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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Fire of God, continued
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power [authority], but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)
We can understand "shall not be cast into the lake of fire." But what is the meaning of "on such the second death hath no power [authority]"?
The problem is with the wording. We think of the second death as being the casting of an individual into the Lake of Fire. What we find is, "shall not be injured by the second death"; and, "over these the second death has no authority."
The phrasing does not fit our concept.
It is apparent that there is more involved in the second death than merely the wicked being cast into the Lake of Fire at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. The wording suggests that the second death has authority over the believer until he, through Christ, gains victory over the works that God condemns.
It is as though the second death has authority over all sin and rebellion. As long as there is sin and rebellion in us the second death claims that part of us for itself. This doctrine fits perfectly Revelation 2:11 and Revelation 20:6. Death is separation. Physical death is the separation of the spirit and soul from the body. It is the writer's point of view that the first death is not physical death but the separation from God that all unsaved people experience, the death we live in until we receive Jesus.
Physical death sometimes is referred to as "sleep" and is not to be feared.
And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. (Mark 5:39)
Spiritual death is the separation of the spirit, soul, and body from God. We believe that the second death is similar to the spiritual death into which we were born, except that the second death is permanent and accompanied by torment.
The Lake of Fire is the place of abode of those who are spiritually dead—cut off from the Presence of their Maker.
What behaviors produce spiritual death? Over what works does the Lake of Fire have authority?
But the fearful [cowardly], and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers [fornicators], and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part [their part is in] in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone [sulfur]: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)
We may add here that the "everlasting fire" has been prepared for the devil and his angels, not for people (Matthew 25:41). But people shall be found there if they do not, through Christ, separate themselves from such deeds.
Notice that it is not those who have experienced fear, or who have expressed unbelief, or who have committed murder. If that were true, all of us would be condemned because we have practiced these sins in time past. Rather it is those who have not been willing to be delivered. They have become part of the nature of Satan.
To be continued.