013. The Preparation Day

The Preparation Day

All week, every day, we can be excitedly preparing for and looking forward to the blessing of the coming Sabbath Day. Even so, there is one special day to culminate our preparation for celebrating God’s wonderful Sabbath day. That day is Friday.

Do you remember the old saying about preparation?... ‘To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail. The Bible calls the day before God’s Sabbath day, the Preparation day – which we call Friday today. If we go to the crucifixion story in Mark 15:42 NKJV in the New King James Version of the Bible, it reads...

“Now when evening came, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ….”

At the end of chapter 23 in the book of Luke we read the same story about the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus died on what we call ‘Good Friday’ today.  Luke 23:54 (in the New Kings James Version of the Bible says,) “That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.”

If we pick up a modern paraphrase version of the Bible, such as the Good News Bible, it simply says, … “It was Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin. So Friday was the Preparation day for the Sabbath. With regard to preparing for the Sabbath, when does the Preparation day actually begin? I was taught that the Preparation day begins when we get out of bed on Friday morning.  I never once questioned that teaching.

It’s interesting that the Preparation day does not actually begin on Friday morning. According to God’s great clock as shown in the Bible, if the Sabbath day begins at sunset on Friday, then the Preparation day begins at sunset on Thursday, and ends at sunset on Friday when God’s wonderful Sabbath day starts. Therefore we actually have a whole twenty-four hours for the Preparation day.

That realisation was very good news to me.  Why good news?  Well, a happy Sabbath day begins with a happy Preparation day.

If we think we only have from Friday morning to Friday sunset to prepare for the Sabbath, it can be a pretty stressful day.  We can get so stressed on Friday trying to prepare the car, tidy the house, do the washing and ironing, prepare the food for Sabbath, get the Sabbath clothes ready, bath the kids and ourselves, and then somehow complete it all before the sun sets on Friday afternoon in the hope that we’ll be able to instantly relax with our partner and family as we welcome in the Sabbath with prayer and singing.

Friends...

A happy Sabbath day is preceded by a happy Preparation day.

And the good news is that the Preparation day doesn’t begin on Friday morning but it begins a full twelve hours earlier at Thursday sunset.  What a wonderful blessing to realise that.  We have a whole twenty-four hours for the Preparation day.

Please start at Thursday sunset so that Friday will not be stressful, but relaxed.  Then, you and I, and our loved ones will be able to welcome in God’s wonderful Sabbath, not under stress but as the wonderful blessed and happy day of communion with God and the beautiful rest that He wants us to have.

Now here’s another thing that I have found really useful and I’m very sure you will too.

I try to go to bed an hour earlier on Thursday night so that I am not tired and worn out when the Sabbath begins at Friday sunset.  If we don’t get a good rest on Thursday night, we won’t be very interested in spending good quality time praying and singing praise and worship songs to our wonderful creator God on Friday evening, because we will be too tired.

Now let’s go a little further with this. On Saturday evening, as the sun sets at the end of the Sabbath day, let the blessings of the Sabbath linger on. Celebrate the wonderful Sabbath day we’ve just experienced over a simple meal with friends, and celebrate the start of a new week.  A new week when we can excitedly look forward every day to the next Sabbath day, when we again get the opportunity to spend the whole day with our Lover, the Creator of the world.

Please make sure you join my ‘Sabbath HOLY’ Facebook group and I will send you a different and beautiful sunset picture each Friday afternoon before the Sabbath day begins.  Because the sunset times are different all around the world, I will post the sunset picture at 1.30 pm our time where we live here on Bribie Island, just off the east coast of Australia near Brisbane.  As a result, some of you may receive the sunset post up to 24 hours before your own Friday sunset time.

I also trust and pray that my other posts will also help you to enjoy a wonderfully happier and holier Sabbath as we journey together towards the beautiful golden city of God.

Friends, if you have been blessed and challenged by this message, then please take time now to send it on to your friends.