One of the most peaceful sights that a person can see is the peace of a sleeping baby. They have few worries in the world. Peace is what the world is seeking. Internal peace is a gift from God. External peace is something that may be often difficult to find on this earth. Some people live in such external misery, whether from external persecution, poverty or a physically debilitating illness that they long for death as a sweet release from their tormented life.
A person was once asked if he was afraid of death. His response was that, no, indeed he had no fear of death; the only fear he had was what resurrection he would come up in.
SLEEP
Death . . . cessation of all life. . . . To some it is a sweet release . . . to some it is a time of torment. What makes the difference? Death—is it really death? Jesus described the first death as sleep. Throughout the Bible, the first death is explained to be a restful sleep for everyone. “These things said He: and after that He saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said His disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” John 11:11–14. “Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.” Psalm 13:3. “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.” Acts 13:36
TWO CLASSES OF PEOPLE
Some who have been ill and suffered for many years look at death as a sweet release from their suffering and sorrow; a time for them to finally lay down and rest. Christians who have been persecuted for their faith and have died a martyr’s death lay down their lives with peace on their face. The struggles of life were over and they could rest peacefully.
Others who fear death when they are ill do all in their power to prevent death. They spend a lot of time and money in searching for ways to prolong their life, even for one more day. They want to delay death as long as possible as they fear death.
This does not mean that the righteous, when ill, should not seek earnestly for healing. They should—it is their duty to do so, but death does not carry torment and fear. While seeking for healing, using God’s methods, they rest in peace, trusting that the will of God will be done in their lives. They do all in their power for healing and leave the rest to God.
“Here, then, are two classes: one seeking for the pleasures of this mortal life, the other for the enduring joys of immortality; one class are far from Christ, and satisfied with their condition, the other are seeking for the forgiveness of sins and for the Spirit of God; one class are battling against God and His truth, the other are warring against the lusts of the flesh, the spirit of the world, and Satan. One class are dreading the appearing of Christ, the Son of man, feeling that to them it is an overwhelming calamity; the other are looking for the coming of Christ the second time, without sin unto salvation. The one class will be rejected from the presence of God, and finally suffer the pangs of the second death; the other will have everlasting life at the right hand of God, where are pleasures for evermore.” –Signs of the Times, November 10, 1887. The second death is not a sweet release.
“‘The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ [Romans 6:23]. While life is the inheritance of the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked. The penalty threatened is not merely temporal death, for all must suffer this. It is the second death, the opposite of everlasting life. God cannot save the sinner in his sins; but He declares that the wicked, having suffered the punishment of their guilt, shall be as though they had not been. Says an inspired writer, ‘Thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.’ [Psalm 37:10.] In consequence of Adam’s sin, death passed upon all mankind. All alike go down into the grave. But through the provisions of the plan of salvation, all are to be brought forth from their graves.” –The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, p. 364 (emphasis mine)
“‘There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust;’ ‘for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:22. But a distinction is made between the two classes that are brought forth. All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.’ John 5:28, 29. They who have been ‘accounted worthy’ of the resurrection of life are ‘blessed and holy.’ ‘On such the second death hath no power.’ Revelation 20:6. But those who have not, through repentance and faith, secured pardon, must receive the penalty of transgression—‘the wages of sin.’ They suffer punishment varying in duration and intensity, according to their works,’ but finally ending in the second death.” –The Great Controversy, p. 544
The first death came upon all mankind because of Adam’s sin, but Christ turned that death into a sleep, both for the righteous and unrighteous. Some have fallen asleep in hope of the resurrection of life, and others will wake to the resurrection of the second death.
FIRST DEATH—PEACEFUL FOR RIGHTEOUS
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:55. There is no “sting” in the first death for the righteous. It is a sweet release—a rest—from all their toils and troubles on this earth. They will be woken up to receive their promised reward in heaven.
If your life is hid with Christ in God, then the first death holds no fear. You can read of the experiences of many men and women of God in the Bible who peacefully fell asleep in death. The first death for every single person is only a sleep. A resurrection for all will follow. Some will be raised to the resurrection of life, and others to the resurrection of death.
For the righteous, when life ceases, “The pangs of death were the last things they felt. . . . When they awake the pain is all gone. . . . The gates of the city of God swing back upon their hinges. . . . and the ransomed of God walk in through the cherubims and seraphims. Christ bids them welcome and puts upon them His benediction. ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant: . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.’ Matthew 25:21.” –The Faith I Live By, p. 181
What are the pangs of death? Is it torment? Fear? Anxiety? Perhaps for the wicked, but Jesus came to remove the despair of the first death.
