Project 119: Hebrews 9:23-28
| Project 119 | Dr. Wayne Splawn
"Eagerly Waiting for His Return"
The airport is usually a happy or sad place for me. I do not travel via airplane very often, so I am usually at the airport to see off friends or loved ones as they embark on a trip or to receive them upon their return. I’m sad when friends or family members are heading off on a long trip because I will miss them while they are away. On the other hand, I’m filled with excitement when I’m going to the airport to greet someone upon their return. You might even say I’m filled with a great expectation for their arrival. One of the most frustrating experiences is waiting for someone whose flight has been delayed for some reason. Eager anticipation sometimes gives way to frustration and a sense that the person in question will never arrive.
Hebrews 9 closes with the promise that one day, Jesus will return to this earth. And on that day, those of us who have eagerly awaited His coming will rejoice with exceeding joy as our faith becomes sight. During this Christmas season, we celebrate Jesus’ first appearance into this world at His birth. This celebration is also a reminder that Jesus will come once again to complete the work of redemption He has started. If you are weary this Christmas, take heart that Jesus will one day return. Ask the Lord to give you faith to believe and to eagerly wait for His return.
Hebrews 9:23-28 (ESV):
23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 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.