I Have Not Yet Ascended

John 20:8-17 – Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Luke 24:46-47 – He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

John 16:8-12,14 – When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.  “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear… He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.

Mark 3:35 – Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

John 1:12-13,18 – Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God…No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Application:

• ·         First the disciples came to know of the resurrection through what they saw in the tomb; only later did they see it in Scripture.
• ·         The Old Testament depicts the Messiah as one who would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.
• ·         “Because I am going to the Father” was the ascension, which as part of Christ’s exaltation placed God’s seal of approval on Christ’s redemptive act.
• ·         To live out Christ’s teaching requires the enabling presence of the Spirit.
• ·         The Spirit draws no attention to Himself but promotes the glory of Christ.
• ·         Membership in God’s spiritual family, evidenced by obedience to Him, is more important than membership in our human families.
• ·         Membership in God’s family is by grace alone—the gift of God.
• ·         “The one and only Son, who is Himself God” is an explicit declaration of Christ’s deity.
• ·         Although believers are also called “sons” of God, Jesus is God’s Son in a unique sense.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV