second death' we mean 'the final condemnation of all the wicked dead that

have ever lived', then the assurance given to the overcomer is gratuitous:

'Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first (the former)

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' (Rev. 20:6).

If condemnation in its wider sense were in view, the believer who may

not be an 'overcomer' knows already that he will not come into condemnation

but is passed from death unto life (John 5:24; Rom. 8:33,34,38,39).  What

congruity is there in the statement of Revelation 2:10,11 interpreted by

traditional methods:

'Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life',

said the Saviour to the church of Smyrna, and then added words to the

Overcomer only saying, 'He that overcometh shall Not Be Hurt of the

Second Death' (Rev. 2:10,11).

Would it be a fair comment to say the believer who

is faithful unto death, will receive a crown, but the overcomer just escapes

hell and damnation by the skin of his teeth?  That would be monstrous.  In

what conceivable way could the second death, as ordinarily construed,

threaten those who were already priests of God and of Christ?  The integrity

of the Word is at stake, so let us with chastened hearts seek afresh the

meaning and intention of these Scriptures.

The apostle Paul suffered death over and over again before the day of

his departure arrived, as he has written:

'We had the sentence of death in ourselves'.

'To the one we are a savour of death unto death'.

'For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake'.

'In deaths oft'.  'I die daily'.

'If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what

advantageth it me, if the dead rise not'.

Immediately following the revelation that the follower of Christ must

take up his cross, the Saviour said:

'There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they

see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.  And after six days ...  (He)

was transfigured before them' (Matt. 16:28; 17:1,2).

Peter speaking of this vision says that 'the power and coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ' was confirmed to him 'when we were with Him in the holy

mount' (2 Pet. 1:16 -18).  It will be difficult to represent the idea

involved in these two phases or experiences of death, the one experimental

and voluntary, the other inflicted and associated with loss of crown and

reign; but we will attempt it.

A usage of the word deuteros 'second' in Jude 5 may help us here.  'The

Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed

them that believed not'.  Here the word 'afterward' is the word deuteros

'second', and this is illuminating.  The believer, who like Paul, or like the