It's About The Love of the FATHER (Not Husband, Friend, or Neighbor)

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15)

I have been learning to see Jesus, the beautiful Son of God, as my husband, too.

And yes, we are married to Christ. The Holy Spirit has joined us and made us one with Him.

Yet we will still struggle in our flesh, we will still look at the world as though it can supply whatever we need if we neglect the love that is truly needed in us.

John did not write about "The love of the Husband", or "The Love of the Lover."

He wrote about "the love of the Father".

Jesus came to reveal that name above all other names to us.

"Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (John 20:17)

What is the difference between the Love of the Father, and not the Love of Jesus as Husband, Lover, etc.?

First of all, it was God the Father's love for us that sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us and to live through us:

"9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10)

And of course:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

It's the Love of the Father which made all other things come to pass. It was God the FATHER's idea to send His Son to die for us, to rise again on our behalf, and to live through us.

We have been adopted, brought into new standing before God!

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8:15)

and also

"6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." (Galatians 4:6-7)

It's all about the Spirit of Sonship. God sent His Son, so that we could be His sons, too!

"12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" (John 1:12)

Yes, Christ is our brother, and He is also our husband.

Yet the love that delivers us from the love of the world is the love of the FATHER!

Why Christ Jesus Told Mary "Don't Touch Me" at The Tomb

"Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (John 20:17)

"Don't touch, for
I have not yet ascended to my father."

When I was in high school, I approached one of the elders in my local church about this passage. Mary recognized Jesus as soon as He said her name.

She called Him "Rabboni", which means "my teacher". It was personal!

The elder shared with me that Jesus did not want to interrupt her lack of faith.

Later on, Jesus would reveal Himself to the eleven remaining disciples, and even invited Thomas to touch His wounds so that He would believe on Him.

But really, though, why did Jesus tell Mary not to touch Him?

It has to do with His next work to fulfill in His death on the Cross. Note that Jesus told Mary "I have not yet ascended to my Father."

Jesus was not talking about His first Ascension are recorded in the Book of Acts.

This ascension had to do with His new role as our High Priest Forever!

"11But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14How 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?" (Hebrews 9:11-14)

And then

"23It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:" (Hebrews 9:23-24)

Jesus completed the full minister as our Great High Priest.

When Mary had arrived at the tomb, Jesus had not yet ascended to complete the work!

And a High Priest must remain undefiled!

"1And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people: 2But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother, 3And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled. 4But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself." (Leviticus 21:1-4)

Jesus ascended into heaven, before the Heavenly Father. His blood cleansed the place where Satan had stood, where Adam at once time was graced to stand but rejected because He had submitted to an outlaw Spirit.

After Jesus ascended to cleanse the Holy of Holies, He returned to His disciples:

"19Then the same day 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. 20And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. 21Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." (John 20:19-23)

Jesus told Mary "Don't Touch Me", because He had not yet cleansed the Holy of Holies in the Heavenlies, the last part of His Finished Work as our High Priest Forever!

With that final cleansing, He came down to His disciples, breathed on them to receive His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Adoption (Romans 8:15), so that we could call God "Daddy!"