And our text is found in Hebrews 9:24-28. Now this can be a difficult text to understand, partly because we are plunking ourselves in the middle of a conversation that the writer is having about Jesus Christ in relation to the Old Testament. It is a conversation that begins at the start of chapter nine and there he is comparing Jesus Christ, His person and all that He accomplished on the cross with the Old Testament sacrificial system. And basically he is saying that the Old Testament sacrificial system foreshadows all that Christ did and was. One of the images he speaks of is the image of the High Priest, and just as in the Old Testament the High Priest was a representative of the people who was allowed, after all the proper sacrifices had been made, to enter into the most Holy place – the place where he could meet God so Jesus Christ has become our High Priest, He has offered the perfect sacrifice on our behalf. And now He is our mediator. Through faith in Christ we have access to God - we have peace with God.

The writer speaks of these similarities. But he also speaks of some differences. For instance, we begin at verse 24 Jesus “did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” And there is another difference verse 25, “Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world.”

No - Christ’s sacrifice was different from the High Priest's in that it was His own blood that He offered, and because it was a perfect sacrifice it needed to be only offered once. This is what He says in the rest of the verse, “But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

No further sacrifice is needed. No further work of yours needs to be added. No ritual needs to be performed; no good deed needs to be done to win your forgiveness - it has all has been done once and for all by Jesus Christ. He has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Now just press the pause button there for a moment and consider.

At this time of year our minds are filled with all the wonder and beauty of our Lord’s first advent. We delight to hear the choir sing of the King of Kings who was born, sent from God, to a virgin in Bethlehem.

And yet as we read the Scriptures we recognize that the work that Jesus came to do is not yet completed, the works of the devil are not yet destroyed and the kingdom of God that we learned of this fall, is here among us, but not here fully. The victory has been won, but there is a feeling that something more is needed. The first coming of Christ demands something else.

And as we open the New Testament we discover that yes indeed there is something yet to come. That Jesus who came will come again; that there will be a day when all that He started with His first coming will be completed when He comes again. His kingdom which He established at His first coming will be made complete at His second coming. It is a fact that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again.

Nicky Gumbel compares it all to D-Day and V-Day. D-Day, you will remember from your World War II history, was a decisive battle in which the allies stormed against the Enemy and pushed them back. On D-Day World War II was essentially won. But there was still much to do, even though the enemy was essentially beaten and there was no way that they could win they were still fighting the battles. So there was still territory to capture and still an enemy to fight before V-Day could be declared.

So with our Lord Jesus Christ. D-Day has arrived. The enemy has been beaten, the war has been won, but there are still battles to fight, there is still territory to be taken, and there is still an enemy to fight. D-Day has occurred and V-Day will come when He comes again.

So Jesus is coming again, it is a truth that is taught by the whole New Testament and it is a truth that is emphasized in our text.

We continue in our study in verse 27 and 28: “And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the 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.”

So what do we learn from this text about his coming again?

We learn that it will be different from His first coming. How? It will be different in purpose. The first time, Jesus Christ came to deal with sin, we learned that last week. Jesus came and hit the mark for us.

But the text says, in verse 28, the next time he appears it will NOT be to deal with sin. Why? Because He’s done that. He has made the sacrifice. He bore our sins, says the text, He has carried them away. That’s the story of the first advent.

His second coming will be nothing like His first.

So our Lord’s second coming will be different in purpose from His first coming. What will be the purpose according to this text? It will be for salvation. Now stay with me here as I explain.

The writer states the obvious for us in verse 27. He says that “And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once and after that the judgment”. We learned last week – “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) We mortals die because of sin. That’s the way it is and because of sin we face judgment. Some people don’t believe in judgment.

But this is a fact that is substantiated by logic. The Greeks did not have a Bible but they believed in judgment, they called it "Nemesis". It’s only logical that there must be some form of judgment for the injustice and the wrongs of this life. Our minds cry out for it.

We must face judgment and this logical - it is also Biblical. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)

And it is the witness of Jesus himself. He spoke of the broad way that leads to destruction and He spoke of separating people on His left and on His right and saying to some, “Depart from me for you are cursed, I never knew you.”

