The Love of God: Mary Magdalene (John 20) – Part 2

Now, listen. Twelve men lived eighteen hours a day, seven days a week, for three years in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there were also five women. What were those twelve men called? They were called apostles. They were THE apostles. What were the women called? They didn’t have a name.

The disciples got up, started right behind Jesus, and five little gal, little ladies, little women, gathered up their little belongings, and went right along with them, and they kept their eyes on the Lord Jesus. When the twelve sat down, and he taught them, there were five little ladies, five women right there listening to every word. Who was one of them? Mary Magdalene. When He said, Go, where did she go? Right behind Him, and she never left his side.

I want to ask you one more time. Did she love Him? Very much; with a blind passion she loved Him.  Was she intelligent?  Was she smart? Was she well-educated? Do you think she was theologically apt? Then tell me, what did Mary Magdalene have going for? What? She blindly, just blindly, just blindly loved him.

She had three things going for her. One: she had been forgiven. How much? A Bunch. A whole bunch. She allowed the Lord to forgive her.

Brothers and sisters, come and say, “Lord. Do a big job. Forgive me of so much. Forgive me of so much until it breaks my heart. Until I just adore and love you. Forgive me of sin…and then go in peace. How long do I go in peace? Until you sin the next time? Brother, that’s not being forgiven of much. That’s being forgiven of a little. Be forgiven of a whole lot…and then do what? Go in peace. Where go in peace? Follow Him…how much? All the time. And what do you do before you follow? Say it, brother. Love Him. Love Him how much? A little bit? How much do you love Him? How much do you love Him? Say it. Alright, I’ll put it all together. Love Him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your… With all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your might.

Did she do that? What kind of a woman was she? Fallen. What kind of a woman was she? Forgiven. What kind of woman was she? A woman who went in peace. What kind of a woman was she? She followed him and never lost sight of him for a moment, and she let him keep on being the one who forgave her so much. This is the one who came to the tomb.

Are you impressed with her? What is she? To me, to me, she is a type; she’s like Israel. Can you see her as being just exactly like Israel? You know who else she is? She is the product from whom Jesus Christ was left to get his bride. That’s the kind of material He had to work with to get His bride.

Do you think that repelled him? Why did it not repel him? He was far more holy than any other man who ever lived, yet many men would have said, “I would not touch her.” Yet it is from this type of person; I would even say, from her, He will have his bride. How could he do such a thing? Because of…live. And who is she most like? She is most like…you.

Now, that’s one half of the story. 3 a.m. is when it began. Here’s the other half. It’s the greatest love story ever told. Praise the Lord.

It’s just right before dawn. Not set up, but dawn. Dawn is beginning to come. Step inside the tomb with me. Here is a body totally, utterly, completely dead. Suddenly, brothers, I believe…if we know our scholarship, and we probably don’t, this could easily be wrong. But probably, possibly, this is what happened.

He is wrapped in a certain kind of grave cloth. His body is not resting there in a toga, but He was wrapped as Lazarus was wrapped. You remember what He said when He raised Lazarus from the dead? What did he say? He said, ” Cut him loose and let him free,” because he was wrapped in these same things. Suddenly… The grave clothes begin to leave.

Now they’re going to give that banished race a name. The one that had banished. The archaeologists have been all over him. What will they call him? That man that used to run around here, you remember? The old one. The old man. Now is he there? No. Is he gone? Yes. Banished? Yes.