Second Death part 2
The second death is the death... of death. And after death died, Resurrection Life could come forth. Let me say it another way: "Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right. All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin vs grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life--a life that goes on and on and on, world without end" (Romans 5:19-21 MSG). Adam ate from the wrong tree--the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the tree of death--and on that day he surely died. Got us into all that trouble with sin and death. We were dead men walking. And in order to get us out of that death, we needed a second death. The death OF death! So that we might experience life, and that more abundantly. So that we might walk in newness of life. So that we might experience the aggressive forgiveness (what an awesome explanation of grace that is!) of God. Whatever trouble we got ourselves into... God got us out of. He snatched us out of death by drawing us into Himself. And filled us with Himself. His light. His love. His life. So that we can experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us! He has invited us into a life that goes on and on, world without end. Which, one more time, really begs the question of why we are so caught up in the idea of an "afterlife." If life doesn't end, how can there be an "after"? I agree that things change. Things always have and always will. But eternal means eternal, doesn't it? Life without end. Because death is done away with. The last enemy defeated was death. And it was defeated 2,000 years ago when Jesus died, was buried, and rose again! So don't have to mess around with it, or worry about it, or be afraid of it. We can live without fear. We can walk, and live, by faith... in love! Perfect love casts out all fear. Because living and loving are the same thing. You can't have one without the other or do one without the other. To live is to love and to love is to live. So when we're talking about a second death--one that we will see does not hurt believers--we are talking about the doorway to eternal life. Once you reckon that death is dead... you can live forever. Once you reckon yourself dead to sin you can live unto God! Sin is unbelief. Believing anything other than the ultimate truth of the universe that says, "God is love and He loevs you." God is life and He lives in you. God is light and He shines in you. All we have to do in order to answer Jesus' invitation into His life... is receive it and release it. God made the Way of Grace. We respond with the Walk of Faith. Letting what's inside--the light, the life, the love of God--come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. Understanding that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Then Jesus died. And His death was our death. The dead died, and were brought into an entirely new life. Jesus' life! Now we live in Him because He lives in us! Now we can experience His life of love by letting Him love us and loving Him back by loving each other! That's what life is. That's how life is truly lived. That's what's available to us. And that's not just what we can do... that's who we are!