Maranatha
"Be watchful... you do not know the hour in which our Lord will come." — Didache 16
The Expectation of the Early Church
"Be watchful over your life. Let not your lamps be quenched or your loins ungirded, but be ready, for you do not know the hour in which our Lord will come. Come together frequently, seeking what is fitting for your souls. For the whole time of your faith shall not profit you if you are not made perfect at the last."
— Didache 16
The early church lived in expectation. They believed Christ would return in their lifetime. This expectation shaped everything: their ethics, their urgency, their community, their willingness to suffer. They were sojourners, not settlers.
What We Expect
The Return of Christ
Jesus will come again in glory, bodily, visibly, to judge the living and the dead. Every eye will see him. The dead will be raised. The old order will pass away.
The Resurrection of the Body
We do not believe in the immortality of the soul alone. We believe in the resurrection of the body. What God made — body and soul — God will redeem.
The Final Judgment
All will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Those who have trusted in him will enter eternal life. Those who have rejected him will face eternal separation.
The New Creation
Heaven is not an escape from earth. It is the redemption of earth. A new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells, where God is all in all.
How to Live in Expectation
Maranatha
Come, Lord Jesus.
This was the prayer of the apostolic church. It is our prayer still. We do not fear the end. We long for it. We are not settled here. We are waiting for the Bridegroom.