Death Dos

In one of its most awful passages the Bible refers three times to a second death (Rev. 20:6, 14; 21:8). As horrific as physical death is the second death is even more heinous. When our bodies quit working, we die. This is death number one. Death number two is of a different sort.

Death is not extinction. After our physical deaths we will remain conscious. In short, the second death will be experienced by those who are not born again in Jesus Christ. They will be brought before a great white throne and judged according to what they have done (Rev. 20:12). They will also be judged according to whether or not their name is found written in the book of life (Rev. 20:15). As a consequence of their names not being found written in the book of life they are thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15).

Death is awful in any context. To die twice is hard to imagine. What makes the second death more heinous than physical death or the first death is the consciousness of it. The second death is final separation from God forever. Death is basically the loss of life. The first death is the loss of physical life. The second death is the loss of eternal life. God is the source of life. To be separated from Him forever; nothing could be more horrible.

No one should have to suffer the second death. God has made provision for our salvation through His Son. In Him we have eternal life. Read Romans 5. There you will find that Jesus has become the life giver through His death. How ironic.

This Sunday I will be preaching on this topic and many others that surround the issue of death. I invite you to worship with us at Ridgecrest http://www.rbconline.net/ this Sunday either at 9:30 or 11 a.m., or tune into our podcast for the audio.