“And just as it is appointed for people to die once, and after this, judgment, so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
– Hebrews 9:27–28
Wow, these verses summarize history in a sense. Not just in the past but in the present and the future. Think about it, Jesus came in the past to die, to offer his life, to bear the sins of many. He has come to pay the price for sin, sinners, so that you and I can be saved from our sins. So, that all people everywhere can be saved from our sins. He came for that purpose and he is coming again. He’s coming back to bring the fullness of salvation to those who have trusted in him.
Jesus has come and paid the price for our sins. We know He is coming again so we wait for Him and work to proclaim the gospel around the world.
Hebrews 9:27–28 Leads Us to Wait on Christ
This is where the present comes in, To those who are, Hebrews 9:27–28 says, “Who are waiting for him.” Jesus is coming back for those who are longing for him. Those who are looking for him, waiting for him. I think about waiting, when maybe my family is out of town and I’m waiting for them to come back, like I can’t wait for them to get back. I think about not long ago when my wife was gone, it was me and the four kids and I couldn’t wait for her to get back because I was struggling in all kinds of different ways, those were waiting for her.
So with anticipation, we are looking to Jesus. We’re struggling in all kinds of different ways and we want him to come back, we are waiting for him to come back. So think about history, we look back, Jesus has come, he’s paid the price for our sins. We look forward, he’s coming back, the fullness of his salvation. We cry out, come Lord Jesus, come quickly, because in the present we are waiting for him and working. As we wait we work for the spread of this good news in the world around us because we know, that not everybody’s heard that he’s come.
Hebrews 9:27–28 Leads Us to Pray for the Burmese People
Like there’s tons of people in the world who’ve still not heard, I think about the Burmese of Myanmar, praying for them this morning, 35 million of them and .07% evangelical gospel believing because most of them have little to no knowledge of the gospel. They haven’t even heard that Jesus came to save sin so they can’t wait for him in the present, and one day he’s coming back, and if they haven’t trusted in him then they are going to a future, an everlasting future filled with fiery agony. Like, oh! We got to make this news known among the Burmese of Myanmar today.
Not just them but people right around us today. Like Jesus is coming back at any moment, are we living with urgency to make this good news known around us right now?
This Verse Leads Us to Praise God for His Salvation
We pray, Lord Jesus, thank you, we praise you for coming once to offer your life for the sins of many, including ours. Thank you for saving us from our sins, we long for your return, we long for an end to this world of sin and evil and injustice. For the old to be gone completely, for the new to come completely. God for your salvation fully to be made known. For your kingdom to be consummated. Oh God we long for that, we wait for that and we pray that while we wait, we would work.
We pray that we would work today, this week, for the spread of the gospel around us. God, help us to work so that others might know that you have borne the sins of many. That you’ve made a way for forgiveness of sins and eternal life to be possible. Use us today to work for that. God we pray that in our lives. In our churches you would use us to make this good news known among people who’ve never heard it.
We pray for the Burmese of Myanmar, please send out more missionaries there. Please strengthen the few Christians that are there. God please cause your gospel to go to them before it’s too late. Cause your gospel to go to them with urgency, we pray. God give us a right view of history. In the past, in the future, and in the present based on the first coming and second coming of Jesus. In his name we pray, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
