Hebrews 9:28 tells us that Christ, “having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time to those who eagerly await Him, apart from sin, unto salvation.”
In verse 28 the word sin, which is singular, refers to our sinful nature. Hebrews 9:26 tells us that Christ “has been manifested for the putting away of sin through the sacrifice of Himself.” This indicates that He is the sin offering. Moreover, according to 7:27, Christ offered up Himself once for all for our sins. Hebrews 9:28 goes on to say that He has been “offered once to bear the sins of many.” This indicates that He is also the trespass offering. Because sin has already become history, the second manifestation of Christ has nothing to do with sin. Since Christ has put away sin in His first appearing (1 John 3:5), His second appearing will be apart from sin, having nothing whatever to do with it. In other words, Christ appeared the first time to take away our sin and our sins, and He will appear a second time apart from sin (Heb. 9:24-28).
Christ’s second appearing is not only apart from sin but also unto salvation. When He comes back, He will grant us the highest salvation. The salvation that we have been enjoying today has not yet reached its highest peak. The highest peak of Christ’s salvation will be His second appearing. At His coming back, we will enjoy His salvation to the uttermost.
The word salvation in verse 28 has a wide and high meaning, covering many aspects. First, the salvation which Christ will bring to us in His second manifestation is for the redemption, the transfiguration, of our body. When we were saved, we were regenerated in our spirit (John 3:5-6). Now we are in the process of being transformed in our soul (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18). Then at Christ’s second coming for the completion of the salvation of our entire being, He will transfigure our vile body into a glorious one (Phil. 3:21). That will be the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23), the first aspect of Christ’s appearing “unto salvation” in His second manifestation.
The second aspect of the salvation by Christ’s second coming is the deliverance from the vanity and slavery of corruption of the old creation into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (vv. 18-23; Phil. 3:20-21). The entire old creation has been subjected to vanity and is under the slavery of corruption. Even we who have been saved and who have the enjoyment of the Spirit are also under the vanity and the slavery of corruption of the old creation. At His second coming, Christ will free us from this vanity and slavery and deliver us into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
At His second coming, Christ will glorify us (v. 17); that is, He will bring us into His glory to fulfill the word in Hebrews 2:10. Our glorification is the final goal of God’s salvation in Christ (Rom. 8:29-30). We have been chosen, predestinated, called, and justified. Now we are being sanctified through the process of transformation in life. Then in His second manifestation, we will be glorified and reach the final goal of God’s salvation in Christ. This is the third aspect of Christ’s coming salvation.
In regeneration we were born of God and became the sons of God (John 1:12-13). In this new birth we received the divine sonship in our spirit (Rom. 8:15). After this, we began to enjoy this sonship through the transformation of our soul. The more we are transformed in our soul, the more we enjoy the sonship which has been given to us in our spirit. This sonship will become full when our body of the old creation is transfigured into a body of the new creation. This means that the redemption of our body is the full sonship of our new birth. This will be the fourth aspect of Christ’s salvation in His second manifestation.
God’s salvation in Christ is to work Himself into us as our enjoyment. He has given to us His Spirit in our spirit as the firstfruits for our enjoyment (v. 23). The firstfruits of the Spirit are the foretaste for our enjoyment of God. The full taste will be brought in for our enjoyment by Christ’s second manifestation. When our body is transfigured and our entire being—spirit, soul, and body—is fully saturated with the element of the Triune God, we will enjoy God in full. That will be our full taste of God, the last aspect of Christ’s coming salvation.
The salvation that Christ will bring to us in His second coming will be such a wider and higher one and will fulfill the final and ultimate goal of God’s all-inclusive salvation in Christ. Before His second manifestation, Christ is ministering to us with this goal in view. His more excellent ministry in the heavens today, the ministry of His kingly and divine priesthood with His heavenly intercession, is building up such a salvation. When He sees that the building up of this wonderful salvation has been accomplished, He will appear the second time. That will be His second manifestation in God’s economy.