If this were not enough evidence, the characteristic liturgical petition of Advent is Maranatha—come, Lord Jesus! It is certainly not a prayer for Jesus to come again as a helpless baby; it is the longing cry of God’s people for him to return in power and glory, when “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:10–11). All but one or two of our Advent hymns—you can look in the front of the hymnal yourself if you don’t believe me—are oriented toward the second advent, the second coming of Jesus.1
Repetition is part of discipleship here
