Whatever “save” and “salvation” may mean to other people, for the Christian the word conveys a two-sided, glorious, joy-filled thought: (1) eternal deliverance from the judgment of sin and (2) full reconciliation into a relationship of intimacy and love with God. But we must remember that this deliverance and reconciliation takes place in three stages. Perhaps you’ve heard someone say: “I have been saved. I am being saved. I will be saved.” In doing so they are referring to what the Bible calls justification, sanctification, and glorification. We have been saved from the penalty of sin (justification). We are being saved from the power of sin (sanctification). And we will be saved from the presence of sin (glorification).
The author of Hebrews here in chapter 9 clearly refers to each of these three phases or stages of salvation.
(1) In v. 26 Christ is said to have appeared or was manifest “to put away sin.” This refers to his atoning sacrifice on the cross on the basis of which we have been forever delivered from sin’s penalty. Christ bore that penalty in his own body and soul. Verse 26 thus speaks primarily of the foundation on which our justification is based.
(2) According to v. 24 Christ is now appearing in the presence of God on our behalf. He is interceding with the Father for us. One dimension of this intercessory ministry is the sending of the Holy Spirit to indwell and empower us for Christian living. This is what we call sanctification, the gradual or progressive victory we experience over sin’s power. Thus v. 24 speaks implicitly of our sanctification.
(3) According to v. 28 Christ will appear yet again to those who eagerly await him. This obviously has in view the Second Coming at the close of history at which time our salvation will be consummated and we will be delivered or set free from the very presence of sin in our lives. Sin’s presence in us will be eradicated and destroyed and we will be made like Christ himself. I conclude, then, that v. 28 speaks primarily of our glorification when we will experience our final bodily resurrection and be made like unto Jesus himself. This is what Paul was talking about in Philippians 3:20-21,
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Phil. 3:20-21).
We call this event “glorification” because at that time we will be utterly and absolutely and eternally transformed into the likeness of the glory of Christ himself. It’s the same thing the apostle John had in mind when he said,
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
The apostle Paul referred to this in Romans 8:17. He said that all of God’s children who have faith in Christ will be “glorified with him.” Again, in Romans 8:24 he described it as “the redemption of our bodies.”
Thus Jesus Christ has appeared in his first coming, dying on the cross to endure the penalty of our sin and bringing us justification. Christ is presently appearing before the Father, applying the benefits of his cross through the Holy Spirit and thus bringing us sanctification. Christ will appear in the clouds of heaven to deliver us finally and fully from sin’s presence. And that will be our glorification. And it is this third and final installment of our salvation, if I may express it thusly, that our author has in mind when he says here in v. 28 that Christ will appear “to save” those who eagerly await him.
Four Important Truths related to the Second Coming of Christ
(1) The Second Coming of Christ is the unmistakable proof that what Christ accomplished at his First Coming was final, sufficient, perfect, and singular.
Now, where do I find that in this passage? It’s in our author’s statement in v. 28 that Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins “once” and that when he returns it won’t be to “bear the sins” of anyone. He has already done it. It is accomplished. It is finished! It is done! If at his Second Coming Jesus was to offer yet again a sacrifice for sins it would tell us that his death on Calvary and the shedding of his blood at the time of his first coming was actually no better than the sacrifice of the blood of bulls and goats and lambs that occurred repeatedly throughout the time of the OT. A sacrifice that must be repeated is imperfect.Otherwise it would be offered only once. Christ’s sacrifice was offered “once” and by means of it he has already perfectly and finally “put away sin” (v. 26).
Therefore, every time you think about the Second Coming or talk about it with others it ought to bring unparalleled joy and excitement and peace to your soul because it reminds you that the problem that your sin once posed to your relationship with God is over and done with. Don’t ever think that Christ is coming back to die for you yet again. His death was singular and final and forever and once for all. Praise God!
(2) The Second Coming of Christ is confirmation that it is appointed for all people to die only once.
