Of course Christ comes with His reward, to the wicked, condemnation but to those who persevere in doing good, salvation and this is what we call judgement.
Heb 9:
27Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
28so 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.
Ah, Noose... you have a short memory
You and I discussed this passage not terribly long ago...
I'll put the SHORT version of my post, here, for the sake of the readers who may not have seen that post from back then,
[quoting my post about Heb9:28]
[Response to the idea that
Heb9:28 refers to how Jesus
only comes at His Second Coming
to the earth [i.e. Rev19], not
a separate time for our Rapture ('IN THE AIR')--But Heb9:28 refers to neither of these, as I see it, when we consider the following...]
From Hebrews 9:28 (where the
"passive" form of
G3708 ['appear'] is used)... out of the
684 occurrences of "G3708," TEN times that "[G3708] appear [PASSIVE]" is used regarding Jesus,
ALL TEN of them refer events taking place
AFTER His death/resurrection (and it was only to carefully chosen witnesses, not to every person everywhere).
Of those 10x,
5x it refers to the 40-day interval
between His resurrection and His
later "VISIBLE" ascension [specifically, "he was taken up"] in Acts 1 [note ...<snip> (this part, not shown here, covered His "[active] ascension" which took place ON His Resurrection Day/ON Firstfruit, fulfilling Lev23:10-12; John 20:17)...]);
so (without listing them) these
5x where
"G3708 passive" is used of Him,
all 5 of these are shown to be speaking of His "post-resurrection appearances" ON THE EARTH (over the course of some "40 days") in the presence of carefully chosen witnesses, in His resurrected Body (and ...<snip>...);
the main thing I want to point out here, is that, within those "40 days" [
during which, the "5 mentions of G3708 passive" took place, re: Jesus], John 21:14 informs us "This is now the
THIRD TIME that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples,
after that He was risen from the dead."
So
MULTIPLE times, over the course of a "40-day period" was this the case.
The OTHER 5 occurrences of this word (of "G3708 passive" when speaking of Jesus) ALL speak of what took place
AFTER HIS "VISIBLE" ascension took place in Acts 1; so ALL 5 of *THESE* mentions took place [whilst in His position]
"FROM HEAVEN" (AFTER His
visible ascension, thus some time
AFTER the 40-day period He spent with His disciples; ALL of *THESE* 5 mentions are speaking of when He appeared unto Paul from His position "FROM HEAVEN" after having
visibly ascended before [/
visibly in front of] His disciples in Acts 1);
So my main overall point being:
NOT ONE of those "10 occurrences of 'G3708 passive' [re: Jesus]" speaks of ANYTHING regarding the events BEFORE His death on the Cross, during the time of His earthly ministry (of 3.5 yrs or however long that was, exactly).
NONE of those TEN "mentions" speak OF THAT. ALL TEN speak of what took place FOLLOWING His resurrection (and FIVE of them speak of events occurring FOLLOWING His visible ascension in Acts 1, AFTER those "40 days" and "FROM HEAVEN"); AND this "G3708 passive" (re: Jesus)
was NOT LIMITED to "ONE TIME" ONLY, but MULTIPLE times, thus I believe the argument being put forth falls flat, as I see it.
Hebrews 9:28 [and note, this is the epistle to the Hebrews] -
"
so also Christ, having been offered once in order to bear the sins of [the] many,
for [ek - out from] a second time apart from sin will appear [G3708 passive],
[the FIRST time "
He appeared apart from sin" was spoken of
in those 10 mentions, ALL FOLLOWING His death/resurrection; at least one version puts it like, "
a second time apart from a sin-offering shall appear [G3708 passive]" (note: the FIRST time "
apart from a sin-offering" that He "appeared [G3708 passive (
like Heb9:28 is speaking of)]" was ALL FOLLOWING His death/resurrection, and five of those 10 "mentions" was FOLLOWING His
visible ascension in Acts 1, so "
FROM HEAVEN" (these 5 mentions in particular are found in Paul's epistles, speaking of his/Paul's own experience)… but EITHER WORDING (either way it is worded), it makes no difference!]
to those awaiting Him for salvation."
[again, 5x was referring to His post-resurrection tangible/bodily appearances to His disciples/carefully-chosen-witnesses (
and not speaking of merely a "ONE TIME" happening; John 21:14);
5x was referring to His post-ascension [His Acts1
latter (VISIBLE) ascension], the "FROM HEAVEN" one (
so a separate one still, from the others [the "
multiple others" already mentioned ^ ])]
That "argument" remains unconvincing to me, for these reasons.
