This word has a broad semantic field, like the phrase “Prepare the way for the Lord!” (Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1), and applies to multiple situations in salvation history - Heilsgeschichte - and to the personal life of the contemporary believer as well as to the community of Jesus followers today and in the future.
Luther notes that “The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray” (Jude 1:14; Revelation 22:20) “that it may come to us also.” The arrival of God and the arrival of His kingdom are largely synonymous, and are not one-time events in the history of the world, but happen at various times, at various places, and in various ways.
Luther also writes that “God's kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.” So the followers of Jesus, motivated by the Holy Spirit, worship God who has already arrived and yet who is to come (Revelation 1:8, 4:8).
When God arrived, and when He arrives, what are the results of His advent? This is described at length: new life, wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, and judicial decisions favoring the poor (Isaiah 11:1-9); and an assertive response to injustice and evil (Revelation 19:9-16).
The past and present of ‘Maranatha’ parallel the proverb that Jesus followers live in the ‘already’ and simultaneously in the ‘not yet.’ For this reason, the liturgy features ‘Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again’ and ‘Proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes’ again.
So we have three thoughts which are tightly connected: ‘Maranatha’ as past and future; the ‘not yet’ and the ‘already;’ and ‘prepare the way’ as a leitmotif throughout the Heilsgeschichte.
From the Israelites leaving the Babylonian Captivity, to John preaching in the Judean Desert prior to the public ministry of Jesus, to the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, to the annual observation of the season of Advent, to the daily welcoming of Jesus into the hearts of individuals, to missionary work around the globe and around the corner, to the arrival of Jesus at the end of time, these three concepts shape the entire history of the world.
The range of imagery associated with Jesus asks us to envision receiving Jesus as a Lion and as a Lamb, on a horse and on a donkey, as peaceful and warlike, on clouds and on a dusty Judean road, as a teacher and as a counselor, and as personified wisdom. This mind-boggling spectrum of concepts is the result of trying to capture the idea of an infinite God in the finite language of human reason.
Our waiting is not a mere passive existence; Malachi (3:1) tells us that we “seek” the Lord, an active verb. As Greg Finke writes:
So wherever you go, whether to the ends of the earth or just to work, if there are people there, you can be sure Jesus is up to something redemptive. His purpose is to redeem. His goal is full restoration. This is what Jesus does. He doesn’t get distracted. He doesn’t veer off course. His timing is always precise because his redemptive mission is always what he’s up to. Different people. Different timing. Different stories and pathways. Sure. But this is what he is up to all the time.
So Jesus has already arrived, and He’s going to arrive. But in both the past and the future, His arrival serves His larger purposes of saving, redeeming, and forgiving.
