When you look at the believers in the Book of Acts and persecuted Christians, they did not look to the empty tomb for encouragement as they are being burnt alive, as they are being hunted. They look to the return of Jesus for encouragement and endurance.
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. – Revelation 6:9-11 (ESV)
As we make disciples, this word means everything. It is where our power comes from and where we have this cry of, not my will, but your will, come what may, to be a sheep among wolves, to have that cry of Maranatha.
The Maranatha message and the proclamation of the gospel are inseparable. For many Christians, they think the gospel is simply the message of salvation. How can I be saved? What must I do to be saved? And of course, that is an essential aspect of the gospel, but the gospel is also what we are saved unto, what we are looking forward to, what we are dying daily for, what awaits us at the end of this race.
What are we enduring for? What is it that we are suffering for? What is it that we are sacrificing for, laying down our lives for? It is for the age to come.
The reality is, from a New Testament perspective, the cross is a custom-tailored, designed instrument of torture whereby we can be conformed into the image of His death and lay down our lives in this age as we await complete healing, prosperity, blessing in the age to come at the resurrection.
So yes, through the cross were promised blessings financially, blessings physically, blessings emotionally, forever, but it is at the resurrection.
In this age, He often does release and give us gifts whereby we get tastes, we get samples of these things. Much of this life is embracing the cross and laying down our lives. It is not all about all the blessings and prosperity.
It is suffering before glory. That was the pattern that Christ followed. The return of Jesus is that which we look forward to.
It is the end of the race. It is our motivator. It is, again, the glory that we are looking forward to.
It is the day when we will actually see Him face to face. The problem is the issue of the return of Jesus is not a side issue that we can just put aside. Many in the Church say it is, that it is not central, but it has always been central for believers from the beginning.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed… – Luke 4:18 (ESV)
Why was the Lord upon him? Why had the Lord anointed him? He said, to preach the gospel to the poor. He specified that the gospel is a message that is directed to the poor.
And he said, He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives. The gospel is a story. It is a story that has a beginning. It has a destination. It is more than just the message of how to be saved. That is an especially important part of the gospel.
But it is not the end of the story. Jesus specifically directed the gospel call to the poor. I mean, as he was crying out, he said, Come to me.
He did not say everyone. Now, of course, the gospel is for everyone, but he specifically said, ‘come to me, you who labor, who are burdened, who suffer, who are heavy laden.’ You know, the weight of this world is heavy on you.
He says, come to me, and I am the one who will give you rest. Of all the people or things in the universe that we can turn to, he says, “I will give relief and rest to the suffering, poor, afflicted and those that are heavily burdened.” Beyond just the gospel message itself, the very return of Jesus, like Jesus is coming back for the poor.
“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” Psalm 12:5
I will now arise throughout the Old Testament. Or you have the prayer in Psalm 68:
God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him!
This is the Maranatha cry. It is the Come Lord Jesus cry of the Old Testament. The inference is, God, get up, stand up, get up off your throne and come down here.
When the Lord says, I will now arise, he goes, I am sitting on my throne, I am going to get up, rise, come down and fix this mess.
We Are the Poor
He says, it is specifically because of those who are devastated, those who are groaning, those who are needy. The reason that the Lord called us and opened our eyes, and the reason the Lord welcomed us into his kingdom, quite frankly, I believe is because we are the poor.
In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. – Luke 10:21 (ESV)
You have revealed these to babes and to infants, and you have hidden these things from the wise, the self-sufficient, those that, you know, feel as though they have already won in this life. He goes; you have revealed it, the foolish things of this world.
The King Will Serve
We often say that he came as a lamb, but he is coming back as a lion. But it says that even after he returns, the king will gird himself to serve. At the wedding feast itself, the king who just came back and engaged in a hostile, violent takeover of the planet, who subdued the armies of the Antichrist, the hordes of those armies throughout the earth with hearts full of hatred, he silenced them, subdued them.
And then as he gets to Jerusalem, and the wedding feast ensues, it says, he will gird himself to serve us. It is amazing, and he is the one we are called to imitate and serve.
The word Maranatha means the Lord has come, but it can also mean the Lord will come.
This is the statement for all Christians. We say, the Lord has come. He has taken on flesh. He did dwell amongst us, but he is coming back to dwell amongst us forever.
Then it is a cry, and it is a prayer, come Lord Jesus. It is a cry for the poor of the earth. It is a cry for those of us who are tired, who are burdened, you know, who, yes, we have the joy of the Lord as our strength. We were blessed to be in the kingdom. We are blessed by all his blessings but still groan.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. – Romans 8:18-19
What feels like an unsurpassable mountain of suffering in this life; Paul says, that is nothing. It is not worth being compared to the amount of glory, rest, relief, joy, righteousness, and justice that we will feel in the age to come.
