Jim Bakker Show - The Maranatha Cry - Joel Richardson
Aired: 2021-06-21
Duration: 02:47


=== Maranatha Cry Revived (02:46) ===

[00:00:00]  Joe, what is the Maranatha cry and why is it important for Christians to know about it?
[00:00:09]  Oh, this is a great question, Jim.
[00:00:11]  So for the past few years, we've been developing a network of ministries and we've been trumpeting the need to revive the Maranatha cry.
[00:00:22]  So Maranatha, of course, was an Aramaic expression that was commonly used in the early church.
[00:00:28]  And scholars debate exactly what it means.
[00:00:31]  They think it may have been sort of a creedal statement that said both Christ has come, he has come, but he is coming back.
[00:00:40]  But it was also a cry.
[00:00:42]  It was also a prayer, which simply meant, come, Lord Jesus.
[00:00:46]  Come, Lord Jesus.
[00:00:47]  And of course, we see this in the book of Revelation, right?
[00:00:49]  The Spirit and the bride, they're praying, they're crying out, come, Lord, Jesus.
[00:00:55]  And I would say that in the modern church, we have the hallelujah down.
[00:00:59]  We're really good at the hallelujah.
[00:01:01]  Praise the Lord, hallelujah.
[00:01:03]  But we, by and large, have lost the Maranatha cry.
[00:01:06]  We've lost that urgency, that groaning.
[00:01:10]  There are so many scriptures.
[00:01:12]  You know, in Romans 8, Paul says that the Spirit within us, God himself within us, is groaning.
[00:01:20]  All of creation is groaning, is crying.
[00:01:23]  It's not just crying out for the end of this age, and that's something that's worthy of crying out for.
[00:01:28]  To say, Lord, bring about the end of this current wicked, tired system.
[00:01:34]  Bring about the end of corrupt politicians.
[00:01:36]  Bring about the end of human trafficking.
[00:01:39]  Bring about the end of the abortion industry.
[00:01:42]  Bring about the end of disease, of sickness, of premature death, of drug addiction, of drug overdoses, like all of these things.
[00:01:48]  It's the end of those things.
[00:01:50]  But it's the beginning.
[00:01:52]  It's come, Lord.
[00:01:53]  Establish your kingdom.
[00:01:54]  Let the kingdom that you promised dawn on this earth.
[00:01:59]  As it says in Isaiah 60, darkness covers the earth right now, deep darkness the peoples, but the Lord will rise upon you.
[00:02:06]  And so my heart's cry has been to see the Maranatha cry of the early church revived in the church.
[00:02:13]  And as we groan and yearn for these things, there are so many verses throughout the New Testament that says that he's coming back for who?
[00:02:20]  For those who eagerly await him.
[00:02:23]  Much of the church today, we've lost touch with the focus, the New Testament, the entire biblical focus on the return of Jesus.
[00:02:30]  And I want to see that revived so that when he returns, he'll return to a church that is indeed eagerly awaiting, yearning and crying out for his return, that we would recover that Maranatha cry.
[00:02:42]  And it's something that people are resonating with.
[00:02:44]  They're feeling all over the world.