Why Christ Came: That He May Come Again
Why Christ Came • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduce the Text
Introduce the Text
Hebrews 9, focused on verses 26b-28
Introduction:
Introduction:
What is advent?
What is advent?
Who all has an advent calendar?
Who all does an advent devotional personally, or as a family?
Who all knows what advent means?
Advent (General):
The coming, arrival, or appearance of someone or something of prominence, typically into being.
Advent (Christmas):
The four weeks of preparation for Christmas or Christ’s coming to earth as a baby.
Advent (Theology):
Christ’s coming at the Incarnation, and Christ’s second coming.
At Christmas, we look to Christ trying to understand who He is and what He has done in coming to earth. This season, we are seeking to answer the question, Why did Christ come? So tonight, I want to answer this question and raise a few others. You’re welcome!
Tonight I want you to look with me and see that Christ Came, That He May Come Again.
And if this is true, if Christ has two advents, how are they unique and how are they similar?
Do they interact with one another? Was the first necessary for the second?
What are the purposes for each advent, or do they share a purpose?
Ultimately, why does it matter that He came and why does it matter that He will come again?
Read the Text
Read the Text
1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. 6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 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.
Transition with Prayer
Transition with Prayer
THESIS (In Bold):
Christ Came, to die and bear the sins of many.
Christ Came, to die and bear the sins of many.
Christ CAME.
He came as a man.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”
Christ came for man and that warranted Him becoming man. He was made man according to the Father’s will and of His own accord.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In His emptying himself, Christ was for a little while made lower than the angels according to Hebrews 2, referring to Psalm 8.
He came once.
Christ came and did a definitive work. Christ need not be sacrificed repeatedly. His work in coming was fully effective, unlike the OT system of Levitical sacrifice.
Hebrews–Revelation (Commentary by Dennis Johnson)
...the fact that the Day of Atonement ritual took place over and over, year after year, showed that Levitical rites could never remove defilement from human consciences. If “the blood of bulls and goats” could take away sins, they would not have been “offered every year” (10:1–4). Christ brought infinitely more costly blood when he entered once for all into the heavenly Most Holy Place. Whereas the Levitical high priest presented “blood not his own,” that of slain goats and calves (9:12), Christ put “away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (v. 26) when he was “offered once to bear the sins of many” (v. 28).Because Christ’s offering was his own death, it is unthinkable that he would undergo this suffering “repeatedly since the foundation of the world.” Rather, he appeared “at the end of the ages ” the climactic moment in redemptive history. Christ’s incarnation, ministry, death, and exaltation form the complex of events marking the arrival of “the last days” (1:1–2; Acts 2:17) and “the end of the ages” (1 Cor. 10:11; cf. Matt. 13:39–40).
He came at the end of the ages.
Christ’s coming was the culmination of history. His coming to earth and uniting His deity with humanity to deal with sin is the pinnacle of history which served to usher in these “last days” in which the Spirit is poured out on His people and the church is built until Christ returns on the Day of the Lord.
He came to die.
As we’ve already started to see, Christ had a purpose in coming. He came the first time to die. As we saw, His body was prepared that the will of God may be fulfilled. Christ had to be a man, perfect in every way, put to death to fulfill the requirements of man’s sin.
Death is not natural, it’s not a mere process. It is appointed by God as the fruit of sin.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He came to put away sin.
In Christ’s coming, in His living, in His dying…He came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He offered himself…the perfect priest and sacrifice…to deal with man’s sin.
That He May Come Again, to save His people from judgment.
That He May Come Again, to save His people from judgment.
Christ WILL COME again.
He will come as glorified.
Christ will come personally, in flesh as He did the first time. This time though, He will come not as humiliated, but as exalted. Christ will come in power and with authority on the clouds and as lightning in the sky.
He will come finally.
Christ will come at a definitive time like before, but rather than inaugurate the “last days” he will now bring the end of time. He will come to usher in eternity when He and His people will forever dwell in the presence of the Lord.
He will come at the end of all things.
This end of all things is marked by the Day of the Lord, when all things will be judged and give account for the time and resources they were given. This judgment is the second appointment of man, appointed following death.
He will come to save.
As Christ died in the likeness of man, dealing with sin…He also has a second appointment in which He will save His people from judgment. Those found in Christ need not fear this dreadful day as Christ has already dealt with sin and now comes to collect His people.
He will come to collect His people.
In the collecting of His people, they will be rescued from judgment and free to enjoy the promised eternal inheritance.
9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Christ will come to complete the salvation of His people.
He Appears Now Before God, so we may come before God also.
He Appears Now Before God, so we may come before God also.
Christ has a third appearing in this chapter you may have missed.
Christ the Better High-Priest
He appears in heaven.
Christ does not appear in mere recreations ere on earth.
Earthly things could be ceremonially cleaned, but the actual things of heaven (us) needed a better sacrifice. And this to be offered in heaven itself, not a recreation of the Holy place.
He appears before God.
Christ, in His heavenly ministry is before God. The one to whom offering must be made.
Only a Holy God can grant pardon. It is the One True God whose wrath must be appeased, therefore as the earthly offerings were made to God, how much more the offering of Christ for man.
He appears on our behalf.
Christ does this work on our behalf. Christ need only be sacrificed once. His sacrifice fully and totally effectual, but He resides as our Great High-Priest for all of time. The perfect mediator between God and His people.
11 Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?
He appears by means of His own blood.
Christ appears on His own merit. As greater priest and sacrifice, it wad necessary that Christ spill His blood for the payment of sins. A costly blood, the blood of God, be spilled to atone for all of man.
Thus it was necessary that Christ in His work was fully man and fully God.
Because of this...
We will appear in heaven with Him.
We will appear before God.
We will appear through Christ.
We will appear purified by Christ’s blood.
Closing:
Closing:
Oh, how we ought to long for that day!
Oh, how we ought to long for that day!
Trust in Christ’s first coming, looking to His accomplished work.
Hope in Christ’s return, looking to His completing of your salvation.
Persevere in Christ’s intercession, looking to His help in your need.