John 20:15b
"…supposing him to be the gardener, (which means He looked perfectly normal, not like anything bizarre at all) saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away."
I will give Him the proper burial and all the ceremonial ritual of the spices and herbs and so forth is implied here. Now Jesus speaks in verse 16.
John 20:16a
"Jesus saith unto her, Mary…."
Glenda and I know that when we’re in strange places people recognize our voices far before they’ll recognize our facial appearance. I’ve given this example before. You can be in the kitchen and if your television is in the den or living room completely out of sight and if you hear a movie with someone that was maybe a great star thirty or forty years ago, you’ll recognize the voice long before you will the picture. I know I do. I can recognize a voice just immediately. Well, I think it’s typical of everybody. Well it’s the same way here. She didn’t recognize anything about Him from His physical appearance but the minute He spoke; it was voice recognition. And that’s all He had to say, "Mary," do you see it?
John 20:16b
"…She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master." Can’t you just hear the excitement in that? These people are human! Just as human as we are and to suddenly realize that this was Jesus standing there in front of her alive and normal looking! No wonder she was shocked. Remember that His appearance was so marred that His was not recognizable while He hung on that cross just as Isaiah had said and is recorded in 52:14. And now look what she does.
John 20:17a
"Jesus saith unto her, 'Touch me not:…’"
Again, we’ve got to read between the lines once in a while and you won’t do any violence to Scripture by doing it. What was the custom even back then when you saw somebody that you hadn’t seen in a while or you were just suddenly engrossed in who they are? Well, you hug them! we all do. My, I see a lot of people and I’ve always said, I’m not a born huger, but I see some of the rest of you and, my, you can hug! Well, listen, they were no different. So what’s she ready to do? She’s ready to give Him a bear-hug. To think that He’s alive and well and normal! But what does Jesus do? He stops her short and he says: "Touch me not." Mary, don’t you hug me. Why?
John 20:17b-19
"…for I am not yet ascended to my Father: (now He’s not talking about Acts chapter 1, He’s talking about an immediate ascension right here, the taking of the captives up into heaven and the heavenliest place, the holiest of all places those whom He cleanses with His blood [Ephesians 1:10, Colossians 1:20, Philippians 2:10]) but go to my brethren, (the eleven) and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.' Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. Then the same day at evening,(the first day of the week at evening) being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you."
Now where was He those eight or ten hours? He took His Blood and cleansed the Holiest and the captives or Abraham’s bosom to Heaven. In Glory! Plain as day. Alright now let’s come back to Hebrews once again and maybe this will all fall in place. Back to Hebrews chapter 9 verses 11 and 12 again:
Hebrews 9:11-12a
"But Christ (Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified, now resurrected) being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, (in other words, this glorious tabernacle in the heavenliest) Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place,…"
He does not enter once a year, but rather, once for all Eternity He entered into the holy place, that is in heaven. Not the one behind the veil as it was on earth, but he entered into the very Holy of Holiest in the Heavenlies, into the very presence of the merciful, gracious God, not with the blood of bulls and calves but with His own Blood.
Now what does He do? When He leaves off speaking with Mary, He took His Blood that was shed on the Cross - He literally took His own Blood and being the God that He is, that is no problem for Him to recapture some of that Blood that had fallen. He takes that Blood and He takes it right up into the Throne Room of Heaven and presents it as the full atoning Blood now, of the Cross, which was far above the animal’s blood because in it is the power of an Endless Life. It was the Blood offering that all of humanity had been waiting 4,000 years for, from Adam, and now till Christ and it finally happens. The promise that had been revealed to them became a reality for them because they trusted the vision, as the everlasting, along with the words spoken to them but were unable to reveal themselves. How do we know this to be fact, let's turn to 1 Peter and chapter 3 to get our answer:
1Peter 3:14-21 "But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
And now, He has totally removed the veil and we no longer have to go through all of those rituals. Now every believer has full access, without apology, into that Throne Room of heaven. Why? Because the divine Blood of Christ has now been placed on the Mercy Seat forever and ever. Alright verses 13 and 14:
Hebrews 9:13-14
"For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"
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