Hebrews 9:28

Heb. 9:28. 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.

Blank Bible: "See Dr. Owen in loc. p. 467.468 in which [place] marked thus : in the margin."

One of the Notes on the Bible give us this comment:

[312] Hebrews 9:28. "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto those that look for him, shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." The first time that Christ appeared, he in one sense did not appear without sin; for he bare the sins of many, he appeared in that form, in those circumstances, and with those labours and sufferings, that were tokens of imputed sin, or guilt, that lay upon him; but then he perfectly freed himself from this imputed sin, he perfectly abolished this guilt, by those sufferings he underwent, as the apostle is here arguing in the preceding part of the chapter; and therefore when he appears the second time, it shall be without sin, without any of those tokens of imputed guilt which he had in his state of humiliation. He shall be exceedingly far from them, the state in which he will appear will be immensely different from the state of one under the tokens and fruits of guilt and wrath, for he will appear in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, as the Supreme Head and Judge of the universe, with ineffable and inconceivable glory and magnificence. Had not Christ perfectly satisfied for the sins of men, and so done away all his imputed guilt, he could not have appeared a second time without sin, but must always have remained under the tokens of God's curse for sin. But at the day of judgment he will appear infinitely far from that. The glory he will appear in at the day of judgment, will be the greatest and brightest evidence of all, of his having fully satisfied for sin. His resurrection is a glorious evidence of it, and therefore is called his justification. His ascension into heaven, and sitting on the right hand of God, is a still brighter evidence, as it is a higher degree of his exaltation; but the glory that he will appear in at the day of judgment, will be the brightest evidence of all, as herein appears the glory of his exaltation in its highest degree of all, and is the highest reward which the Father bestows on him for it, and so is the highest token of his acceptance of it as sufficient and perfect. Beside the glory of the special affair of that day which Christ shall bear, then will be the beginning of the consummate glory and reward of both Christ and his church, to last throughout eternity. And not only the glory that Christ will then appear in, but the nature of the business that he will come upon, will show him perfectly to have done away all the sins of his elect, of which he will be the judge, and will save those that have believed in him. God would not have committed this affair to one that had undertaken for them, unless he had satisfied for them.

He will appear without sin to salvation. The first time he appeared, it was with sin to procure salvation; the second he will appear to bestow salvation, which will in the event show that salvation is fully procured.

In "Of Satisfaction for Sin," Edwards argues:

Christ is often represented as bearing our sins for us: Isaiah 53:4, "Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." Verse Isaiah 53:11, "For he shall bear their iniquities." Verse Hebrews 9:12, "He bare the sin of many." And with an evident reference to this last place, the apostle says, Hebrews 9:28, "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many: and to them that look for him, he shall appear the second time, without sin unto salvation." And with a plain reference to verses, 4, 5, of this 53d chapter of Isaiah (Isaiah 53:4-5), the apostle Peter says, 1 Peter 2:24, "Who his ownself [sic] bare our sins in his own body on the tree."

In The History of Redemption we find the following:

1. How great the success of Christ's purchase is chiefly appears in this: the success of Christ's purchase does summarily consist in the salvation of the elect. But this bestowment of glory is eminently called their salvation, Hebrews 9:28, "To those that look for him he shall appear the second time without sin to salvation."

We also have a sermon on this text, "Christ at his first coming came to bear the sins of his people for the procuring their salvation; at his second coming he will appear without bearing any sin for the bestowment of salvation."

A 52-page outline, this sermon raises the question when Christ began to have the sins of his people upon him. Since he became their surety in eternity, he became obliged to answer for their sins from eternity, though he did not begin to do the work of a surety until man fell. That was 4000 years before he began properly to bear their iniquity in his incarnation. Most "eminently" this work was done in his last sufferings. When he returns he will finish the job of redemption.