Let us turn to that portion we
read in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 9, and drawing your attention tonight
to those words that we have at the end of verse 26. That's a final clause there in verse
26 of Hebrews 9, but now, once in the end of the world
as he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9.26 But now, once in
the end of the world as he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. I want to say something with
regards to Christ's appearance and His sacrifice. Christ's appearance
and His sacrifice. The words that we've read are
really referring to this day of grace in which we're living,
the Gospel dispensation. The last days. There once in
the end of the world. Remember what Paul says on another
occasion, writing to the Corinthians, concerning God's dealings with
Israel in the Old Testament. In 1 Corinthians 10-11 he says,
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples, or types,
and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends
of the world are come. The ends of the world. It's the
same expression that we have here in the text, but now once
in the end of the world. The reference is clearly then
to the consequence of the appearing of the promised Messiah, and
all that was accomplished in the life and death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And as we look at these words
for a while this evening, I want to divide the subject matter
into these two simple parts. First of all, to say something
with regards to his appearance. And then secondly, to say something
with regards to the sacrifice, the atoning sacrifice that is
being spoken of. in a sense to say something with
regards to his person and then something with regards to his
work. And really that is the nub of the Gospel if we might
use such an expression. We preach Christ crucified, says
Paul to the Corinthians. We preach Christ. That is the
person of the Lord Jesus. We preach Christ crucified. And crucifixion refers to the
work, His obedience, His obedience unto death, even the death of
the cross. And so we're following a very
basic outline when we consider these two headings tonight. First
of all, His appearance. There are, of course, in Scripture
two comings of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have to distinguish. There's his first coming, and
there is his coming again, his second coming. And we have reference
to both of these in this portion of Scripture. In the text, We have mention
of the first coming now, once, in the end of the world, as He
appears. And then at the end of verse
28, the last verse, unto them that look for Him shall He appear
the second time. He shall appear the second time
without sin unto salvation. There is to be another appearing,
a second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, spoken of in the Old
Testament as the great and dreadful day of the Lord's, when he will
come in power and great glory. Well, Joel says the day of the
Lord is great and very terrible. who can abide it, why the Father
has committed all judgment unto His Son and He is to return as
that One who will judge the living and the dead. The two comings of the Lord Jesus
Christ and even after the Lord Jesus had accomplished all His
work at that first coming and then risen from the dead, ascending
again into heaven. Remember the words of the angel
too, he's watching disciples there in Acts chapter 1, the
same Jesus, which is taken up from you, you shall see again,
coming in power and great glory. As he ascended, so in that last
day he will descend again. And then will usher in the great
judgment day. But we're thinking in particular
as we look at these words in verse 26 of his first appearance. But now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared. And what is the significance
of this appearance? Well, this was not an apparition. This was not some phantom spirit. John the Apostle is so very much
aware of those who were suggesting in his day and he was the last
surviving of the Apostles of the Lord and there were some
strange doctrines that were being circulated even amongst those
who said they were followers of Jesus of Nazareth. There were
erroneous, heretical things being said. There were those who were
even denying the reality of the human nature of the Lord Jesus. There were the Gnostics, and
they said that his humanity wasn't real, he was just an apparition. And see how John addresses these
things, even when we read the opening words of that first epistle
of John, that which was from the beginning, he says, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life,
for the life was manifested. And look at the words that John
quite deliberately uses under the inspiration of the Spirit.