Note carefully the words “just as” at the beginning of v. 27 and the word “so” at the start of v. 28. Clearly he is drawing a parallel between the death of Jesus Christ and the death of all humans. Christ died once. He offered himself to die on the cross as a sacrifice for sin only once. So also every human being dies only once. The NT does speak of a “second death” but that is not a second physical death. The “second death” in Revelation is the final spiritual death that perpetuates for eternity an unbeliever’s separation from God.
If you are wondering if this rules out any concept of reincarnation, the answer is most assuredly, Yes! According to Hinduism, for example, your lot in life right now is the result of how you behaved in a previous life. They call this the principle of karma. In other words, if you are healthy and wealthy now, if you are in a position of power and influence, this is a reward from good deeds you performed in a former life. If you are suffering and deprived now, you are only getting what you deserve from the failures and sins you committed in a previous incarnation. At best you can strive to improve your future life by laboring to do good now. In this way you might increase the odds of being re-born in the next life at a higher level of existence.
The aim of Buddhists, who also believe in reincarnation, is to finally and forever escape this seemingly endless cycle of birth, death, and re-birth, and enter into a state of nothingness called Nirvana, which means “extinguishing” or “ceasing to exist.” Tibetan Buddhism, of which the Dalai Lama is the well-known leader, believes that when you die your soul resides in a dreamlike state called Bardo for 49 days. It is during this period of seven weeks that one’s ultimate destiny is determined. The virtuous or those who lived righteously in this life may be set free from the cycle of reincarnation and enter into Nirvana. For all the rest, karma pulls them into yet another reincarnation.
As bizarre as this may sound, well-known celebrities such as actors Richard Gere, Sharon Stone, and Steven Seagal embrace it. Steve Jobs, of Apple fame, was an advocate and practitioner of Zen Buddhism until his death.
But our author is quite clear: all men die only once. Now of course there are a couple of notable exceptions in the Bible. I have in mind people like Lazarus who are miraculously raised from the dead and then must eventually die again. But note well that those who die and are raised are raised back into the same identity they had in this present existence. They do not die only to live again in another era of time, with a different name and another identity. Lazarus was raised to live in the same town and with the same two sisters, Mary and Martha, in the same period of history in which he formerly lived. So, one cannot appeal to biblical instances of resurrection to prove the possibility of reincarnation. Lazarus was not incarnated a second time in another body but was raised in the same body in which he had first died and in that same body he eventually died again.
By the way, if you are wondering why there are so few bodily resurrections recorded in Scripture, the answer is quite simple: It is no great blessing to have to die twice!
Before I leave this point, let us also take note that all humans are “appointed”to die. Who made this appointment with death? I didn’t and neither did you. Someone else has appointed all of us to die. Clearly, it is God who has appointed all mankind to die. We know this from what we read in Scripture concerning the fall of Adam and Eve. Paul says this in Romans 5:12 – “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”
In the strictest sense of the term, no one dies of “natural causes”. People don’t die because nature has run its course or because so-called “natural law” dictates that they do. Death is by divine appointment, no less so than is life. The reason we die is because sin has set in motion the judgment of God. Our bodies decay and eventually expire because, as Paul says in Romans 8, God has subjected the entire creation to futility. However, don’t ever forget that there is an infinite differencebetween the death of God’s children and that of men and women who depart this life without a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. More on that in a moment.
King David in Psalm 139 was even more explicit when he said of God: “in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (Ps. 139:16). Of course, God utilizes a variety of means in his sovereign authority over life and death: car accidents, cancer, even Satan is granted permission to take the lives of some of God’s people. This is quite clear not only from the book of Job but even more so in Revelation 2:10 – “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (see also Rev. 12:11).
Yes, Satan can kill people. Cancer can kill people. Heart attacks can kill people. Old age can kill people. But God exercises sovereign authority over all. Nothing catches him by surprise.
(3) The Second Coming of Christ ends all opportunity to be saved.
This is an extremely sobering and serious assertion, but we can’t afford to overlook it. Several things in this passage confirm it. I’ll return to this in a moment but clearly the purpose of Christ’s return is to consummate the salvation of those who already know him and are anxiously awaiting his coming (v. 28). There is nothing to indicate he is coming to save those who up until that time have lived in defiant disbelief and rebellion against his claim to be God incarnate.
