To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. Do you understand what we just said? There’s a group of people to whom Jesus will come back to, but not descend on the Mount of Olives for. Instead, He will appear in the clouds. It’s a different story. And to them and them only, He will appear a second time. What for? To save them from their sins? No. He already came to save us from our sins. It’s for a different salvation, as per Romans 8, a salvation of the body. Look at you. Look at yourself right now. Pathetic. Most of us here have reached the point where we’ve stopped admiring what we see when we look at the mirror. And now it’s a free fall. If you put a photo of you from 20 years ago, you can tell you’re dying. This is a tent. It’s not a building. This is a sinful body that cannot and will not enter the Kingdom of God. And in order for us to change, He needs to come and appear in the clouds. And for that, He’s going to come, and it is to those who eagerly wait for Him.
Something to bear in mind when we encounter the word “salvation” in scripture is that the word is not exclusive to the saving of the soul. The word can also mean “deliverance.” The deliverance of the soul will at times be the meaning, while elsewhere it is the deliverance from these fleshly temporal bodies or even from our enemies.
Such is the case in Hebrews 9:
Hebrews 9:28
So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
The means through which souls are saved was accomplished at the first coming of Jesus. At His next appearing, there will be another purpose that is also referred to as “salvation.”
Philippians 3:20-21
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
Someday we are going to have these lowly, weak, and wearing out bodies transformed into bodies like that of the resurrected Lord. We will be delivered from all its limitations and be given bodies capable of eternal existence. This is part of our salvation to be sure. But, again, the saving our souls is not the purpose of His appearing in the clouds.
Romans 8:22-23
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
He will appear a second time for the redemption of our bodies and take us to where He is, and we will then forever be with the Lord! Romans 8 reminds us of what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1, that we who have the Holy Spirit” have been guaranteed a future inheritance and that inheritance requires the redemption of our bodies.
Some will “get this” more than others, but you’ll all understand the idea. Imagine a body that never tires, never grows old, never needs glasses, never has hair that turns gray or falls out. It is one that can run and not grow weary, and walk and not faint.
Jesus is going to appear a second time to bring all of those things and more to pass. All we can say to that is:
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus,