4/19/26 “Verified. Clarified. Fortified. Glorified”
“Verified. Clarified. Fortified. Glorified.”
Luke 24:36-53
A couple of weeks ago on election day, Lisa and I made our way down to the Baraboo Civic Center to cast our vote.
We were new to this particular polling place.... and quickly realized that we needed to register with the city of Baraboo before we were given the ability to cast a ballot...
...So, we followed a polling volunteer over to a registration table where a man was happy to help us out....
The first thing he needed to see was our Identification.
This was Step 1 of the process...
He needed to VERIFY that we were – indeed – who we said we were.
So, each of us pulled out a Driver’s license...
....He carefully looked them over to see if the information they contained matched the information that we gave him.
After tapping some keys on his computer, he printed a form for each of us to sign.
This was step 2.
This document was a CLARIFICATION of our identity....
.....and an explanation of our rights and privileges regarding the voting process
So...like most forms....we both skipped to the bottom....signed our names....and quickly turned the forms back into the attendant.
Not sure about Lisa....but I didn’t read a single sentence on the form.
I know...I should always read something before I sign it, right?
For all I know, I could now be the proud owner of a Chik-fil-a franchise on the moon.
...or maybe I signed away one of my kidneys to someone in China....
...If two guys in dark suits show up at my door with a jigsaw...I’m gettin’ out of Dodge! 😊
...And on my way out I’ll be yelling to Lisa “There’s somebody here to see you!”
No.....but I really gotta start reading those things.
So....After we signed the mystery form, we were both given a ballot to go cast our vote.
This was step 3.
By being handed a ballot, we were given the power to proceed with our objective for the day...the act of casting a ballot.
Another way to put it would be that we were FORTIFIED with the ability to accomplish something that we previously were unable to do.
We were invigorated...we were strengthened with a tool that we earlier did not have.
Finally, we placed our ballets in a machine that slurped them up so fast you’d think it was eating a slice of Lisa’s homemade lasagna.....It was really impressive!
This was Step 4.
Our ballets were ushered away from us in GLORIOUS fashion....
Taken to a realm that we were not able to see....a realm that remained hidden from our sight...
Well....our passage of scripture for today also has these four elements of Verification, Clarification, Fortification, and Glorification.
But – rather than dealing with the process of voting – it deals with the process of how Jesus goes about departing from the world that he’d been a part of for the past 33 years...
If you recall, Jesus had just spent some time with two of His followers on the road to Emmaus...
Last week’s passage ends with Cleopas and the other man rushing back to Jerusalem to tell the 11 remaining disciples what they had experienced – how they had seen Jesus!
This brings us to verse 36 (Luke 24:36) of today’s passage, “While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’
Those of you who grew up in the Catholic tradition just recited in your minds ‘...and also with you’....right?
This was a common Jewish greeting in biblical times....
The translation ‘Peace be with you’ comes from the Hebrew phrase ‘Shalom aleichem’....literally meaning ‘Peace Unto You’
...It was a way of saying “Good tidings to you, my friend”
...Sort of like hearing ‘Aloha’ when you’re in Hawaii
Verse 37 (Luke 24:37) continues, “They (The Disciples) were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.”
So, here the disciples...along with a few others...are discussing the strange events that have already taken place that day and...Shazzam!....Jesus is suddenly in the room with them.
The disciples begin to freak out!....they were scared!
But what frightened the disciples had nothing to do with Jesus’ appearance...
....we know from other biblical accounts that Jesus’ appeared to look like any other man after His resurrection...
Remember....The boys on the road to Emmaus thought he was just another traveler...
Mary.....she mistook Him for the gardener while outside the tomb...
He didn’t appear as glowing....or full of lightning as the angels in the tomb were described...
So....why were the disciples so afriad?
Well...for one....even though rumors were swirling that Jesus was alive....
