined decades of study distilled into plain language any believer could use on their own. No pastor required. Did you know the Ethiopian official in Acts 8 was sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah 53 out loud when Philip ran alongside and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" The man answered, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" Philip explained that Isaiah was describing Jesus. The man believed and was baptized on the spot. Same road. Same problem. Someone reading the right text without the right context, until someone walked them through it. Did you know Jesus told the Pharisees in John 5:39, "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me"? The most educated Bible readers in Israel were studying the text every single day and missing the person it was about. Reading the Bible without seeing its thread has always been the default setting. It takes someone opening the Scriptures for the burning to begin. Context changes everything. Every single time. I call it Faith Label. The 66 Roots Journey. 66 pages. One for every book of the Bible. Each page gives you what you need before you read. Who wrote it. When. Why. What was happening. The key themes. The symbolism. And how it connects to your life today. Written in plain language. No seminary terms. No complicated theology. Just the roots that make everything you've already read suddenly land with the full weight God intended. On a dirt road outside Jerusalem, the Author of the book walked two readers through His own story. He started at Genesis. He moved through every prophet. And by the time He broke bread at the table, their hearts were burning. They'd been reading the Scriptures their entire lives. They'd never seen what was in them. Until someone opened it for them. If that's ever been you, if you've read the Bible and known the stories but never seen the thread that runs from Genesis to Revelation, this is what the Emmaus road was about. And this is what you've been looking for. Get closer to God by actually understanding His Word. Not just the individual stories. The whole story. The thread underneath every page. That's what The 66 Roots Journey was built for. And you can start yours today. I'll link it right down below. God bless you and your journey through His Word. 🤍

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Read This If You Read the Bible ☝️

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