The difference between the two deaths

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Some perpetual questions ....

Is there really an immortal soul?

Do you know the difference between the "love" that is of Christianity
and the "love" that is of the world? Click here to find out!
 

Click on the link for a good book on the character of our God which you can download for free and share amongst your friends.   It's called "Light through Darkness" and is one of the best books on this subject that I have ever read! 

(when you get to the site just click "cancel" and it will let you in.  Then click "order" to obtain a copy. )

In the meantime, try this site.    And here's one where you can read it online.

Some of the comments on this page are adapted from books in my library.  No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly.

Query:

Revelation 2:11:

He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches; he that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death.  

 

Revelation 20:14-15:

And death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire.  This is the second death.  And whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.   

What’s the difference between the two deaths, and which one did Christ die?

Answer:

 The fact that there are two deaths is well established in the Bible by the use of the word “second”.  Jesus told us that the first one is really a “sleep”, a loss of consciousness from which we can be awakened.  This was illustrated three times for us during the lifetime of Christ on earth – first with a young girl (Matthew 9:23-25), then with a widow’s son (Luke 7:12-16), and last of all with a friend who had been dead for four days.  Because their deaths were used as special illustrations for us, they eventually died the first death again!

***************(Begin Quote)

John 11:

1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (It was that Mary which anointed the LORD with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 3 Therefore his sisters sent to Him, saying, “LORD, behold, he whom You love is sick”. 4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not to [the second] death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” . . .    

11 These things said He: and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep”. 12 Then said His disciples, “LORD, if he sleep, he shall do well”. 13 Howbeit Jesus spoke of his death: but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 14 Then said Jesus to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead”. 15 “And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent you may believe; nevertheless let us go to him . . .

21 [When they got there] Then said Martha to Jesus, “LORD, if You had been here, my brother had not died. 22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever You will ask of God, God will give it You”.

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother shall rise again”. 24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day”. 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live . . .”   

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.  And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

42 And I knew that You hear Me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that You have sent Me”.

43 And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth”.  44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin.  Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go”.

***************(End Quote)  

Such deaths as the one Lazarus suffered are caused by accidents, sicknesses, old age, and murders – things which are out of our control.  But the second death is not like that: it will be permanent because it is chosen deliberately and God must respect this decision.

These sad words confirm this:

“For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved [from the second death].  He that believes on Him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name [the character] of the only begotten Son of God [don’t misunderstand this]. 

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness [the darkness of death] rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For every one that does evil hates the light [of life], neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  But he that does truth comes to the light [comes willingly to the judgment], that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought [performed] in [the power of] God”.  John 3:17-21.

While life is the inheritance of the acceptors of God’s grace, death is the portion of the rejecters of it.  Moses declared to Israel, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live: that you may love the LORD your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave to Him: for He is your life . . .”  Deuteronomy 30:19-20.

The death referred to in these scriptures is not that pronounced upon Adam, for nearly all mankind suffer the penalty of his transgression.  It is the “second death” that is placed in contrast with everlasting life.  A few, yes, only a few, of the vast number who have peopled the earth will be saved unto life eternal, while the masses who have not perfected their characters in obeying the truth will choose the second death.  That’s why it is written, “For the wages of sin is [the second] death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD”. Romans 6:23.

For example: Jesus cried, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kills the prophets, and stones them which are sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not [let Me]! Behold, your house is left to you desolate. For I say to you, You shall not see Me henceforth, till you shall say, ‘Blessed is He that comes in the name of the LORD’.”   Matthew 23:37-39.  But then it will be too late!

Open to the eye of Jesus was the history of nearly two thousand years of God's special guardian care granted to the representative people.  There was Mount Moriah, where the son of promise, an unresisting victim, had been bound on the altar – emblem of the offering of the Son of God.  (Genesis 22:9.)  There the covenant of blessing, the glorious Messianic promise, had been confirmed to the father of the faithful. (Verses 16-18.)  There the flames of the sacrifice ascending to heaven from the threshing floor of Ornan had turned aside the sword of the destroying angel (1 Chronicles 21) – fitting symbol of the Saviour's sacrifice and mediation for guilty men. 

