Verse of the Day 5/27

Verse of the Day 5/27

Hebrews 9:28   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.   English Standard Version (ESV)

When I was a kid, from the age of 9 through the rest of my "little league" years I primarily pitched and played shortstop.  I didn't have exceptional talent but I did have an exceptional father.  In those years I eagerly waited for him to come home in the spring and summer months because I knew that after supper, we would go out and I would pitch to him.  Sometimes an errant throw would bounce off his shins and there was an occasion where that ball skipped past him and broke a basement window.  There was immediate forgiveness.  Other times, during the day I would do something wrong and I would get what most of us heard at some point, "wait until your father gets home."  He was the same father, but there was also grace and "justice".  Sometimes, I got what was coming to me, but the next day, I would still eagerly await his coming home.

So it is with God our Father, He gives grace but He is also just.  He knows us and if we are His we know that there is forgiveness and we can look forward to, eagerly wait for His coming.  My wife Jean and I both commonly say "come Lord Jesus, come!" (Revelation 22:20).  We mean it, it is not escapism, but rather looking forward to our eternal home where there will be restoration.  Our son Jeff will be whole as will my dad who lived his life with a disability that he never complained about or kept him down.

John Piper writes, "There is a phony faith that claims to believe in Christ, but is only a fire insurance policy. Phony faith "believes" only to escape hell. It has no real desire for Christ. In fact, it would prefer if he did not come, so that we can have as much of this world's pleasures as possible. This shows that a heart is not with Christ, but with the world.    But the faith that really holds on to Christ as treasure and hope and joy is the faith that makes us long for Christ to come, and that is the faith that saves.    So, the issue for us is: Do we eagerly long for the coming of Christ? Or do we want him to stay away, while our love affair with the world runs its course? That is the question that tests the authenticity of faith."    Let us be like the Corinthians as we "wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:7), and like the Philippians whose "citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20).    My prayer for you is that you would "eagerly await" His coming.  For those who are His, He is coming to save and not to judge. "And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation." (Hebrews 9:28 The Message)

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

Hebrews 9:25-28 The Message (MSG)

^25-26 That accounts for the prominence of blood and death in all these secondary practices that point to the realities of heaven. It also accounts for why, when the real thing takes place, these animal sacrifices aren't needed anymore, having served their purpose. For Christ didn't enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn't do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.

^27-28 Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ's death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.