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Judgment


"And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 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." Hebrews 9.27-28, ESV

The writer of Hebrews introduces the idea of judgment in the context of new covenants or a change in the law. Having done so, he tells his hearers that Christ's return will not be to "deal with sin." This he can say because Jesus has already dealt with sin - there is nothing more anyone can do about it. So judgment isn't about dealing with sin. 

If that's true, what is Christ's coming about? Well, it and judgment are about his coming to "save those who are eagerly waiting for him." This coming isn't for you to be quizzed about all the bad stuff you've done, or an opportunity to explain why Jesus should let you into Heaven. If you love Jesus, if you are a disciple of his, if you are in a relationship with him and are being transformed into his image - Jesus already knows that. He's coming to save those who are his, who are waiting for his coming.

The writer of Hebrews has an agenda and that agenda is to keep his hearers faithful in their lives to the faith they believed. His readers are in danger of returning to what they used to know - maybe it's Judaism and maybe it's some Gentile Paganism. Whatever it was for any individual, they were being troubled by a couple things. First, it had been a while since Jesus was here and well, shouldn't he be back by now? If he isn't, did we actually believe the truth or was our faith based on just another Jewish Messiah claimant? In addition to this delay, these disciples are in danger of escalating persecution. So far, they haven't resisted to the "shedding of their blood," but they have or are expecting some significant persecution because of their faith. Our writer reminds them of those who taught them the faith - what were their lives like in the face of trouble? Simply, they remained faithful even though they couldn't always see the payoff. 

This is why we find the Hall of Faith in this book - without knowing what was going to happen, they persevered in their faithfulness to God. The writer encourages, urges, and cajoles his readers to remain faithful so that when Jesus comes they will be found as those who are eagerly waiting for his return. If we are in that group, the coming of Jesus won't be about judgment, but salvation.

Don't give up.

No matter what.

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