Jerusalem had been blessed of God above all the earth.  The LORD had “chosen Zion,” He had “desired it for His habitation.” Psalm 132:13.  There, for ages, holy prophets had uttered their messages of warning.  There priests had waved their censers, and the cloud of incense, with the prayers of the worshippers, had ascended before God.  There daily the bodies of slain lambs had been offered, pointing to the Lamb of God’s dedication.  (Exodus 29:38-39.)  There He had revealed His presence in the cloud of glory above the Mercy Seat.  (Exodus 25:21-22.)  There rested the base of that mystic ladder connecting earth with heaven (Genesis 28:12; John 1:51) – that ladder upon which angels of God descended and ascended, and which opened to the world the way into the holiest of all.  Had Israel as a nation preserved her allegiance to the living God, Jerusalem would have stood forever, the elect of God.  (Jeremiah 17:21-25.) 

But the history of that blessed people was a record of backsliding and rebellion.  They had resisted God's grace, abused their privileges, and slighted their opportunities.  Although Israel had “mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets” (2 Chronicles 36:16), He had still manifested Himself to them, as “the LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6).  Notwithstanding repeated rejections, His mercy had continued its pleadings.

Now however, from the crest of Olivet, Jesus looked upon Jerusalem.  Fair and peaceful was the scene spread out before Him.  It was the season of the Passover, and from all lands the children of Jacob had gathered there to celebrate the great national festival.  In the midst of gardens and vineyards, and green slopes studded with pilgrims' tents, rose the terraced hills, the stately palaces, and massive bulwarks of Israel's capital.  The daughter of Zion seemed in her pride to say, “I sit a queen and shall see no sorrow”; as lovely then, and deeming herself as secure in God's favour, as when, ages before, the royal minstrel sang: “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion . . . the city of the great King.” Psalm 48:2.  In full view were the magnificent buildings of the temple.  The rays of the setting sun lit up the snowy whiteness of its marble walls and gleamed from golden gate and tower and pinnacle.  “The perfection of beauty” it stood, the pride of the Jewish nation. 

What child of Israel could gaze upon the scene without a thrill of joy and admiration!  But other thoughts occupied the mind of Jesus.  “When He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it.” Luke 19:41.  Amid the universal rejoicing of the triumphal entry, while palm branches waved, while glad hosannas awoke the echoes of the hills, and thousands of voices declared Him king, the world's Redeemer was overwhelmed with a sudden and mysterious sorrow.  He, the Son of God, the Promised One of Israel, whose power had conquered death and called its captives from the grave, was in tears, not of ordinary grief, but of intense, irrepressible agony.  

His tears were not for Himself, though He well knew where His feet were tending.  Before Him lay Gethsemane, the scene of His approaching agony.  The sheepgate also was in sight, through which for centuries the victims for sacrifice had been led, and which was to open for Him when He should be “brought as a lamb to the slaughter.” Isaiah 53:7.  Not far distant was Calvary, the place of crucifixion.  Upon the path which Christ was soon to tread must fall the horror of great darkness as He should make His body an offering for sin. “Wherefore when He comes into the world, He says, ‘Sacrifice and offering You would not, but a body have You prepared Me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices [of animals] for sin You have had no pleasure [no result]’.  Then said I, ‘Lo, I come (in the volume of the book [the Old Testament] it is written of Me,) to do Your will, O God’.  Above [before] when He said, ‘Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin You would not, neither had pleasure [or result] therein’; which are offered by the law; then said He, ‘Lo, I come to do Your will, O God”.  [This means] He takes away the first [the animal sacrifices], that He may establish the second [His sacrifice].  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”.  Hebrews 10:5-10.

“Forasmuch then as the children [of God] are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same [flesh and blood]; that through [His] death He might destroy [in the minds of His people] him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”.   Hebrews 2:14-15.

Yet it was not the contemplation of these scenes that cast the shadow upon Him in this hour of gladness.  No foreboding of His own superhuman anguish clouded that unselfish spirit. 

He wept for the doomed thousands of Jerusalem - because of the blindness and impenitence of those whom He came to bless and to save.   He wept because its destruction was a forerunner of the end of the world.  He wept because they were “dead in trespasses and sins”, spiritually “dead” while walking on the earth.  Ephesians 2:1.  They were alive only because of the universal gift of mercy which He had bestowed upon mankind in the Garden of Eden in order to give them time to choose. 

The Majesty of heaven in tears!  The Son of the infinite God troubled in spirit, bowed down with anguish!  The sight filled all the inhabitants of heaven with wonder.  That scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows how hard a task it is, even for infinite power, to save the guilty from the consequences of transgressing the law of God.  Jesus, looking down to the last generation, saw the world involved in a deception similar to that which caused the destruction of Jerusalem.  The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of the physical Christ the Son of God; the great sin of the world will be their rejection of the law of God, the picture of His character. 

