Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #14 of Revelation 2, and we will read Revelation 2:11:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Once again, we are reading a verse that we have read earlier, back in verse 7, after the Lord addressed the angel of the church in Ephesus.  He concluded with this statement in Revelation 2:7:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

We spent some time discussing exactly what it means when the Bible uses this phrase because God used this phrase after each of the addresses to the seven churches.  This phrase will be found seven times, and this is the second time it is used, in verse 11: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

First, we know this reveals to us that God is not just speaking to the church at Ephesus, or to the church at Smyrna, but what He has to say is directed to all the churches throughout the entire New Testament church era.  So that is how we are to understand these things.

We also know that when the Lord uses this type of language regarding having ears to hear, we realize that He is informing us that He is speaking in parables.  That is, Christ is letting us know that we have to look for the hidden meaning.  The statements are not obvious, but we have to search it out using the Bible’s method of searching in  order to come to truth.  So we are put on notice with this reminder after each address to look for the spiritual meaning.

Also, it is telling us that we must have “ears” to hear.  Since it is parabolic and the Lord is hiding truth, not just anybody is going to understand it, but only the true believers because they alone are given ears to hear.  So this is language to let us know that only the child of God who has been granted understanding of the secrets of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven will be able to understand the things the Lord is writing in these passages, as well as in the entire Bible.  The whole Bible is a parable in that sense.

Let us move on to the next part of Revelation 2:11:

…He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

We noticed in verse 7 that it also mentioned “overcoming,” as it said in Revelation 2:7:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

We looked at that statement, and we found that “the tree of life” refers to the Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal life He provides for His elect people.  It is in heaven because that is where Christ is, and the paradise of God is referring to heaven.

Therefore when we read in verse 11, “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death,” it is another way of stating the same thing.  That is, it is describing salvation.  The individual “overcomes” not through his own work or effort, but through the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He first overcame the world.  He overcame sin and death, and He was victorious, as we see in other verses.  For example, it says in 1John 5:4:

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

And Christ is in view, in the first instance.  We were saved by the faith of Christ, and it was through Him that we were born again, so He has everything to do with the victory, and no one can overcome apart from Him.  We could paraphrase this to say, “He that overcometh in the Lord Jesus Christ shall not be hurt of the second death.” 

Now let us think about this phrase, “the second death.”  What is it?  The Bible refers to it a few times.  It sounds very ominous.  It sounds awful to think of experiencing the “second death,” as if the first death were not enough.  What does God mean by a “second death?”  Let us look everywhere in the Bible where we read about a second death, and all the places are in the book of Revelation, starting in verse 6.  But let us back up to get the context, as it says in Revelation 20:4:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

This group of people are described as “souls,” and their bodies are not seen.  They are true believers that were “beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God.”  These individuals lived and reigned with Christ “a thousand years,” figuratively, and they identify with all those saved during the church age, and the “thousand years” is a figurative number the Lord uses to represent the “completeness” of whatever is in view.  And what is in view when a child of God dies physically, and his soul goes to be with the Lord Jesus?  How long will they reign with Him?  And the answer, eternally, or forever and ever.  Therefore these souls that lived and reigned with Christ “a thousand years” are those who live and reign with Him forever, or for the completeness of eternity.  That is what is in view with the reference to “a thousand years.”  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 20:5:

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Now this reference to “thousand years” is not referring to eternity, but it is referring to the same “thousand years,” figuratively, in which Satan was bound.  In the earlier part of this chapter it describes him as being “bound for a thousand years,” and that represents the completeness of the New Testament church age.  Satan was bound in 33 A. D., and he was loosed at the end of the church age, in May 1988. 

Here, “the rest of the dead” are those that God intends to save after the end of the church age.  Again, that “thousand years” represented the whole church age, so these that are called “the rest of the dead” must be a reference to the great multitude that would be saved out of the Great Tribulation.  In other words,  verse 4 is describing the “firstfruits,” just as Revelation 7 refers to them as the 12,000 that are saved out of each of the 12 tribes of Israel, or the figurative “144,000.”  Then following that, it says in Revelation 7:9:

… After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations…

Here too, God began with all those saved during the 1,955 years of the church age, and then He looks at the period of time after that “thousand years” was finished, which was the Great Tribulation, and He refers to that group as “the rest of the dead,” because they are the remainder of those that were dead in their sins, and He has no other group He intends to save.  Together, they represent all the elect.  Again, it says in Revelation 20:5:

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

And this is a summary statement regarding all those described in verses 4 and 5.  They are all the souls that experienced the salvation of God, the spiritually dead who “lived” again in the “first resurrection.”  And the “first resurrection” has to do with the soul.  That is why it refers to “the souls of them” in verse 4:  And then it refers to “the rest of the dead” that lived again, but it is also referring to the resurrection of the soul, or the “first resurrection.” 

