Tuesday 2021.09:07
This morning I read the Epistle to the Hebrews chapters nine and ten in the NT, along with Ezekiel chapters eleven through sixteen in the OT.
A well known verse, Hebrews 9:27 caught my attention. It was one of many bible verses I had memorised in those early days after becoming a Christian more than forty years ago. I have always understood this verse simply to mean that God has appointed all mankind to die and to face His judgment.
This morning, however, the next verse, Hebrews 9:28 jumped out at me just after I had finished reading 9:27. Seeing both verses together made me realise something I had missed all these forty plus years as a believer in the Gospel of Iesus the Anointed: that verse 27 is meant to be read together with verse 28 as a single statement.
Reading Hebrews 9:27 and 28 together as one statement brings out the meaning that just as God has appointed for everyone of us to die, and after that to face judgment, God has likewise appointed His Anointed to be offerred to bear our sins, and after that to appear a second time to bring salvation to those who wait for his return.
While verse 27 tells us that everyone of us will die and after this be judged for our sins, verse 28 tells us that the Anointed One has sacrificed himself for everyone of our sins, and after this will come back again a second time to bring us to be with him "unto salvation".
Hebrews 9:27 - 28 KJV
27 And as it is appointed unto men
once to die,
but after this the judgment:
28 So Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many;
and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin
unto salvation.