...actually seeing a person who was verifiably dead the day before....suddenly show up at your get-together and start eating a filet - O - fish-sandwich would – indeed – be a bit shocking.
...and - not only that – but the door to the room where the disciples were meeting was locked.
John’s account of this same event says this, “On the evening of that first day of the week (Sunday) when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’”
Did you catch what the middle of that verse said?.....’With the doors locked’
Jesus doesn’t enter the room through the doorway....he doesn’t come down from the roof....He doesn’t hop through a window...
He just materializes in front of them.
So....when I was a kid....this story was so inspiring.
Not so much because Jesus was now alive (which should have been the reason)...but because it means that a resurrected body can walk through walls!
....or just materialize out of nowhere.
For 7-year-old Andy...That was simply the Bomb !
I couldn’t wait to get a resurrected body...
Being a little Trekkie....this was even better than the transporter room....I wouldn’t even need Scotty to beam me up or down!
Well....I still get excited about the fascinating characteristics of Jesus’ resurrected body...
....but even more fascinating – and much more inspiring - is the fact that these verses tell us how Jesus is now alive – after being certifiably dead for 35 or 40 hours.
...He is Risen!
...As we sang this morning: “Death could not hold you, the veil tore before you, you silenced the boast of sin and grave, The heavens are roaring the praise of your glory, For you are raised to life again.”
The Risen savior, Jesus Christ....
THIS is what we all ought to be inspired by, Amen?
If Jesus had not rose from the grave, it would have meant that His atoning sacrifice did not satisfy the penalty of our sin...and we would all be forever dead in our trespasses....
It is the reality of a physically-resurrected Jesus Christ that not only inspires us...but it gives us hope.
On Thursday I met with Karen and her family as her mother slept quietly in her hospital bed....
....it’s during those difficult moments when the good news of the resurrected Jesus Christ becomes real...it becomes essential....we cling to the hope of the gospel....
...A confident, expectant, hope.
A hope that – According to Romans 5 - does not disappoint.
A hope that is rooted in the one and only name that can save you....Jesus.
Not Mohammad, not the Dalai lama, not the Pope, not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama, not Billy Graham, not Martin Luther, not John Calvin, not St. Peter, not the apostle Paul, not the virgin Mary, not the band Peter, Paul, and Mary
....not John the Baptist, not Moses, not Abraham, not Tim Tebow, not Mother Teresa, not Charlie Kirk, not Jim Kirk, not James Bond, not James Taylor, not LeBron James, not Michael Jordan, not Chat GPT.....
.....not even TAYLOR SWIFT can save you!!!
(Swifties would Gasp at that statement....did he just say that?)
Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
THIS is why we are filled with such joy – and hope – to see Jesus join the party here in today’s passage.
The disciples are scared speechless to see him....they think he’s a ghost
...some translations say ‘a Spirit’
Jesus says in verse 39 (Luke 24:39) “Look at my hands and feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
This was step 1 in the process of a 40-day-long period of bidding farewell to his followers...
VERIFICATION
Jesus is allowing the disciples to verify - by his crucifixion wounds - that he is indeed their teacher...their master...their Rabbi.
The verification continues when he asks them for something to eat....they give him a piece of fish...and he eats it in their presence...
This is no apparition in their midst – it really is Jesus....but in a transformed, resurrected body that seems to be able to conform to any physical or spiritual reality.
Verses 44-48 deal with step #2 - CLARIFICATION
Just as he did with the 2 men on the road to Emmaus – he now does in the midst of everyone in the upper room.
Jesus clarifies what the Old Testament says about him...
How The Law of Moses (The Torah) points to Him
How The Old Testament Prophetic books of the Bible point to Him
How many of the Psalms are Messianic in nature...pointing to Jesus.
It’s as if the disciples had the pieces of the puzzle all along, but needed Jesus to show them how all the pieces fit together...
This was Clarification of Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah.
Step 3 – FORTIFICATION
Verse 49 (Luke 24:49) says, “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.”