The precepts of God will be despised and set at naught.  Millions in bondage to sin, slaves of Satan, doomed to suffer the second death, will refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visitation, and instead will accept the power of death wielded by the enemy.  Terrible blindness!  Strange infatuation! 

Hard though it is to believe, God says that those who reject Him reject also the second life which He offers them!  “But he that sins against [rejects] Me, wrongs [hurts] his own soul: all they that hate Me love death”.  Proverbs 8:36.  This is so, because although many will not acknowledge it, all life comes from God and to reject Him is to reject that life.  The life we live now, for both the righteous and the wicked, is a temporary life, given so that we can make up our minds.  That done, we will inherit that which we have chosen, a second life by being “born again” or a second death by dying again.  The first death seals our choice.

We can begin the new life here today and continue it after the resurrection from the first death, or we can turn it down and be resurrected to the second death at the second resurrection – the choice is ours – during this lifetime.  There is not another opportunity after the first death.  For more on this try:

http://ancient-sda.com/ancient/resurrect.html#.

But some may say that because many die very young, as babies or children, before they have had time to choose, that this is not fair.  Or that multitudes have died without knowledge of the truth.  As far as the second notion is concerned, it is written, “That [the Son of God] was the true Light, which lights EVERY man [and woman] that comes into the world”.  John 1:9.  This means that EVERYONE has had sufficient understanding to be able to choose no matter where or when they lived.

In reply to the first argument, God has told us that after the resurrection of such rebels, He will give them time to grow up and confirm their choice.  Notice that He will NOT BE ABLE TO give them another opportunity to repent because He does not make mistakes and any one who comes up in that resurrection, no matter at what age they died, will not change their choice.  (He is ALWAYS anxious that we should choose life, so the opportunity is still there, but in the same manner, the rebels will ALWAYS choose rebellion even at that time and in those circumstances.)  Try this URL:

http://ancient-sda.com/ancient/isaiah_65.html

He tells us; “He that overcomes [himself] shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars [those who have chosen to retain these attributes as their way of life], shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”.   Revelation 21:7-8.  While the earth is wrapped in the fire of destruction, the righteous will abide safely in the Holy City.  Upon those that had part in the first resurrection, the second death has no power.  (Revelation 20:6.)  While God is to the wicked a consuming fire, He is to His people both a sun and a shield.

Now to the second part of the question: which death did Jesus die?

The short answer to this is both!!  Let me explain:

Speaking of Calvary it is written, “For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him”.   2 Corinthians 5:21.

Jesus told Nicodemus, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life”.   John 3:14-15.

But is also written, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [Satan], whose names are NOT written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”.  Revelation 13:8.

“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall ALL be made alive”.  1 Corinthians 15:19-22.

It is said that Christ died the second death – our second death – but He only remained in the tomb till the third day!  It is said that He died from the beginning of the world.  It is said again that He died for ALL men, but rejecters die their own second death.  How can we reconcile these differences?

Christ arose from the dead as “the first fruits of those that slept [the first death]”.  He was the antitype of the wave sheaf, and His resurrection took place on the very day when the wave sheaf was to be presented before the LORD.  For more than a thousand years this symbolic ceremony had been performed.  From the harvest fields the first heads of ripened grain were gathered, and when the people went up to Jerusalem to the Passover, one sheaf of first fruits was waved as a “Thank You”   offering before the LORD.  Not until this was presented could the sickle be put to the grain, and it be gathered into other sheaves.  The sheaf dedicated to God represented the entire harvest.  So Christ the first fruits represented the great spiritual harvest to be gathered for the kingdom of God.  His resurrection is the type and pledge of the resurrection of ALL the dead in two separate resurrections, two different harvests.  The first is described in Revelation 14:14-16 and the second in verses 17-20, a thousand years apart.

In the law it is written; “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even [about 3pm] is the LORD's passover.  And on the fifteenth day of the same month is [begins] the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD: seven days you must eat unleavened bread.  In THE FIRST DAY [of the seven day period] you shall have a holy convocation [a sabbath rest day]: you shall do no servile [ordinary] work therein.  But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD [on each of the] seven days.  In THE SEVENTH DAY [of the period] is a[nother] holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein.   And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When you be come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the [first] sabbath the priest shall wave it’.”  Leviticus 23:5-11.

Today, as Christians we are told, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump [of dough], as you are [now] unleavened.  For even CHRIST OUR PASSOVER IS SACRIFICED FOR US.  Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old [physical] leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”.  1 Corinthians 5:7-8.  Today we should keep the Feast in a spiritual way by recognising its place in the plan of redemption.