“The power of death was held by the devil; but Jesus had removed its stinging despair, by meeting the enemy upon his own territory and there conquering him. Henceforth death would be robbed of its terror for the Christian, since Christ Himself had felt its pangs, and risen from the grave to sit at the right hand of the Father in heaven, having all power in heaven and on earth. The conflict between Christ and Satan was determined when the Lord arose from the dead, shaking the prison-house of His enemy to its foundations, and robbing him of his spoils by bringing up a company of the sleeping dead, as a fresh trophy of the victory achieved by the second Adam. This resurrection was a sample, and an assurance, of the final resurrection of the righteous dead at Christ’s second coming.” –The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, p.239
The righteous who have died for their faith, yielded to torture and death, rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake. Jesus had removed the stinging despair of the first death. There is no torment or fear for the righteous with the first death.
Upon those that had part in the first resurrection, the second death has no power. While God is to the wicked a consuming fire, He is to His people both a sun and a shield. (Revelation 20:6; Psalm 84:11). “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.” Revelation 2:11. “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.” Revelation 20:6. “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Revelation 20:14
SECOND DEATH—TORMENT
“The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.” 1 Corinthians 15:56. Death would be peaceful if it were not for sin. Sin is what causes the sting in death; it causes it to be torment. Sin will result in a person being raised in the second resurrection—the resurrection of death.
The final death, the second death is the one we need to be more concerned about avoiding. In the verse, “For the wages of sin is death,” (Romans 6:23) which death is it referring to? Undoubtedly, it refers to the second death.
“Then those who have not secured the pardon of their sins must receive the penalty of transgression. They suffer punishment varying in duration and intensity according to their works, but finally ending in the second death. Covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion.” –The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, p. 364
“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.” Revelation 21:8
“Millions in bondage to sin, slaves of Satan, doomed to suffer the second death, would refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visitation. Terrible blindness! Strange infatuation!” –The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, p. 22
Not only will the terribly wicked people end up experiencing the second death, but also, “The fearful and unbelieving, who are punished with the second death, are of that class who are ashamed of Christ in this world. They are afraid to do right and follow Christ, lest they should meet with pecuniary loss. They neglect their duty, to avoid reproach and trials, and to escape dangers. Those who dare not do right because they will thus expose themselves to trials, persecution, loss, and suffering are cowards, and, with idolaters, liars, and all sinners, they are ripening for the second death.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 631
Also, those that violate the Sabbath commandment will be in this class. “The Sabbath was made for the benefit of man; and to knowingly transgress the holy commandment forbidding labor upon the seventh day is a crime in the sight of heaven which was of such magnitude under the Mosaic Law as to require the death of the offender. But this was not all that the offender was to suffer, for God would not take a transgressor of His law to heaven. He must suffer the second death, which is the full and final penalty for the transgressor of the law of God.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 533
“The word of God plainly tells us that few will be saved, and that the greater number of those, even, who are called will prove themselves unworthy of everlasting life. They will have no part in heaven, but will have their portion with Satan, and experience the second death.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 293
JESUS—OUR SUBSTITUTE FOR OUR SECOND DEATH
Jesus offered to be our substitute. . . (in place of). . . so He died this death in our place—not the first death, because we still die the first death, but it is the second death that He redeemed us from. Christ died our second death for us so we do not need to die the second death that we deserve. “Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours (the second death), that we might receive the life which was His. ‘With His stripes we are healed.’” –The Desire of Ages, p. 25
“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. Is this the first death?
In John 3:16 we read, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God so loved fallen mankind and so sent His Son—why? That we might not perish. Perish is contrasted with eternal life. Perish means to perish—as in the second death. As we read earlier, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23. While life is the inheritance of the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked. The penalty threatened is not merely temporal death, for all must suffer this. It is the second death, the opposite of everlasting life.” –The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, p. 364 (emphasis mine)
The repentant sinners do not have to suffer the second death since Jesus took their place—took their penalty—and suffered it for them. “Jesus has borne the sins of the whole world, He suffered as man’s substitute and surety. He has Himself bridged the gulf that sin has made, that separated man from God, and earth from heaven. With His own divine hand He plucked the brand from the burning, that man might not die the second death.” –Review and Herald, June 20, 1893. Jesus died this second death for us so that we do not need to experience it.
