Questions about the second death” (2)

5. Who will be cast into “the second death”?

Also, this question is answered directly in Revelation 20:14,15:

This is the second death-the lake of fire. And if anyone was not found written in the scroll of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

The words “and if anyone was not…”, suggest that there will be people, who will be registered in the scroll of life. In Revelation 21:8 is the group of people, who are not found written in the scroll of life, more clearly specified:

Yet the timid, and unbelievers, and the abominable, and murderers, and paramours, and enchanters, and idolaters, and all the false-their part is in the lake burning with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.”

6. What is the scroll of life?

From Revelation 21:27, we know that only those who are registered in “the scroll of life”, have a right to enter the new Jerusalem. It is striking that the Scriptures, several times, mention the possibility to be blotted out of this scroll. Psalm 69: 28 says:

Let them be wiped out from the scroll of life, And let them not be written with the righteous. (See also: Exodus 32:32,33.)

And Revelation 3:5 says:

The one who is conquering, he shall be clothed in white garments, and under no circumstances will I be erasing his name from the scroll of life…

The idea is that man, to begin with, is recorded in the “scroll of life”. But because the unrighteous (=unbelievers) are being erased out of this scroll, only the names of the righteous remain in this scroll.

7. What purpose will be served by “the second death”?

“The second death” will be a return to death and thus, a continuation of death. The judgment at the Great White Throne will be an interlude, an interruption from the condition of death. Why need these dead be resurrected, if they, then, die again, anyway? The reason for their resurrection is for them to be judged “according to their works” (Rev.20:13). They will appear before the Great White Throne so that everything will be revealed and be set right. And also to make it clear why they will not have access to the new Jerusalem, namely, because they are not written in the scroll of life (Rev.21:27). “The second death” demonstrates the Biblical truth that “the unrighteous will have no allotment in the Kingdom of God” (1Cor.6:9; Gal.5:21; Eph.5:5). Those whose name will be missing in the “scroll of life”, will be missing the experience of “the eons of eons”, during which Christ will reign as King. Life during these superlative eons (eonian life) will not be shared by them.

8. Will there come to be an end to “the second death”?

Yes, certainly, the Evangel, after all,  is the message that death will be abolished (2Tim.1:10) and will be swallowed up in victory (1Cor.15:54). The abolition of death will only be realized, when all who are dying in Adam, will be vivified (=made alive) as Christ, the Firstfruit, was vivified (1Cor.15:22,23), i.e., in incorruptibility, glory and power (1Cor.15:42,43). The abolition of death will take place at the end of Christ’s reign, as we read in 1Cor.15:22-28.  Well then, in Revelation 21 and 22, this is not yet the case, since Christ and those who are His, are still reigning (22:1,5). The abolition of death (=the vivification of all), the abdication of the Son and the transfer of the Kingdom to God the Father, lie beyond the horizon of the book of ‘Revelation’.  God cannot become “all in all”, before all will be vivified and death will not be anymore. To be continued part 1

Delen: