John 8:48-59 – Bible Study & Exploration
What is the Second Death?
(Verse 48) The Pharisee’s attempted to disparage Jesus by calling Him a Samaritan. To understand why they called Him a Samaritan, we can look back at Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.
The Jews looked down upon the Samaritans. They were considered the lowest form of human life among the people of Israel. So in essence, they were calling Jesus a heretic. To add insult to injury they labeled Jesus as demon-possessed.
(Verses 49-59) Jesus tries to teach them that those who believe in Him and follow Him will not experience death.
“Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” (John 8:51)
The Pharisee’s understood Jesus teaching as physical death at the end of our life in this world. This is not what Jesus was referring to. In fact, Jesus was teaching them of a much different death. He was pointing to a very important death. This was the eternal death better known as the second death.
The apostle John describes the second death toward the end of the book of Revelation.
“Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:7-8)
How Can There Be a Second Death?
This is a great question. We just looked at this when we explored John 5. Remember what Jesus taught on this subject?
““Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” (John 5:28-29)
Many people don’t understand this or they don’t know of this fact. Every human that was ever born once will also be resurrected once. Those who think they can escape their sins of this world by what they believe to be the finality of their physical life are going to be gravely surprised.
The first death for unbelievers only means the end of their ability to come to Christ in belief and to trust in Him as their Lord and Savior. The will happen as Jesus describes in this passage that unbelievers will have to stand before a just Judge and accept their sentence for their rejection of God’s grace through Christ.
This is why it’s better to be born twice and die once, then to be born once and die twice. The second birth is to believe in Christ and to be born again in the Spirit. This removes your sin and the power of the second death over you.
There is only one group of people who will avoid the first physical death and the resurrection. These are the people that will be raptured. Because of their belief in Christ and being still alive on earth at the dawn of the tribulation, they will be “caught up” (raptured) to be with their Lord Jesus. This is in accordance with His promise in Revelation 3:10 and all that the prophets had to say about the rapture in the Old Testament.
The Second Death is Not the First Death
The second death is not to be confused with the first death. Paul explains what the first death experience will be for the believers in Christ in his letter to the Philippians.
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)
In this verse, Paul explains that Christ is the only path to eternal life. For the Christian, the first physical death is gain because it opens the door to salvation and the inheritance promised to those who believe and trust in Christ.
However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him— (1 Corinthians 2:9)