Does the second death have power over you
there a second death, one may ask, how many deaths do we know about? Remember we are going by the Bible standards. In Adam all are dead. In Gen. 2:16-17, The Lord God commanded the man, saying, o f every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. This commandment was given to Adam before Eve was created for him. Adam abided and obeyed the commandment of the Lord and there was peace. Later, which we do not know how long; The Lord God created Eve out of Adam, and they dwelt in the Garden of Eden.
God made everything good that He had created. But a voice different from the voice of The Lord, Adam and Eve was heard in the garden. In Gen. 3:1 the strange and new voice said, unto the woman, yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? May be the serpent over heard Adam informing Eve of the instructions the Lord gave to Adam, about the trees in the garden. This subtle serpent knew how to confuse and tamper with peoples mind. Eve in Gen. 3:2-4 tells the serpent what God told Adam. In verse 3, Eve expanded on the commandment beyond the original instruction. She said, ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die. First, Eve had no business telling the serpent anything the Lord told Adam and her. Secondly, Eve said, neither shall ye touch it; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which is in the midst of the garden.
Just like today, The Lord has given us several commandments and instructions; but the same serpent in the Garden of Eden comes to tell us otherwise and we find ourselves at one time or the other compromising with the serpent, like Eve. It is important to know the boundaries between the commandment of the Lord and the diabolical schemes of the serpent. In Gen. 3:5 the serpent makes his deadly move when he said to the woman, ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. The serpent and Eve meddled, with the fruit of the tree and Eve gave to Adam. This fruit is a fruit that made the eater to feel pleasant This fruit that made them realize that they were naked was an indication that the fruit may be sexual or the fruit no longer exists but we are not told that. The consequence of this encounter still hovers around mankind today.
This fruit made them know that they were naked and made aprons with fig leaves to cover themselves. Many preachers claim it was an apple fruit, others, some kind of fruit that they are not sure of. What kind of fruit can make an innocent person suddenly realize that they were naked? Were they hypnotized or suddenly died according to God’s word. The Lord called on Adam on a visit to the garden. In Gen. 3:10, “I heard thy voice in the garden and was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself”, answered Adam. Because they had eaten of the tree The Lord God commanded them not to eat. Satan had manipulated Adam and Eve to disobey God. But God meant business when He said, In Gen. 2:17, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Adam and Eve ate of the tree in disobedience and they died. This was the first death. This was a spiritual death, separation from God. Adam and all mankind lost that closeness with God who walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. God had to find a solution to the fall and death of man because God’s word and judgment cannot be taken for granted. Man was driven out of the Garden of Eden. Lost their closeness with God, fellowship was broken, hardship and enmity started, the plan of God with man was derailed; by man listening to Satan, thereby disobeying God. Satan started to dominate man.
Adam and Eve were spiritually dead, but physically alive and tilling the cursed ground because they listened to and compromised with the serpent. Cain and Abel were born each with a revealing character and personality; that makes you wonder if these young men were really of Adam. In Gen. 4:8 Cain rose up against Abel, his brother and slew him. This was the first human physical death. Abel in his offering to God knew what was acceptable to God. The firstling of his flock was what Abel offered to God. He shed blood of the flock which is like the blood of Jesus for sin. This was really by revelation. Also remember the Lord God made coats of skin, and clothed them. The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. Abel was calm, may be like Adam. Cain offered to God of the fruit of the ground, there was no shedding of blood for sin, so he had no revelation for what is accepted to God. God had no respect to Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry and in Gen. 4:6-7, the Lord said unto him, why art thou angry? If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. After Cain killed Abel the Lord confronted him and asked him saying, where is Abel, thy brother? Cain replied the Lord saying I know not: am I my brother’s keeper? Cain had not walked with God in the cool of the day, had no previous closeness with God and God was invisible at this time except by voice. Imagine God in heaven and Cain on earth, answering God roughly. Surely he was not acting like Adam but talked like the serpent, who said to Eve ye shall not surely die, Gen. 3:4. This sounded like the serpent’s seed. So we see how the first, spiritual death occurred; by the subtlety of the serpent, and the first physical death by the influence of the serpent on his seed Cain, against Abel.
According to Ezek. 18:20, “the soul that sinneth it shall die.” In Adam all have sinned and all have died. But thanks to God for Our Lord Jesus Christ who came into the world to die for man, as a lamb, He shed his blood for our redemption. Jesus Christ came into the world to reconcile mankind to God, because of the death in the Garden of Eden by the sin of Adam and the fall of the human race. John 3:16-18 states, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” And “I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were yet shall he live,“ ” (John11:25).
God made reconciliation affordable to all of humanity by sending the seed of the woman in Gen. 3:15 and the seed of promise to Abraham, in whom the gentiles will trust; this is Christ Jesus the Lord. God came in the likeness of man in a veil called Jesus Christ and walked in the streets of Israel. Satan master minded his death: But did not know that his death would result in life, for all who henceforth believe in Jesus Christ. These are those who confess their sins to God; repent and converted, have their sins forgiven and invite Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their life. Then you are born again. Get baptized by immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ only; in obedience to the Bible and ask God for the gift of the Holy Spirit. When you sincerely accept the Lord, you receive eternal life and you work and walk in him. Your spiritual death through Adam is turned to spiritual life through accepting Jesus Christ amen.
All who reject the finished work of Jesus Christ, on the cross of Calvary, where he died to give us eternal life, face damnation. He died for all and abolished death and has the key of hell and death, Rev. 1:18. Christians and unbelievers still experience physical death since Cain killed Abel and God limited man’s physical days on earth after sin entered into man’s records. Part of eternal life is connected to resurrection from the dead and translation. Jesus Christ died and rose again to be the first fruit the dead. The bible has it that when Jesus Christ rose from the dead some dead believers rose also and ministered to people in Jerusalem, (Matt. 27:52-53).
“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints that slept were raised, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” This is the power and evidence of God working out his divine plans. Soon the rapture/translation will occur and the dead in Christ and those believers who hold unto the Lord will meet him in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Then the two witnesses of revelation 11 will be caught up to God; after a show down during the great tribulation with the anti- Christ. Also the tribulation saints will rise to reign with the Lord for 1000years in Jerusalem, (Rev. 20). This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first 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.”
Shortly after the millennium the devil is cast into the lake of fire. The great white throne appeared; and one sat on it in power, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away. The dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and the book of life was also opened, and judgment was rendered. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, (Rev. 20:14). If you are in Jesus Christ as a believer you will take part in the first resurrection and the second death has no power over you, amen.
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