Maranatha! Our LORD, come!

“Maranatha“ was the password among the believers in the early Church. They lived in the expectation of the imminent Return of Christ and were of one heart and one soul. This was also the hope they clung to during the persecutions, which commenced in full force in the year AD 63 under Nero. After all, the LORD foretold this: “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord.” And: “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you …” (Jn 15:20). 

The living expectation of the promised Return of the LORD (Jn 14:1-3) was also the most important subject in the Epistles of the apostles and certainly in their sermons as well. 

John encouraged the believers like this: “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming/Return.” (1. Jn 2:28). 

Peter wrote: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming/Return of our LORD Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2. Pt 1:16). 

James reassured them: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming/Return of the LORD. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.” (Jas 5:7). 

Paul could even refer to the “THUS SAITH THE LORD”: “For this we say unto you by the word of the LORD, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the LORD shall not prevent them which are asleep.” (1. Ths 4:15). We notice that here it is not about one of His various comings but about the promised coming at the Return of Christ. 

The promised Return of Christ also became the main subject with William Branham: Since the opening of the Seals in March 1963 alone, he spoke of “the Bride” 870 times. At His Return, the heavenly Bridegroom will take only the prepared Bride home with Him. After all, the prophetic ministry in our time was meant to call out the true believers from all religious confusion through the divine message and to prepare them for the second coming of Christ. The whole counsel of God is now being declared to the Church so that she is restored to her original condition and can at the end once again be as the original Church was at the beginning. 

The cry “Maranatha!” expresses the yearning among the true believers who are waiting for the Return of Christ. Maranatha is an Aramaic term and consists of the words: Mar = LORD, ana = our, tha = come: “LORD our, come!” 

In the last chapter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul bid farewell with these words: “The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. If any man love not the LORD Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ be with you.” (vv. 21-23). 

There are people who love the LORD, accept His offer of grace and thereby the divine blessing: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name …” (Jn 1:12), and there are people who reject it and stay under the curse. Every individual decides for oneself whether to accept the accomplished Redemption. God wanted for all people to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth (1. Tim 2:4). However, only the ones who recognize that they are indeed lost and call upon the Name of the LORD shall be saved (Rom 10:13). “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” (Acts 10:43). 

According to Gal 1:6-9, all of those who preach another gospel than the one that the apostles preached are also under the curse. The words of the Apostle Paul strike like lightning and are as the thunder of the Almighty: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” (v. 8). All Christian churches, denominations, and confessions have to face this judgment, and so does every single preacher. 

As in every revival, among those who now hear the last message of calling out and restoration by the promised ministry according to Mal 4:5-6 – as confirmed by our LORD in Mt 17:11 and Mk 9:12 – there are many that are called but only a few that are chosen (Mt 20:16). The call of the hour is: “Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him!” All virgins hear it; all wake up and trim their lamps. And yet there are wise ones and foolish ones. The wise are the elect; they have the oil of the Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit in their earthen vessels (2. Cor 4:7), and every Word of God is the bread of live for them (Mt 4:4). 

In 1. Ki 17:14 we find a wonderful allegory from the time of Elijah that applies to our present time: “For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.” The promised spiritual latter rain will come, just as the early rain came (Isa 44:3; Joel 3; Zec 10:1; Acts 2:14-21; Jas 5:7; and others), and there will be no lack of the spiritual food (1. Tim 4:6). The Redeemer addressed the Redeemed: “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” (Jn 4:34). 

Whosoever willingly accepts the guidance of the Spirit of God (Jn 16:13; Rom 8:14) lives a completely normal life in all areas but takes the preparation seriously and receives the promised inheritance of salvation and is finally sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:11-14; Gal 3:14). At the coming of the Bridegroom, these individuals will collectively be ready as His commissioned Word Bride (2. Cor 11:2) and will go in to the marriage supper (Mt 25:10). 

Lamps, namely illumination, the foolish virgins have as well. But they miss their preparation; they also believe foolish interpretations of men, whereas the wise only believe what is actually written in the Word. Only what is written in the Bible is indeed biblical. And every doctrine is based upon two, three, or even more Scriptures. 

The wise have the fullness of the Spirit, which is manifested by the perfect love of God: the love towards Him, toward His Word, and to one another. The following obviously applies to them: “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” (Mk 12:30-31). The two belong together: Whoever truly loves God also loves his brother, even to the point of self-sacrifice. 

The disciple whom Jesus loved had heard what the LORD said to His adversaries: “If God were your Father, ye would love me …” (Jn 8:42). 

To His disciples the Master said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (Jn 13:34-35). And: “These things I command you, that ye love one another.” (Jn 15:17). The emphasis is on the statement: “… as I have loved you …” – in this very way. 

The Apostle John described the love of God toward us and the brotherly love evident among one another: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1. Jn 3:16). 

The true, real-life divine love is the only “mark of identification” that we are His true disciples. Love never divides, not even during the hardest trials; love reconciles and unites under any circumstances; it is the bond of perfection (Col 3:14). In order to find out how things really are with each one of us personally, we have to look into the mirror of the Word (Jas 1:19-27). Whoever looks into the mirror always sees only oneself, never someone else. 

In 1. Cor 13 the love of God is comprehensively described to us. Even if we knew all of the mysteries, could speak with tongues of men and angels, or even had the gift of prophecy and all faith, it would be of no benefit to us if we did not have love. The practiced love manifests itself as it is written: “Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil …” (1. Cor 13:4-8). Every one of the mentioned characteristics applies to the life of the elect. This is how we have to live our lives. Then the enemy will not be able to accuse us in any of these matters, because the following applies: “… nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me …” (Gal 2:20) – lives His life through us. Everything will cease, even the gifts of the Spirit, but the love of God remains forever (1. Cor 13:8). 

God is love; He revealed Himself in His love in Jesus Christ, our LORD and Saviour: “For God so loved the world …” (Jn 3:16). The love of God is poured out into our hearts by the infilling of the Spirit (Rom 5:5) and is manifested in us as the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-24). In this way, all born-again believers are baptized as members into the body of Christ, namely into His Church (1. Cor 12:12-31). 

In the first church age letter, the LORD complained that the believers soon left the first love (Rev 2:4). We have to return to this first love now, at the end. As a bridegroom makes his bride an offer of love and she must accept it to indeed become his wife, so every one who wants to be part of the Bride Church must accept the offer of love by the heavenly Bridegroom in order to participate in the wedding and the subsequent marriage supper (Rev 19:7-9). 

In verse 7 it states: “… for the marriage of the Lamb is come …” In verse 9 we read: “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Marriage and marriage supper belong together. Indeed, and then comes the confirmation: “These are the true sayings of God.” To this we say a heartfelt Amen. 

The completion of the Redeemed will come to pass in the love of God by a mighty move of the Spirit, just as the one at the beginning, and this with all who “… love His appearing.” (2. Tim 4:8). Only they are filled with the longing to please the heavenly Bridegroom and cry out with all their hearts: “Maranatha – Our LORD, come!”