Beam Me Up | Part 3

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NKJV).

 The ‘coming of the Lord’ is the Greek word ‘Parousia’- the immediate presence of Christ in intimacy of oneness – I am

“The experience of sanctification: The meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective is not merely being set apart but being made one with Jesus Christ. The name, nature, and authority that is in Him is also in us, moving and guiding our spirit, soul, and body today by the Holy Spirit” (Oswell Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, Discovery House Publishers, 1992)

Unveiling Christ in you while in your natural body is something that only the Godhead can do. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:9-10 NKJV). What are some key elements as we move into the realms of quantum and mystic Christianity, and many different areas beyond logic and reasoning? How does this apply to us having that experience with Jesus Christ overcoming death, the grave, being raised up from death, and seated with Christ in heaven - all while in our natural body?

As we have searched the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have found some variations in their Accounts of the main element that has shaped the Christian faith. Yes, the cross is significant, but without the resurrection, there is plenty of argument that Jesus was just another man, innocent, who hung on a cross. 

One of these variations involved angels and Jesus telling the women to tell His disciples that He would see them in Galilee. Another one was when Jesus appeared in the flesh to His disciples on the road to Emmaus. They didn’t recognize Him until He broke the bread. This took place three days after the Passover meal on the day of First Fruits and Unleavened Bread feasts. 

Jesus had told His disciples He would not eat it with them until it was fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. “Then He said to them, 'With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;  for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God”  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves;  and that he's been eating the communion meal with the two on the road to Emmaus, as well as with the disciples” (Luke 22:15-17 NKJV).

After appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, the Gospel of Luke tells us in chapter 24 that He suddenly appeared to the eleven while they were reclining at the table. They thought He was a ghost even though He showed them His hands and feet. Jesus then asked for food and ate some fish and honeycomb in their presence, proving that He was alive from the dead – the Parousia – coming of the Lord. 

At the Passover meal, just before the cross, Jesus broke the bread and told them to eat it in remembrance of Him, saying, "This is my body; this is my blood" (Luke 22:19-20 NKJV), and that He would eat it with them in the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. Three days later, the Kingdom of God is fulfilled on the earth. Jesus is eating with them as the resurrected Christ. 

Where Christ Jesus is present — Parousia – so also is where the Kingdom of God exists in heaven and earth.

In Song of Solomon, the bride believed her beloved was with her in a moment of intimacy, only to find that he had disappeared. Where did he go? That's what we must start asking ourselves. Where is our beloved Jesus, and where He is, we are supposed to be there as well. But often, we're straying in our thoughts and in our situations, which become more prominent in our lives, rather than knowing that if Jesus is present, if we really believe in the omnipresent, the omnipotent, the omniscient God, and that presence is in us, things should shift. 

If they're not, we must ask ourselves, why not? In Luke, when Jesus presented Himself to the disciples, He said, "Peace be unto you" (Luke 24:36 NKJV). The Peace of God is another key. When the peace of God is with you, not everyone else will know it, because Peace is a personification of Jesus Christ, not just a feeling.  Your spirit transcends to a higher place.  Isaiah 2 uses the word "mountain" to describe this experience. The church would know it as the rapture.

In Luke 24:40-45, after Jesus has already shared communion with them by eating the food they gave Him, He opens their minds. The Holy Spirit must do the work. It's not something we can make happen ourselves. I'm sure the disciples were desperately hoping this was the real deal, but fear was tormenting them, and they couldn't do it on their own. In verse 45 NKJV, it says, "Then he, Jesus, opened their mind so they could understand the scriptures."

 Luke 24:46-49 NKJ continues, “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 in Jerusalem. You are witnesses to these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

These verses reveal another key topic Jesus spoke of: the forgiveness of sins. 

Let’s move to the fourth Gospel, John 20, and read his account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. With John's version, keep in mind that it was written about 25 to 30 years after Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Much of John's gospel takes a different approach to the topic and includes a few details that Matthew, Mark, and Luke didn't. So, if all we're researching is Matthew, Mark, and Luke on this topic of the resurrection, we're going to miss a lot of the "why" we need to know, and the finished work of what Jesus really did with the resurrection.

In John 20:1, John says that only Mary Magdalene has gone to the tomb. Then she comes running and tells Simon Peter and the other disciples, who is John, who is writing this. We have a written version of an eyewitness to what Mary told them, as well as his personal experience of seeing the tomb was empty. John runs first, but Peter is the one who goes into the tomb. Then John goes in, and they both leave, validating that Jesus’s body is not there. They're gone, but Mary is still there. 

In verse 11, Mary is outside the tomb. She's bent over, looking inside the tomb. She sees two angels, one seated where Jesus’s head had lain and one at His feet. Peter and John did not see the angels. She steps into the tomb, and the angels speak to her.

They ask, "Why are you crying?" She responds, "They have taken my Lord away, and I don't know where they have put them." As she says this, she turns around and sees Jesus standing there, but she does not realize it is Him until she hears His voice address her first as ‘woman’ and then as Mary. 

If you're in the middle of talking to two angels in a tomb about a missing body, why would you be turning around? That’s an amazing scene: Mary sees and talks with angels, but for some reason she turns from them to a ‘presence’ behind her that was greater than seeing angels, and before she hears Jesus’ voice.

When you are in a dark place, and light shines behind you, you're going to see your shadow in front of you. Mary went to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark. Looking into the tomb, she would have used a lamp to see the angels, but when another light behind her cast her own shadow, in the ‘Tomb,’ she turned to see what this great light was and saw a figure standing there. 