We also know that there is no second chance to be saved after physical death because our author says that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (v. 27). He doesn’t say that after death comes yet another opportunity to be saved.
Whereas it is true that physical death is not the end of our existence, it is most assuredly the end of all opportunity to be reconciled to God. Contrary to those who argue for naturalism or that the only reality is physical or material in nature, when we die we do not simply go out of consciousness and decompose in the ground.
Sadly, most people today operate on the assumption that if we die only once that’s ok because everyone immediately goes to “heaven” or some such place of their own making. Did you see this recently in the wake of the tragic death of Robin Williams and especially of Joan Rivers?
I bring this to your attention because of a headline that appeared on the Drudge Report, the popular on-line news service. There it was in all caps and bold print: “Joan Plays Heaven”
The default belief of most Americans is that when someone dies, indeed when anyone dies, he or she is automatically assumed to go to heaven, or some such place. You hear it from athletes around the globe. Following the death of a parent it’s common to hear the football player or golfer declare: “Well, I’m sure dad is looking down on me now and I hope he’s proud of what I’ve done.” Or when a politician passes away after a tumultuous and difficult life, it’s not uncommon for many to say: “At least he is now at rest. He’s in a better place and for that we can all be grateful.”
The inescapable fact is that the western world simply assumes the truth of universalism. The suggestion that those who leave this life in unrepentant denial of Jesus Christ are eternally separated from God and subject to his judgment is regarded as unloving and inexcusably insensitive.
We witnessed this same phenomenon when Robin Williams committed suicide. A few expressed their hope that Williams had actually professed faith in Christ at some earlier time, and I certainly hope that is true. But for most people that hardly matters. As one news commentator put it, “He’s now making God laugh.”
I feel profound sadness at the thought that Joan Rivers and Robin Williams may have left this life without Christ. Maybe they didn’t and both of them are making God laugh. God does have a sense of humor. But if they are in the presence of Christ it is only because in mercy and love the Holy Spirit awakened their hearts to their need for Christ and drew them effectually to saving faith while they were still alive. We aren’t justified by comedy or the ability to make people laugh and feel good about themselves. We are justified during this life alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
What awaits all mankind after death is judgment. For non-Christians it is the judgment that consigns them to eternal separation from Christ. That is a judgment from which Christians are spared. But we also face judgment to determine the degree of blessing and reward we will experience in eternity future.
Christians die just like non-Christians, but our death is not punitive. It is not punishment for our sin, for as we’ve seen, Christ has already endured the penalty we deserved. If you wonder, then, why Christians die at all, it is in order to provide us and the world with abiding testimony to the profound horror and wickedness of sin. But the sting of physical death as punishment for sin has been eliminated. The apostle Paul declared, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:56). His point is that although death is inevitable it is, for the Christian, our entrance into eternal glory.
Now, to return to what I said a moment ago, this passage rules out the baseless hope that there will be a second chance after physical death to believe in Jesus. Quite a few folk believe that those who die without having heard of Jesus in this life will be given yet another opportunity after physical death to hear the gospel and believe and be saved. But this notion falters on at least two points.
First, it assumes that people who didn’t hear about Jesus in this life were never given a legitimate or genuine opportunity to repent and believe in God. But Paul refutes this notion in Romans 1:18ff. where he declares that all mankind are the recipients of clear and unmistakable evidence of God’s existence and power and divine nature. God has made himself known to everyone in nature, in creation, in the things that are seen. The result, says Paul, is that they “are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20b). Such people who never heard of Jesus or the gospel in this life will be judged based on their response to the revelation of God that they did receive and then rejected.
Second, there simply are no biblical passages that teach the idea that after death people will have a second chance. Contrary to what some have thought, 1 Peter 4:5-6 does not teach this:
“But they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does” (1 Peter 4:5-6).
