Revelation 20:4-6 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them… I. WHAT THE SECOND DEATH IS. A second supposes a first; and that which universally we have the clearest notion of is, that death which funerals and the mourners who go about the streets convince us of. For — 1. Death, in the natural signification of the word, is a separation of the soul from the body. Plants die, and beasts and birds and fishes and insects die; and so man dies (Hebrews 9:27). And this is the first death, which all men, both good and bad, are subject to; and from which none can plead exemption, except preserved from it by the miraculous power of God; as were Enoch and Elias. 2. The second death no creature is capable of but man, no inferior creature; devils and apostate spirits are, but none below the dignity of man; for this death is the wages of sin, and contempt of mercy and the grace of God. This second death is punishment. It is true the first is so too; but by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus that punishment is softened, or rather turned into a mercy, exchanged for eternal life; but from this second death there is no possibility of any release after it is once inflicted. And that we may rightly understand the nature of it, the Holy Ghost in the chapter before us specifies what it is, for so we read (ver. 14), "And death and hell"; i.e., wicked men who had been dead, and the devil and his angels," were cast into the lake of fire." "This is the second death." And again, Revelation 21:8. II. WHY IT IS CALLED DEATH, AND THE SECOND DEATH. 1. The common death of mankind is a separation of the soul from the body; and there being in hell a signal separation, either of the soul, or of soul and body after the resurrection, from the love of God's complacency and the society of saints, and from all joy and comfort, the true life of the soul, it is upon that account that this future torment is called death. 2. The unhappy sufferer in the lake of fire is always dying, and yet never dies; the anguish he lies under puts him into such agonies that one would think he is expiring every moment, and yet he lives (Mark 9:44). 3. The sufferer in this lake wishes to die, and yet doth not die. The intolerable torment forces him into vehement desires after something that may put a period to his anguish. Common death frees men from the troubles and diseases of the body, and puts an end to the pain we feel here. 4. It is called the second death, i.e., a death different from the common and natural. In this sense the word "second" is used sometimes (as Daniel 7:5). And, indeed, it is a death of another nature, attended with other circumstances and with other consequences. It is, if I may say so, a death and no death; a death joined with sense, that breaks the man, but doth not destroy him; destroys his well-being, but not his being; his felicity, but not his substance. III. WHO THE HAPPY PERSONS ARE ON WHOM THIS SECOND DEATH HATH NO POWER, AND WHY THEY FALL NOT UNDER THAT DOMINION. 1. In this very verse, whereof the text is part, the persons to whom this privilege belongs are said to be "priests of God and of Christ," which qualification is in other places ascribed to all the living members of Christ's Church (Revelation 1:6). 2. As by the second death is meant hell and the lake of fire, so (ver. 15) it is said, "And whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire," From whence it will naturally follow, that such as are written in the book of life are not subject to that power, and over such the second death hath no power. Now, it is certain that all Christians who are Israelites indeed, they are written in the book of life. 3. We read (Revelation 2:11), "He that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." And who knows not that self-conquest and overcoming evil with good is the proper task and employment of all sincere Christians? And how should this death have any power over them? As they live to the Lord so they die to and in the Lord Jesus, and "blessed are the dead," etc. (Revelation 14:13). The Lord that bought them secures them against that formidable power. The Lord that died for them, and hath abolished death, and triumphed over it, hath delivered them from that power. He is a wall of defence to them so that the power of this death cannot reach them. In a word, they are under another Prince, and therefore not subject to that power.Inferences: 1. There being such a death, even the second death, surely it deserves to be feared and dreaded. It is true there is none desires or cares to feel it, and so far all men may be said to fear it. But to fear, is to use the proper means to escape the danger. It is with fearing as it is with believing: he that takes no care to secure himself and his goods doth not believe there is a consuming fire in his house, and he that doth not arm himself against an approaching inundation doth not fear it. 2. It must needs be a very great privilege to be delivered from the power of the second death; a greater mercy than to be delivered from the deluge of Noah, from the conflagration of Sodom, from David's bear and lion, and from the most painful diseases; a mercy to be prized above being set with princes, even with the princes of God's people; a mercy which none can prize but true believers, and the more they believe it, the more they will prize it; a mercy that will be prized another day at a very great rate, even by the sufferers in the burning lake, when it is too late. (A. Horneck, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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