Monday,
June 11, 2018
Then I saw
thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been
beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his
statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned
with Christ for a thousand years. This
is the first resurrection. (The rest of
the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.) Blessed and holy are those who share in the
first resurrection. For them the second
death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will
reign with him a thousand years.
Revelation 20:4-6(NLT)
The moment you begin to
speak of the end of this world, visions start dancing of crazed (or otherwise
strange) people walking the street, and warning people of the end of the world[2].
That
notwithstanding, accountability is a helpful, even necessary perspective to
perseverance. To persevere is to
endure, to last, or stick with the stuff until the end.
Prophecy, apocalypse, end
times, rapture, second coming, resurrection, Revelation, great tribulation, and
millennial rule are all words/phrases that connect us…and drive us apart. The division is how, when, if, and why there
is an end time; the connection is that no human who has ever lived will be left
out of whatever takes place.
(Actually, there is one scenario
where nobody is included, and that is atheism…the absence of God. Even if there is no god there might be an end
to the world, but no god to pronounce judgment.
For we who believe in God – and rightly so in my opinion – this is
nonsense. The evidence of the cosmos’
natural order and common sense say so!)
The Second Death is
connected with resurrection; more accurately with resurrections. There are two; the first resurrection occurs only
for followers of Jesus at the time of His return:
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise
from their graves. Then, together with
them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
1
Thessalonians 4:16-17(NLT)
The second resurrection
comes at the end of Christ’s thousand-year (millennial) rule. Satan, who has been incarcerated for that
thousand years, is released for a last reminder of who is really in charge,
only to be finally dispatched to the eternal lake of fire. This second resurrection is for those who
rejected Jesus, and this second resurrection is only to judgment for that
unforgivable sin of refusing God’s grace-gift of salvation. What follows is an eternal judgment; humans
who will not acknowledge God as God, rather despising the cross and Christ’s
blood, follow the evil one, Satan, into the lake of fire for eternity.
So…traditional Christian
doctrine has two births, two deaths, and two resurrections. And therefore, those who are born twice (of
the flesh, and of the Spirit) only die once.
But those who are born only once (of the flesh, NOT of the Spirit) die
twice.
Problematic for those who
die twice is that there is a similarity with those who are born twice; both
conditions are eternal. There is no soul
that will not exist forever – the only difference is where they exist. Believers, followers of Christ, will live in
glory; those who refuse Christ will live in damnation.
It sounds harsh, but there’s
nothing desirable or easy about second death.
For You Today
If you have genuinely accepted Christ
as savior, and are daily trusting in His grace, there is no need to fear the
second death; there is only a call to tell others.
Time may be getting short.
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: © Tomas Castelazo, www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia
Commons
[2] Image of woman with Repent sign:
By takomabibelot (Repent (National Mall: Washington, DC), via Wikimedia
Commons
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