The second death has no power over them.

The second death has authority over all wickedness. As long as wickedness remains in the personality of the believer, the second death has authority over that part of his or her personality.

Let us say we have a lying spirit, even though we are a Christian. The Lake of Fire, the second death, has authority over that spirit of lying. All liars are destined to have their part in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.

If through the Lord Jesus we are able to gain total victory over lying, the Lord forgiving us and cleansing us from all unrighteousness, then the second death no longer possesses authority over that part of our personality.

As long as one behavior concerning which God has given authority to the Lake of Fire remains in us, then we can be hurt by the second death.

The members of the royal priesthood, those who attain the first resurrection from the dead, have gained victory, through the Lord Jesus, over the wickedness in their personality. Therefore they are eligible to be raised from the dead, clothed in glory, raised to meet the Lord in the air and be with Him for eternity, and return with Him to Jerusalem to govern the nations of saved peoples of the earth.

The believers who have not been faithful in cooperating with the Holy Spirit in the work of judgment of their personalities are not eligible to be raised from the dead when the Lord appears, to be clothed in glory, to be raised to meet the Lord in the air and be with Him for eternity, or to return with Him to Jerusalem to govern the nations of saved peoples of the earth. It is as specific as this.

If we are willing to work with the Holy Spirit in the judgment of our personality, it is possible to finish that work while yet in our body on the earth. Then, when the Lord appears, our sentence is to be raised in glory and to be with Him for eternity. If we are not willing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the process of judgment, then we will be judged at His appearing and His Kingdom. We shall receive the good we have done and the evil we have done.

For those believers who have ignored the call of God upon their life, who have left their family to marry another man or woman, who have harmed the Kingdom with their selfish, bitter, rebellious attitude and actions, who have lived a halfhearted, lukewarm Christian life, physical death will bring terror they cannot imagine in the present hour.

They may cry and insist that God loves them too much to allow them to suffer, but it will be to no avail. They may justify themselves today, as did the Pharisees of Jesus' time, but when they die they shall experience terror! They shall be shown what could have been true had they been faithful, and now must be accounted as eternal loss for them and those for whom they were responsible.

To be continued.