So “it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment.”

So our text states, Christ “having been offered up for the sins of many, will appear a second time” And this time it will not be to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.

His second coming will be salvation! This is good news.

You say, wait a minute, I thought I was saved when I believed in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord? And that is true. You were saved from sin, and selfishness and Satan. But the truth is also that we are being saved from sin and the effects of sin even as we speak, through the sacrifice of Christ, and we will be saved – fully when He comes again, not only saved from the power of sin, but saved from the very presence of sin when Jesus Christ comes again.

This is the good news of the gospel! The Good news is that Jesus Christ bore our sin and for those who have heard the message of the first advent and believed it and trust in His great work now we have salvation in place of judgment. When we first believed, now and when we meet Him face to face we have salvation.

So, we have the purpose of the second advent to be different from the first. But there is also this, the character of the second coming will be different than the first.

Having dealt with sin once and for all Jesus will come again but this time it will be in victory.

It was G. Campbell Morgan who wrote: "He will come again, not to poverty but to wealth. He will come again, not to sorrow but with all joy. He will come again, not in loneliness, but to a great crowd who recognize, trust and serve him as King of Kings." Our text refers to those who wait for Him. This is what is meant.

Right now we are celebrating His first coming when there was no room for Him in the inn. When He comes again the whole world and the universe will rush to make room for Him.

The whole character of His coming will be different from His first.

When He left this earth, the first time we saw Him being mocked, holding a reed for a sceptre, clothed in purple, crowned with thorns, surrounded by a mob. When He comes again He will hold the scepter of the universe in His right hand; He will be crowned with glory and majesty; He will be surrounded by the splendor of God, and ten thousand times ten thousand angels will surround Him.

His second coming will be nothing like His first in purpose or in character.

Now hear this clearly, the truth of our Lord’s second coming was never given to us to scare us. Remember that the book you have in your hands is called the Good News! The second coming is not meant to scare us but was given to us to generate hope within us, this hope that we are involved in a great struggle in the transformation of this world. Don’t you agree?

We are looking to transform the world. This is our mission, folks. We aren’t here for our own good, we are here to turn the world upside-down. Don’t you agree? Isn’t this the mission that we inherited from our Master who came to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind and release the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour? (Luke 4:18,19)

Practically speaking it means that we are seeking to put an end to all that is evil and devilish in our world. We are seeking to relieve poverty and abuse and hatred and discrimination. We are seeking to feed the poor, both their stomachs and their souls. It means that we are seeking to house the homeless, it means that we are seeking to befriend the friendless. We are seeking to stand for justice and righteousness, and we are seeking to open people’s eyes to God’s love and grace and we are seeking to do all of that by serving others.

We are seeking to transform the world. And you say, “we’re not making much progress," and we say, "Don’t worry, I’ve read the book I know how it ends - we win!"

That’s the good news of the gospel. The good news is that Christ is coming back and the good work that He begins in us He will complete at His second coming.

The second coming was not promised merely to get us out of this world. The second coming was God’s promise that what was initiated in Jesus and what continues to be lived out in His followers will not be lost. But that that good work will be actualized and finalized in history. And this is a strengthening truth for us as we seek to serve Him. His kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.

So do we need to be afraid? No. We need to have reverential awe for God, but we need not shiver and shake in the face of our Lord’s coming.

John Gladstone tells of how one day he and a friend were walking down a busy road and saw a man with a doleful expression slowly walking up and down the street with a sandwich board bearing the words, “Prepare to meet thy God.” Gladstone thought it was a foolish way to witness and said, “How awful, trying to threaten people!"

To which Gladstone’s friend replied, “You interpret those words as a threat. I see them as a glorious hope. How marvellous to meet our God – the God of Creation, of Jesus, of love and mercy! I’m prepared, excited!”

Gladstone said that the point was well-taken. We must all meet God at last. But the good news is that God has already met us! Rich in mercy, boundless in compassion, He has taken the initiative and met us in the person of Jesus Christ so that we can have confidence for the day of His appearing.