Without going into detail, let me simply say that the context of this passage indicates that Peter is talking about the gospel being preached to Christians who are now dead. These people had heard and believed the gospel while they were alive but had subsequently died physically.
Thus the “dead” men and women of v. 6 are people who are physically dead at the time Peter is writing this letter.The preaching is that done by Christian ministers and missionaries, like us. Christ isn’t the one who preaches to them after they die. He is rather the content or focus of the message preached to them while they were still alive. These people weren’t physically dead when they heard the gospel. They are people who heard the gospel and believed and have subsequently died physically.
Thus the gospel was preached to livingpeople who are now dead. It isn’t preached to dead people after they lived.
(4) The Second Coming of Christ will consummate the salvation of those who eagerly await his return.
Whereas it is gloriously true that Christ’s sacrifice was a single, once-for-all event in the past, something unrepeatable and definitive and final, that does not mean his role in our salvation is finished. Paul says this in Romans 5:9-10 –
“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shallwe be saved by his life. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shallwe be saved by his life” (Rom. 5:9-10).
The future tense here (“shall”) points forward to the consummation of our salvation, what we call glorification, that will occur when Christ returns and we receive our resurrected bodies.
And for whom is this final stage of salvation intended? It is for those who anxiously await “him,” namely, Jesus. Our eyes are set on seeing Christ, not antichrist! It is not to an event or world crisis that we look, but for the person of our Savior himself. The word translated “eagerly waiting” is a strong verb suggesting intense and passionate expectation (see Phil. 3:20).
I am deeply concerned for people who say they are Christians but have little if any love for the appearing of Jesus. They are so immersed in the affairs of daily life now that they are blinded to the beauty of him who is to come. They are so consumed with themselves and their possessions and their power and their physical comfort and all the gadgets and conveniences of life that they think nothing of the possibility that in the next ten seconds the Lord of the universe could appear in the heavens.
So let me ask you: Does your heart ache for him? Do you long for his appearing? Do you agonize over what seems to be an interminable delay? Or would you just as soon keep him at arms’ length so you can continue to play with your toys? John Piper puts it to us this way:
“This eager expectation for Christ is simply a sign that we love him and believe in him authentically. There is a phony faith that wants only escape from hell, but has no desire for Christ. That does not save. And it does not produce an eager expectation for Christ to come. It would rather that Christ not come for as long as possible so that it can have as much of this world as possible. But the faith that really holds on to Christ as treasure and hope and joy is the faith that makes us long for Christ to come, and that is the faith that saves. So I urge you, turn from the world and from sin and to Christ. Take him not just as your fire insurance policy, but as your eagerly awaited bridegroom and friend and Lord” (“What Christ Will Do at the Second Coming,” February 9, 1997; www.desiringgod.org).
My prayer is that we might all adopt the perspective of the apostle Paul who, from prison, wrote this:
“Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8).
Before I bailed out of engineering as a major in college, I had a physics professor who often repeated his teaching method to us. He would say, “Class, I’m going to tell you what I’m going to tell you. Then I will tell you. Then I’ll tell you what I told you. Then I’ll review.” He knew that repetition is a major key to learning.
The author of Hebrews follows the same pattern. He was writing to people who were tempted to turn away from Christ to their former Jewish religion. He is hammering home the vital truth of the superiority, supremacy, and all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death for our sins. To turn to anything other than Christ for salvation is spiritually fatal! Christ alone fulfilled everything that the Old Testament pointed to in type. The priesthood, the sacrifices, and all of the religious rituals found their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. In a nutshell, if our trust is in Christ alone for salvation, we will escape God’s judgment. But if our trust is in anything or anyone else—our own adherence to some religious system, our own good works or righteousness, our religious heritage, or whatever—we will die and come under judgment.
So the issues at stake here are of eternal significance. If the repetition seems tedious, bear with it. If God uses it to open the eyes of one soul to the impossibility of salvation by human works or worth, and to the cross of Christ as God’s only provision, it is well worth repeating again. So, the author reviews. Verse 24 reviews what he has stated in 9:11, as well as in 8:1-5. Verses 25-26 review 9:12. Verses 27 & 28 draw both a comparison and a contrast that present the only options in the future: judgment or salvation. He wants us to understand that…
Because of Christ’s once for all sacrifice for our sins, we can look forward to salvation when He returns, not to judgment.
