Book:
Hebrews
Chapter:
9
Verse:
28
toVerse:
0
Text:
28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Translation:
My translation
second coming
The Coming of the Son of Man
Submitted by Andrew on 14 December, 2005 - 20:09. 
My book The Coming of the Son of Man: New Testament Eschatology for an Emerging Church is in the shops - just in time for Christmas. According to the blurb on the back cover, which I didn’t write, "This book engages the minds of jaded twenty-first century postmoderns who have ‘heard it all before’." Of course, that’s only hype. Or is it? There’s only one way to find out. Issues raised by the book can be discussed in this forum. |
[This post was created from a comment in the The resurrection of those in Christ thread.]
I also want to pick up on your assumption that Hebrews 9:28 describes a ‘second coming’ of Christ to earth.
I think this is mistaken. Hebrews 9:23-28 describes what Christ, the great high priest, does in the heavenly sanctuary when he ‘appears in the presence of God on our behalf’. This metaphor controls the whole paragraph. His first appearance in the sanctuary was to offer himself as a sacrifice to put away sin (9:26; cf. 9:11-12). The writer to the Hebrews, fearing that his readers may be in danger of losing faith (cf. 6:11-12; 10:32-39), urges them to be patient because Christ will enter the sanctuary a second time, will appear in the presence of God a second time - ‘not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him’ (9:28). This is not a second coming to earth - it is much more like the coming of the Son of man to the throne of the Ancient of Days to receive a kingdom on behalf of the suffering saints of the Most High. The writer exhorts these communities of believers not to abandon Christ in the face of persecution or distraction but to persevere, because sooner or later the church will be vindicated in the world, those who suffer will be saved.