"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches (the
called-out); He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."
[Revelation 2:11].
In order to properly understand and evaluate the
process and purpose of the "SECOND DEATH", obviously we must first comprehend,
at least in a measure, what happened and caused the "FIRST DEATH."
In itself, death is a STATE OR CONDITION of being
without life. As regards to our physical body, it speaks of that termination of
our existence in this present realm. Yet, in another sense, DEATH IS A
TRANSITION, of passing from one realm to another, of becoming dead to one realm,
so that we no longer function with a consciousness to that realm, and then
becoming alive to another realm, to move and partake of its manner of life.
Hebrews 12:9 makes it clear that our God is the
"Father of spirits", He is our Source, our spirit came from Him. Omitting at
this time any pondering on our pre-existent state in the bosom of God, in pure
spirit form, suffice it to say that according to the purpose of God being
wrought out through the ages, it was HIS PLAN to subject us to this present
realm of existence, into the bounds of this gross materialism. This is
beautifully expressed in the words of a song, the first two verses written by
another, and the last verse which we have added for its triumphant ending.
"0 my Father, Thou that dwellest in a high
and
glorious place ;
When shall I regain Thy presence, and
again
behold Thy face ?
In Thy holy habitation did my spirit once
reside,
In my first primeval childhood was I
nurtured
near Thy side.
For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast
made
me here on earth,
And withheld the recollection of my former
friends and birth.
Yet at times a secret something whispers,
"You're
a stranger here",
And I felt that I had wandered from a more
exalted sphere."
"0 my Father, Thou that dwellest in a high
and
glorious place,
Yet shall I appear before Thee, and again
behold
Thy face.
Day by day Thy Spirit leadeth ever onward
into
Thee,
Till at last I'll find contentment in Thy
pure
reality ."
"I have said, Ye are gods (Hebrew, elohim); and all
of you children (sons) of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall
like one of the princes [Psalm 82:6-7]. YE SHALL DIE LIKE MEN! YE SHALL FALL
LIKE ONE OF THE PRINCES! Herein lies the process of the "first" death. Of the
three great princes of the spiritual realm of which the Scriptures give
reference, we have Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer. It was Lucifer, son of the
dawning, that fell, and his light became darkness. Oh, when the light becomes
darkness, how great is that darkness. It was the turning from the pure fire of
the "WILL OF GOD", to the perverted fire of "self will", which caused the
downfall. "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." [Luke 10 :18]. This
brought a state of death-leaving behind the life of the spiritual realm, to then
move in a consciousness of self-will.
"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?— For
Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels. .." [Psalm 8:4-5]. A more
literal translation from the Hebrew text would read this way, "What is Adam. . .
for Thou hast made him to lack from elohim (from his realm in God)..." "For the
creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who
hath subjected the same in hope." [Romans 8:20] .Being made to lack, lowered
from his pure existence in God, and MADE SUBJECT UNTO VANITY, becoming a "living
soul", to move in the realm of soulishness, and falling into the throes of SELF─WILL, this immediately brought a death, a cutting off from
the light and life of the spiritual realm. Thus, "by one man (ADAM) sin entered
into the world and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned." [Romans 5:12]. And so we also, yielding to the pervertedness of "I
WILL", fall like one of the princes, and die like men, or, as the Hebrew gives,
die like Adam died.
This is the process of the FIRST DEATH, descending
from the purity of the realm of the spiritual, to thus awaken to the realm of
the flesh, to mind the things of the flesh. And as long as we remain carnally
minded, we remain in a state of this death, for "to be carnally minded IS DEATH;
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." [Romans 8:6].
The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be, for it minds only the
things of the flesh, and fulfills the desires of the self-will. Paul describes
this natural state this way, "And you—- who were DEAD IN TRESP ASSES AND SINS;
wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation (manner of
behaviour) in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others." [Ephesians 2:1-3].
The wages of sin is death, (Romans 6:23), and death
has passed upon ALL MEN, for that ALL HAVE SINNED. "We have turned everyone to
his own way." [Isaiah 53:6]. This inworking of the mystery of inquity has
brought every man into the death of the carnal mind, terminating our
consciousness of the spiritual realm, and causing us to become very
self-conscious in the flesh realm. Now the process must be reversed, and we must
die out to this carnal realm, and come alive to the spiritual realm, and this is
done again by the death process, which is very rightly termed the SECOND DEATH.