These verses fall into two sections. In the first, the point is:
1. Christ’s once for all sacrifice of Himself for our sins far exceeds the Old Testament sacrifices (9:23-26).
“Therefore” (9:23) goes back to the previous section, which made the point that forgiveness of sins is possible onlythrough the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The blood sacrifices of the Old Testament all foreshadowed the supreme sacrifice of the Son of God. “The copies of the things in the heavens” (9:23) refers to the tabernacle and its furnishings. These things had to be cleansed by the blood of sacrificial animals. But these things were only earthly types of heavenly realities. The heavenly things themselves had to be cleansed with better sacrifices than these, namely, the blood of Christ. He uses the plural to refer to the one sacrifice of Christ, which gathered up into one all of the Old Testament sacrifices. Christ’s sacrifice “is so many-sided that it required a whole range of sacrifices to serve as adequate copies” (Donald Guthrie, Hebrews: Tyndale New Testament Commentaries[IVP/Eerdmans], p. 196).
But verse 23 raises a question: What are the heavenly things and why do they need cleansing? A number of views have been put forth (Leon Morris summarizes these in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. by Frank Gaebelein [Zondervan], 12:91). We need to understand that the author is speaking spiritually. There is no literal altar or golden lampstand or table of sacred bread in heaven. But why would the spiritual counterparts in heaven (whatever they are) require cleansing? Some say that it is a dedicatory consecration, similar to the dedication of the tabernacle. Some relate it to the fact that Satan and the fallen angels have defiled heaven and that in His atonement, Christ disarmed them and triumphed over them, thus cleansing heaven.
But in light of 9:24, which states that Christ entered the true holy place in heaven to appear in the presence of God for us, the author is likely referring to the fact that we, God’s people, are now His spiritual dwelling place (3:6). How can we be pure and free from defilement, so that God may dwell in us, not just individually, but corporately as His holy temple (Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Pet. 2:5)? The answer is that Christ’s blood alone can cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God (9:14).
In 9:24-26, the author further explains this “better sacrifice.” We, who are not used to the physical rituals and sacrifices of the Jewish temple, may not struggle with the spirituality of Christian worship. But the first readers of this epistle were having a hard time letting go of the physicality of the temple and the sacrifices. So the author emphasizes again (8:1-5; 9:11) that “Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (9:24). Under the Jewish system, the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies once a year to represent the people before God, but Jesus is in the true holy place permanently on our behalf!
Furthermore, the high priest had to keep returning year after year with the blood of the sacrificial animals. But Jesus once for all offered His own blood. He didn’t have to suffer and die over and over again from the foundation of the world. His one sacrifice at the consummation of the ages put away our sin. “The consummation of the ages” is similar to Paul’s phrase in Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son….” It implies the preexistence of Christ before His birth. It also means that the cross represents the apex or consummation of God’s purpose of the ages, to glorify Himself.
At the cross, God’s perfect justice was displayed. If He had simply forgiven our sins without the payment of the penalty, He would not have been just. The death of the infinite, holy Son of God satisfied God’s wrath by paying the penalty we deserved. The cross also magnified God’s amazing love and grace. Any system of salvation that magnifies human merit or minimizes the cross is not from God.
At the cross, Christ “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (9:26). The Greek word for “put away” is used only in 7:18, where it refers to the “setting aside” of the Law that established the Levitical priesthood in deference to the greater Melchizedek priesthood of Jesus. “Put away” “is used in a technical, juristic sense,” “meaning ‘to annul’ or ‘cancel’” (Morris, p. 93). Philip Hughes (A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews [Eerdmans], p. 385) states, “This nullification, moreover, is comprehensive: it covers sin in its totality, without qualification, in every form and degree and also in every age of human history, retrospectively as well as prospectively.” This means that when Christ died, He paid the penalty for the sins of all of His elect both before and after the cross.
