Sunday 28th
Hebrews 9:15-28
NIV (v28) – ‘So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.’
ESV (v28) – ‘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.’
This is one of my favourite verses in Hebrews for it is a reminder to the original recipients of the letter and for us as the Church today that the babe who was born in Bethlehem and who died as a man at Calvary to bear the sins of many and who is at present the great high priest interceding for the believer in heaven will appear a second time. Jesus is coming again! And he is coming as the King of kings and Lord of lords!
His second coming will be different to his first, as we read, the first time he came to deal with sin, the second time it will be to save those who are eagerly awaiting him. That is to take us away from this sin riddled world to the place that he is preparing for us in Heaven.
A couple of days ago we mentioned our eternal hope, and a part of the outworking of that eternal hope is this wonderful promise that Jesus is coming again and we remind ourselves that God is faithful concerning his promises for as God he cannot lie and will not lie.
As I have been preparing this devotion a song has been playing in the background which caught my attention:
The sky shall unfold preparing His entrance
The stars shall applaud Him with thunders of praise
The sweet light in His eyes shall, shall enhance those awaiting
And we shall behold Him, then face to face
We shall behold Him
We shall behold Him
Face to face in all of His glory
We shall behold Him
We shall behold Him
Face to face, our Saviour and Lord
The angels will sound the shouts of His coming
The sleeping shall rise from their slumbering place
And those who remain shall be changed in a moment
We shall behold Him, our Saviour and Lord
May we be encouraged today as we are reminded that our Saviour and Lord is coming again and we shall behold him, what a day it is going to be when all the struggles and trials of life will finally be over and we shall be safe in his eternal presence. It reminds me that this world is not our own, we are just passing through, we have a heavenly and eternal city awaiting us, and in that city is a throne which we the redeemed of the Lord shall be gathered around singing ‘Hallelujah, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.’ (Revelation 7:10, 12)
‘Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.’ 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18