I was
watching a sermon by Robert Morris on resurrection day and it was amazing. The
revelation of how the spiritual and the natural realms are connected is
awesome. When we look at the finished works of Jesus, we must look at His life,
His death, and His resurrection because they all are a vital part of God’s
plan. I would like to look at the events
of resurrection day, both natural and spiritual and hopefully you will gain revelation
on what Jesus did for us.
Jesus was
preparing His disciples for all that He had to go and do when He said He would be
going away and then coming back, but do we think about what He was doing while
He was gone?
John
14:1-2 Don’t let your heart be
troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me…for I go to prepare a place for
you.
John
14:25-29 …because I go to the Father,
for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it
happens, you may believe.
I love how
Jesus says that He will go and prepare a place for us, that is what He was
doing while gone from the earth but as we will see, He was busy.
All the disciples
knew was that Jesus was gone, we usually talk about how Jesus told them that He
would be back but they didn’t listen and now He was back and reveals Himself to
Mary at the tomb but tells her not to touch Him. Then He says that He has not
gone to the Father yet so where has He been and why can’t Mary touch Him?
John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week
Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark…
John
20:16-17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling
to (touch) 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 My God and your
God.’”
Greek: Cling – haptomai – to attach oneself
to, that is to touch. (Translated as touch 36 times and cling once)
We know that
Jesus was going to see His Father after He saw Mary at the tomb. I love that
Jesus says, “My Father and your Father, and My God and your God”.
Where had
Jesus been for the three days in the tomb? We know that He was taking care of business,
but He said that He had not yet ascended to the Father and that is where He told
Mary that He is going now. We can see where Jesus went in these two scriptures.
Ephesians
4:8-10 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive,
and gave gift to men.” (Now this,
“He ascended” – what does it mean but that He also first descended into the
lower parts of the earth?
He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that
He might fill all things.)
1 Peter
3:18-20 Christ suffered for our sins once
for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners to bring you NLT safely home to God. He
suffered physical death, but He was raised to life in the Spirit. So, He went
and preached
to the spirits in prison – those who disobeyed God long ago…
We can see
here that Jesus went to preach the good news of Himself to those who had died
and were in prison. This shows us that God had a plan of salvation for everyone
that has ever walked on the earth, none were left out. Jesus was not just
hanging out for three days, He was busy telling all who would listen about
Himself and the freedom they would now have if they believe in Him. This is why
Jesus had not gone to the Father yet.
Now, we are
back to Jesus at the tomb with Mary and He told her not to touch Him. When you
think about it, Jesus was still the perfect sacrifice for all mankind, but He
had not been presented to the Father yet. So, it makes sense that Mary could
not touch Him until He had been presented to God. Let’s look at what happened next by reading the
vision that Daniel had of what happened in the spiritual realm. When Daniel had
this vision, none of this had happened yet, it was a vision of what was going
to happen, and it is awesome that we can see what took place in the spirit.
Daniel
7:9-12 I watched till thrones were
put in place and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair
of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, it wheels a
burning fire; …The
court was seated, and the books were opened.
Wow, what a scene
to imagine but this is what Jesus saw when He went to see His Father, the
Ancient of Days. I know this sounds like the final judgement of when we all
stand before God but as you can read, this is talking about the judgement of
the enemy and his angels. They lost their dominion over the earth on this day
and it was given to Jesus.
Daniel
7:13-14 … and behold, One like the Son
of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought
Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is
an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away, and His kingdom is one which shall not be destroyed.
This
judgement seat of God was set to take back what the enemy had stolen back in
the garden and give it to Jesus.
Daniel
7:21-22 I was watching; and the same
horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the
Ancient of Days came, and a judgement was made in favor of the saints of the
Most High, and the
time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.
This was a
court room where judgement was made in favor of the saints (us) and at this
moment, the saints (believers) were given the kingdom of God!!! Now that is
exciting news!! We get to see when Jesus was victorious, and the enemy lost it
all.
When Jesus
returned to earth, He walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24)
and brought the disciples back gifts of peace and the Holy Spirit. Now that
Jesus has dominion and the saints have the kingdom, it is time to go to work.
John
20:19-23 So when it was evening on
that day, the first day of the week…
So, Jesus said
to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
… “Receive the
Holy Spirit” …
We can see
here that Jesus went and offered Himself as the sacrifice to the Father in
heaven on the day of resurrection. That is when all dominion was given to Him
and the saints (believers) were given the kingdom.
Hebrews
9:12 Not the blood of goats or calves,
but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained
eternal redemption.
Before Jesus
went to the cross, He gave a glimpse of what was about to happen in the
spiritual realm. I want you to notice that Jesus says “now” twice, that means
that all this took place now, not later.
John
12:31-32 “Now judgement is upon
this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am
lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
Matthew
28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them,
saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
Jesus took
back all that the enemy had stolen from Adam through His death and
resurrection. I love that we can see this clearly in the scriptures so that
there is no doubt of what Jesus did for us. The enemy and his angels no longer
have dominion on this earth, they have been kicked out of heaven. Dominion was given
to the saints and we are the saints of God. We have dominion!
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