In John 20:17, we read, “Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
In Hebr 4:14-16, we read, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
When Jesus died on the cross, His Blood became available as atonement to all who repent of breaking the law of Moses and believe He died for them. In the book of Hebrews, The Bible says that after Jesus ascended to the Father, He took His Blood and sprinkled it on the heavenly altar in the heavenly temple. So what He did on the cross, and what He is still doing in the heavenly temple, makes Him our high priest.
The law of Moses says the high priest becomes holy and set apart to Yehovah the moment he is about to atone for the sins of the people. In the book of Numbers, Samuel and 1. Chronicle, Yehovah forbids us from touching or clinging to any holy object or individual. So if Jesus as our high priest atones for our sins, he becomes holy, and we can’t touch Him or cling to Him in any way. The punishment for touching or clinging to a sacred object or individual is death, something we see described in the book of Samuel and 1.Chronicle when Uzziah dies after having touched the ark of the covenant.
This is why Jesus, in John 20:17, says, “do not touch for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” If Mary had touched Him, she would have been instantly killed by Yehovah just as Uzziah was.
When Jesus ascended to the Father, He ascended beyond time and space, so now He is no longer limited by time. This is why His Blood can atone for all crimes against the Mosaic law, past, present and future because where He is right now, there is no past, present, or future. When He offered His Blood on the altar was a once and for all event, but because there is no time in heaven, He is still offering His Blood on the altar right now. This is why the Bible says, in Hebrews 4, He is our high priest right now.
If He is our high priest right now, He is holy, and if He is holy, we are still not allowed to cling to Him or touch Him. If we decide to ignore this commandment in the law of Moses, we will suffer the same fate as Uzziah. The other side of this is that one of the crimes He atoned for was idol worship. The Bible says we are only allowed to worship Yehovah, and Jesus, as our high priest never told anyone to worship Him. Jesus fulfilled His role as our high priest perfectly by telling us to worship His Father Yehovah and only His Father.
Most Christians believe Yehovah is the God of the Old Testament, and because the Old Testament is not relevant to us, we dont need to worship Yehovah; we worship the God of the New Testament Jesus. These Christians are idol worshipers, and they are clinging to someone holy. We are not allowed to worship idols, and we are not allowed to cling to or touch someone holy.
Uzziah was struck down instantly; Korah and the sons of Aaron burned up in a second, but every Sunday, Christians all over the world are in violation of the law of Moses, and nothing happens. They are not burned up in their pews or struck by lighting on their way home from church.
Why?
Because 99% of all Christians violate the law because of ignorance, psalm 4 says Yehovah sees their hearts, and He understands they worship Jesus and pray to Jesus or God out of ignorance. And because they do it out of ignorance, He is patient and longsuffering showing mercy by sending them prophets and teachers to instruct them in the truth. After having heard the truth, if they still choose to persist in worshiping Jesus and clinging to Him, it no longer becomes ignorance. Yehovah will have to intervene as He did with Ananias and Saphira if it is no longer done in ignorance.
Now that you know the truth decide to start obeying Moses’s law by worshiping and praying to Yehovah. Do not cling to Jesus, instead be grateful Yehovah has given you Him as your high priest making atonement in the heavenly temple for you. (John 3:16).