Creation
What does he mean by the creation? I mean, the leaves, and the earth, and the air, and the light, and the clouds, and the sky, and the birds, you know, the creation eagerly awaits with anticipation for the day of the Lord, for the return of Jesus. It says, for God’s sons to be revealed. He is talking about resurrection.
Creation itself sighs, groans, feels pain with labor pains, and suffers labor pains until now. He says, not only that, but we ourselves have the Spirit in us, and the Holy Spirit in us groaning.
God himself actually is groaning, waiting for the day when we will be resurrected, when we will no longer struggle with sin, when we will not have to deal with sickness, or death, or aging, or wars, or racism, or suicide, or divorce, shame, addiction, drug addiction, you know, all of these things will come to an end.
The curse will be reversed. Eden will be restored.
Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame… – Psalm 25:3a (ESV)
The righteous are those who are waiting. The righteous are those who wait, or the word there in Hebrew for wait is also hope, but it is a forward-looking, future-oriented word. It is looking to something, and that something is the return of Jesus, the establishment of his kingdom on the earth, the reconciliation of the entire Middle East.
Isaiah 19
You know, we can talk about Isaiah 19 in this beautiful picture, when Arabs, and Persians, and Turks, and Jews, and people from all over the world will actually all be unified together, serving the Lord, worshiping the Lord together, that all of the racism, all of the nationalism, all of the politics, all of the division of this age will come to an end.
No one who hopes in you will be ashamed. On that day, if you choose to lay down your life now, if we choose to truly sacrifice everything now, there’s times when you will say, what am I doing? And the Lord says, if you lay down your life now, on the day of the Lord, on the day of judgment, you will not be ashamed.
No one who waits for the Lord will be ashamed because he will fulfill all his promises.
“So, Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” – Hebrews 9:28
So, the point is, he came once, he is coming a second time. He is not coming a third time. He is not going to come back from heaven and rescue us and then come back seven years later.
The scriptures say that heaven must contain him, it says in Acts, until the time for the restoration of all things. Christ will remain in heaven until he comes back, but it says for those who eagerly await him. So, his followers, or those who fear him, are those who wait for him, those who hope in him.
Maranatha Silence
So much of the church has silenced or put aside the Maranatha cry, and by saying, no, we will continue to champion it as an organization. We are not simply disciple makers, we are saying we are calling the church to return to this central cry that was part of what it always meant to be a Christian.
What it always meant to follow Jesus from ancient times, and not only since the time of Christ, but I would argue even going all the way back to the time of Adam and Eve. Ever since the declaration was made from heaven, when God looked at the serpent and he said, listen, someday someone is coming, and he is going to crush your head.
From that day forward, the righteous were waiting. Every time a boy was born, they were like, is this the one? You know, they were connected to this. How long, oh Lord, until paradise is restored? How long until we go back to the way things were? When our hearts connect with the Maranatha cry, it untethers us from this age, and we put all our hope in the age to come.
Even my church, even all my blessings, it does not fully satisfy me. When our hope is in the age to come, it directs our emotions so that when the things of this world begin to fall apart and unravel, when there is war, when there is instability, when our nations collapse.
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain… – Hebrews 6:19 (ESV)
The hope of the return of Jesus is an anchor that when the seas are stormy, it keeps us firm. And it says it is a hope that is both sure and steadfast. When our hope and our emotions are too tied to this world and things go crazy, then we lose control.
It says the knowledge of God will cover the earth in that day as the waters cover the sea. It says this message shall be preached to all the earth as a testimony to all the nations. And this is what we are doing.
Why are we pushing forward? Why are we laboring? Because we care about individual souls. But there is also a larger collective mission that when we are done proclaiming this message to all the world, then the end will come. And when we say the end, we mean the end of dictators, the end of corruption, the end of wars, the end of all the things in this age that make us sigh and groan, the Spirit, and the Bride.
The Holy Spirit, that’s God himself, and the Bride, that is us. So, both God and his people at the end of the age, and I would say in anyone with ears to hear, come Lord Jesus.
I believe that not only was the cry of the early church, and the faithful throughout history all the way back to Adam and Eve, not only did they have that cry, come Lord, arise Lord, Maranatha. At the end of the age, the scriptures say that God himself and the global body of Christ will be crying out saying, come Lord Jesus.
We had enough, we are tired and waited long enough, we have hoped in you long enough, come Lord Jesus. Amen and amen.
In this article, Joel Richardson encourages our global underground church leaders in the Maranatha Cry. Joel Richardson is a New York Times bestselling author, filmmaker, and teacher. Be the Underground Church
