Heaven – A Prepared Place For A Prepared People

Posted on 03/13/2022 by goodnewsfromadistantland — Leave a comment

Traditionally, at the annual Passover Seder meal, there is a special cup and a table setting for the prophet Eliyah (Elijah). The table is set for Eliyah in hope that this powerful prophet will return at the Passover to announce the return of the Messiah Redeemer, and to make ready a people prepared for Messiah:

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Yahuwah [the LORD] (Malachi 4:5).

We know that John the Baptist came “in the spirit and power of Elijah … to make ready a people prepared for Yahuwah [the LORD]“ (Luke 1:17). John the Baptist was the voice crying in the wildernes “Prepare ye the way of Yahuwah [the LORD]!” (Matthew 3:3)

Those who know Yahushua Messiah [the Hebrew name for Jesus Christ], as the Risen Saviour, the Messiah Redeemer, are looking with anticipation for His second coming! But are we hearing the message that is warning us — to be ready — to be a people ‘prepared‘ for His return?

Preparation is a very important quality within God’s Kingdom! Preparing our heart to seek God and His ways is a principle found throughout the Scriptures. This is probably why D. L. Moody once said:

“Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people!” — Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899)

Getting Ready For A Future Event

When Yahushua Messiah [Jesus Christ] taught the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (see Matthew 25), He was speaking about preparation — speaking about the importance of getting ready for a future event:

They that were ready went in with Him [the Bridegroom] to the marriage. (Matthew 25:10)

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. (Revelation 19:7)

We all desire to be prepared for Messiah’s return. But notice in the Revelation passage above, that we must make ourselves ready!

Thirsty Souls know that how well we make ourselves ready for Messiah’s return has eternal consequences!

We understand that the preparations of our heart is for the purpose of 1) walking in honesty before God, 2) of knowing the comfort and guidance of the Holy Spirit, 3) of learning to do those things that are pleasing in God’s sight (1John 3:22), and 4) of shedding those things that are wicked in His sight (2Chronicles 7:14).

It may be obvious to say this, and I know all of us are aware of this particular important step in our preparation, but as the apostle Peter said, “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance” (2Peter 1:12) — that a key step to being prepared is to spend time in prayer with our heavenly Father, Yahuwah Elohim [the Hebrew name for the LORD God].

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. (Philippians 4:6)

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)

Having a private time of prayer and reading/studying God’s Word for ourselves is an essential step for preparing ourselves for Yahushua Messiah’s return. Our secret prayer time is helpful in keeping us sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s whispers and guidance. In order to pray about every thing, we need to spend time with Him every day, especially at the start of our day.

Each day is an opportunity for us to present ourselves as living sacrifices unto Yahuwah Elohim (Romans 12:1-2). This is one of the secrets to being confident of His direction. Without times of prayer with our heavenly Father, we become shallow, and our walk with Father becomes foggy. But time in prayer will help us to shed the selfish motives that can creep into our hearts and help us acquire ears to hear the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Time in prayer, and in study of Father’s Word, both help us to have a heart that is yielded to Father’s will — a heart that is patient, and a heart that is willing to be repentant and obedient to Father’s written WORD. This requires that we apply effort, and give ourselves to the needed forethought, adjustments, and the time required to accomplish our goal of ‘being ready’. So we need to purpose to down-size our activities in order to have the daily time needed to be with our heavenly Father, Yahuwah Elohim [the LORD God].

What Sort of Prayers?

What sort of prayers would be helpful at this critical time in history?

One helpful clue for our prayers is to learn to be intimate with Father on the smallest of details, as we learned from J. Hudson Taylor:

“Perhaps the greatest hindrance to our work is our own imagined strength. The Father taught me in my helplessness to pray, even about little things, in which another might have felt able to handle himself.” — J. Hudson Taylor (1832 – 1905)

A few prayers taken from the Scriptures are worthy examples for our personal prayers:

Turn me unto You, O Yahuwah Elohim [the LORD God] of hosts, and cause Your face to shine upon me. (Psalm 80:19)

Turn me unto You, Yahuwah [the LORD], and create in me a clean heart, O Elohim [God]; and renew a right spirit within me. (Lamentations 5:21; Psalm 51:10)

O Father, order my steps in Your Word, and in everything I do, and do let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Help me Father to turn away from any wicked ways. (Psalm 119:133; Acts 3:26; Psalm 37:23-24; 2Chronicles 7:14; Psalm 139:23-24)

Cause me to know the way wherein I should go, Yahuwah [LORD]. Teach me to do Your will, and give me ears to hear the joyful sound of Your return. (Psalm 143:8-10; Psalm 89:15; Matthew 24:31)

Let me be counted worthy, Father God, to escape the things that are coming on the earth. Help me to talk to You daily. Help me to not stray from loving You. Let me not wander from keeping Your commandments. (Luke 21:36; Jude 1:20-21; Psalm 119:5,10)

I Go To Prepare A Place For You

Let’s remember also that Yahushua Messiah is making preparations Himself:

In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:2-3)

Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (Matthew 25:34)

But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. (1Corinthians 2:9)

But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)

As He has told us, Messiah is preparing a place for us — a place where we can be with Him where He is (John 17:24).

