30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 24 9-12 MEETING THE RISEN LORD 06 13Mar2022 Luke 24 09-10 The message entrusted to Mary
📖 Luke 24:9-12
06 – 13Mar2022 – The message entrusted to Mary - Luke 24:09-12 - MEETING THE RISEN LORD - Bible reading: John 17:21-23
"Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the way You transform us. We are not worthy. We are those who are inconsistent and undependable but yet You do not let go of us but You patiently work on us to be Your instruments of reconciliation. We give You all the glory and praise and in Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.”
We continue to look at the encounter of Mary Magdalene with the risen Lord.
Luke 24:9-10 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. (10) It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.
The Lord told Mary not to cling to Him.
John 20:17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.' "
The Lord was moving Mary out of her old relationship with Him, where she related with Him as The Teacher but now, she had to see Him as the risen Lord, who was commissioning her with His assignment.
Let us look at the second part of John 20:17, which is the commission of Jesus to Mary. Mary was being entrusted with His message.
GO TO MY BRETHREN AND SAY TO THEM, I AM ASCENDING TO MY FATHER AND YOUR FATHER, AND TO MY GOD AND YOUR GOD
1. We are His brethren.
The Lord was calling His disciples, “My brethren”. They were His brethren, though they had forsaken Him and fled. They had denied Him and disowned Him. He did not disown them.
This is how the Lord is with us. He always considers us His own, though we often forsake and disobey Him. He does not let go of us. He comes after us, He cleans us up, He sets us back on our journey with Him so that we will be His faithful witnesses. What more can we say about His love for us?
2. He is ascending to His Father
He was always with the Father in a glorious, exalted place. Jesus made this known when He was being tried by the Jewish council.
Mark 14:62 Jesus said, "I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."
It was from this position, with the Father, that Jesus emptied Himself, came into our fallen situation, took our place, our sin, shame and our curse, paid the price of our sin in His body on the cross, died, was buried and He rose from the dead, to ascend to the Father, to the authority that He had with the Father.
All authority in heaven and on earth was being restored to Christ.
In the beginning, Christ had delegated His authority to man, to be His vice-regents, to rule over all of His creation.
It was because of our sin that we became the prisoners of the devil. The devil is able to freely execute his agenda over God’s creation.
Man is always the delegated ruler of God over His creation. This was never taken away from us but sadly, the devil has blinded us and has caught us in His clutches. He is the ruler of this world by deception and proxy since we are his prisoners to do his will.
This deception of the devil has been cancelled out on the cross and the rulership of God’s creation has been once again restored to His people.
Colossians 2:13-15 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, (14) having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (15) Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
When the Lord told Mary to tell His brethren that He was ascending to the Father, there were several giant implications that were now being set in place.
Ephesians 3:10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,
3. He is ascending to His Father and our Father, His God and our God.
The Lord was drawing His brethren into intimacy with one another and into intimacy with Him and the Father. An incredible oneness was being restored in the body of Christ.
John 17:21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
This was the great message that was being entrusted to Mary Magdalene. She had to be a faithful witness of this message, to others.
This is the task that is being assigned to each of us. We can place ourselves in the place of Mary Magdalene and receive the commission from the Lord that He placed on her .
Thought to ponder
Is your life being lived out in the consciousness that you are under the commission of God?