The other example I would like to bring up is in John 20 which talks about His resurrection. Starting at John 20:1-2 on the day of His resurrection, Mary wakes up early in the morning to go find Jesus, but doesn't find Him, so she has to go wake up the Lord's disciples up to tell them that He is gone. By John 20:8-10, the disciples see the tomb and believed, and went back home... Probably to go back to sleep... However, Mary was still not satisfied, she wanted to see Him!! Even angels appeared to her while she was weeping (John 20:13), but that still was not enough! (I probably would have been convinced by then if two angels appeared to me, but not Mary.) In John 20:14, Jesus appears finally appears to her. When she realizes that it is Jesus, she probably jumped up with joy and was probably about to go hug Him, BUT Jesus tell her in John 20:17, "Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father."
Okay, so here is the CRAZY part. In John 20:27-28, Thomas actually touched Jesus. This means that He had already ascended to the Father! But wait, in Acts 1:9-11, Christ ascends in front of everyone. What does this mean!? This means that the day that Christ resurrected, He had a secret ascension to the Father, If it were not for Mary's love for Him, He probably would have ascended to the Father without any of us knowing!! Is this not crazy!? Just consider this for a little bit! Because of Mary's love for Jesus, as Jesus was ascending to the Father, He had to take a little detour before He ascended and revealed Himself to her!
So to rap everything up, here are a couple of verses talking about loving the Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 2:9 it says, "But it is written, 'Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man's heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'" Wow! What an awesome verse! Also, Ephesians, 1:17-18, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him,/ The eyes of your heart having been enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling." Where are these eyes ? and what are these eyes for? Think about it.
haha wow! I never saw that point about Christ ascending to the Father before Acts 1:9. And I have always been so encouraged by how much Mary loved the Lord. May we have the same desperate love for Him! :)
ReplyDeletevery interesting when you get into this portion of the Word - you will realize that the Lord rewards His loving seekers(those who not just generally know Him but ardently pursue Him and want to touch Him personally) with His presence in a secret way! How I want to be such a seeker! Lord, make me like Mary, who just wants to linger in Your presence, listening to Your words!
ReplyDeleteIndeed! And as it says in 1 John we are to love Him by keeping His commandments. I know this is kind of random but the mission of your blog fits with our conference in Arlington...spread the Gospel! Michael Rood is hosting a conference to debut the completion of his massive project, The Chronological Gospels. Would you mind helping spread the word? Thank you very much! Here are all the details: http://aroodawakening.tv/the-chronological-gospels-conference/
ReplyDeleteGrace and peace,
+Greg