Maranatha!

Revelation 22:7-21

22:17 Whoever is thirsty, let him come.

The first and the last words of the Bible are of grace. At the end of the Bible, the words come in the form of a benediction: "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen" (22:21). In the beginning of the Bible, the words weren't actual words; they were an awesome act of grace. Freely and sovereignly, entirely on his own initiative, God spoke the universe into existence. No one made Him do it; no one asked Him to do it; He did it simply because it was His gracious pleasure. It pleased Him to create in the same way it later pleased Him to save - freely, by grace.

The first and last words of the Bible are of blessing; "Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life" (verse 17). In the beginning, God was delighting in everything He made, pronouncing it all very good and blessing humankind with the command to be fruitful (see Genesis 1:28, 31). Why did God bless? Why does He bless? Not because He must, for He is free, but because it is who He is. It pleases Him.

Between the first and last words of the Bible is the story of the Bible. On one hand there is the human debacle: our irrational and inexplicable refusal to be graced and blessed. But on the other hand there remains the divine freedom to grace and bless: God's dogged determination to say "Nevertheless" to our sin. So the Bible ends with another promise and appeal: Three times Jesus says, "I am coming soon" (Revelation 22:7, 12, 20). In between, an open invitation is given to the world: "Whoever is thirsty, let him come" (verse 17). The message is, "I am coming. Will you come, too? Everything depends on it - life of death, heaven or hell."

What is there left for us to do but pray, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus" (verse 20)? The early church made this prayer a standard call to worship with an Aramaic word that has found its way into our vocabulary: "Maranatha!" When it was prayed, the church sincerely believed the prayer would be answered and Jesus would come, if not physically, then spiritually. Will you pray it now - with the church throughout the ages, one more time or for the first time? "Amen. Maranatha!" He will come because he is coming.