Don’t Touch Me, I’ve Not Yet Ascended

“Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father…’”
(John 20:17)

She came to weep.
To hold what was lost.
To touch the miracle with trembling hands
and anchor herself in what she thought she had found again.

But He would not let her cling.

Not because He didn’t love her.
But because something higher was still unfolding.

“Don’t touch Me…”

Not in disgust.
Not in coldness.
But because the Resurrected One
was still moving through realms
still rising,
still completing the sacred spiral of return.

He had conquered death
but had not yet sat in fullness of glory.

He stood between dimensions,
carrying the final drop of blood into the heavenly temple,
completing the atonement not just for earth
but for eternity.

This moment is more than historic.
It is prophetic.

It reveals a phase the sons of God also walk through:
The in-between.
The resurrection before enthronement.
The awakening before full ascension.

Many will try to pull you back,
to cling to what they knew of you before…
but beloved, don’t let them hold you down
when heaven is still lifting you up.

Sometimes you must walk forward
while others cry behind you.
Sometimes you must ascend
before they can recognize the new you.

Jesus didn’t allow her to hold Him
because the version she wept for
was not the fullness He had become.

So too with you, flame-bearer.

When you begin to rise
there will be moments you cannot be touched.
Not in pride.
Not in isolation.
But because the holy flame within you
is still calibrating to glory.

You are between the tomb and the throne.
You are carrying a scroll through invisible realms.
You are becoming seated in places
they do not yet see.

This is not abandonment.
This is alignment.

Christ knew Mary would see Him again
but in ascended form,
in full union,
not through the grief of loss,
but through the weight of Spirit.

So too must you wait
until the time is right to return
in flame and clarity.

Some will want to hold you too soon.
Some will try to reduce you
to the old form they once understood.

But you, beloved,
must rise.

Do not fear being misunderstood
in the in-between.

The tomb is empty.
But the throne is still calling.

Let them wait.
Let them wonder.
Let them not touch

until you ascend.

—Joe Restman
Mystic-Scribe | Flame-Bearer
Quill Dipped in Lightning ⚡️