Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
The following passage from the book of Hebrews demonstrates that the Jewish believers were expecting an "imminent" return of the Lord Jesus:
"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look (apekdechomai) for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb.9:28).
Here the Greek word apekdechomai is used and it means "to expect, wait or look for" (The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised, 37).
apekdechomai: "To await eagerly or expectantly for some future event...to look forward eagerly, to await expectantly " (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains; Volume 2, ed. Louw and Nida, 296).
We can be sure that no one would be looking expectantly for the Lord Jesus' appearance if certain events must first take place before that appearance, such as the event in "bold" here:
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place...For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be...and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Mt.24:15,21,30).
It is evident that those who received the book of Hebrews would not be looking for the Lord "expectantly" if the Lord's appearance spoken of at Hebrews 9:28 is one which must be preceded by the setting up of the abomination of desolation and the great tribulation. They would not be "expecting" Him to appear until those events had already happened so it is impossible that they would be "looking" for Him to appear and it would also be impossible for them to be "waiting expectantly" for His appearance if the appearance in view is the one described at Matthew 24:30.
Now let us look at the following passage which speaks of the time when thesaints will be caught up to meet the Lord Jesus in the air:
"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for (apekdechomai) the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Phil.3:20-21).
The folks at StudyLight.org have the following to say about the Greek word apekdechomai:
"The word occurs in Philippians 3:20 where it is translated 'look for' (KJV) or 'eagerly wait' (NKJV, NASB), indicating the intense feeling of imminency characteristic of those in the first century who were actively watching for the coming of the Lord from glory."
That is exactly the same Greek word used by the author of Hebrews in the verse under discussion:
"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look (apekdechomai) for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb.9:28).
The Greek word apekdechomai is used six times in the NT (Ro.8:23,25, 1 Cor.1:7, Gal.5:5, Phil.3:20, Heb.9:28) and in every single instance it is used in connection with the Lord Jesus' coming when the Christian will be caught up to meet Him in the air. Common sense dictates that the author of Hebrews would not be urging anyone to be looking for the appearance of the Lord Jesus with an attitude of eager expectancy unless that appearance could happen at any moment.
From all of this we can understand that those who received the Hebrew epistles were taught that they could be caught up at any moment, just like all of the other members of the Body of Christ. That can only mean that the doctrine found in the Hebrew epistles are for those in the Body of Christ.
"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look (apekdechomai) for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb.9:28).
Here the Greek word apekdechomai is used and it means "to expect, wait or look for" (The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised, 37).
apekdechomai: "To await eagerly or expectantly for some future event...to look forward eagerly, to await expectantly " (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains; Volume 2, ed. Louw and Nida, 296).
We can be sure that no one would be looking expectantly for the Lord Jesus' appearance if certain events must first take place before that appearance, such as the event in "bold" here:
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place...For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be...and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Mt.24:15,21,30).
It is evident that those who received the book of Hebrews would not be looking for the Lord "expectantly" if the Lord's appearance spoken of at Hebrews 9:28 is one which must be preceded by the setting up of the abomination of desolation and the great tribulation. They would not be "expecting" Him to appear until those events had already happened so it is impossible that they would be "looking" for Him to appear and it would also be impossible for them to be "waiting expectantly" for His appearance if the appearance in view is the one described at Matthew 24:30.
Now let us look at the following passage which speaks of the time when thesaints will be caught up to meet the Lord Jesus in the air:
"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for (apekdechomai) the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Phil.3:20-21).
The folks at StudyLight.org have the following to say about the Greek word apekdechomai:
"The word occurs in Philippians 3:20 where it is translated 'look for' (KJV) or 'eagerly wait' (NKJV, NASB), indicating the intense feeling of imminency characteristic of those in the first century who were actively watching for the coming of the Lord from glory."
That is exactly the same Greek word used by the author of Hebrews in the verse under discussion:
"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look (apekdechomai) for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb.9:28).
The Greek word apekdechomai is used six times in the NT (Ro.8:23,25, 1 Cor.1:7, Gal.5:5, Phil.3:20, Heb.9:28) and in every single instance it is used in connection with the Lord Jesus' coming when the Christian will be caught up to meet Him in the air. Common sense dictates that the author of Hebrews would not be urging anyone to be looking for the appearance of the Lord Jesus with an attitude of eager expectancy unless that appearance could happen at any moment.
From all of this we can understand that those who received the Hebrew epistles were taught that they could be caught up at any moment, just like all of the other members of the Body of Christ. That can only mean that the doctrine found in the Hebrew epistles are for those in the Body of Christ.