Preparation part 3
Isaiah 40:3 tells us about, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." When it comes to the subject of preparation, we need to understand what we're talking about (girding up our minds, eating the Lamb in order to be ready for the journey) but we also need to know WHO we're talking about. This verse in Isaiah is not telling US what to do. It is prophecying of John the Baptist. John was the end of the Levitical priesthood, as he transitioned the ministry over to Jesus and the Melchesidek priesthood. That was a large aspect of the earth walk ministry of Jesus, a large aspect of the finished work of the cross; Jesus moved us out of the Old Covenant and into the New Covenant. Out of a Law you keep, and into a life that keeps you! So the preparation the WE do is a result of the work that JESUS did. God doesn't require anything from us that He doesn't first provide TO us. He created oxygen before He created a man who would need oxygen to breathe. He sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus... and He sent Jesus to prepare the way for all of humanity. Jesus said it like this, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:3). Unfortunately, in some ways I think this verse is very misunderstood. People think that the carpenter Jesus was going up to heaven in order to build a mansion for us--as long as we said the right words and did the right things in order to "get past the pearly gates" when we died. Guys... when Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us He was on the way to the cross! He wasn't as much concerned with bringing US to heaven as He was bringing heaven to US! See, Jesus understood something about heaven. Heaven isn't a location. Heaven is the mind of Christ. That's why Jesus was able to describe Himself to Nicodemus as, "...the Son of man which is in heaven" (John 3:13), even though He was standing on the earth. So in a sense heaven IS the place that Jesus was preparing for us. But, again, not just a place for US to go, but US as a place for heaven to go! Way back in Deuteronomy 11:21 we (as the seed of Abraham, which is Christ) were promised, "...the days of heaven upon the earth." Heaven isn't just a place you go when you die. Heaven is where you went when Jesus died on the cross! Heaven is where we are right now! But I guess what I'm trying to say is that in order to LIVE in heaven--in order to BE where we are, BE transformed into what we've already been transformed into--we need to be prepared. We need to seek the Kingdom. And I don't mean, "Seek it because we don't have it, but we want it." Because we already have it. I mean, EXPLORE the Kingdom. RECEIVE the Kingdom. ENJOY the Kingdom. Find out what's available to us (prepare) and then manifest the truth (walk in it)! If it's in there, it'll come out. But only if you KNOW and BELIEVE that it's in there!