While it is controversial and difficult to work through, I think that a careful understanding of the atonement requires that we see it as particular, not general. If Christ actually paid for all the sins of all people, then all would be saved, which Scripture plainly denies. If He only died for some sins of all men (unbelief being excluded), then how is the sin of unbelief atoned for? No one can pay for his own sin of unbelief. Thus it is more biblically correct to say that Christ died for all the sins of some people, namely, for His elect. (John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ [Banner of Truth] is the most thorough treatment of this issue. The above reasoning is on pp. 61-62.)
Christ did not come to die and then leave salvation up to the fallen sinner’s choice. Rather He came to “save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). He came to lay down His life for His sheep(John 10:11, 14, 15). “Christ … loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25). He was “offered once to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:28, reflecting Isa. 53:12). He will not fail in His purpose to save all that the Father gave Him (John 6:37-40). His sacrifice on the cross put away all of our sin once and for all.
You may wonder, “How can I know that Christ offered Himself for my sins?” That is a vitally important question! First, are you aware of your need for cleansing from your sin? Christ didn’t come to put away sin from those who think that they are righteous in themselves (Luke 5:31-32). Second, are you aware that you can do nothingto pay for your sin? You cannot put away your own sin through penance, personal determination, or self-denial. Years of good deeds cannot pay your debt of sin. Even the Old Testament sacrificial system could not put away sin (10:4)! Only Christ, by His death on the cross, could put away sin. If your trust is in Him and in Him alone, then you can be assured that He has put away your sins.
In a sermon on this verse, Spurgeon puts it like this (Spurgeon’s Expository Encyclopedia [Baker], 14:211-212): He says that if any are conscious of the burden of their guilt and the impending judgment of God on their sins, the news of one who can put away sin should be of great joy. If your house were on fire, you would rejoice to hear that the fire engines were coming down the street. You would be absolutely certain that they were coming for you, because your house was in a blaze if no one else’s might be. Thus the news of Christ’s coming into the world to put away sin will sound like a trumpet blast of joy “to those who know themselves to be full of sin, who desire to have it put away, who are conscious that they cannot remove it themselves, and are alarmed at the fate which awaits them if the sin be not by some means blotted out.”
If our trust is in Christ alone to pay for our sins, then …
2. When Christ comes again, we can look forward to salvation, not to judgment (9:27-28).
In the first half of 9:27 & 28, the author draws a comparison between the deaths of all people and the death of Christ. “It is appointed to men to die once….” Even so, it was God’s purpose for Christ to be offered once to bear the sins of many. But the second half of both verses contains an unexpected contrast. Men die once and then comes judgment. You would expect verse 28 to be parallel: “Christ died once and He’s coming back for judgment” (which is true). But instead, he says that Christ died once, but He “will appear a second time,” not for judgment, but “for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly wait for Him.”
There are four important, practical truths here:
A. God has appointed death for all people.
Enoch, Elijah, and those living when Christ returns are the exceptions. But apart from them, all must die by God’s appointment. In other words, death is not a “natural” process. Death is a reality because man sinned and God ordained that the penalty for sin is death. I once attended a funeral at a liberal church where the minister tried to soothe everyone by saying that death is just part of the natural cycle of all things. It is not! Death is God’s curse on our sin. For the believer, the sting of death is removed by the cross (1 Cor. 15:54-57), but even so, death is a reminder of our sin and of God’s holy justice.
Also, the Bible teaches that God sovereignly appoints both our birthday and our death day. David proclaimed (Ps. 139:16), “in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” Death may seem accidental to us, but it is never accidental to God. No one lives a day less or a day longer than God ordains. That should give us great comfort when we lose a loved one, especially if it is a younger person. God has reasons and purposes that we do not know, but we can trust Him. As Job said when his ten children were killed in a sudden windstorm, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
This truth that God has ordained the day of death should also give us peace as we think about our own death. While we should not take reckless chances with our lives by doing foolish things, and while we should be sensible with regard to diet, exercise, and proper medical care, the fact is, our lives are in God’s hands. We will die at His appointed time.
