One of Christ’s more famous sayings goes: “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” The night before He died, Jesus repeated to His twelve apostles: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (You can find these quotes from John 14.)
A biblical scholar points out that the same phrase is used about Mary. In Revelation 12, we see the mother of the Messiah is the “woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God,” where she “might be taken care of.” Does this verse mean that the wilderness is the place prepared by God for Mary? Or does it mean that God prepared heaven for her and she would receive that gift in the wilderness?
Either way, it’s interesting that - traditionally speaking - the same man named John, the son of Zebedee, is supposed to be the author of the Fourth Gospel and Revelation. If that’s true, the same pen uses the same phrase for the same place. Jesus prepares heaven for his disciples and God prepares heaven for Mary. That would make sense because she was her Son’s first disciple.
Once this connection was made for me, I couldn’t help myself. I tracked down all the times that the same Greek word for “prepare” is used in the New Testament. The connections were delightful. I hope you enjoy them.
John the Baptist prepares the way for the Lord. Jesus prepares heaven for the Twelve, but John’s job was to prepare earth for Jesus!
The positions in Christ’s kingdom on His right and left hands are not His to give because the Father has prepared two specific people to enjoy those positions. (‘Enjoy’ may not be the right word. James and John didn’t know what they were asking for because two criminals were crucified at the right and left of Jesus.)
The apostles ask Jesus where to prepare the Passover the night before He is crucified. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells a parable about a wedding banquet prepared for many guests. The First Communion on Earth foreshadows the Final Communion of Heaven. Perhaps that’s why Paul says the Lord’s Table proclaims the Lord’s death until He comes. The Last Supper, Good Friday, and the Second Coming are all connected by preparations of the Lord.
To the sheep and the goats, two destinations have been prepared from the foundation of the world. The sheep go to the kingdom of the Father and the goats go to the fires prepared for Satan. (We can call that good news and bad news.)
In 1 Corinthians, Paul says that God has prepared “what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no man has conceived” for those who love Him. More evidence that heaven is what God and His Son are preparing for us!
Whoever wrote Hebrews mentions his hope in a “better country, a heavenly one” and follows it up by saying God has prepared a city. That means John’s Gospel, Revelation, Paul, and Hebrews talk about the Lord preparing heaven. He’s getting it ready for us! (Or maybe He’s getting us ready for heaven…)
At the end of Revelation, John the Seer “heard what sounded like a great multitude shout: the wedding of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready.” That last phrase translates the same word for prepare! Just as God prepares heaven for us, the Church prepares Herself for heaven. She is a bride anticipating her wedding.
Finally, in Revelation 21, John sees the Church coming out of heaven to earth. You guessed it: she is prepared as a bride dressed for her husband. These final wedding festivities will be hosted “in a new heaven and new earth.”
Let’s try to put these together.
John prepares the earth for the One who comes from heaven. Jesus asks His disciples to prepare the Passover meal, the same Table around which Christians gather every Sunday. The Father prepared two men to be at Christ’s right and left hand when He was crucified. Jesus taught that whoever serves the least of these are Christ’s sheep who will enjoy the kingdom the Father has prepared. Whoever fails to serve the least of these will go to the fires prepared for the devil.
When Jesus ascended, He assured His disciples His mission was to prepare heaven for them. One of those disciples named John has a vision of heaven in which Mary, Her Son’s first follower, enjoys what God has prepared for her. Multiple apostles talk about heaven in different ways. Paul emphasizes that we cannot fathom or imagine what God has prepared for us. The author of Hebrews calls it a “better country.” But they agree on one thing: God has great plans in store for us.
In the meantime, the Church should prepare Herself for heaven. We should get ready. Why? Because on that final day, the wedding of the Lamb will be celebrated by all the angels of heaven and creation itself. The Church will come out of heaven as a bride prepared for her husband, Jesus Christ. The eternal party with wine that never runs out will commence in the new creation.