We have already stated that the death-process is a
transition, we die to one form of living, and come alive to another. There is no
such thing as complete annihilation of life in the absolute sense—- there is
just the changing of forms of atomical structure. For example: a tree might be
cut down, sawed into firewood and burned, now it is no longer identified as the
form of a tree, but the substance thereof has only changed form, and via the
fire, has become manifested in heat, smoke, and invisible gasses.
"For as in Adam all die. . . " [1 Corinthians
15:22]. Through the offence of the first Adam death reigns over every man, and
is manifested in two stages; the first is a transition from the spiritual realm
to the carnal realm, and the second stage carries that transition into our
physical realm into utter corruption and decay. At one time Adam walked and
talked with God in a spiritual communion. It was a high realm of spirit-flowing
together, until sin entered, and then a change began taking place. No longer
could Adam think God's thoughts, but he was caught in the throes of
self-thoughts in a carnal manner. AS FAR AS ALL SPIRITUAL ASPECTS ARE CONCERNED,
TO BE CARNALLY MINDED IS DEATH. Deterioration into complete corruption, decay of
the physical body, is death in the material aspect. Physical death; is the
harvest result of the outworkings of the carnal mind. The only way that law of
harvest can be altered is by changing the mind, from the carnal to the
spiritual. Thank God, there is an appointed time in God's divine schedule of His
plan of the ages when this transition shall be complete, and all death will be
for ever abolished.
The offence of the first Adam brought all men under
the sentence of death, for it released the mystery of iniquity; into the Adamic
race. We do not die because of Adam's sin, but because of our own, for we all
have sinned. The harvest is sure, we shall reap what we have sown. Hence,
presently our mortal bodies are in a state of dying. But this working of the
first death can be stopped, it can be conquered. How? By the operation of the
SECOND DEATH. Death can only be conquered by death.
The question has often been asked, Is the second
death the same kind of death as the first? Many people think it is a repetition
of the first, and that the results are the same, while its action is much more
severe and cruel, and destructive, being BY FIRE. And some Christians will very
sorrowfully add, "and from the second death there is no resurrection, it is an
endless torment in agony." BUT NOT SO! For God's seconds are never duplicates
of the first, they are always better, higher, and more powerful than the firsts,
and used to counter-balance all the action of the firsts.
All Bible statements prove that the two deaths are
absolutely UNLIKE, and that the two are opposite and antagonistic. The second
death undoes all the work of the first death in the same manner that the Last
Adam undid all the work of the first Adam. Not to nullify the purpose being
wrought out by the plan of God in the firsts, but to bring a release from the
firsts in a MUCH MORE manner of majesty and glory and power and scope of
coverage, into the greater and glorious things of God.
Creation was made subject to vanity for a purpose.
Sin was allowed to exist for wise ends, and when those ends have been secured it
will have to cease to exist. The purpose is not nullified, but the means whereby
the purpose has been executed shall be done away. Discipline is a means to an
end, but not an end in itself, it leads up to the "after-wards, yielding the
peaceable fruit of righteousness." [Hebrews 12:11].
The first Adam died to God and righteousness, and
became alive unto sin. The last Adam died unto sin (Romans 6:10), and liveth
unto God, and so fulfilleth all righteousness.
The first made all men sinners, the last makes all
men righteous. The lives and deaths of the two Adams are thus greatly
contrasting the one to the other. What a precious truth, as the Spirit quickens
this to each receptive heart.
The second death is a transition from corruption to
incorruption, from present mortality to immortality. Transformed from the carnal
mind to the spiritual mind, which is life and peace, and which transformation is
wrought by a dying out to the one realm, that we might come alive to the higher
realm. Yes, because—- the second death is prepared to purge out and burn away
sin and its results, and by so doing cleanse all of God's universe.
Death came as an enemy, the fruitage of an act of
disobedience that turned man away from God and into the realm of carnality,
minding self and the flesh. And now GOD MAKES DEATH OVERCOME ITSELF. It is by
death that death is rendered powerless, and there arises the bursting forth of
anew life. It takes death to destroy death and thus Christ "did taste death for
every man. —- That through death He might destroy (make of none effect) him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver .them who through fear
of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." [Hebrews 2:9,14-15].
Since we all are under the effects of the first
death, it is appointed unto us to die once more—- not physical death, we are
already in a state of mortality, but now a dying out to this present
death-state. We will conquer this death of the carnal mind by dying to it. Only
GOD could use such a process, bringing victory. But, praise God, HE is
destroying the first death by the action of the second death. "It is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." [Hebrews 9:27].
