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WHEN 'MARANATHA' IS A MEMORY

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“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”[1] C.S. Lewis wrote these words in a letter, essentially paraphrasing the apostle Paul:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.[2]

Life itself proves the colloquial proverb and biblical principle: Life is indeed a race—but we compete only with ourselves. In some ways, it’s very simple: just keep moving. Just don’t quit. All you have to do is stay on the narrow road—no cheating—and hit the finish line. But on the other hand…you have to stay on the narrow road and hit the finish line. The cross is consistent, but everyone’s life story looks different. All your challenges and trials and triumphs are unique to your story, but the rules are the same for everybody, succinctly outlined in the Sermon on the Mount and distilled in the “greatest” commandments.[3] Stay on track, don’t quit, and don’t cheat. Easy enough. But it feels like a grind.

It’s meant to. It’s the grind that crucifies you in Christ. Conforms you into His Image.[4]

Increasingly, I find myself deliberately contemplating what kept Jesus on His own cross out of necessity for mine. Scripture says that as He stared down the barrel of His own death—not only a terrible way to die, but bearing the weight of wrath for many[5]—it was “the joy set before Him”[6] that kept Him from cowardice. Anything less than that same obsession will consign us to our own demise at the hands of the “pride of life,” “lust of the flesh,” and “the cares of this world.”[7] So what is it on the other side of the “Maranatha!”[8] cry, when “Maranatha” is a memory that can keep us going? These are the things we should meditate on constantly.

Part of the “good news” that is the Gospel of the Kingdom[9] is that everything dark and destructive about this “present evil age”[10] has numbered days. The devil only has so much airtime left before he’s finally crushed under the foot of King Jesus.[11] Consider just a handful of the symptoms of death and Satan’s reign of terror that will end in the renewal of all things:

-War[12]
-Fear[13]
-Fractured relationships[14]
-Sin[15]
-Disease[16]
-Poverty[17]
-Corrupt political leadership[18]
-Wolves devouring sheep[19]
-Death[20]

We can’t even imagine how liberating and restorative eternity to come will be, but it’s worth trying. It’s a good exercise to encourage us to live in light of the Kingdom coming and bear witness of it now any way that we can. Indeed, His plans are “exceedingly and abundantly above anything we could ask or think.”[21] Consider that His name will literally be on our foreheads at that point.[22] We will be with Him—an answer to Jesus’ Gethsemane prayer soaked in sweat and blood[23]—forever firewalled from loneliness or orphanhood. All days are numbered, and there is a glorious one coming wherein the One on the throne who inhabits eternity and dwells in unapproachable light will utter these glorious words:

The former things have passed away.[24]

Perhaps most significantly, it would be inaccurate to describe this as simply a “return” to Eden. It’s actually going to be even better than Eden. There will be no deceptive, adversarial snake usurping dominion over creation. There will be no provision for or possibility of death injecting itself into our veins like a long-game cancer. Everything lost will be restored. Everyone sleeping the sleep of saints in Christ will be resurrected to full glory, unable to ever die again and possibly able to walk through walls (?).[25] There is fun to be had. There’s fish to eat for breakfast over a campfire.[26]

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.[27]

Returning to Lewis’ opening line, there are incredible things ahead— but I’d like to bring all our attention to the final words in his phrase: “any we leave behind.” War, fear, doubt, unbelief, broken relationships and fractured families, sin, disease, poverty, injustice, bankrupt leadership, warmongers and thieves, wolves clothed in the skin of sheep they eat, and our merciless enemy of Death are things we will leave behind in this present evil age, the one marked by our petitions to heaven that Jesus-please-for-the-love-of-all-that-is-good-come-back.[28] Indeed, even Heaven must restrain Him until the renewal of all things.[29] He will not rest until He fulfills every promise He has ever made, and leads us into the restoration— when “maranatha” is just a memory.

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.[30]

Maranatha.

Stephanie Quick is a writer/producer serving with FAI. She cohosts The Better Beautiful podcast with Jeff Henderson. Browse her free music, films, and books in the FAI App and at stephaniequick.org.

 
 

Stephanie Quick