And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes 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. (Hebrews 9:27–28)
There is a translation issue in Hebrews 9:28. The Greek word “time” is not used. Literally, it’s “out of the second” (ἐκ δευτέρου). If there is a second, there must have been a first. The “first” is found in verse 2: “For a tabernacle was prepared, the first [room] in which [were] both the lampstand and the table, and the bread of the presentation, which is called Holy.” The “first” room or place is the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle (Ex. 25:8-9). “Second” is used again in verse 3, related to the “veil,” and to the “second only” where “the high priest enters once a year with blood” (v. 7). With the redemptive work of Jesus, blood and priests are not needed. The “second” room is now open because “Christ … having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear out of the second” room (the Holy of Holies) “for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”
The Hope of Israel and the Nations
The reader and student of the Bible must first understand the content of the New Testament writings in terms of how those in the first century would have understood it. The New Testament is written against the background of the Old Testament. The shadows of the Old were fulfilled in the reality of the New. All the rituals and ceremonies were fulfilled in Jesus. The same is true of the temple, land, blood sacrifices, the nature of redemption, the resurrection of the dead, the breaking down of the dividing wall dividing Jews and Gentiles, and so much more. The New Testament's emphasis is on the finished work of Jesus and its application, not only to that Apostolic generation but to the world today.
Buy NowT. Everett Denton comments on the possible meaning of the English translation of “second time” in Hebrews 9:28:
Since the original of the phrase a second time would literally read “out of (ἐκ) a/the second” (no word for “time” being found in the original), this phrase ( in this context of His entering the most holy place with His blood, v. 24) appears to mean that Jesus was expected to reappear out of the second part of the temple (v.3)—the most holy place. In other words, just as Aaron entered the most holy part/place with sin, then reappeared without sin, resulting in glory, so Jesus entered heaven with our sin and his cleansing. Blood, then reappeared without sin, resulting in glory (Lev. 9:22-23), so Jesus entered Heaven with our sin and His cleansing blood, then reappeared without sin resulting in glory (salvation); the Jonathan Mitchell New Testament (JMNT) renders this as Christ’s coming forth from out of the midst of the second place. However, although this construal doesn’t do any justice to this passage and even seems very sensible, ἐκ δευτέρου is always (in both Greek testaments [Matt. 26:42; Mark 14:72; John 9:24; Acts 10:15; 11:9]) translated as “second time” and wouldn’t make sense otherwise in those other passages. So, since this is the case, W.E. Vine is likely correct when he said that δεύτερος used with ἐκ(of) is idiomatic, the preposition signifying “for (the second time).” Either way, the ultimate and resultant meaning is the same.
Vine might be right, the context regarding the rooms of the tabernacle seem to play a significant role in understanding the phrase “out of [the] second.”
If we translate Hebrews 9:28 as the “second time,” what “appearance” (ὀφθήσεται) is this referring to? What was the first time? John Owen comments, “The Scripture is express unto a double appearing or coming of Christ. The first was his coming in the flesh, coming into the world, coming unto his own,—namely, to discharge the work of his mediation, especially to make atonement for sin in the sacrifice of himself, unto the accomplishment of all promises made concerning it, and all types instituted for its representation.”[1] What was the “second” appearance? Was it Matthew 16:27-28, 24:30, James 5:7-9, or Revelation 1:7?
Revelation 1:7 reads more like universal Second Coming language than Hebrews 9:28. Ken Gentry offers an extended defense of the AD 70 interpretation (20+ pages) in his commentary on Revelation, arguing that 1:7 does not refer to the future physical coming of Jesus. Douglas Wilson takes the same position in his Revelation commentary When the Man Comes Around. Notice Hebrews 9:26: “but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” The “ends of the ages” had come (1 Cor. 10:11). The first coming was to deal with sin. The second time, as depicted in Matthew 24:34 and 26:64, was to demonstrate that the debt had been paid. There was no longer a need for human priests, animal sacrifices, or a stone temple. Jesus was vindicated and is presently sitting on His throne in heaven. Following Hebrews 9:26, “Even though judgment takes place after death (9:27), nothing is made of any ‘gap’ between death and judgment. For the point of the comment in 9:27 is to emphasize the tight connection between the two comings of Christ: he was sacrificed for sin ‘at the fulfilment of the ages’ (9:26), which is about as ‘eschatological’ an expression as we could ask for…. In fact there is a strong implication in this passage that Christ’s second appearance ‘to save those who are eagerly waiting for him’ (9:28) is not just the end-of-the age ‘Day’ (10:25), but an individual post-mortem appearance to save us in the context of the judgment which we face in and at the very moment of our death—the moment when the sword of God’s judgment is raised to dismember our bodies (4:12-13).”[2]
In Luke 21, Jesus spoke of Jerusalem’s coming destruction: “then shall they see [ὄψονται/ophontai] the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (v. 27). Jesus said, “when these things come to pass then look up and lift up your heads; behold the judge is standing right at the doors” [the doors of the temple] (v. 28; see Matt. 24:3, 22). In verse 32 of Luke 21, He said it would be in their generation.
In Hebrews 10:37: “For yet, in a very, very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.” Is this coming different from the “appearing” in 9:28? Gentry links Hebrews 9:28 with James 5:7 but says that Hebrews 9:28 refers to the Second Coming. But James 5:7 is not a yet-to-be physical coming: “Therefore be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord…. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain, brothers and sisters, against one another, so that you may not be judged; behold, the judge is standing right at the doors [see Luke 21:28]” (vv. 7-9).
The audience relevance is self-evident: “brothers and sisters” (twice), “strengthen your hearts,” “do not complain … against one another.” How could James have told his audience to “be patient” if the coming was not “near,” “at the doors” (5:9)? Here’s what Gentry says about passages like James 5:7-9:
This expectation of soon occurrence is prevalent throughout the New Testament; something dramatic was looming upon the very horizon of apostolic Christianity: Rom 13:11, 12; 16:20; 1 Cor. 7:26, 29-31; Col. 3:6; 1 Thess. 2:16; Heb. 10:25, 37; James 5:8, 9; 1 Pet. 4:5, 7; 1 John 2:17, 18.[3]
No matter which way “out of the/a second” is understood, what the writer of Hebrews described to his first-century audience was near to them.
Prophecy Wars: The Biblical Battle Over the End Times
There is a long history of skeptics turning to Bible prophecy to claim that Jesus was wrong about the timing of His coming at “the end of the age” (Matt. 24:3) and the signs associated with it. Noted atheist Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) is one of them and Bart Ehrman is a modern example. It’s obvious that neither Russell or Ehrman are aware of or are ignoring the mountain of scholarship that was available to them that showed that the prophecy given by Jesus was fulfilled in great detail just as He said it would be before the generation of His day passed away.
Buy Now[1] John Owen, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ed. W. H. Goold, 7 vols. (Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter, 1854), 6:413.
[2] Steve Motyer, “‘Not Apart from Us’ (Hebrews 11:40): Physical Community in the Letter to the Hebrews," Evangelical Quarterly 77.3 (205), 241.
[3] The Beast of Revelation (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1989), 27, note 19.