He speaks of things that he had heard, and seen, and handled,
The reality of the human nature, the human body of the Lord Jesus
is what he is clearly asserting. Was he not that beloved disciple,
the one who was leaning on the Lord's bosom when Christ instituted
his Holy Supper? He knew, he knew that was no
phantom, that was a real man. That was real flesh and blood. The Word was made flesh, says
John, and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. But the Word was made flesh. The Word was made flesh. And Paul says it, doesn't he,
here in this epistle, writing to the Hebrews, the Hebrew believers,
those Hebrews, those Jews who had come to saving faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He tells them, for as much then
as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he, that
is Christ, likewise took part of the same. His was a real physical body
he was a real man body and soul and it is a precious truth you
know that we must ever remember and we must ever contend for
because if it is not a truth how can Christ be the saviour
of men if he himself never became a man how could he come to be
the representative of his people No, He is bone of our bone, He
is flesh of our flesh, and John says, every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And
this is that spirit of Antichrist. This is that spirit of Antichrist,
denying the reality of the human nature. All the words of the text, now,
once, in the end of the world, hath he appeared. And he has not appeared, I say
again, as a mere apparition or a phantom, but as a real man. As a real man. When the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman. made of a woman. That was the
promise, the ancient promise, given right at the beginning
when man first sinned. The words that were spoken by
the Lord God to the serpent, who was the instrument of Satan
in the fall of Adam and Eve. And what does the Lord God say
to that serpent concerning the woman's seed? It shall bruise
thy head thou shalt bruise his heel. The seed of the woman.
Always the seed of the woman. He has no human father, but he
did have a human mother. He did have a human mother. Let
us not forget that. Let us not despise Mary because
of the awful Mariolatry and all the blasphemies of the Roman
Church. She is blessed amongst women.
And the angel said to her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also
that holy thing that shall be born of thee. That holy thing
that shall be born of thee receives its human nature from its mother. She was a sinful woman who rejoices
in God her Savior in the Magnificat. But what is it? It's the Holy
Ghost. and though she herself be a sinner in the great miracle
of the virgin birth in the mystery of the incarnation she brings forth that holy thing
that human nature, that body, that soul which is to be joined
to the person of the eternal Son of God that holy thing that
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God says the
angel Oh, He is God and He is God manifest in the flesh. His
appearance, it's a real man. It's a real man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, so real. And so unique is this. Look at
the language you guy, now we have to consider carefully the
words of Holy Scripture. Now, once no once in the ends
of the world has he appeared it's a unique appearance that's
being spoken of because there were appearances in the Old Testament
there were appearances in the Old Testament and we call them
theophanies theophanies, appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
appeared to Abraham. Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day and saw it and was glad, says Christ to the
unbelieving Jews of his day. Abraham saw the Lord Jesus Christ. And how was it that Abraham saw
Him? There were those Theophanies.
We mention these things in times past, Genesis chapter 18 for
example, where we read of those three men who visit Abraham in
the plains of Mamre. God is about to destroy the wicked
cities of the plains, Solomon, Gomorrah, but God will do no things but He reveals
His secrets unto His servants the prophets. He reveals what
he's about to do to Abram and Abram is able to plead with God
and it's three strangers. But these strangers are angels.
How many entertain angels on a way? And he entertains them. He's very courteous. He makes
provision for them. And two of those men eventually
go off and they appear next at Sodom to angels as we see at
the beginning of the 19th chapter there in Genesis. But the one
of those visitors stays behind and this is the angel of the
Lord. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
appearing as a man before his incarnation. And of course when
Christ says those words in John 8, concerning Abram seeing his
day, it's not just a matter of Abram's experience in the 18th
chapter of Genesis, but later in Genesis 22, where he's tried
and tested and God tells him to offer up his son, his only
son Isaac, and Abram sees the Lord Jesus Christ there in that
chapter also. It's an angel of the Lord who
speaks from heaven concerning the provision that God has made,
the ram, caught by its horns in the thicket that is to be
sacrificed in the place of Isaac. Substitutionary atonement. It's
the angel of the Lord who's speaking to him. He saw Christ die. He had that remarkable experience
of actually seeing a man who was the Lord Jesus Christ. But
he saw something of the work that Christ would accomplish,
the great sacrifice that he would make, that substitutionary sacrifice. But it's not only true of Abraham,
it's true of men like Joshua at the end of Joshua chapter
5. Remember how there Joshua sees
one who is the captain of the host of the Lord. And he asks
this person whose side he is on. And he's on Israel's side
and then Joshua realizes that this is God. It's another appearance
