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PREPARING AND PREPARED (Part 1 of 4) A PLACE PREPARED (NKJ--unless otherwise specified) Since before the creation of Adam and Eve, God has desired a place where He could dwell and commune with man. Thus it was that He chose and prepared one specific portion of the earth: "The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put man whom He had formed" {Gen. 2:8}. From the time of Adam on, God has sovereignly determined and prepared His placement of man. "When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples..." {Deut. 32:8}. "And He made from one [common origin, one source, one blood] all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined their allotted periods of time and fixed boundaries of their habitation--their settlements, lands and abodes" {Acts 17:26--Amp.}. To Moses God said, "Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared" {Ex 23:20}. To Abram, He had instructed: "Get out of your country... To a land that I will show you" {Gen. 12:1}. Of Israel, God promised, "Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them.. .1 will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely" {Jer. 32:37}. Generation after generation, God has used His servants to ask if there is place for Him within the already established lives of those He has created. Abraham's sending of Eliezer, his oldest servant, to seek a wife for Isaac, Abraham's son of promise, typifies the Father's sending of the Holy Spirit to seek a Bride for His Own Son of Promise. Of Rebekah, Eliezer inquired, "Tell me, please, is there room in your father's house for us to lodge? {Gen. 24:23} By her response, Rebekah further confirmed that God had indeed led the Eliezer to the precise house where lived "...the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac" {Gen. 24:14}. Worshipping, Eliezer acknowledged God's exact and Divinely directed placement: "As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house..." {Gen. 24:27}. Laban, Rebekah"s father, extended a similar welcome: "And he said, 'Come in, 0 Blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels" {Gen. 24:31}. So there, in the place prepared, Laban "...unloaded the camels, and provided straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him" {Gen. 24:32}. Generations later, Solomon executed the plan birthed in the heart of David, his father, to build a temple, a place prepared for God. Splendid though the temple was, Solomon recognized its inadequacy to contain God's presence, "But will God indeed dwell in the earth. Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less the temple which I have built!" {I Kings 8:27}. Though too majestic to be contained within a structural edifice, how awesome that the Mighty God allows His Presence to tabernacle within us, His children. Jesus, the promised seed of Abraham, received no such welcome as did Abraham's servant. Although the prophet Micah had foretold Bethlehem as His Divinely appointed place of birth, so busy was the city with the political census that He was laid in a manger "because there was no room for them in the inn" {Luke 2:7}. Though men were too preoccupied to prepare a place for the Holy Guest, the Father had a place ordained, a place of humble irony. Through His Holy Spirit, this same Sovereign continues to ask, `Is there room in your heart and life for Me? Have you a place prepared?' Neither His followers not the religious leaders of His day comprehended the meaning or significance of a place prepared. To the Pharisees Jesus said, "...I know where I come from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going" {John 8:14}. To the mother of James and John, who requested that her sons be allowed to sit "...one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom," {Matt. 20:21} Jesus answered, "...to sit on My right and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father" {Matt. 20:23}. Prior to His crucifixion, He spoke to His disciples of a place He was going to prepare: "...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 to Myself that where l am, there you may be also" {John 14:2-3}. Of this prepared place, John later wrote "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.. .1 saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.. And he carried me away in the Spirit ... and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem...{Rev 21:1, 2, 10}. Just as God prepared a wilderness for the children of Israel and caves for the protection of David and his men, as well as for certain of the prophets during Ahab's reign, He likewise prepared a place of escape, an Egypt, for His Own Son. Likewise, in Revelation He promises a place prepared for the Child whom the dragon seeks to destroy "...And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. And she bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And the woman was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days" {Rev 12:4-6}. Christ's kingdom, "prepared... from the foundation of the world" {Matt. 25:34} has been made ready for those who in His Name and Spirit minister food, drink, hospitality and comfort to even "one of the least" {Matt. 25:45}. Through the needs of others, as well as through His drawing us aside to commune with Him, Christ continues to ask, "Do you have room, a place prepared for Me?" - Ruth French
January 1996 Newsletter | Resentment | Pastor's Journal January 1995 Preparing and Prepared part 1 of 4 | Prophecy Given to LWCF I Know I Can | Knowing His Voice Revised: June 25, 2008. |
Biblical Counseling for Leaders
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