Being Glorified

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

BEING GLORIFIED 

Luke 24:33-53

33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. 36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."  37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."  40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?"  42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. 44 He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."  45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."  50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

NIV

We have come to the end of the record Luke has given us of the birth, life, death, resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the bread of life, the light of the world, and our Savior. There are several areas within this last narrative we need to focus on, and it might take us a few days to touch on each one. First, we see that Jesus simply shows up. Luke does not tell us that he walked into the room, but that he stood among them. He is the resurrected Jesus, in his glorified body, although he is also flesh and bones. When he broke that bread with the two disciples he met on the road to Emmaus while they were at the table with him, he vanished from their sight. In His gloried state, he can move from place to place anytime at His will. Showing up even in a locked room, as the other gospel writer tells us he did just for Thomas. His greeting was a common one among the Jews, “Peace be with you”. This word is the same one he told them his peace he gives them, not as the world gives, but his peace. This word is much like the Hebrew word, Shalom. But the point we want to focus on is this glorified state Jesus was in after his resurrection. We know that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can the perishable inherit imperishable, but we will be changed. When resurrected, we will have a glorified body, like Jesus. We can eat and drink, as Jesus ate the broiled fish in their presence. We are not going to become a spirit, floating around in the heavens, for we will be living in that new city of Jerusalem on the new earth, a whole new creation, a paradise like, but even better than the Garden of Eden God put the first man in so that He could walk and talk with his man that he formed in his own image. Oh, the glory of it, when we are resurrected and able to move freely from one place to another within the universe, but we will have our residence in the place Jesus prepared for us so that we will be living in that city, and He will once again walk and talk with us, his people whom He formed in his image. But until He comes for us, we still are able to walk with Him and talk with Him as he tells us we are His own and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has never known. Yet, the fact remains, we will be glorified.