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Prepare Yourselves
by Dwayne Cook

“and the Lord said to Moses: "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. Thus Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on.”  Leviticus 16:2-4 (describing preparation for the Day of Atonement)

"Each young woman's turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months' preparation,. . .” Esther 2:12a

“Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" John 19:14

We are so glad that you were able to prepare yourselves and join us today on this wonderful occasion that much time has been spent preparing.  No doubt you can look around and see many people prepared in nicer or newer clothes today.  Easter is a service that people find it easier, or at least more important to prepare for themselves.  As you were preparing your clothes, did you prepare yourself?

We have a great many things that we prepare: ball players practice/prepare for games, farmers prepare fields, soldiers prepare for fighting, etc.  Why do we prepare?  We prepare in order to have the best chance to get the best outcome.  Do you prepare for worship?  It is important to clear as much from your mind so that you can meet Jesus during worship.  There are some physical things we can do to cut down on hurrying and worry; but more importantly we much spend some time investing in prayer.   As you pray for a service, it begins to narrow your thoughts, prepare your mind, and your heart to be receptive.

Besides preparing our clothes and preparing our minds; we must first be sure we have prepared our soul.  In the passage above, Esther had to prepare for 12 months to prepare to meet the king.  We do not have to wait anytime in preparing ourselves for Jesus, you can do it today.  His death on the cross was his preparation of a way to heaven for us.  Jesus warns us in a parable about ten virgins (found in Matthew 25:1-13) to not be found unprepared, because we do not know when the Lord cometh.  God has prepared a unique chance for you to prepare to meet Him.  Is it today? We pray so!

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