When light is behind you, you often can't see the person's face. She couldn't see Jesus' face because there was no light coming from within the tomb, shining towards the doorway. All she could see was a figure standing in the doorway, assuming it was the gardener.  She was foundational correct because 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that the first Adam in Genesis attended the Garden of Eden, and Jesus is the last Adam.

However, it wasn’t until Mary heard the voice say, "Woman," that she knew something was happening beyond the gardener, and wondered what she was doing at the tomb. Get the vision – Mary is alone early in the morning, while it was still dark, at the tomb where the body of Jesus had lain, but was now gone. Peter and John had been with her, but they left, seeing only the grave cloth. Now Mary was alone, and she investigated the tomb. Seeing the grave cloth simply meant the body was not there. It did not prove that Jesus was resurrected and is now alive. If anything, the grave cloth and empty tomb could confirm the story the guards were to spread of the body of Jesus being stolen by the disciples.

Mary goes from being alone to talking with two angels in the tomb in the place of the dead. While talking with the angels, she sees her own shadow in the tomb because of a great light shining behind her. Turning around, she sees the figure of a person, but who? Remember, she’s alone. Women would not be safe in that situation, possibly of being robbed or molested. 

Jesus first addressed Mary as “Woman,” then He said, "Mary," calling her name. Everything about this scene is fulfilling Genesis 2:21 NKJV, “The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place.” 

John tells us as an eyewitness to the cross and death of Jesus, “When they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” And again, another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced” (John 19:33-37 NKJV).  

“Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23 KJV). Jesus needed to refer to Mary first as “Woman” to fulfill the scriptural account in Genesis 2. 

When He spoke her name, she knew it was Jesus, and she wanted to touch him. He told 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 KJV). Notice that in John’s Gospel, the ascension of Jesus going to the Father occurs on the same day as the resurrection, not 40 days later. John is the only gospel that has the conversation with Nicodemus about being born again in John 3. Jesus is fulfilling the words He spoke to Nicodemus in John 3:13 KJV, “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” 

Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not have this conversation between Jesus and Mary. For almost sixty years after the resurrection, John shares the finished work of Jesus Christ, which occurred on the day of His resurrection from the grave. What was established in Genesis 2 was completed in the last Adam. His ascension to the Father took place that morning, declaring that God was our Father. 

Then, on the evening of the same day, which would have been the beginning of day two for the resurrected and the second day of the unleavened bread feast, the disciples were together behind locked doors, for they were fearful of the Jewish leaders. Jesus suddenly appears and says, "Peace be with you" (John 20:19 KJV). 

He then shows them His hands and side where the nails had been, and the spear had pierced Him. Jesus says again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that, he breathed on them; "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven. And if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven" (John 20:21-23 NKJV). Notice what John includes in this scene versus what Luke shared in chapter 24? Jesus identifies God as our Father and breathes the breath of Life – the Holy Spirit – that the Father gave to the first Adam (Genesis 2:7). With this Divine breath, we have been given the ability to forgive sin as the Father has already forgiven us while we were still in darkness and ignorance.

This is a major reason we have sickness and disease among us. It's the forgiveness of sin, but it cannot be done by our own nature; it's always going to be limited. I can desire, but in the desire of my own capability, there will always be a torment. There'll always be a generational concept of dos and don'ts. There are these little things in our psychic energies that no matter how much we try to forgive with unconditional forgiveness, there'll always be some sort of limitation.

When Jesus says, "Forgive them," He's referring to the utilization of our Christ identity that, in His name, and I'm not referring to the name of Jesus. I'm referring to the name of who God is.  Knowing that “I am” and “I be” is the Christ identity within us.  Jesus Christ, Yeshua, must be the lover of our souls as the head of the temple of God. In this temple position, Mary is in the Holy of Holies of the tomb; she's in the grave. She sees where the body was laid, on the mercy seat with the two angels, and God's presence is there, not as Mary the Magdalene, who wept at Jesus' feet and had seven demons cast out of her. She is not that Mary, but the new creation in Christ as the “womb-man” body of Jesus Christ resurrected, taking place within the Holy of Holies. It's a marriage.

We had this marriage confirmed with Nicodemus going out and buying all the myrrh he could get his hands on, because myrrh is used in the anointing of a marriage covenant to consummate the marriage. That's what was happening with this. Jesus ascends to the Father for the Father's absolute blessing. 

Mary goes to the disciples and lets them know what's happening. Then Jesus appears in John 20:19-21. He appears amid our fears and tells us, "Peace be with you." Peace is the consummation of the marriage, a love-making moment between a husband and wife – Jesus Christ and His body – bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. It's not just a nice big hug. He's saying, "I love you. Not as the world loves." 

Jesus is telling us that, for peace to be manifested, we must experience the cross as He did, when He said, "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they're doing" (Luke 23:24 NKJV). We have to say that within our own selves, as well as to those with whom we have issues. 

When we don't see bone of our bone, as His bone and flesh of the body of Christ, and all of humanity, we separate and we divide, not discerning the Lord's body. We are creating a body of religion, a body of cult nature, which is not the church or the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The good news of the gospel is much more than just a ticket to heaven by receiving Jesus as your personal savior. It's receiving Him and knowing in intimacy that He is already your helpmate. He is already the lover of your soul, and as His wife, you are His resurrected body on the earth. The Parousia experience, or the coming of the Lord, is not a one-time event in the future, but a now opportunity to experience His presence from the unseen realm to the seen, and back again. Death has been done away with once and for all. When we come boldly into the throne room of God, we can forgive sin, repent, turn around, and seek the face of Christ Jesus in intimacy and Love. The evidence will be the fruit of the Holy Spirit made known to the world. 

“After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence” (Hosea 6:2 NIV).

“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she brought forth her sons” (Isaiah 66:8 RSV).

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4 RSV).