Eagerly Awaiting Christ's Return - Hebrews 9:28
📖 Scripture:
“So also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.”
– Hebrews 9:28
🔎 Examination:
Advent looks back to the manger, but Scripture refuses to let us stop there. The same Christ who came in humility will appear again in unveiled glory. Hebrews 9:28 slices through all vague, cultural “hope” and defines precisely who will receive salvation at His second Advent: “those eagerly awaiting Him.” It's neither those who casually “self-identify” as Christian, nor those who treat Him as a religious accessory... It's those eagerly awaiting Him.
Sunday’s SERMON pressed this distinction hard. King Jesus is not returning to bring salvation to everyone who once prayed a formulaic prayer or occasionally attends religious events or ceremonies. The KING of kings is returning to consummate salvation for those whose allegiance is evident—those whose lives display regeneration, repentance, obedience, and functional devotion to His Body & Bride, the local church. Advent puts us under the divine searchlight of the WORD. As we read in Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
Notice the sequence: “Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.” That is His first Advent—His once-for-all sacrifice, sufficient and complete. There is no “Jesus + sacraments,” no “Jesus + rituals,” no “Jesus + human performance.” The cross is not a partial down payment on salvation that we must supplement; it is the full satisfaction of divine justice. But the text does not end with the cross. “He will appear a second time…to bring salvation to those eagerly awaiting Him.”
This means salvation has a past, present, and future dimension. In the past, at the cross, Christ accomplished redemption. In the present, the Holy Spirit applies that redemption—regenerating, uniting us to Christ, and forming a new identity (our baptism) in Him. In the future, when the King returns, He will consummate that salvation—resurrection bodies, final judgment, a new Jerusalem... a whole new creation! Advent stretches our vision across that entire arc of history, time, and space!
The counterfeit gospels of our age pull apart truths that God designed to stay together. The false messages and philosophies of our time strive to split up key truths that are inseparable in Scripture. Decisionistic pseudo-Christianity speaks as if a one-time “decision” guarantees final salvation, regardless of actual obedience, union with a local church, or perseverance. Prosperity distortions twist the second Advent into a vague expectation of earthly blessing and comfort now, not the holy fear of ACCOUNTABILITY (Matt 25:14-30) before a returning King. “Progressive” distortions reimagine His return as a soft, inclusive affirmation of all sincere spiritualities.
Hebrews 9:28 demolishes all of this nonsensical rubbish. The King is coming “not to bear sin”—that work is finished—but “to bring salvation to those eagerly awaiting Him.” Eager expectation is not sentimental anticipation; it is covenant loyalty expressed in actual, objective allegiance. King Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands...” The testimony of Scripture is this: there is no genuine love for God without obedience to Him. The saints who eagerly await Christ reorder their lives around His promises. They renounce autonomous “lone-ranger” Christianity because the King is returning for His Bride, not for scattered religious freelancers doing whatever they saw fit to do in their own eyes. That autonomy was the telltale mark of idolatry in the Old Testament (Judges 21:25).
Eager expectation radically reorders priorities. Those awaiting the second Advent don't build their hopes on national stability, economic comfort, or cultural approval. They don't treat the church as a spiritual WALMART. They give themselves over to Christ Jesus in gathering, growing, giving, and going... because we know we'll give an account to the King who purchased us with His precious blood. Our hope is not that God will endorse private dreams and wishes, but that Christ will exchange our selfish desires from selfish hearts for the heart and will of God! Therefore, He will find us living and doing the Father's will when He returns... Matt 7:21.
Sunday’s SERMON exposed a painful reality: multitudes of superficial and self-identifying Christians treat King Jesus like seasonal décor—taken out at Christmas, admired, then put back into storage until next year. That is not eager expectation; that is functional rejection. Eager expectation is seen in saints like Simeon and Anna, who waited for Messiah with watchful, obedient lives (Luke 2:25–38). It was seen in the people of Nineveh, who “took their stand according to the word of God” (Jonah 3:5), and in the Thessalonian church, that “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven” (1 Thess 1:9–10).
Regeneration ALWAYS produces this posture. The Holy Spirit does not simply grant “fire insurance”; He gives a new heart that craves the WORD and longs for the King Himself. Union with Christ rewires our spiritual DNA and desires so that His appearing is not a threat to our agenda but the fulfillment of our deepest joy. Identity “in Christ” means that our life is “hidden with Christ in God,” and “when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col 3:3–4). Advent compels us to testing and examination: is Christ truly our life, or a religious accessory tacked on to ours?
Hebrews 9:28 does not invite speculation about dates and timelines; it calls for self-examination. Am I among “those eagerly awaiting Him”? Eagerness is not measured by feelings... but patterns—patterns testifying to regeneration and repentance... patterns of devotion and perseverance in a local church... patterns of sacrificial service, intentional discipleship, and urgent evangelism. Those eagerly awaiting the King don't treat His Bride with neglect. We know that to despise the local church is to despise the One who died to present her spotless... without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
Advent, then, is an annual mercy. It interrupts the carnal drift toward apathy and autonomy. It exposes whether our hope is truly set on the returning King. ADVENT calls us to look beyond the sentimental glow of Santa Claus and “holiday Christianity” by asking: If Christ returned today, would my life testify that I truly am eagerly awaiting Him, or am I more interested in my own plans?
🤺 Action:
Test your hope – “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” (Ps 139:23–24) Is your functional hope anchored in Christ’s return or in temporal stability, comfort, and control?
Examine your relationship to the Church – “Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.” (Lam 3:40) Does your engagement with your local church reveal eager expectation, or consumer-level convenience?
Test your obedience – “But each one must examine his own work.” (Gal 6:4) Where does your calendar, budget, and energy declare that your true kingdom and allegiance lie?
Expose counterfeit assurance – “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.” (1 Cor 11:31) Are you resting in Christ’s finished work alone, expressed in living obedience, or in a dead decision from years ago?
🧠 Reflection:
As conveyed in Scripture and the SERMON, the second Advent will not be a gentle epilogue to history; it will be the unmasking of every heart. Christ will not return to negotiate terms, but to reveal who truly longed for and loved Him. Let this season fuel genuine eagerness, not by escalating emotions, but by anchoring our minds in Him… His providence, promises, and ordering of our lives accordingly. Those united to the King cannot be satisfied with seasonal sales and superficial homage. Instead, we are being conformed, by God’s grace, to live every day as those who expect His imminent return, and want to be found faithful—joyfully gathering, intentionally growing, lavishly giving, and courageously going in the power and unity of the Gospel.
Blessings & love,
Kevin M. Kelley Pastor
BigIslandChristianChurch.com
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