A Scriptural Call for Renewal . . .

MARANATHA: Come, Lord Jesus!

Be like men who are waiting for their master to come home.—Lk. 12:36

God’s community on earth today hardly behaves as a people awaiting the Lord’s coming. There is no greater sign of secularism in our age than the impact that this world and its allurements have had upon the Lord’s people. We act as if the world will go on and on, and there seems to be little thought given to last things, what the theologians call eschatology. So we can say that the modern church is hardly eschatologically minded. The affairs of this world hang heavily upon us. If the world lives as if there were no God, the church does little better. Secularism has long since blurred any distinction there may have been between the church and the world.

It may be unfair to say that in our own churches of Christ we have be come oblivious to the second coming of Christ, and yet we can hardly assert that we are a people “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Pet. 3:12). If one closely observes our prayers in the assemblies, he will notice that the Lord’s coming is hardly ever referred to. The chances are that many who read this article, reared in the Church of Christ, have not once heard the primitive prayer of Maranatha (Come, Lord Jesus!) uttered in our services. Almost never will one hear a prayer among our people that is centered in the hope of Jesus’ coming. And yet this was a common petition in the early congregations.

Our preaching and teaching are equally remiss in this regard. Neither is it a frequent subject of conversation. There are but occasional references to it in our journals. A survey of subjects in college lectureships through the years will reflect the same thing. We show no indication of having the Lord’s coming on our minds. We simply do not think about it, not often certainly.

An important exception to this are the hundred-odd premillennial congregations among us. Here one finds the hope of His coming a glorious reality. It is apparent in every expression of worship among the premills. Even in their private conversations they may be heard to say, “If the Lord tarries. .”, they will do such and such. One gets the impression that they are continually aware of the Lord’s coming. They are more like the primitive Christians in this regard than the rest of us.

R. H. Boll, the father of premillennialism in Churches of Christ, once charged that our people had sacrificed the precious hope of His coming in order to combat the influence of premillennialism. The charge may have some truth to it. For decades now our teaching on the second coming has been largely negative.

Maranatha, coming from the Aramaic, was a foreign term to the early Greek-speaking Christians, but they were probably unaware of it, just as we do not realize that sabbath, amen, hallelujah, and even baptism are foreign terms in our language. It means something like Our Lord, come!, and it was one of the earliest prayers directed to Jesus. It is similar to the cry of Abba, also from the Aramaic and also a prayer.

It was a watchword or password among the early Christians. Being a term unknown to their enemies, the saints could whisper it to each other in passing or in gaining entrance to secret meetings. Not only was it an ejaculatory prayer, spontaneously uttered in the assembly as well as in private, but also a confession of faith that the Lord lives and will come again.

While Maranatha occurs only in 1 Cor. 16:22, it is evident that it was a common reference in the early community of believers. The term occurs in the Didache, a second-century manual of faith and order, and it is in the writings of the church fathers.

There may be a relationship between spirituality and a vital hope in the second coming. The more worldly and secular the Christian becomes the less concern he has for the Lord’s coming. The primitive saints were poor, deprived, persecuted, hated. The Lord’s coming meant deliverance from their woes. The modern Christian loves his world. The business world, TV, the stock market, sports, money, fun, houses all have strong appeal. When one is healthy, accepted by society, affluent and comfortable, he is not hankering for the present order to come to an end. Even when one is quite aware of the evil in the world, the challenge to make things better makes life an enticing experience. If he gives it any thought at all, he had just as soon that the Lord delay His coming until his own allotted years have passed.

There is a problem here for the modern Christian. Just as God loves the world the believer is to love the world. He has the mission to make the world better, to serve humanity. That mission is a happy one, filled with exciting adventure. Despite all the tragedy and evil man finds himself in love with life. And yet the implication of the Christian faith is that he should desire the coming of Christ, which would bring the world as he knows it to an end.

Paul’s attitude in his correspondence with the Philippians may provide an answer to this. He made it clear that he wanted to keep on living in this world, one reason being that he might serve the Philippians who so badly needed his help. Yet he wanted to be with the Lord. He says: “I am caught between two desires, for I have my desire to strike camp and to be with Christ, which is far better; but for your sake it is more essential for me to remain in this life.”

But the key to his thinking is in his famous statement “For me to live is Christ.” Christ is the beginning and the end of life, the inspiration of life, the strength of life. Christ is life. Whether Paul lived or died, Christ would be in him, the dynamic of life. So, it all becomes a matter of God’s will, what He wants for us. Life in this world is precious because it is life in the Son, even with its reverses. The life that shall be ours at the Lord’s coming will not be different in kind, but only in degree. We will be nearer the presence of Christ. It will be an enrichment and a perfection of the life we now enjoy in Him.

So it is a matter of going from better to best. To live in Christ in this world is better. To be with Him in His coming is best. It is the culmination of all that God has intended for us.

Life does not have to be cruel and oppressive for us to meaningfully cry out Maranatha. However sweet life is, it is sweetened by the presence of Christ through His Spirit. Yet He is our absent friend and loved one. The Spirit helps us while He is away. Surely if we love Him and desire His personal presence, a communion that can be ours only by His return, we will eagerly anticipate His coming.

It is tragic that many Christians look to the Lord’s coming with fear and trembling. They would be terribly upset at the thought of His coming today. They are afraid they are not ready, fearful that the good they have done does not outweigh the bad. Such ones have failed to understand what it means to be saved by grace, to be secure in His love. Paul assures us that we have passed from death into life, and that there is no judgment for those who are in Christ. It is only on such grounds that we can ejaculate “Come, Lord Jesus!” If it depends on our works or our goodness, we are all doomed.

The long and short of it is whether we really love Jesus. If He is ours and we are His, we will have joy at the thought of His coming. If a phone call reveals that a dear and precious friend is coming, there will be rejoicing, not dread or fright. And so if the peal of heavenly trumpets reveal the coming of the Son of God—our friend, saviour, and Lord—we will be overjoyed and will hasten to meet Him.—Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!