of the Lord Jesus in human form. And we see it on occasions later
in the book of Judges. He appears to Gideon there in
Judges chapter 6. And what do we read? Gideon has that remarkable experience. He realizes that he has seen
God. is brought to realize the significance
of the personage that had appeared to him. There in Judges 6, verse 22, when Gideon perceived
that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God,
for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. And
the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee. Fear not, thou
shalt not die. The angel of the Lord. Who is
the angel of the Lord? It's Christ. Again, later in
Judges 13 we read of Manoah and his wife, they're the parents
of Samson. Again, the angel of the Lord
appears. Appears first to the wife, then to Manoah, and they
stand by him. The angel of the Lord is doing
wondrously. And then what does Manoah say
subsequently to his wife? We shall surely die. because
we have seen God. There were these occasions in
the Old Testament anticipating, as it were, the
fullness of the time when God would indeed send forth His only
begotten Son made of a woman and made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. But these appearances, these
mysterious happenings, they're anticipating. That great day
when the Lord himself did indeed come as a real man. Now once in the end of the world. This is so different to all that
has gone before. This was a real birth. This was
God's descending. into this world. But then, besides
those theophanies, of course also in the Old Testament we
have all those various types and those figures. And in the
chapter that we read, this ninth chapter, we have mention, of
course, of the worship of the children of Israel, the significance
of the of the tabernacle and all the furnishings of the tabernacle
and we're told there at verse 9 concerning these things which
was a figure for the time then present in which were offered
both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the
service perfect as pertaining to the flesh they were just figurative
they were figurative things again later In verse 24, Christ is not entered into the
holy places made with hands, it says, which are the figures
of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God. In the Old Testament, the high
priest after he had made the sacrifice, enters into the Holy
of Holies on the Day of Atonement, and he takes with him the blood
of sacrifice, and he sprinkles blood upon the mercy seat and
before the mercy seat. Figures of the truth! Christ
has not entered into any earthly sanctuary. Christ has entered
heaven itself! Oh, there were those things in
the Old Testament. Shadows of good things to come,
says Paul. But the body is of Christ. Christ has come as a real, as
a true man. That's the important thing. And
that's what's being said here in the text. Once in the end
of the world, as he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. When we think about the Old Testament
and the typical nature of the worship of those people and the
shadows the shadows of those substantial things that would
come in the fullness of the time think in particular of the tabernacle
itself. And then subsequent to that,
the temple that is built as a more permanent structure there in
Jerusalem, built by King Solomon. And here we read of the tabernacle,
quite specifically, verse 11. Christ being come and high priest
of good things to come, It says, "...by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building." Christ coming by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle. What is the greater and more
perfect tabernacle? Well the tabernacle itself, and
then the temple subsequently, That's part of the typical. It's
a type of Christ. It's a type of Christ. It's a
type of the person, as well as the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And think of how Paul uses this
word tabernacle. When he writes to the Corinthians,
there in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, he speaks of our physical
bodies as a tabernacle. housing our never-dying souls
as it were. The language in that 5th chapter
of 2nd Corinthians he says we know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God not
And how is not made with hands eternal in the heavens? And he
goes on to say, we which are in this tabernacle, this present
body, do groan being burdened. And of course when the believer
dies, it's absent from the body, it's present with the Lord. But
there will be another day, there will be a day of the general
resurrection, of that resurrection, Christ's resurrection is the
first roots, the guarantee. of a general resurrection. At
the end of time those glorified spirits in heaven will be reunited
with glorified bodies. And that's what Paul is saying
there in those words at the beginning of that 5th chapter of 2nd Corinthians. We know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved We have a building of God and
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. That's the prospect
that the believer has. But the point I make is this,
that the body is spoken of as a tabernacle. And when we read here in verse
11 of a greater and more perfect tabernacle, that is a reference
to the Lord's humanity. That's a reference to Christ
and the reality of his human nature, his body, his soul. Christ
being come an high priest of good things to come by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle. Or does he not say concerning
the temple there in Jerusalem, remember in the second chapter
of John, and he's there at the temple
and he says, destroy this temple in three days, I will build it
again. And the Jews think he's speaking of the physical temple
that's standing there, but he isn't. He's speaking of himself.
