Hebrews 9:27

And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him unto salvation.

See under Hebrews 6:2 for notes concerning the "judgment." It needs only to be added here, in the words of Milligan, that

The true character of every individual is determined on his exit from this world; and that his destiny is then virtually determined. And just so it is in the case of Christ, as our author now proceeds to show.[18]

On the appointment of death for all people, it may be remembered that there is nothing accidental relative to the universal sentence of death upon humankind. True, accidental death may occur for an individual; but all people are certain to die at last. Statistically, it cannot be viewed otherwise; because, if death had been merely a matter of something accidental, the billions that have lived would certainly have provided an exception.

Having been once offered is an intimation of Isa.53:4-6. God indeed did lay upon him the iniquity of us all. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. We did esteem him stricken of God and afflicted. The Jewish hierarchy had their little day with him; they humiliated him and crowned him with every conceivable insult; they inflicted the most terrible punishment that people could devise upon him; he was despised and rejected of men and thus died for the sins of many. But after death, there quickly appeared the judgment of God upon Christ. He rose from the dead. The Supreme Court of the Universe reversed the adverse judgments of the Sanhedrin and the Roman procurator; and Christ was elevated to the right hand of the Majesty on High.

The second time apart from sin is a reference to the second advent of Christ when he shall appear in flaming fire taking vengeance upon them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus (2 Thessalonians 1:7,8). Yes, Christ shall be seen on earth again, not as a humble sufferer, but as the mighty judge before whom all people must give an account. The expression "them that wait for him" is a tender and beautiful suggestion of the necessity of mortal trial and tribulation, and is a directive that Christians should "wait it out," never be discouraged, and endure to the end.

Apart from sin suggests many things, among them being that our Lord shall not be grieved and distressed by the vicious deeds of the ungodly, that he shall have finally disposed of the sins of his disciples, having abolished them forever, even from God's remembrance, and that the very presence of sin or sinners shall have no further existence before his face.