Chapter 5 Critiqued:

• Doherty asserts that none of New Testament documents, except the Gospels, mention Jesus' "Second Coming" in Chapter 5.
  
• Doherty wrote the following to support this assertion: “Even if the writer of Hebrews wishes to apply Habakkuk’s words to the Parousia instead, he needs at nleast to show some awareness of Jesus’ earlier coming, in order to avoid confusion. His silence indicates that for him Christ’s coming is still to be, that he has no concept of the Son of God already having been here” (TJP:50).
  
  • Doherty’s statement “…he has no concept of the Son of God already having been here” is incorrect, because the author of Hebrews does demonstrate awareness of Jesus coming to earth at an earlier time.
    
  • One must examine more of the surrounding text to obtain a coherent understanding of the context.
    
  • In context, Hebrews 9:26-28 states: “…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 judgment, 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.”
    
  • Verse 26 indicates that Jesus already came to Earth once to “deal with sin.”
    
  • The last portion of verse 28 indicates that Jesus will come “a second time, not to deal with sin,” but to save people who are waiting for Him.
    
• Curiously, Doherty does acknowledge the presence of Hebrews 9:27-28 in the notes section towards the back of The Jesus Puzzle, which scholars believe does refer to Jesus' "Second Coming."
  • Doherty attempts to rationalize the phrase "a second time away" in the notes section.
  • His objections are addressed here.