Hebrews 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.
The coming of the Lord Jesus takes place three times in the Bible. His first coming was 2000 years ago when He died on the cross to redeem His Bride. His second coming is at the translation (the Rapture) when Jesus comes for His Bride. His third coming is in Revelation 19, when He comes with His Bride to the earth for the Battle of Armageddon and to set up His Kingdom. We however want to take a special look at the second coming of the Lord and learn how to separate the terminology regarding Jesus’ appearing and coming.
Terminology such as “appearing” and “coming” is often used interchangeably and can cause some confusion. For the purpose of simplicity, we shall explain the two in a nice basic manner that is easy to comprehend. The appearing of Christ is His supernatural presence in our midst as King Theophany Jesus (the Word). It is Him as the Holy Spirit, as the Pillar of Fire, doing many mighty works through the members of His Bride, proving that He is with us and getting us ready for the catching away part of the Rapture. The coming of Christ however, is His physical presence in a corporal body, when we shall meet Him in the air at the translation of the saints, and go with Him to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. So the appearing of Christ is His unseen supernatural presence, whilst the coming of Christ is His physical presence in a glorified body.
Having established this, we shall look at the words of Paul who wrote that Christ shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation to those who look for Him. This speaks of Jesus’ mediatorial work in the heavenly sanctuary after He offered Himself on Calvary as the perfect blood sacrifice, and then presented His blood before the Father after His resurrection. As the Israelites expectantly waited for the return of the high priest from the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement and to hear his blessing upon them, so we who have accepted Christ are looking or waiting expectantly for His physical appearing at the translation.
When we see Jesus in the flesh, He will be coming for us “without” sin unto salvation, in other words, His second coming is not to deal with the sin question as He did at his first coming, but is to complete the salvation of the believers by redeeming their bodies, transforming them to a glorified state, even as He redeemed our souls on the cross. Then redemption of both soul and body for the believer will be complete at that time. It will be a full redemption and a full salvation.
From all of this we learn that the word “appearing” is sometimes used to speak of the coming of the Lord, and the word “coming” is sometimes used to speak of the appearing of the Lord. The words need to be understood in their proper context so as not to get hung up on terminology. The Bible actually uses two Greek words to speak of the coming of the Lord. The first is “parousia,” which speaks of Christ’s presence or appearing, whilst the second is “erchomai,” which speaks of His physical coming. When the context of the terminology is understood, then the confusion vanishes away. For example, if I were to say that the Lord has not come yet, then I am referring to His physical (erchomai) coming in a corporal body. But if I were to say that the Lord has come, then I am referring to His Word coming (His appearing or parousia) as the Pillar of Fire, as the Holy Spirit, as King Theophany Jesus in our midst already. So it is all a matter of understanding terminology in its proper contextual place.