He's speaking of his body. When he says, in three days he
will raise it again, it's his body, of which the tabernacle
of the temple is but a type. That's the truth of it. And the
disciples remember that after his resurrection. Or the appearance. What is this appearance? It's
the reality of Christ's coming, the reality of His appearance,
His human nature. A man there is, a real man. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. The person of Christ then He
set before us. Now once in the end of the world
hath He appeared. And then the work, to put away
sin, by the sacrifice of himself. Or what is the work that this
man does? It is to make that great sin
atoning sacrifice. And again observe the language. It says, how he appears once,
now once in the end of the world as He appeared. And then it says
in verse 28, Christ was once offered to bear the sins of men. He appears once, and He is once
offered as a sacrifice. Verse 25, Nor yet that He should
offer Himself often, as the High Priest entereth into the holy
places every year with the blood of others. In the tribe there
was repeated sacrifice, There were daily sacrifices. There
was the annual Great Atoning Day when the High Priest alone
entered into the Holy of Holies. But the Lord Jesus Christ appears
once and appears to be offered just once, one sacrifice for
sins forever. Or isn't this the great purpose
of the Lord's coming? When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman made under
the law, to redeem. In order to redeem them that
were under the law, that they might receive the adoptions of
sons. That was the purpose of His coming,
He was born. And He was born to redeem, He
was born to die. He was born to die. He must be
obedient, and He must be obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. And how the Lord knew that, as
a man. Oh, as a man He experienced a
real death. We're told here in verse 27,
It is appointed unto men once to die, Oh, there's a time to be born,
there's a time to die. All our times are in the hands
of God. And this man, oh this glorious
man, never a man like this man, this man was appointed to death. That was the purpose of his coming.
He had prepared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And what do we learn then concerning
his his great sin atoning sacrifice well I want to mention three
things and they're things that we're not unfamiliar with but
that we need to remember these things and to meditate upon these
things first of all his death was a voluntary death his death
was a voluntary death what do we mean? well he sacrificed himself
and here we have it He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He's not only the sacrifice,
He's also the Sacrificer. He's the one who's making the
sacrifice. He is the sacrifice, He's the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. But He's
also the Sacrificer, He's the Great High Priest. the priests
were there to make the sacrifices and now this man is so active
in dying it's a voluntary death he says
doesn't he therefore does my father love me because I lay
down my life that I might take it again no man take of it from
me I lay it down of myself I have power, I have authority to lay
it down and I have authority to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my father." All the language is so plain,
so clear. His sacrifice is his own sacrifice. No man
could take his life. It was an impossibility. Remember,
they couldn't touch him when they come to arrest him there
at the beginning of John 19. And he declares, I am. And they
fall backwards. They can't touch him, they can't
lay a finger upon him. He has to give himself over to
them. His sacrifice is a voluntary
and a willing sacrifice. He chooses to die. And why so? Because He loves the Father and
He will do all the will of the Father. He has engaged in covenant
with the Father to be the Saviour of sinners. His meat is to do
the will of Him who has sent Him, He says, and to finish His
work. It's His Father's business that He must always be about.
Oh, it's love to the Father that motivates Him to die so willingly,
but it's also His great love for those that the Father had
given to Him. For having loved His own which
were in the world, He loved them unto the end. Those wonderful
words that we have at the beginning, is it John 11, the beginning
of John 11? Having loved His own which were
in the world, He loved them. He loved them unto the end. Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. And he laid down his life for
those who were his friends, but really they were in a state of
alienation when he died for them. Or he died for those who were
sinners, enemies. And he died so willingly, so
great was his love to the sinful sons of men. His death then,
his atoning death, is voluntarily. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. He's a sacrificer. It was also
a substitutionary death So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. He bears the sins of others.
He's not dying for his own sins. He has no sins. He's sinless
even his human judge Pontius Pilate has to declare at that
mock trial, I find no fault in him. He's faultless, holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners. Oh, there's no cause of death
here. Why his very human nature is immortal, he couldn't die.
That only thing that was conceived by the Holy Ghost in Mary's womb
could never die. There was no original sin in
him. There were no actual sins in him. The soul that sinneth
it shall die. How can a sinless man die? But
die he does. Do his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree? Oh, he bore the sins of his people
so willingly. And of course we have the remarkable
language of the 53rd of Isaiah. What a book, what a chapter,
Isaiah 53. Things that were written, what,
700 years before the coming of Christ. And now we have such
a remarkable description of the Lord's suffering servant. Surely,
in substitution, surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray, We have turned everyone to his own way, and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." For whose sin is he atoning?
It's not for his own sins. The language could not be plainer
than those verses we just read in Isaiah 53. What do we see
here then? It's a substitutionary death,
God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him God made him to be
sin and now we see him identifying with the sinner and taking the
sins of his people to himself sin was upon him it wasn't in
him there was no sin in him no inherent sin but sin was imputed
to him sin was laid upon him and here is the blessed exchange
the sins of his people reckoned to his account and his righteousness
reckoned to their account that's the gospel all the sins of his
people laid upon the blessed Lord himself and all that righteousness reckoned to their account what
an exchange what an exchange Christ taking the sins of his
people and in exchange giving to them all his righteousness
all this work that he has done now once in the end of the world
that he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself
it's a voluntary death, it's a substitutionary death thirdly
here In a sense, it's limited. It's
a limited atonement. It's a particular atonement. And look at the language, what
we read here. In these last two verses, verse 27, As it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this to judgment, so Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many. We read of that that is appointed
unto men, that is to mankind in general, it is appointed unto
mankind once to die, because all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And after death the judgment.
So Christ was once offered, it says, not to bear the sins of
men, all men, all mankind, but to bear the sins of many. It's many. And we are familiar with what
we have previously concerning this man. Back in Hebrews 2. Remember how the Apostle speaks
of man. There in verse 6, what is man? that they weren't mindful of
him, and he's quoting from the Old Testament, Psalm 8, concerning
man, what is man. And after the quotation he says
this at verse 9, But we see Jesus, but we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than the angels, this is the man, for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace
of God should taste death for every man. He died for many it
says, or was offered to bear the sins of many here in chapter
9 and verse 28 and there it says he by the grace of God tasted
death for every man. But who is every man there? Well,
read through the passage, read through the following verses.
Every man, in verse 10, is many sons. In verse 11, that's the sanctified
and brethren of Christ. In verse 12, he calls them my
brethren. He refers to them as the church.
In verse 13, they're the children which God gave me. It's not every man, you see.
When we read God's Word carefully, and we must read God's Word carefully,
we're to study God's Word, we're to read, we're to meditate in
the Word of God, we're to ask God to throw light upon the Word
as we read it, that it might be meat and drink to our souls. And when we read that passage
in chapter 2 from verse 9 following, we see quite
clearly that this death for every man is really for a particular
people, even the children which God had given to the Lord Jesus
Christ. They're believers. And what do
believers do? They look. They look. You say, what is faith? Isn't
faith in a sense, well it's It can be defined in many ways,
I suppose, but one way, surely, is this. It's a looking. It's
a looking. And we have that here. Unto them
that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. Remember what we have later in
chapter 12 and verse 2, looking unto Jesus. the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame, and he sat down on the right
hand of the throne of God. Oh, we're to look to Him, look
unto Mary and be His save. We're to look away from every
other object, looking away from every other object, looking only
to this one object alone, even the one that's spoken of in our
text, the man Christ Jesus. Oh God grant that we might know
that look, looking away from ourselves, looking to Him, trusting
in Him, casting all our cares upon Him. That's what we're to
do, that's faith. Look away from ourselves. When we look within,
what do we see? We see much to grieve us, Or
when we come to examine ourselves and prove ourselves and know
ourselves, what do we say? We have nothing, we are nothing.
We are sinners. We need to be looking to another
who is sinless and yet has made the great sin-atoning sacrifice.
This is Christ. Now once in the end of the world
hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And that it is appointed unto
men once to die, but after this to judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many and not of them. In that look
for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Oh, let us be those who are looking
and watching and waiting for that coming again. what a world
it is we're living in, what sin, what confusion, what we feel
in our own hearts. Oh, let us yearn for that blessed
appearing the second time, without sin, unto salvation. The Lord then bless these words
to us tonight. Amen.