What did Jesus mean when He said touch me not

Thank you. That seems to me to be very likely and answers a question that I have been constantly baffled by when reading those texts. What happened to all those saints that rose from the dead on that day? Now I know, Jesus took them to heaven.

peace to youraise:

 

Brother Bob,

Charles Spurgeon saw the deeper reason for Jesus having asked Mary to
"Go tell those whom He loved that He was ascending to His Father and their Father and to His God and to their God".

The message goes much deeper than a reference to taking the spirits in
Paradise to heaven. It was deeper because the message for His Disciples had nothing to do with whether or not she was allowed to touch Him.

The deeper message concerned His directive (first given on their way to Gethsemane; Matt. 26:32) that after He arose He would meet them in Galilee. Jesus knew Mary had already taken that message to Peter and John as directed by the angel at the tomb: "Go tell His disciples AND PETER that Jesus would meet them in Galilee". Mark 16:7. This would take them 70 miles north of Jerusalem!!

But when Jesus met Mary, He emphasized that He was going back to the Father. The only sensible conclusion for Peter, from these two messages coming one after the other in quick succession, was that Jesus would meet the Disciples in Galilee BEFORE He ascended to the Father.

He revealed Himself to the Disciples on that same day, after a 14-mile round trip to Emmaus, so that they knew the promise to meet them in
Galilee was of the utmost importance in what should occur before He
ascended to His Father and His God and to their Father and their God.

Jesus was showing His love as He called them "brethren" for the first time!
He had called them "friends"; but not "brethren". He desired to see them
BEFORE returning to the Father and even "breathed on them", saying,
"receive the Holy Spirit ... and as the Father sent me; so I send you"!
John 20:21-22.

I conclude, with Spurgeon, "there would be time enough for another interview with Mary". It was too superficial to tell Mary not to touch Him UNTIL He went to the Father. The added message was most urgent
because of the anxiety of the Disciples about meeting them in Galilee.

Only moments later, while Mary ran the second time to add to the message about the empty tomb and that He was going to meet them in Galilee, that He allowed the rest of the women to cling to His feet!!

His message to the Disciples, as well as to Mary, was the same: "I am going to the Father; but I wish to talk with My Brethren first"! :wavey:

Mel Miller www.lastday.net

 

This is the first time I ever heard of this theory - that Jesus took those dead saints to heaven. Frankly I find it very strange -- I think the Bible would give some indication of it somewhere.

Since Jesus' ascension (which I think was His first and only one) and his return is announced so strongly in the Bible, I think something like would have been mentioned also.

 

Brother Bob,

Your response was so quick it made me wonder if you studied the matterl

Matthew Henry agrees with Spurgeon by paraphrasing what Jesus said:
"Though I am not yet ascended, go to my brethren ... tell them I am to ascend ... I shall not depart immediately ... Lose no time to carry the tidings to the disciples ... Go with all speed ... Tell them I must shortly ascend and that is the next step I am to take". P.981 of Mark's account.

This is consistent, not only with having told them He would meet them in
Galilee after He arose; but consistent with His plan to train them in 40
days for taking on their appointed task to spread the Gospel.

They had to learn not to expect Him to remain with them nor to set up
the kingdom on earth at that time. In Peter's sermon, this was clearly
observed by his stating that "Jesus must remain in heaven until the times to restore all things". Acts 3:21.

The urgency of the deeper message for the women, and the disciples,
was in the original message to them:

"GO QUICKLY, tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead and BEHOLD, He is going before you into Galilee; there you will SEE Him"!
Matt.28:7; Mark 16:7.

Shifting the purpose for telling Mary not to touch Her, FROM that of the
urgency of the message for the Disciples to MEET HIM IN GALILEE to the much less important question of taking the spirits to heaven misses the emphasis on urgency! Why must He first go to the Father in the moments between meeting Mary and the rest of the women? That misses the correlation of His emphasis on going back to the Father; but that first they would receive the Holy Spirit as their Comforter and empowerment. :wavey:

Mel www.lastday.net

 

What was meant by "Do Not Touch Me"?

Brother Bob

I've said enough to show the reason for not "touching" was to go "quickly".

IMO, You just refuse to accept the message meant for the Disciples.

Mel

 

I am sorry. My previous post seems to indicate that I agree with Bbob about the statement of "do not touch Me". I have already stated that I believe the verse reads "don't cling to Me", and that the ascension He spoke of was the ascension after He met with His disciples in Galilee.

The question I struggled with, and which Bbob has been helpful to me was "what happened to all the saints that rose from the dead and walked about the city on the day Jesus was resurrected? (Matt. 27:52-53). We have no indication that stayed for a long period of time, or lived another lifetime and then died (which would contradict Hebrews 9:27.) That Jesus took them to heaven when He ascended is a good answer.

I wonder if this is the "first resurrection" which John speaks of in Rev. 20:5? Granted, I need more study on this.
peace to youraise:

 

Amen. Again, thank you. You have put me on a course to answer some long standing questions that I have had.
peace to youraise:

 

Hello, Brother Bob: I always heard that the "Touch me not" really means "Do not cling to me" because Mary just wanted to linger with Him (naturally) and Jesus had places to go. He was also letting her know he would be ascending to the Father and would not be staying.

As for the dead saints -- it doesn't say they went to heaven. It just says they appeared to many. God did not see fit to tell us more. So to speculate that they were taken to heaven by Jesus before his ascension is really stretching things, imo. Maybe they appeared and went back to where they had been until after Jesus ascended.

 

I agree we shouldn't speculate where there is no revelation. However, we do have revelation concerning the resurrection. A resurrected body is a glorified body, transformed into something new (as Paul puts it) I can't image God "un-resurrecting" David or Moses or anyone else. Once resurrected, it seems reasonable that Jesus brought them to heaven with Him at His ascension. Again, could this be the "first resurrection" mentioned in Rev. 20:5?

peace to youraise:

 

I always understood the first resurrection to be the resurrection of our bodies. No one has had a resurrected body yet except Jesus. David and Moses have not been resurrected - they went to wherever the OT saints went after death and at some point went to be with Christ (this is the part the Bible is not clear on), but they do not have their resurrected bodies yet.

 

It says their bodies were raised but it's not their glorified bodies. That's what I meant by resurrected bodies. Maybe I should have been more clear.

Do you not believe that all Christians get our glorified bodies at the same time in the future? I thought that was pretty much the Baptist belief. A true resurrected body is a glorified body.

I'm not denying that Jesus was the first resurrection.

 

I think the First Resurrection as it is referred to in Rev. is in the future and refers to the saints who will get their resurrected bodies at that time. It does not deny that Jesus is the first one to be resurrected, but Revelation is clearly talking about the resurrection of saints in the future.

The more I think about these saints who were raised, the more I am recalling an explanation I heard once that I think makes the most sense. These saints were brought back from the dead like Lazarus, but they were not resurrected in glorified bodies and taken to heaven. That's why the Bible doesn't say they went to heaven.

They were raised from the dead and lived on earth, like Lazarus, until they died. If Lazarus was raised from the dead, which the Bible says he was, and died again, which he had to, then there has to be a way to reconcile that with Heb 9.27. I think Heb 9.27 is speaking of the normal way for almost everyone but Lazarus and others who were raised from the dead when Christ was here. Those were miracles -- out of the ordinary events, so Heb 9.27 still applies to us.

So I think the Matthew passage is talking about people raised from the dead -- this was a miraculous occurrence - another sign related to Jesus, like Lazarus.