And is there a “second resurrection?”  Yes, there is a resurrection of the body, but no one can experience the second resurrection without having experienced the resurrection of the soul.  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 20:6:

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection…

That is, these are all those that have become saved.  And we are living in the time after the Great Tribulation and it is the Day of Judgment, so all who were to become saved have become saved.  All the elect souls were gathered during the church age, and “the rest of the dead” to be gathered were gathered during the Great Tribulation.  That great multitude came out of the Great Tribulation.  So both of these groups represent all that are blessed by having part in the “first resurrection.”  There is no other group that God intends to save.  There is no other period of time in which God intends to save anyone.  He had “the day of salvation,” and that day has come to an end, and now we are in the Day of Judgment.  Again, it says in Revelation 20:6:

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Again, that “thousand years” is referring to the completeness of eternity because God has given His people eternal life.  It is only on the children of God that the second death has no power. Did the first death have any power?  Of course it does.  All those who are in heaven only in their souls existence are there without their bodies.  Their bodies are dead, and they are in heaven awaiting “the second resurrection,” the resurrection of their bodies.  But the second death has no power over them because they are alive (in their soul existence).  Remember that Jesus told the Sadducees,  “He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.” 

And these have the hope that their bodies will come to life one day very soon.

So this is salvation.  This is the glorious wonder of God’s salvation.  It is the good news that we will not die the second death.  It has no power over us, even though we could die physically, and many have.  And that could still happen today that we die physically, but that in itself is not the second death. 

You know, the Jews mocked Jesus back in John 8 because He spoke of life.  It says in John 8:51-53:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

They completely misunderstood.  Jesus was not talking about physical death, even though it does not refer to “the second death” here.  When Christ said, “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death,” He was referring to “the second death.”  A true child of God, or spiritual descendant of Abraham, would never see death, even though true believers have been dying physically over the course of earth’s history.  But that did not falsify Jesus’ statement because He was not talking about that death, but “the second death.”

Let us look at more places were this phrase “the second death” is found.  It says in Revelation 20:13-14:

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Here, the Lord is joining “the second death” with the image of “the lake of fire.”  They seem to be synonymous statements.

It says in Revelation 21:7:

He that overcometh shall inherit all things…

By the way, here is that word “overcometh” once again.  Every child of God overcomes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, it says in Revelation 21:7-8:

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Here again, we find a lake burning with fire and brimstone, and it is called “the second death.”  God makes this association, and it cannot be separated.  The “lake of fire” is “the second death.”

We do read of the “lake of fire” in a couple of places that do not include the language of “the second death.”  For instance, it says in Revelation 19:17-21:

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Here again, we see “the lake of fire,” and that is “the second death.”

Let us look at one more reference in Revelation 20:7-10:

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

(Where it says, “for ever and ever,” the word “for” would better be translated as “to ever and ever.”) 

Again, we see that “the lake of fire” relates to “the second death,” as Revelation 21:8 made that strong identification when it said, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” 

You may have noticed that some of the language that we read in Revelation 19 that describes “the marriage supper of the Lamb” in the Day of Judgment identifies with the entire period of time starting May 21, 2011 and after, the entire period of the Day of Judgment.  And “fire and brimstone” also identifies with Judgment Day itself, and that would mean spiritually that God has cast the unsaved into “the lake of fire.”  The beast, or Satan, is cast into the lake of fire, and the “false prophet,” which relates to the apostate churches and congregations of the world, have been cast into the lake of fire.  God refers to the devil being cast into the lake of fire to be tormented day and night to ever and ever, and that is a time reference because it occurs when “day and night” still exist, referring to the Day of Judgment, “in those days after that tribulation,” the period of time in which we are living.  God’s people are living on the earth, and yet we are not harmed by the Day of Judgment, and “the second death” has no power over us.  In a sense, it is as though God has cast the unsaved world, the kingdom of Satan, into the lake of fire, spiritually.  And finally on the very last day of the Day of Judgment, He will literally burn them up.  That is the language of the Bible in 2Peter 3 where it says, “…and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”  The unsaved will be annihilated, and the lake of fire will have consumed them in the end.

But now, in a sense, God has cast all the wicked into the lake of fire to experience His wrath, spiritually, and to experience “the second death,” because there is no more life available for them.  The judgment has been pronounced, and the door of heaven has been eternally shut, never to be opened, thereby sealing their fate and guaranteeing the second death for all the unsaved people that inhabit the earth.

But here are the Lord’s people, as it were, “in the fire,” and the fire is trying the people of God that are living at this particular point in history.  It is definitely not an easy time.  It is a grievous thing for the child of God who had been given the Great Commission of going forth with the Gospel so that others might be saved, and we delighted so greatly in that task leading up to the days when salvation ended on May 21, 2011.  And now we are alive, and all the unsaved are also alive in a conscious sense.  They still have physical life.  But God’s people are alive in spirit.  We have experienced the first resurrection, and therefore “the second death” has no power over us.  This fire will not harm us.  It will not destroy us.  We will not be burned up.  We will come through the fire, tried as “gold and silver,” and we will be brought forth by the Refiner, God Himself, into the glorious eternal kingdom of God.  Nonetheless, here we are as we wait patiently upon the Lord in the Day of Judgment.