The Day of Preparation

John 19:41-42

“Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.”

The greater an event is, the greater the preparation is for that event. Knowing someone is visiting you for a coffee requires only a small measure of preparation. But if the event was your whole family were coming for Thanksgiving Day, or Christmas Day for a feast, then of course the preparation begins days, or even weeks, before the event. The level of preparation reveals the significance of the event.

Many people have read the Bible and not even noticed that the day Jesus was crucified on was called ‘Preparation Day.’ It was the day everyone prepared their homes and food for the Feast of Passover. Here’s what got me when I read this and my eyes were suddenly ‘opened’ and I saw this day was called ‘Preparation Day.’ I realised that preparation is not the event, it is what takes place before the event. Calvary and the death of Jesus was the greatest moment of all time, a huge price was being paid. Yet here I am reading this portion of Johns Gospel realising this is all happening so that we can partake of an event that is even greater.

If Calvary, the most significant event ever to take place in creation, was the preparation, then the event must be even greater. It was and is.

Many Christians reading this will think I am a heretical preacher, because they have been taught Calvary is the greatest thing that ever happened in creation and therefore nothing can be greater than that. It is where Jesus paid the debt of sin and all its consequences, for all mankind. It is mind-blowing what Jesus did for us at Calvary. He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. We could become sin free, all because of His grace.

But what Jesus did, did not end at Calvary. Three days later the ‘event’ took place.  His rose from the dead and on the day of His resurrection something incredible happened.

Matthew 27:51-53

“Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

It was not just Jesus who rose from the dead, but His resurrection life opened the grave of those who were faithful filled servants of God and they rose from the dead with Him and even went into Jerusalem and revealed themselves to others. The resurrection of Jesus brought liberty from the curse of sin and death, for all who believed and trusted in Him. The final enemy of all was defeated. Death could not hold Him and it will not hold any believer in Christ. His death and resurrection secured for all believers in Jesus Christ, eternal life, which we receive the moment we turn from sin and put our faith in Him. We are to enjoy Hismkind of life here on Earth and forevermore.

If Jesus had just died for our sins at Calvary, then the whole debt of sin would have been fully paid for. But Jesus didn’t die just to pay for sin. That would’ve been only half the job done. When Jesus rose from the dead He broke the power of the curse of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). Now every born again believer in Jesus Christ can walk in His resurrected life and walk free of all condemnation, sin and the consequences of sin, right here on Earth for the rest of their lives, not just when they die and go to Heaven.

Jesus destroyed the power of the Devil and Death when He rose from the dead. If you are born again, then you are born again and have received the resurrection life of Jesus. The One who came out of the tomb was Jesus, the Lord of all glory, the Alpha and Omega, the King of all kings. It is His nature that has been imputed into your spirit and your sin nature has been obliterated and you have received His holy and righteous nature. This is the great event that Jesus died in preparation for us to receive. Not just to pay for and remove our sin, but to empower us to live in the power of His life and do the very things He did.

Receiving this new nature of Jesus Christ, means every born again believer has received the same life He has. We receive it to enable us to live in the same way Jesus did whilst here on Earth, overcoming sin, healing the sick and casting out demons (Mark 16:14-20).

Learn To Ride The Donkey

Luke 19:28-28

“When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’ ”

So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”

And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.

Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:

“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!””

Just before the events in this passage of Luke’s Gospel occurred, Jesus had been transformed on the Mt of Transfiguration. Moses and Elijah appeared to Him and He was transformed in full view of Peter, James and John. The see Him in a way they had never seen Him before. They got a glimpse into His eternal nature.

From this moment it tells us that Jesus was focused on going directly to Jerusalem because the time had come for Him to be crucified. As He walked towards Jerusalem, His destiny, He came to the Mt of Olives. On one side of the road was Bethany, on the other was Bethphage. Jesus instructed two disciples to go into the village, and they would find a new virgin colt/donkey tied to a post. They were to untie it and bring it to Him and if those standing by asked what the disciples were doing, they were to tell them ‘the Master has need to it,’ and they would release it to them.

How did Jesus know there was a donkey waiting there for Him? Because Jesus understood that when you are about to face a major event in your life, the Father provides a ‘donkey,’ a vehicle fashioned to carry you over the mountain that stands in front of you that seems insurmountable, to His desired destiny, which will bring about your transformation. You can kick your donkeys, because you do not recognise they are the vehicles Father will use to help you. Or you can trust Him, climb aboard and take the ride, not matter how scary it is and experience His transforming power and grace to do for you and in you, what you could never do for yourself.

The Father was asking His Son to trust Him every step of the way, even though Jesus knew it meant rejection by the very ones He came to save, the scourging  and being declared guilty, when He was fully innocent of any sin.He knew He would be crucified and give up His own life, go to the grave and have to trust Father to raise Him from the dead. Jesus did it all by faith, just as you and I have to. Death at Calvary wasn’t the destiny. It was the way to His destiny. His resurrection and the resurrection of all who believed in Him was His destiny. But the destiny was even more than just the resurrection, which is monumental, but when Jesus rose from the dead He was transformed. Jesus of Nazareth went into the grave but never came out. Jesus, the Lord of all glory came out of the grave and His transformation points to ours.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17

“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

The death and resurrection of Jesus was about much more than just paying for sin that we might one day go to Heaven and have eternal life with Father. It was about transforming the life of every true believer into the likeness of Jesus, by removing their sin nature and imputing into their spirit, the very nature of God.

But it could only be achieved by Jesus yielding to the Fathers process to achieve it. He climbed onto the donkey provided by Father and started the journey.

The whole Old Testament reveals this pattern, of how Father prepares people for significant moments in their life and transforms them to become what they never thought they could become and to do what was impossible for them to do.

Abraham and Sarah could not have a baby, yet Father had promised them a son. They got to the point where they were 99 and 100 years old, so well past the time to have any ability in themselves to make it happen. That’s when Father did the miracle and they had a son and named him Isaac.

This pattern in seen through the lives and events of people such as Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel and others and we see in the New Testament how Jesus transforms the lives of those who follow Him and they end up doing the impossible. He can, and will, do it for you, if you stop kicking against Fathers process to achieve it and climb onboard the donkey He provides and trust Him.

(Why not learn to see this truth in even greater dimensions and clarity, by going to our store page and purchasing my book “Don’t Kick The Donkey-Ride it!”)