Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 430
“And as is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.’” Hebrews 9:27,28.
We must begin by noticing the parallel which the Apostle here draws. The words “as” and “so” suggest a comparison between two Truths of God, the correspondence of which he designed to set forth. The one a fact generally allowed, the other a fact he was anxious to inculcate. Now you will note that he says, “It is appointed unto men once to die,” and only once. This is a truism. The rule is universal. The exceptions are inconsiderable. One or two persons may have died twice. As, for instance, Lazarus, and those others who were raised from the dead by Christ. These, we cannot doubt, after living for a little while, returned again to the tomb.
But for the most part, speaking of the race, “It is appointed unto men once to die.” The greatest affairs of life can only be performed once. We are once born naturally—are once born spiritually. There are not two natural births, neither are there two spiritual births. We live on earth but once. We die but once. We shall be judged but once. We shall receive the final sentence but once, and then we shall once be received into the joy of our Lord forever, or once be driven from His Presence never to return.
Now, a part of the Apostle’s parallel lies here. As men die but once, so Christ has died but once. As the Law required but one death, so Jesus Christ, having offered that one death as the ransom for His people, achieved His task. “In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die,” was the penalty. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” was the payment. “By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin.” That is the first fact. “But now once in the end of the world has He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” This is the second fact.
But you have not got the full weight of the comparison yet. After man’s spirit has been once on earth, has lived its time, and the body has died, the soul is to revisit this earth again, for “after this the judgment.” Every man will have two advents—the advent which he now enjoys or which he now misuses upon earth—and the advent which lies beyond the present course of probation. After he has descended to the tomb, he shall come here again. His bones shall come together, bone to his bone. The flesh shall come upon the skeleton and the spirit shall return, either from the Heaven where it rejoices, or from the Hell where it howls, to inhabit the body once again, and to stand upon the earth.
We must all come here again—even though the place that now knows us shall know us no more forever. Yet, somewhere upon this earth we shall stand, even though we should be unable to recognize any likeness between that and the place in which we lived, and unable to recognize any likeness between us and what we were. Regardless, here we must return to receive our appointed doom.
Now, so is it with Christ. He has once died and He is to come a second time. A second time is His body to be on earth. After death, the judgment! Only when we speak of Christ, He shall come, not to be judged but to be the Judge. After death comes the reward with us—after death the reward with Him. After our death comes our resurrection. That has passed already upon Christ. As a resurrection shall come to saint and sinner, the final audit and pronunciation of the sentence—so Christ shall come to the final gathering together of His elect and the final overthrow of all His enemies, to the final crowning of His head—when He shall have put all things under His feet and reign forever and ever.
Having thus, I think, brought out the parallel of the text, I will leave it for you to think over. As it is appointed unto men to die once and after this the judgment, so it was appointed unto Christ to die but once. That is achieved. The sequel is now pointed out. To them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. We will spend our time tonight, and God grant that we may spend it profitably, by observing, first, the likeness between the two advents of Christ. Secondly, the dissimilarity between them, which is a far more extensive subject. And then we shall make a few remarks concerning our personal interest in both advents.
I. The text asserts very plainly that as we are here twice—once in a life of probation and a second time in the Day of Judgment—so Christ shall be here twice—once in His life of suffering and then again in His hour of triumph,
THE TWO COMINGS OF CHRIST HAVE SOME DEGREE OF LIKENESS. First, they are like each other in the fact that they are both of them Personal comings. Christ came the first time, not as a spirit, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as He had. He was One who could be pressed to a woman’s bosom, One who could be borne in a father’s arms. He was One who could afterwards walk in His own Person to the temple—One who could bear our sins in His own body on the tree.