So there was a day in the middle of the first month (at full moon, which could be any day of the week) on which the “pass over” lamb was killed and eaten in the homes of the people.  There was no confession of sins over it, only an expression of the need for help, an acknowledgement that we are all born spiritually separated from real Life, slaves in a spiritual Egypt, separated from the God of life.  Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”.  John 10:10.

That day was a working day and the lamb represented the Son of God in His salvation work, for its blood was first sprinkled on the doorway of the house signifying His protection (the “pass over” from destruction).  Then a portion of the animal was eaten by everyone in the “blood-protected” house, to become an element of each circumcised individual in the house as a picture of the exchange of their mortal lives for His eternal one. 

For more on this thought go to:

http://ancient-sda.com/everlasting_gospel/lamb_temple.html#.

http://ancient-sda.com/everlasting_gospel/gospel_personal.html

Then, after that, we have a period from the 15^th day of the first month to the 21^st day (it commenced on the next day after the “pass over”).  That first day, the 15^th (it could be any day of the week also) was to be kept as a seventh day Sabbath would have been kept.  It was ceremonial day to teach a great lesson.  The day following it, the 16^th, required a special ritual before the harvest could begin.  Only one sheaf of the harvest was gathered, although of course, the whole field was ready.  This sheaf was brought into the temple and waved up in the air for all to see as the “firstfruits” of the new year’s crop.  In fulfilment of this acted prophecy, Christ died on “pass over” day, rested on the next, and arose as the “firstfruits” on the third day. “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures”.  1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

So, not only was this death at Calvary a symbol of the second deaths of the righteous, it was also a symbol of the second deaths of sinners, for He died as a picture of His ability to bear the whole world’s sin!  When talking to Nicodemus He told him, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw ALL men to Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die”.  John 12:32-33.

As we think of how Christ came to our world to die for fallen man, we understand something of the price that was paid for our redemption, and we realize that there is no true goodness or greatness apart from God.  Only by the light shining from the cross of Calvary can we know to what depths of sin and degradation the human race has fallen through sin.  Only by the length of the chain let down from heaven to draw us up can we know the depths to which we had sunk.  Only by gazing at the cross can we realise what the “great gulf”, the “horror of great darkness”, looks like.  Luke 16:6; Genesis 15:12.  It was this that caused the sweat on our Saviour’s brow to look like blood in Gethsemane.  Luke 22:44.

Death entered the world because of Adam’s transgression.  But the Son of God gave of His life in the Garden that humanity should have another trial.  He did not die to abolish the law of God, but to secure for us a second probation through the new birth.  He did not die to make sin an immortal attribute; He “died” to show that He had the right to destroy the power of him “that had the power of death, that is, the devil”.  Hebrews 2:14.

If Christ died to save us from the result of sin, then He must of necessity have died the Christian’s second death, for that is where we were heading until we accepted the new life.  At conversion He makes an exchange with us, His life for ours.  He can do this because He is God.

Then if He died the SECOND death He must have died permanently, right? 

But He came out of the grave on the third day!!  How can that be?

Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God?  No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person - the man Christ Jesus.  In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.  When Christ was crucified, IT WAS HIS HUMAN NATURE THAT DIED.  Deity did not sink and die; that would have been impossible.  Christ, the sinless One, will save every son and daughter of Adam who accepts the salvation proffered them, consenting to become the children of God, for the Saviour has purchased the right to ALL the fallen race with His own death.  

This is a great mystery, a mystery that will not be fully, completely understood in all its greatness until the translation of the redeemed shall take place.  But that need not stop us asking and expecting God to tell us as much as we can understand!

As mentioned before, although He died our SECOND death, He did not stay in the grave as the other partakers of the second death will do.  How come?

The clue is in the words above:  it was His HUMAN nature that died at Calvary, for God is eternal and immortal and cannot die as we do.  It is said of Him, “. . . which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and LORD of lords; WHO ONLY HAS IMMORTALITY, dwelling in the light which no man can approach to; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting.  Amen”.  1Timothy 6:15-16.

So, is the SECOND death scenario at Calvary wrong?  No, for the humanity of Christ was changed, in that as a Man He came forth from the first death, glorified. 

But what about the PERMANENT part of the second death?  Here’s where we need to look carefully at what He does when we are “born again”.  He makes a swap with us, in that He gives us a “portion” of His divinity for the whole of our sinfulness, that which is called “the OLD man”.  “Know you not, that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into His death?  Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into “death”: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  

For if we have been planted [buried] together [with Him] in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: knowing this, that our “old man” is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.  For he that is “dead” is freed from [the power of] sin [the second death]”.  Romans 6:3-7.  So we can see that to be “born again” we must first have “died”! 

