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The Two Resurrections and the Second Death — 23 Comments

  1. William thanks for this lesson of Resurrection.

    May God help us to make it in the first resurrection.

    I hope to see my lovely mother and father and my beautiful sons Innocent and Rawlings who passed away in their childhood.

    I have a lot to ask Job how and where he got the understanding of Almighty God?

    (22)
    • Christopher, God has a especial place for people like you and your family. Death was not part of God's plan. And through God's grace, you will see your beloved ones, full of life!

      (7)
  2. I so greatly appreciate God's mercy and forgiveness, seen in His divine purpose for each of us as he allows us to "help" in the judgment.

    The second great part if this is why we should not die early by our neglect of healthy living or by suicide (one spoonful at a time). God has no rewards while we sleep in the graveyard. All our righteousness is as filthy rags, but our praises bring a powerful witness and a pleasing smoke to His nose. There are no praises in the grave.

    Each day we can say "another day to praise Him", and that should be great motivation to keep us pressing upward!

    (17)
    • haa it is good to know that when we die the first death that it is just sleeping but there is another death where the unsaved will die forever thanks

      (1)
  3. Thanks William for this encouraging lesson.
    I hope that I will meet again my oncle pastor who spent his life in evangelism and died during Genocide in Rwanda.

    (8)
    • Is the condemnation of those that are subject to the second death, something that is viewed with satisfaction because they are deserving of what those that are lost have chosen? A judgment of sorts with corroboration. They agree with God that the second death was just! I might take a peek at 2 Peter 3:9 to help form an opinion.

      (4)
    • Hi William,
      I am still confused about this second death issue. When a person dies, there is no awareness of anything,not even his demise. Therefore he would not know that he is not enjoying all the things God has prepared for us or that he is not living happily ever-after. How is this a punishment? Could it be that they, the wicked and Satan, will be transported to some kind of spiritual realm where they will be in some kind of awareness of what they are missing out on? I really don't get it and I don't think we as humans understand it either.What exactly will be the punishment? What's the use if they are not around to endure/experience it? I feel a little awkward writing this because I have been in the church for umpteen years now and have heard this explained over and over but so far I have not been able to accept any of the explanations I have heard. I hope you can help.

      (4)
      • Hi Georgia,

        Obadiah 1:16 says the wicked will be as though they never were. They will cease to exit. To be honest, I don’t know what there is not to understand. God has no pleasure in the punishment of the wicked. So why would God want them to know for all eternity that they are being punished, especially if the punishment serves no redemptive purpose? On the contrary God wants to end all suffering, so God allows the wicked to die to end their suffering. Suffering is not the goal of hell. Ending sin and suffering is God's purpose of hell. The idea of the wicked living in another realm for all eternity is not only found nowhere in the Bible, it is actually contrary to the Bible.

        (7)
        • Thanks William,things are much clearer. It is out of love for the sinner that God puts them out of their misery. Here I can understand the purpose of hell as you said is to eradicate sin forever. This is a new perspective for me.
          Thanks
          Georgia

          (1)
      • The truth is the lost are raised from the dead again rather than just staying in the grave forever as is commonly believed by atheists, (ironic believing abiogenesis but not that people can be raised from the dead) they will have their "deal or no deal" moment, followed by however much suffering death in a lake of fire entails.

        (0)
  4. Thank you for posting this. The problem I see in the lesson studies when discussing death is that the author seems to assign attributes of the second death ("Big D") to the first death ("little d") and give a confusing picture. The second death, as presented above, is the consequence of unremedied rebellion and is eternal non-existence. It is in mercy that those who perish die, for we are told they would be forever miserable in the new kingdom, living with the the Lord and the redeemed.

    Regarding the first death or sleep, something we individually face and grieve, it was mercifully placed on us after the Fall to limit human suffering. And God shares our grief when we face the death of a loved one or our own mortality. We were not created to die! On the one hand the first death ends our current misery of living in a sinful world, and on the other hand it cuts short the evil of Satan's greatest champions, like Hitler or Stalin. God never "directly" acts to inflict death (little d) out of anger (wrath, retribution) on any human, whether it was the great flood of Genesis, the death of all the firstborn of Egypt, the death of a tyrant or our own death.

