I'll be back and stay forever!

360 come back and stay“It is true that I am going and preparing a place for you, but it is also true that I will come again and take you to me so that you too may be where I am (John 14,3).

Have you ever had a deep yearning for something to happen soon? All Christians, even those in the first century, yearned for Christ's return, but in those days and ages they expressed it in a simple Aramaic prayer: "Maranatha," meaning in German, "Our Lord, come!"

Christians long for Jesus' return, which he promised in the scripture above. He promises that he will come back and stay to make a place here and we will all be where he is. He went away to prepare for his return. This was the reason he left. When people who have become dear to us sometimes visit us and then prepare to leave, we wish they would stay. But we know they have reasons for leaving, and Jesus had reasons too.

I am sure that Jesus is eagerly awaiting the day of his return, as all Christians do; indeed, all of creation groans and longs for the day when God's children will inherit (Romans 8: 18-22). And maybe it means coming home for Jesus too!

Notice in the scripture above where it says, “I will come back to take you to me, so that you will be where I am.” Isn't that a great promise? This amazing promise is repeated many times in Scripture. Paul, who wrote to the early Christian church, says in 1. Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God!" But my question is: will he come back and stay this time?

The apostle John reports in his prophetic writing at Revelation 21: 3-4:     
“Then I heard a loud voice saying from the throne, Behold the tent of God among men! And he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them, their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore; for the first is past.”

It sounds like a permanent agreement to me; Jesus is coming back to stay forever!

As we rejoice and wait for this amazing event, it's easy to get impatient. We humans just don't like to wait; we get upset, we whine and are often overwhelmed, as you know yourself. Instead, it is better to say the short Aramaic prayer I mentioned earlier, "Maranatha" - just like this: "Lord Jesus Christ, come!" Amen.

Prayer:

Lord, we long for your return and are delighted that this time you will stay and be with us! Amen

by Cliff Neill