“But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgement, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”  (Hebrews 9:26-28)  Let’s be honest, for most of us, the doctrine of the final judgment does not appear on our “top 10 list” of most comforting ideas!  We tend to shy away from the “j-word” noting that our culture dislikes few things more than a person who is considered judgmental.  And yet, central to our faith is the affirmation that Jesus shall return to judge.  Perhaps we may gain a new perspective if we bear in mind what the author of Hebrews has in mind here.  He has continued to compare and contrast Jesus’ priesthood with that of the high priests of Israel.  Here, the author affirms once more the finality of Jesus’ death.  He has dealt once and for all with our sin; it is time to let that go.  And now, we await his return even as the people of Israel waited for the high priest to emerge from the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement.  They “eagerly” waited for him knowing that with his reappearance they could be confident that their sins were forgiven.  Imagine the fans rushing the field to greet the winning quarterback at the end of the game.  That is the kind of reception that the people gave the high priest.  They knew that the drama would be reenacted next year, but the joy was real for the time being.  The author asks us this: how much more then, should we be joyfully anticipating the return of our Lord who has dealt with our sin once and for all time?  How much more joy ought we to have when we see him, the Judge who has accepted judgment in our place?  Even so, come Lord Jesus!