Daily Devotional · Revelation 22:20
Come, Lord Jesus
Reflection
"He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." Revelation 22:20 is the second-to-last verse of the entire Bible. After twenty-two chapters of visions — thrones, seals, trumpets, bowls, the great whore, the beast, the marriage supper of the Lamb, the new Jerusalem — the whole book ends with a conversation. Jesus speaks: "Yes, I am coming soon." John responds: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." The response is maranatha — Aramaic for "Come, Lord," or "the Lord comes." It is one of the earliest Christian prayers, appearing in 1 Corinthians 16:22 and in the Didache (the earliest Christian manual outside the New Testament). It was the prayer of the persecuted church. The prayer is disarmingly simple. After all the apocalyptic complexity of the book, the Christian response is two words: Come. Lord. Come — the prayer of longing. Not for escape from the world but for the completion of what God has promised. For the appearance of the One whose presence will make everything new. Lord — the title that acknowledges who is coming. The Jesus who is coming is the Lord — the One with all authority, the One to whom every knee will bow. "Yes, I am coming soon." The Greek word for soon (tachy) means swiftly — not necessarily within a short time, but when He comes, He will come without warning, quickly, decisively. The church lives between the promise and the fulfillment. The prayer holds both: we believe the promise is true, and we long for the fulfillment. Come, Lord Jesus.
Background
Maranatha (1 Corinthians 16:22) is one of only two Aramaic phrases preserved in Greek New Testament letters (the other being Abba). The Didache instructed that after the eucharistic meal, the community should say: "Let grace come and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David. Whoever is holy, let him come; whoever is not, let him repent. Maranatha. Amen." The prayer held together the longing for Christ's return and the call to holiness — the two postures of the church in the age between.
Truth
The final prayer of the Bible is not a request for better circumstances, protection from enemies, or resolution of current problems. It is the most fundamental prayer: come. The church's deepest longing is not for a comfortable life but for the presence of Christ — and that longing, expressed in prayer, is both the church's witness to the world and its anchor through every suffering.
Application
End your time with God today with the prayer of Revelation 22:20. Not as a closing formula but as a genuine expression of longing: Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Say it as the prayer of the persecuted church has always said it — meaning it, believing the promise, holding the expectation. This is the prayer that holds all other prayers together. It is the last word of Scripture and the first word of hope.