“So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him (Hebrews 9:28).
Are you “eagerly” awaiting the coming of Jesus? Or is there a tinge of fear at the thought of His coming? Do you fear judgment or punishment or some exposure of your sin at His return?
I, for one, am EAGERLY awaiting Christ’s return and one of the reasons is right here in this verse. When Christ appears, He will be coming “without reference to sin.” What does that mean for you and I?
If you have believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ, your sin has been done away with at the cross. Christ took your judgment, your punishment, upon Himself. Your certificate of debt related to your sin was forever nailed to the cross. Your sin was removed as far as the east is from the west; to infinity and beyond.
That is why Christ is returning for you “without reference to sin.” Because all of your sins have been dealt with already. We wait “eagerly” for His return because there is no fear at His coming. There will be zero judgment for our sins at the final judgment. We have already been found righteous because we believed the message that Christ took our punishment for us.
The apostle John put it this way, “Love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment” (I John 4:17-18).
“We have confidence” – not fear – “in the day of judgment.” Why? Because we have nothing to fear. There is no fear inside the love of God. “Fear involves punishment,” and there is no punishment for the believer at any version of a final judgment.
How do we know that we will not be judged according to our sins? Because, “as He is, so also are we in this world.” Jesus is righteous, and He gave His righteousness to us. So that as He is righteous, so also we are righteous, blameless, clean, and eternally forgiven.
I encourage you to wait with me EAGERLY for the Lord’s return. Sin will not be on His radar when He comes for us. Only the joy of life together with Him forever!