For now however, Yahushua is waiting in heaven ‘until the times of restoration of all things’ is fulfilled:

And He shall send Yahushua Messiah [Jesus Christ], who before was proclaimed to you, whom Heaven truly must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:20-21)

So before Messiah returns, a restoration must first happen. Part of our preparation is to see and know that this most important restoration is happening right now! This amazing, worldwide restoration is happening, even in the midst of all the turmoil and upheaval. It is a restoration movement that Yahuwah has been preparing for His children from the foundation of the world — a restoration engineered by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is restoring many of the hidden truths of God’s Word. Believers throughout the world are returning to the heavenly Father’s original pattern of obedience — to the up-to-date relevancy of the whole Word of God, from the beginning of the Book!

The Honourable Torah

The knowledge of the Word of Yahuwah is being restored, and now we are learning Father’s heart regarding The Torah:

… Yahuwah [the LORD] will magnify [make great] the law [the Torah], and make it honourable. (Isaiah 42:21)

This Scripture reveals the Holy Spirit’s ‘Present Truth’ desire for us today — to recognize and accept the Torah, (a vital part of God’s written Word), as an absolutely essential and indispensable part of the Scriptures! As we saw in The Torah: The Key to Unlocking God’s Word, the Torah is foundational in understanding the heavenly Father’s plans for His children.

The Torah is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2Timothy 3:16). When the apostle Paul wrote those words, the Scriptures he was referring to was the Torah, the Writings, and the Prophets, what is known today as the ‘Old Testament writings’! And this is all happening in our day — that Father is restoring our obedience to ALL of His inspired Word, which is true from the beginning!

More and more, born-again Believers are re-discovering Father’s Word from the beginning! This is the purpose of the restoration: that Father is making His people ready, holy (set-apart as special), and prepared for Messiah’s return, by enlightening our understanding and revealing the essential nature of His Torah — His teachings, instructions, and guidelines! Yahuwah, the Mighty One of Israel, is restoring the truths and the riches of His Word — including the TaNaKh!

[The TaNaKh — an acronym using the first Hebrew letters of the names of the three subdivisions of the Hebrew Bible: Torah (“Teaching”), Nevi’im (“Prophets”) and Ketuvim (“Writings”).]

The Shekinah Glory Cloud

To prepare for Messiah’s return, we must have a heart to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading, just as the children of Israel followed the bright Shekinah glory in the pillar of cloud by day and in the pillar of fire by night. That very special cloud was the visible manifestation of the Presence of Yahuwah when the children of Israel were in the wilderness. Yahuwah’s children were continually watching the Shekinah glory, for it determined their daily guidance:

Moreover You [Yahuwah] led them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go…. 19) Yet You, in Your manifold mercies, forsook them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go. (Nehemiah 9:12,19)

These Scriptures confirm that following the guidance of the Holy Spirit leads us ‘in the way we should go!‘ And the Holy Spirit’s guidance will always be in agreement with the written Word of God.

Therefore let us seek to enter into this current and most-important moving of the Holy Spirit — this restoration of the eternal truth and validity of Yahuwah’s written Word, both Old and New Testament writings.

The message of this ‘Present Truth’ movement of the Holy Spirit is to make ready a people prepared for Yahuwah — a holy and obedient people truly doing those things that are pleasing in His sight. This restoration is evidence of Father’s mercy and lovingkindness! Let us embrace this restoration by learning to be obedient to the full counsel of God’s written Word!

As we saw in Preparing to Walk Into The Land of Uprightness, this awesome restoration is meant for us to learn Father’s Word for ourselves, and to pay the cost (make the sacrifices) necessary to live our lives in obedience to His Word, yielding to His direction in every area of our life.

A Few Examples

Here are a few very basic examples of walking in obedience to the full counsel of God’s written Word. These are examples of ‘works of righteousness’ according to the Scriptures, which will ‘set us apart’ and bring us closer into harmony with Yahuwah’s plans for His family:

The 4th Commandment — observing the seventh day as God’s holy Sabbath Day;
The 5th Commandment — honouring and respecting our parents;
Being honest and honourable in all our dealings with others;
Seeking Yahuwah’s Kingdom and His righteousness at the start of every day;
Avoiding the observance of pagan traditions and pagan religious holidays, such as Christmas, Lent, and Easter;
Understanding the great importance of the Second Commandment, and remove all forbidden graven images from our homes, and idolatry from our worship meetings;
Observing the annual Sabbath Feast Days of Yahuwah.

Prepared and Made Ready

Let us be giving ourselves daily to secret prayer times. Let us be as the Bereans and earnestly search out the great importance of God’s Torah. Let us be of a humble heart, and begin learning what true Biblical holiness is all about. Let us be praying that each one of us may be pure and holy and prepared — prepared and ‘made ready’ as a bride, for the return of our Bridegroom-Saviour.

Heaven is our destination, to be where our Saviour is! It is a place wherein righteousness dwells (2Peter 3:13). It is a place that Messiah is preparing — for a prepared people!

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