At age 54, Jonathan Edwards, the godly revivalist preacher, received a vaccination for smallpox when that treatment was in its earliest practice. No doubt he thought that it was a wise precaution that could extend his life. Instead, the doctor gave him too much vaccine, and he contracted the deadly disease. On his deathbed, he spoke to his younger daughter, who was there with him. He did not question the sovereign will of God. He said (Iain Murray, Jonathan Edwards, a New Biography [Banner of Truth], p. 441),
Dear Lucy, it seems to me to be the will of God, that I must shortly leave you; therefore, give my kindest love to my dear wife, and tell her, that the uncommon union, which has so long subsisted between us, has been of such a nature, as I trust is spiritual, and therefore will continue for ever. And I hope she will be supported under so great a trial and submit cheerfully to the will of God.
He went on to commend his children “to seek a Father who will never fail you.” “Then, when those at his bedside believed he was unconscious and expressed grief at what his absence would mean… they were surprised when he suddenly uttered a final sentence, ‘Trust in God, and you need not fear.’”
For her part, when the news reached Edwards’ wife Sarah, she was suffering so much from rheumatism in her neck that she could scarcely hold a pen. But she wrote to her daughter Esther, who had lost her husband, Aaron Burr, just months before:
What shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. O that we may kiss the rod, and lay our hands on our mouths! The Lord has done it. He has made me adore his goodness, that we had him [Jonathan] so long. But my God lives; and he has my heart. O what a legacy my husband, and your father, has left us! We are all given to God; and there I am, and love to be (ibid., p. 442).
B. Apart from Christ, people die and face judgment.
Men “die once and after this comes judgment” (9:27). This verse clearly refutes reincarnation. People do not die and come back in another life as someone or something else. I once heard a radio interview with a woman in Southeast Asia who was dying of AIDS, which she contracted from her husband, who got it from prostitutes. The interviewer asked her if she was angry at her husband. She answered that she was not angry, because she knew that she would come back in the next life in a better situation because of her unjust suffering in this life. I thought, “What a lie of Satan!” Reincarnation is totally at odds with the truth of the Bible. We die once, and then comes judgment.
This verse also refutes the idea that people get a second chance to receive Christ after they die. Death is final. Philip Hughes writes (p. 388), “To refuse the cross as the instrument of salvation is to choose it as the instrument of judgment (cf. John 12:48).” This is why the Bible urgently warns us, “now is ‘the day of salvation’” (2 Cor. 6:2). Delay in trusting Christ could be eternally fatal!
Believers in Christ, however, do not come into judgment, but have passed out of death into life (John 5:24; see also, Rom. 8:1). Believers will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to be recompensed for the deeds done in the body, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10). Our faithless, evil deeds will be burned up as wood, hay, and stubble, whereas the gold, silver, and precious stones will be the basis for reward. But, “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:10-15).
C. Christ died once to bear our sins, but is coming again to finalize our salvation.
Christ was offered once to bear our sins (9:28). This clearly refutes the Roman Catholic practice of the mass, where Christ is offered as a sacrifice repeatedly in the communion elements, which they believe become the actual body and blood of Christ. Catholic theologians claim that the priests are making present the eternal and timeless sacrifice of Christ (P. H. Davids, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. by Walter Elwell [Baker], p. 697). But the average Catholic worshiper scarcely understands such fine distinctions! They do not understand that the instant they trust in Christ’s all-sufficient sacrifice, God forgives all their sins and imputes the righteousness of Christ to them.