    In putting the whole race to sleep, the Flood was an act of mercy, a radical surgery, to save the whole human race by keeping open the avenue (one man and his family) through which the Messiah would enter our time and space to reveal the truth about God and restore us to His image. In the setting of the Great Controversy, God always acts to bring healing and maintain our freedom, even having to use the first death. This must never be confused with the second death (big D). God's wrath is letting go, withdrawing His protection, to allow those in rebellion to determine their own destiny.

    Consider this one quote (there are several others): "God destroys no man. Everyone who is destroyed will have destroyed himself. Everyone who stifles the admonitions of conscience is sowing the seeds of unbelief, and these will produce a sure harvest." {COL 84.4} {OHC 26.4} {FLB 155.4} {YI Nov 30, 1893 par. 6} {RH Feb 17, 1891, par 2} {RH Oct. 24, 1912 par. 2} . Please read the opening chapter of Great Controversy on the destruction of Jerusalem. As a people, a part of the Remnant, we were brought forth at a particular time and place to bring the final message of hope and healing to this World, not a message of God's "divine retribution" - "love Me or I'll have to kill you."

    Another quote: "It is the darkness of misapprehension of God that is enshrouding the world. Men are losing their knowledge of His character. It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. At this time a message from God is to be proclaimed, a message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power. His character is to be made known. Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His glory, the light of His goodness, mercy and truth…The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is the revelation of His character of love.” Christ's Object Lessons, p.415. Let's complete our special mission and help to hasten Christ's return. God bless us all.

    (12)
  5. Amazing love of Jesus Christ is displayed in the article in Jesus' drinking the cup in the garden of Gethsamane and dying the second death!
    Beautiful summarizing that Jesus was not slept in the LORD (Father) but died.
    Oh! what a wonderful insight on the love of our Savior. My eyes are opened and am blessed and grateful thanks for you.

    (1)
  6. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that thy may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. Rev 14:13

    The Two Resurrections and the Second Death

    Looking back at this post which started 5 yrs ago, I wondered how many are alive now, how many are dead and how many are still walking with Jesus to experience the first resurrection. Do people still believed what they believed before? The bible says the first resurrection is the one with the power Rev 20:5-6 the second one has no power to save.
    I have several families who died but I am not fixed on them. Every thing for them was sealed for that day. By me hoping they make it in the first resurrection will not change anything. I have to be focus on myself and the living now, to take the message to a world dying in sin. My world is the people I come in contact with everyday not to be deceived by Satan lies working in the hearts of humans to deceive humans.

    (1)
  7. Hi I’m a little confused. William you wrote “ Revelation 14:10 speaks of the unsaved drinking from a cup. I believe that is the cup that Jesus chose to drink for us in Gethsemane.” Please will William or someone explain the relationship of the seven last plagues to drinking the cup of GOD’s undiluted wrath being the second death. Revelation 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
    This implies that the wrath of GOD is the seven last plagues and those who worship the beast and his image will receive these when they are poured out on the earth. (Revelation 14:10). Worship of beast and his image with ensuing last plagues happen only to the unrepentant right at the end of time. However the second death is experienced by all the unrepentant who have ever lived. This is my conundrum in equating the cup of second death that JESUS drank from with Revelation 14:10

    (1)
    • Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath in Gethsemane or began to drink it. Those who suffer the plagues are unrepentant since it keeps saying they did not repent. Since they did not repent they have to drink the cup Jesus drank for them. Jesus died the death of the wicked but those who do not repent have to die that death themselves.

      (2)
  8. Thank you. May GOD continue to bless you brother William for your enlightening contribution to this platform and also for your powerful online ministry. I am always blessed by your posts.

    (1)
  9. On this quarterly about judgement. Will Sodom & Gomorrah people be resurrected in the 2nd ressurection? Looked where I could and unable to find the answer.

    (1)
    • Hi Sarah,
      According to John 5:28-29 all those who have died will be resurrected by Christ - either in the first resurrection or the second resurrection. That would include all the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.

      (2)

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