Show me anywhere in Scripture that the "G3708 - APPEAR [passive]" (re: Him) speaks of anything BEFORE His DEATH/CROSS...
It doesn't. ALL TEN TIMES that "G3708 - APPEAR [passive]" occurs (re: Jesus),
ALL TEN of them refer to the time-period
FOLLOWING His Resurrection!
As I see it, ppl are reading the verse (Heb9:28) incorrectly:
Hebrews 9:28 YLT -
"so also the Christ,
once having been offered to bear the sins of many,
a second time apart from a sin-offering [/sin] shall appear,
to those waiting for him -- to salvation!"
[Response to the idea that Heb9:28 refers to how Jesus ONLY comes at His Second Coming to the earth, not a separate time for our Rapture--
Heb9:28 refers to neither of these..., as I see it... and it would take a lot to convince me otherwise, in view of the following...]
From
Hebrews 9:28 (where the
"passive" form of G3708 ['appear'] is used)...
out of the
684 usages of
"G3708,"
TEN TIMES that the word
"[G3708] appear [PASSIVE]" is used
regarding Jesus,
ALL TEN of them refer to
AFTER His death/resurrection
(and it was only to carefully chosen witnesses, not to every person everywhere--5 occurrences [of those 10 times], in Scripture where used, are regarding their
seeing Him on the earth, the other 5 occurrences regarding one
seeing Him EXALTED IN HEAVEN):
[...<snip LIST of those TEN references>...]
Note: ANOTHER verse that speaks of Jesus'
"appeared [passive]" (also following His resurrection) is a completely different word,
"G5316 - ephanē - passive"...
and that verse is,
--Mark 16:9 saying,
"He appeared [G5316 - ephanē] first to Mary Magdalene..." (but she was only told to "GO TO MY BRETHREN, and
SAY UNTO THEM..." [re: His "[ACTIVE] I ASCEND" He was doing THAT VERY DAY, "Firstfruit"/Lev23:10-12/1Cor15:20/on His Resurrection Day])
So in light of how the passive form of
"appear [G3708; passive]" [
as in Heb9:28] is used of JESUS (ALL
AFTER His resurrection, in the 40-days He
shewed Himself,
PLUS ['
LAST of all'] to Paul even AFTER His visible ascension in Acts 1 [/"40 days" LATER, so AFTER THAT even])...
TEN TIMES referred to in Scripture (re: Him), we can begin to see a clearer picture of what
Hebrews 9:28 is actually conveying.
It is not referring to His VERY VISIBLE [to ALL,
even to unbelievers] Second Coming
to the earth (FOR the
earthly MK age), but over a specific time period (comparable to the "40-day-period" He did this same
"appear [passive; G3807]" to carefully chosen witnesses, and even to Paul after His VISIBLE ascension [that is,
from Heaven--see Acts 9:17,13:31,26:16, etc])...
My own view is that the phrasing is more like the following:
Hebrews 9:28 YLT -
"28
so also the Christ once having been offered to bear the sins of many
[this is the Cross moment--THEN He
"appeared [G3708 - passive]," according to
TEN VERSES, to carefully chosen witnesses over the course of 40 days (following His FIRST ascension ON FF/His Resurrection Day), PLUS to Paul FROM HEAVEN AFTER His *later* VISIBLE ascension (Acts1)]
..."
a second time apart from a sin-offering [/sin] shall appear
[this is all one thought ^ ; the SECOND time that
He will "appear [passive; G3708]" apart from sin (LIKE the FIRST time
He appeared "apart from sin" FOLLOWING His finished CROSS-work--though it was numerous appearances, all told), He will do THIS "a second time... [
again apart-from-sin]"... ]
..."
to those waiting for him -- to salvation!"
["[shall appear]
to those eagerly awaiting Him--to salvation!"; not the time He will visibly appear to everyone all over the world (believers *and* unbelievers) at the split-second moment of His Second Coming
to the earth at His "RETURN"]
ALL TEN of these earlier references refer to that which occurred
AFTER He
"appeared [G5316-passive (DIFFERENT WORD here)] FIRST to Mary Magdalene," and
ALL TEN of those [
G3708 (passive)] references I believe refer to what will occur BEFORE His VERY
VISIBLE-TO-ALL [
even all unbelievers] Second Coming
to the earth (FOR the
earthly MK age), again during a very specific time period (
and more like the circumstances were FOR PAUL, that is, FROM HEAVEN a revealing in an "AHA!" kind of thing--a "lightbulb moment" as some like to say), and only to certain people who, I believe, will again be
"witnesses" to The Truth! (and again at great personal cost to themselves, DURING the future tribulation period--The pattern [
previously mentioned] holds true.)
[I think I've mentioned in past posts how that I believe Paul is a "type" of "the 144,000"... I think there are studies out there showing the numerous similarities between them... and for Paul it was like this: "[Acts 9:3]
SUDDENLY also a light from heaven flashed around him" and "[Acts 22:6]
that SUDDENLY a great light out of heaven shone around me" and "[Acts 26] 13 at midday on the road, O king, I saw,
a light from heaven above, the brightness of the sun, having shone around me and those journeying with me. 14 And of all of us having fallen down to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?
It is hard for you to kick against
the goads.’"... and of whom he also had said, "And
LAST of all, He
appeared [G3708 - PASSIVE] also to me, as to
one of untimely birth" (i.e. one born
earlier than the rest will be--and recall my study on how I believe "the 144,000" are "
FIRSTFRUIT" of the "WHEAT" harvest, per the SECOND mention of "firstfruit" in Lev23, that is, in v.17, parallel Rev14:4 language... and where Lev23:17 says, "
TWO loaves" and "baken
WITH LEAVEN" [There are distinct "harvests"--That is, there are more than one "harvest" in Scripture and in nature--the WHEAT harvest is threshed by means of a "tribulum" (harvesting implement), whereas the
earlier harvest by means of "tossing up into the AIR [and 'blowing' away the chaff]"]
)]
Another aspect of this study (^ pertaining), is... the reason for the TWO DISTINCT words for "Lamb" (regarding Him): "
Amnos [G286]" and "
Arnion [G721]" (this one used only one other time outside of Rev)
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