It’s a spiritual experience – but also a literal one!  No one can see it happen, but all can see the results of it.  When asked about this, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say to you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’.  The wind [like the Holy Spirit] blows where it lists, and you hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell where it comes [from], and where it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”.  John 3:5-8.

Again:  where is the permanent aspect?

In the divine part of Him!  It was as the Son of Man (a human) that He died at Calvary – it was as the Son of God (a divine Person) that He died at the foundation of the world.  That’s why it is written, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [Satan], whose names are NOT written in the Book of Life of the Lamb SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD”. Revelation 13:8.

Because salvation is a personal experience, and each one must come to the Son of God and accept it, it has been available since the first sin was committed.  In the Garden of Eden both Adam and Eve asked for it and had their fig leaves removed and replaced with lamb skins as a picture of it!  Little by little, as others followed in their footsteps, the divinity of Christ has been transferred to humans and the load He has been carrying for them increased.  In view of this, there were no sins confessed over the head of the pass over lamb, because there are no ACTIONS OF SIN confessed at the moment of conversion.  What is required is an acknowledgement that the whole life is corrupt and needs to be changed. 

For more on this, see

http://ancient-sda.com/ancient/confession_of_sin.html

In the sanctuary service all the CONFESSIONS of sins (with their penalties) are eventually transferred into the second room by a bullock’s blood, and from there disposed of onto the head of the scapegoat on THE Day of Atonement, via the high priest’s actions and the blood of the LORD’s goat.  (Leviticus 16:1-34.)  At that point they were forever separated from the high priest, who represents the Son of God.  Want more?

http://ancient-sda.com/ancient/day_of_atonement.html

But what about the SIN CONDITION which He took at the pass over?  That was never associated with the sanctuary in any form, so it is never cleansed from there.  It is THIS “death” which remains in the Son of God for eternity – this is His “second” death, a “death” which only God can handle. 

There is “a great gulf” fixed between Him and His Father for the rest of eternity!

That is the real price paid for the salvation of sinners.

He who had never been separated from His Father (or His Father from Him) decided to CHOOSE to endure the “second” death FOREVER in order to save some of Their children. 

This was illustrated one day in the Old Testament when a prophet was told to go to a house “And speak to him [Josiah, the leader of Israel at the time], saying, Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the Man whose name is The BRANCH [they were looking at a crowned high priest, verse 11]; and He shall grow up out of His place [out of heaven], and He shall build the temple of the LORD [the redeemed]: even He shall build the temple of the LORD [1 Corinthians 3:16]; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between Them both”.  Zechariah 6:12-13.

At the fall of Adam Christ had pleaded before the Father in the sinner’s behalf, while the host of heaven awaited the result with an intensity of interest that words cannot express.  Long continued was that mysterious communing — “the counsel of peace” for the fallen human race.  (Long in heavenly time, a split second for Adam), for the plan of salvation had been laid before the creation of the earth.  Christ is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”  Yet when the time came it was a struggle, even with the King of the universe, to yield up His Son to die for the guilty race.  Oh, the mystery of redemption!  The love of God for creatures who did not love Him!  Who can know the depths of that love that “passes knowledge”?  Ephesians 3:19.

You should finish up with this site:

http://ancient-sda.com/ancient/why_die.html

Conclusion:

Our Saviour has experienced both the first and the second death.

It was as the Son of man that He died the first death at Calvary.  That lasted for six hours.  This was illustrate to our slow minds what was (and is) actually happening to Him as the Son of God and what will happen to those who experience the first death, for even the rejecters will be resurrected from that.

It is as the Son of God that He “dies” for those who accept His gift by giving them a portion of His life when they become converted with “a new heart”.  This has lasted already for some six thousand years.  Thus all Christians, from the righteous Abel to the last sinner who accepts salvation, are saved from the second death in the same way, but He must bear that for them for eternity. 

Who wants to add (or subtract!) from these thoughts? I won't argue as I have stated, but I will publish your Scriptures so that we may review all the words of God on the subject.

Next query. To be discussed from August 1st 2010,

Next query:

Hebrews 10:4

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.   

Hebrews 9:13-14

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh [is OK for an earthly picture]: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, [really] purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

These verses indicate that bulls and goats, and even ashes, were used as symbols of cleansing from sin in the earthly sanctuary services, so why do all the modern gospel teachers constantly refer to a lamb as the symbol of it? 

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