Second Death part 4
The second death--the death of death--is not a bad thing. It is a good thing. A great thing. Because out of that second death comes the resurrection. Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love! To live is to love and to love is to live. You can't have one without the other and you can't do one without the other. Look at Revelation 20:6 (NLT), "Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years." How could death hold any power over those who share in the resurrection? It's about overcoming. Knowing the truth and letting it make you free and set you free. "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. Whoever is victorious will not be harmed by the second death" (Revelation 2:11 NLT). Overcoming. Being victorious. More than conquerors through Him that loves us and gave Himself for us. Now add this to that: "Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne" (Revelation 3:21 NLT). Not only does the second death not harm us... not only does it read to the resurrection and walking in newness of life... but it leads to sitting on the throne. With God. In a posture of rest. Being still and knowing that HE is God. Letting Jesus live His own life in us, and through us, and as us as we receive and release His love. Everything in this life works through the receiving and releasing of God's love. Letting Him love us and loving Him back by loving people. Ruling and reigning in and through love. Filling ourselves up with what God has already filled us with. Identifying with and experiencing the second death as it occurred 2,000 years ago on an old rugged cross. His death was our death. Our death is not in our future, it's in our past. And if this human body needs to change in order for us to get to the next step in the journey... that's not a bad thing either. It's a good thing. One more memory verse for today: ""But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!" (1 Corinthians 15:51 NLT). And, just real quick, it always rankles me a little bit when people say things like, "Death and taxes! The only absolutes in life!" Or, "everybody dies." Because, even physically, not everybody died. Elijah, for example. And Enoch. Sounds like having a name that starts with "E" is pretty good. But seriously, even religious folk spend a lot of time and effort talking about eternal life. But have somehow made that into the "afterlife." If life never ends, why are we talking about "after"? If something is eternal, it has no beginning or no end. Like Melchizedek, who, according to Hebrews 7:3, was, "Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually." Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. The end of the old and the beginning of the new. And it all comes down to His Six Steps to the Throne--Crucified, Died, Buried, Quickened, Raised, Seated. The finished work of the cross is how and why we can experience the abudant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love that is the gift of God! You have to go through the second death to get there, but you don't have to be afraid of it, because you don't have to be hurt by it. Jesus' death was your death. It already happened, and you don't have to worry about it. Now you can sit on the throne with God and walk in newness of life by letting Jesus live in you, and through you, and as you!