“A merciful Saviour appointed the temporal cities of refuge, that the innocent might not suffer with the guilty. The same pitying Saviour has by the shedding of His own blood wrought out for the transgressors of God’s law a sure Refuge, into which they may flee for safety from the pangs of the second death. And no power can take out of His hands the souls who flee to Him for pardon.” –Signs of the Times, January 20, 1881
“In order to determine how important are the interests involved in the conversion of a soul from error to truth, we must appreciate the value of immortality; we must realize how terrible are the pains of the second death; we must comprehend the honor and glory awaiting the ransomed, and understand what it is to live in the presence of Him who died that He might elevate and ennoble man, and give to the overcomer a royal diadem.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 620
LET’S GO TO CALVARY
In order to have a sense of the pains of the second death, let us go to Calvary. “As man’s substitute and surety, the iniquity of men was laid upon Christ; He was counted a transgressor that He might redeem them from the curse of the law. The guilt of every descendant of Adam of every age was pressing upon His heart; and the wrath of God, and the terrible manifestation of His displeasure because of iniquity, filled the soul of his Son with consternation. The withdrawal of the divine countenance from the Saviour, in this hour of supreme anguish, pierced His heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by man. Every pang endured by the Son of God upon the cross, the blood drops that flowed from His head, His hands, and feet, the convulsions of agony which racked His frame, and the unutterable anguish that filled His soul at the hiding of His Father’s face from Him, speak to man, saying, It is for love of thee that the Son of God consents to have these heinous crimes laid upon Him; for thee He spoils the domain of death, and opens the gates of Paradise and immortal life. He who stilled the angry waves by His word, and walked the foam-capped billows, who made devils tremble, and disease flee from His touch, who raised the dead to life and opened the eyes of the blind, –offers Himself upon the cross as the last sacrifice for man. He, the sin-bearer, endures judicial punishment for iniquity, and becomes sin itself for man.” –The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, p. 162–163
“Satan, with his fierce temptations, wrung the heart of Jesus. Sin, so hateful to His sight, was heaped upon Him till He groaned beneath its weight. No wonder that His humanity trembled in that fearful hour. Angels witnessed with amazement the despairing agony of the Son of God, so much greater than His physical pain that the latter was hardly felt by Him. The hosts of Heaven veiled their faces from the fearful sight.” –The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, p. 163
“Inanimate nature expressed a sympathy with its insulted and dying Author. The sun refused to look upon the awful scene. Its full, bright rays were illuminating the earth at midday, when suddenly it seemed to be blotted out. Complete darkness enveloped the cross, and all the vicinity about, like a funeral pall. There was no eclipse or other natural cause for this darkness, which was deep as midnight without moon or stars. The dense blackness was an emblem of the soul-agony and horror that encompassed the Son of God. He had felt it in the garden of Gethsemane, when from His pores were forced drops of blood, and where He would have died had not an angel been sent from the courts of heaven to invigorate the divine sufferer, that He might tread His blood-stained path to Calvary.” –The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, p. 163
“The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father’s acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father’s wrath upon Him as man’s substitute, that made the cup He drank so bitter, and broke the heart of the Son of God.” –The Desire of Ages, p. 753. Was this the pain of the first or the second death?
How can you continue to sin when you read this? This was the price Jesus paid for you so you do not need to die the second death.
CONCLUSION
The question was then asked: “Why have you not washed your robes of character and made them white in the blood of the Lamb? God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that through Him it might be saved. My love for you has been more self-denying than a mother’s love. It was that I might blot out your dark record of iniquity, and put the cup of salvation to your lips, that I suffered the death of the cross, bearing the weight and curse of your guilt. The pangs of death, and the horrors of the darkness of the tomb, I endured, that I might conquer him who had the power of death, unbar the prison house, and open for you the gates of life. I submitted to shame and agony because I loved you with an infinite love, and would bring back My wayward, wandering sheep to the paradise of God, to the tree of life.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 387
If we are sleeping, and are found obedient children to the commandments of God, we shall have part in the first resurrection, with those upon whom the second death shall have no power.
Although we die the first death, we can truly rest in peace if we have yielded our lives to Christ and lived according to His will. We will then be spared the second death, by the sacrifice of our merciful High Priest. What a wonderful God we serve. AMEN
Wendy Eaton