Hebrews Chapter Nine, Culmination

 

Hebrews 9:28b To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

 

Do we eagerly wait for Jesus? Jesus asked, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8. This rhetorical question sadly addresses the end time, when our Lord will return for His bride, and then bodily and visibly for Israel, as her King, in glory. The unspoken answer can be inferred from the narrow gate Jesus refers to that leads to life. Few there are that enter it, He tells us. The broad road, like a highway, that leads to destruction, or perdition, is traveled by many.

Why? “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed,” John 3:19, 20. When our Lord appears a second time, it seems that few will be genuinely waiting for Him. Believers’ love will wax cold, while unbelievers will be happily insulated, seeing professing Christians every bit as carnal (or worse) as the most devout atheist.

 

But what of His own? Jesus spoke a parable of ten virgins: the wise, which had oil, and the unwise, which did not, Matthew 25:1-13. The virgins that possessed oil were clearly saints, saved by God’s unmerited grace. The other virgins were unsaved, symbolized by the absence of oil. Yet we read that, “while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept,” Matthew 25:5. Emphasize the word “all”, and re-read the verse. We all, saved or unsaved, slumbered and slept. This paradigm shift in orthodox eschatology began after the first couple of centuries of the church’s foundation. Our Master delayed His coming, so little by little the church became more worldly, and the saints abandoned the literal interpretation of Scripture in terms of Jesus’ imminent return in glory to reign from the throne of David for a thousand years after a seven year period of tribulation. Gone was the Rapture, the removal of the church, the rise of the Antichrist, the Great Tribulation, the Millenial reign, and the Great White Throne judgment. In its place began to arise symbolism, replacing historical events to come, with images expressing spiritual truths. Gone went the fervor of the saints, eagerly waiting for the Lord from Heaven as confusion about the end engulfed the church.

 

Nonetheless, we are informed that Jesus our Lord will come again. In no uncertain terms, He will return as He left. “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven,” Acts 1:11. The disciples just bore witness to Jesus bodily ascending into Heaven. It was for their sakes (and ours) that He departed so noticably and unmistakably, or else, like the search for Elijah, we would still be scouring the earth for Him today. Some still do, such as James Cameron’s farcical “documentary,” the Lost Tomb of Jesus.

 

Christ our Lord went up into Heaven visibly. The angels assured the disciples (and us, who were to learn from them) that He would return the same way: visibly, from the heavens, back to the Mount of Olives. We read in Zechariah, “they will look on Me whom they pierced…and on that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east,” Zechariah 12:10, 14:4. The prophet is focused on the Day of the Lord and Israel’s salvation from her enemies, executed by the glorious appearance of the crucified Christ, now glorified, descending from Heaven for all to see. He returns to the Mount of Olives and touches the surface of the earth for the first time again since His ascension. The language is clear; the prophets’ voices united depicting a literal, visible return in glory when the Day of the Lord draws nigh, and Israel is in peril. The church has largely forsaken this view. Conversely, the church has lost much spiritual power, because the truth of God’s word has been diluted by human conjecture and error.

 

Why does He return? To reign. The writer informs us that He does not return on account of sin. The NASB translates this passage, “without reference to sin.” The RSV, HCSB, and ESV render it, “not to deal with sin.” The NIV says, “not to bear sin.” His purpose is not to contend with sin; he has already triumphed over sin, death, and Satan. He has come for salvation. Interestingly, the NASB shifts the verse a little to read, “Christ…will appear a second time for salvation…to those who eagerly wait for Him.” Those who look for Him, He is coming for. Our deliverence from sin’s presence is nigh. Our deliverence out of a Satanically corrupted world-system is at hand. Israel’s deliverence from those who hate her is imminent. “But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings…you shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,” Malachi 4:2, 3.

 

Yes, God is our Savior. And He will deliver us, His children, out of all things and deliver us into the peace of His presence, and the joy of having finished the race set out for us. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. His Second Coming, the Day of the Lord, is salvation. It is salvation in its purest, fullest, most comforting form. We, His children, ought to stir one another up by way of reminder, pray always, and rejoice in the Spirit, eagerly waiting for the One who will make all things new, Revelation 21:5.