Jesus is telling his followers that they will soon be given protection – and power – from someone else originating from the heavenly realms...
Looking back, we understand that Jesus was referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit....at what is referred to as ‘Pentecost’.
This amazing event is detailed in the second chapter of Acts....
10 days after Jesus ascends back to heaven, his followers – who are gathered together - suddenly experience a rushing wind, tongues of fire touching them (but not burning them)
....and they’re given the ability to speak in foreign languages unknown to the speakers – but known to some from around the region who were still in town from Passover...
This was – in effect – the birth of the Church of Jesus Christ....
As a corporate body of believers, we are celebrating 150 years here in 2026..
...but in reality, our congregational ‘Birthday’ goes back 2,000 years...
Back to the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the scene...
...and He would begin to indwell the hearts of all who genuinely come to the savior in faith and repentance....calling upon the name of Jesus for salvation...
....and going on to live in humble obedience and servitude to Him.
The Holy Spirit fortifies our lives as we live out the Christian faith...
He provides us with the weapons of spiritual warfare that we need in order to stand our ground against the schemes of the Devil and his demonic order of fallen angels....
The apostle Paul reminds us – through the fortification of the Holy Spirit – to put on the full armor of God as we do battle against these spiritual entities of evil.
He writes in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Thank God we have the Holy Spirit within us – who provides a Fortification of power against such entities...
And – according to John the apostle - “....The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
Praise God....Amen?
Lastly, verse 50-53 of this morning’s passage describe Jesus as he ascended in Glory back to His heavenly dwelling from whence He originally came....
Like that election ballot being incorporated into the machine....Luke describes Jesus in verse 51 (Luke 24:51) as simply being “Taken up into Heaven” right before their very eyes...
Luke – the author of the book of Acts – elaborates on the ascension of Jesus in chapter one of that book when he writes “....he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” (Acts 1:9)
Such an understated description of such an incredible event...
Jesus....Gloriously going up from the earth....into the heavens....into another dimension.
One would think that Luke would use a few more superlatives, right?
...A few more adjectives of amazement to describe the end of the chapter of the life of the Son of God – the 2nd member of the eternal Godhead – leaving what had been his home in the flesh for the past 33 years...
But Luke describes the event simply as what it is.....Jesus was going home.
....And its a preview of how we – as his followers – will someday go home to heaven as well....
There is Glory in this process of going home to be with our savior in heaven.
Glorification is defined as being the final transformation of the believer...
Those who are in Christ are in a continual process of being transformed into looking more and more like our savior in terms of our thoughts, actions, and speech....
This is called the process of ‘sanctification’
...and the final step of that sanctifying process happens after we pass through that doorway of death....and enter into the presence of our Lord.
That moment when we shed these sinful bodies in exchange for our sinless, resurrected bodies....that is called ‘Glorification’
I don’t know about you...but I’m really looking forward to Glorification.
I’m really looking forward to being able to shed this filthy flesh....and the heavy & cumbersome spiritual armor that is so vital for our survival here on earth...
I’m really looking forward to a place where the arrows of temptation and sin are no longer aimed in my direction...
A place where almighty God is praised for eternity through the will and actions of his created order...
I’m looking forward to that day....and I know many of you are as well.
This is Glorification...the final step in our ultimate development...the final stage in our eternal identity...the final frontier of our being.
In conclusion....Your life is like an election ballot.
You have a choice to make.
You can align yourself with the spiritual candidate who will bring you pain, agony, anxiety, stress, tears, bloodshed, broken relationships, and – ultimately – spiritual death.
Or....
You can align yourself with the spiritual candidate who will bring you love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, hope, harmony, faith, purpose, and – ultimately – eternal life.
Choose wisely before you can no longer make any changes on the ballot of your life.
Choose Jesus Christ.
He will never let you down....and that is a spiritual campaign promise that will prove to be true for all eternity !
Let’s Pray.