This does not mean that it is appointed unto every
man to die in the complete sense physically. For while our physical body is in a
dying state continually, there are those who will not physically decay into
absolute corruption, for Paul clearly taught, "we shall not all sleep (symbol of
physical death) .But we shall all be changed." [1 Cor. 15:51]. Since every man
has already tasted of the "first death", it is now APPOINTED UNTO ALL MEN TO DIE
ONCE MORE, to die out to the realm of the first death, that they might come
alive unto God. And after this, there must come the judgment, namely, that
process of correction, training, development, that bringing up into maturity
into the new life of God.
It may be that God uses our "physical death", the
last visible outworking of the first death, to also become part of HIS PROCESS
of the "second death", to loose us from the bonds of the carnal mind, to where
we surrender to the will of God. "For to this end Christ both died, and rose,
and revived, THAT HE MIGHT BE LORD BOTH OF THE (physically) DEAD AND THE
(physically) LIVING." [Romans 14:9]. Indeed, it is also written, "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for ever more, Amen; and HAVE THE
KEYS OF HELL AND OF DEATH." [Revelation 1:18].
The "keys" are in HIS HAND, and HE may use any part
of the process to accomplish any part of His purpose that He desires. HE HOLDS
THE KEY to the "first death", and truly, even our natural life and death are in
the power of His hand. And, He also holds the key to the "second death", guiding
the very process of its operation in our life. HE REIGNS! And He shall continue
to reign until all of the "first death" has been abolished in every creature,
and thus the "second death", HIS TOOL OF OPERATION, shall also come to an end,
until ALL DEATH is abolished, and righteousness reigns throughout all the
universe.
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the
just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." [1 Peter 3:18]. In the measure that we are
identified with the cross of Christ, and made conformable to His death, in that
measure we are dying out to the first death, via the process of the second
death, and coming up in the likeness of His resurrection.
"He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that
sent Me, hath ever lasting (aionian) life, and shall not come into condemnation:
BUT IS PASSED FROM DEATH TO LIFE." [John 5:24].
Wonderful indeed! Passed from death into HIS more
abundant life. This is not a repetition of living and dying several times in
physical bodies, for we do not live natural life after natural life to get
better, but WE DIE OUT TO DEATH ONCE, and when the death process of Christ is
fully wrought in us, THEN WE LIVE HIS LIFE, TO DIE NO MORE. So also Christ was
offered ONCE, and He brought forth many brethren. The cross of Christ, wrought
in us, shall be the means also of bringing many into the life of Christ. "So
then death worketh in us, but life in you." [2 Corinthians 4:12].
All crucifixion, our identification with the Cross
of Christ, must first be accepted by faith as a fact, and then the working out
of it, both in and through us, is a process. If it is done now, through our
yieldedness to the call and the claims of Christ upon us, we won't have to face
it later, in what is called the "lake of fire", which is the second death in its
more severe form. The passing
through that lake of divine purification will thoroughly
purge out the last remaining fragments of the rebellion and waywardness of man,
until the mystery of iniquity is no more, and then, the carnal mind being
abolished, death IS no more.
Thus ever against its will, sin works for
righteousness—- for though it drives us into death, and THE WAGES OF SIN IS
DEATH—- yet because of negation seeking to bring about the death of Christ, that
death destroyed all the final harvests of death in the human race. You say, how
is that? Simply because when THROUGH HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION Christ took
away from the enemy his power of death, no longer can negation claim the final
victory over any man—- CHRIST HAS THE KEY, and shall ultimately bring every man
into the fulness of HIS LIFE. Now, by HIS death, which shall ultimately come
upon all men, is also the release coming to all men to share HIS RESURRECTION
into life more abundantly. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive." [1 Corinthians 15:22]. The fact that HE can use a death-process
to release that life makes is also a self-evident fact that HE ALONE IS GOD.
Praise God! When this process is fully consummated,
there will be no death in the new heavens, or in the new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Not even in a far-off corner somewhere in the universe will some
souls writhe in endless torment, but ALL DEATH will be destroyed through our
sharing in the death of Christ, which destroyed, marred, yes, rendered powerless
the one who had the power of death, that is the devil. What triumph, what
victory! And walking with Him day by day, even now, though there are measures of
the cross constantly brought our way, these are also measures of HIS
RESURRECTION LIFE freely given, so that we are learning to walk THE
TRIUMPHANTWAY!