Christ’s second coming will not be with reference to sin, since that issue was completely resolved at His first coming. Rather, He will appear for salvation for those who eagerly await Him. There are three tenses to our salvation. We weresaved in the past at the moment we trusted in Christ. Presently, we are being saved as God works His holiness into our daily lives. And, in the future when Christ comes, we shall be savedcompletely and finally. “When He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2). Because of this great promise,
D. Those whom Christ has saved eagerly await His coming.
The picture behind the last phrase of 9:28 is of Jewish believers on the Day of Atonement. Their high priest took the blood and went out of their sight, behind the veil, to make atonement for their sins. The minutes that he was there seemed like hours, as they anxiously awaited his reappearance. Finally, he came out again, and the people rejoiced because they knew that God had accepted their offering and their sins were covered (see F. F. Bruce, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews [Eerdmans], pp. 223-224). Even so, our High Priest has gone into the true Holy of Holies in heaven, out of our sight. He took His own blood with Him. We eagerly wait to see Him come again, because then all of God’s promises of salvation will be fully realized!
Do you eagerly await the coming of our Lord? As Paul faced martyrdom, he wrote, “In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day.” Then he added, “and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). If, because Jesus Christ is your Savior you love His appearing, then He will not mete out judgment, but as the righteous Judge, He will award you the crown of righteousness.
Conclusion
Years ago, in a frontier town, a horse bolted and ran away with a wagon that had a little child in it. A young man risked his life to catch the horse, stop it, and rescue the child. Sadly, the rescued child grew up to become a lawless man. One day he stood before a judge to be sentenced for a serious crime. The prisoner recognized the judge as the same man who, years before, had saved his life. He pled for mercy on the basis of that experience. But the words from the bench silenced all his pleas: “Young man, then I was your savior; today I am your judge, and I must sentence you to be hanged” (“Our Daily Bread,” 8/84).
Today, Jesus Christ offers salvation to all who will trust in Him. But if we refuse to turn to Him in faith, one day we will stand before Him as our righteous Judge. Will you die and face judgment? Or, will you trust in Christ’s supreme sacrifice of Himself for your sins and receive His salvation?
The Bible says that in the end times, Jesus will return in glory to judge the heavens and the earth. Preceding Jesus’ return there will be wars and rumors of wars and great calamities such as famine, natural disasters, and plagues. The antichrist will arise to deceive people and lead them astray. Those who refuse to accept Jesus as their savior will suffer eternal punishment.
These verses about the end of time help us to see that God’s ultimate plan is for our redemption and happiness. The Bible encourages Christians to “keep watch” as the end approaches, and not fall back into a life of sensual pleasure.
The book of Revelation says that when Christ returns he will conquer evil. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain.” (Revelation 21:4). Jesus will govern God’s kingdom with righteousness and justice.
The Return of Jesus Christ
Matthew 24:27
For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:30
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Matthew 26:64
Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
John 14:3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Acts 1:11
And said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Colossians 3:4
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Titus 2:13
Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 9:28
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.
2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Revelation 1:7
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Revelation 3:11
I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
Revelation 22:20
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
When will Jesus Return?
Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:36
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
Matthew 24:42-44
Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Mark 13:32
But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-3
For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
Revelation 16:15
“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”
The Rapture
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
The Tribulation
Matthew 24:21-22
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
Matthew 24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Mark 13:24-27
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
Revelation 2:10
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Signs of the End Times
Joel 2:28-31
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Matthew 24:6-7
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Matthew 24:11-12
And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
Luke 21:11
There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
The Millennial Kingdom
Revelation 20:1-6
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.
After that he must be released for a little while.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.
They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
The Antichrist
Matthew 24:5
For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
2 Thessalonians 2:8
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
1 John 2:18
Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
Revelation 13:1-8
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.
And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”
And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
The Day of Judgment
Isaiah 2:4
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
Matthew 16:27
For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
Matthew 24:37
For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Luke 21:34-36
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Acts 17:30-31
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
1 Corinthians 4:5
Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.
2 Peter 3:3-7
Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
2 Peter 3:10-13
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Revelation 11:18
The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.
Revelation 19:11-16
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Revelation 22:12
Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done.
Preparing for the End Times
Luke 21:36
But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.
Romans 13:11
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 John 3:2
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Promise of Deliverance
Daniel 7:27
And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them.
Zechariah 14:8-9
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
1 Corinthians 15:52
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
Revelation 21:1-5
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
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