“Never See Death”
“Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death”
John 8:51
The death here referred to is not the first physical death, which comes to the righteous and wicked alike. Jesus here is speaking of the second death that is mentioned in the book of Revelation. “He, who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death” (Revelation 2:11).
The second death will ultimately annihilate the wicked. “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years… Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:6, 14, 15).
The opposite of the second death is eternal life. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Eternal life is granted to the believer at the moment he accepts his Lord. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death” (1 John 3:14).
By nature all people are citizens of the land of death (Ephesians 2:1–3), but the believer, as a result of Christ’s gift, has passed into the kingdom of eternal life (1 John 5:11, 12). “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 3:14).
This gift of eternal life, the over-comer never loses. The first death and the state of unconsciousness between death and the resurrection do not deprive him of this gift. His life continues to be “hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3) to be translated into immortality on the resurrection morning.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