"For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies
under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." [1 Cor.
15:25-26].
If the last enemy, death, is destroyed, then it is
self-evident that none remains. All the first death, the state of the carnal
mind, with its resultant physical decay, is to be destroyed by the second death.
All the second death is swallowed up into the higher vibrations of the
resurrection life which it releases, and so shall GOD be all in all.
The second death is not to be feared—- it is God's
arrangement whereby all of the effects of the first death shall be disannulled,
and all carnal-mindedness shall cease. The mind of Christ shall be engrained in
every man, with divine law inscribed upon every heart and mind. Then shall the
rays of redemption's glory shine out once again upon a flawless universe, to the
glory and praise of HIM who doeth all things well."
Now—- while we see the victory of the ultimate, a
complete triumph over death, first death, second death, ALL DEATH to ultimately
be brought to an end, there is a present-tense application which is before us.
God has apprehended in this hour, as in all preceding generations, a remnant in
whom HIS SPIRIT is working, and they are becoming daily experiential partakers
of His death, overcoming all the desires and lusts of the carnal mind. To those
who now OVERCOME, the same shall not be hurt of the "second death", when it is
manifested in its more severe forms, as portrayed in the term of being "a lake
of fire."
It is most interesting to note that the word "hurt"
in the phrase, "shall not e hurt of the second death", is the Greek word
"adikeo" which means, "to do wrong, injustice." Praise God, with the inworking
of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to overcome all the evil of this present age,
and all the carnal mind, we shall not be done an inj ustice by the second death.
THE WHOLE PROCESS IS UNTO VICTORY. There may be suffering involved, for indeed,
it means death to all of our own pre-conceived ideas, death to all the rebellion
of our self-will, but it also means that we shall be loosed, set free from the
shackles that bind, and with the inflow of His life we shall walk in the
glorious liberty of the sons of God.
Let it be clear, CHRIST HOLDS THE KEYS OF DEATH
AND HELL, and He will not allow one of His creatures to be done an injustice,
for "Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth
shall go before Thy face."
[Psalm 89:14] .The
purification process will be complete, righteousness shall be established in
every part of His universe, His kingdom shall come, and His will shall be done
in earth as it is in heaven, but the whole process shall be done in complete
justice.
"And He shall not judge after the sight of His
eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears: but with righteousness
shall He judge the poor, and REPROVE WITH EQUITY for the meek of the earth."
[Isaiah 11:3-4].
This does not mean in any way that He will allow
evil to go without its due correction, for wickedness shall be thoroughly purged
from every creature, and hypocrisy shall be dealt with until the whole is
uncovered and corrected. But HIS JUSTICE SHALL SURELY PREVAIL, and His love
shall restore everything that is wounded, bruised, and torn. Yes, for in the
end, we read, HE MAKETH ALL THINGS NEW.
Then Paul also gives insight into another precious
truth. Since Christ is now working all things after the counsel of His own will,
and hath freely given us all things for our development and transformatIon into
HIS own image, we read, "ALL THINGS ARE YOURS; whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, OR DEATH, or things present, or things to come;
all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." [1 Corinthians
3:21-23]. Praise God, even now death is GIVEN TO us AS A SERVANT, and though
used to bring us to an end of all self, we are also brought into the life of
Christ. Each vessel shall be fully cleansed, not to remain an empty vessel, but
to then be filled with GOD, to the utmost capacity for which we are created.
Salvation is to the uttermost. There need be no fear of the "servants" which God
uses, all is freely given by His love, and shall work together INTO GOOD, and He
shall be glorified.
OMNIPOTENCE REIGNS
By dying He conquered,
By death He won,
This
marvellous, glorious
God's own
Son.
Restrained and diminished, complete
defeat,
Death bows low to serve at the Master's
feet.
Omnipotence reigning,
All else subdued,
Till humanity
bears
His
similitude.
The Mighty Creator still holds the reins,
His intents e'er triumph, as He ordains.
Past ages unfolding
His will divine,
The future
containing
His great
design-
As time's fleeting moment performs its
task,
The ultimate purpose it doth unmask.
The Godhead shall
ever
Be all in all,
The universe spanless
It shall
enthrall.
E'er the ages of time and sin shall cease,
And eternity flows on, filled with peace.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) Prinzing,
Ray and Doris. THE TRIUMPHANT WAY!. (now out of print), Boise,
Idaho 83705
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