Many teach that matter possesses vital power. They hold that certain properties are imparted to matter, and it is then left to act through its own inherent power; and that the operations of nature are carried on in harmony with fixed laws, that God himself cannot interfere with. This is false science, and is sustained by nothing in the word of God. Nature is not self-acting; she is the servant of her Creator. God does not annul his laws nor work contrary to them; but he is continually using them as his instruments. Nature testifies of an intelligence, a presence, an active agency, that works in, and through, and above her laws. There is in nature the continual working of the Father and the Son. Said Christ, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." {ST, March 20, 1884 par. 5}

The depths of the earth are the Lord's arsenal, whence were drawn weapons to be employed in the destruction of the old world. Waters gushing from the earth united with the waters from heaven to accomplish the work of desolation. Since the Flood, fire as well as water has been God's agent to destroy very wicked cities. These judgments are sent that those who lightly regard God's law and trample upon His authority may be led to tremble before His power and to confess His just sovereignty. As men have beheld burning mountains pouring forth fire and flames and torrents of melted ore, drying up rivers, overwhelming populous cities, and everywhere spreading ruin and desolation, the stoutest heart has been filled with terror and infidels and blasphemers have been constrained to acknowledge the infinite power of God. {PP 109.1}

Those majestic trees which God had caused to grow upon the earth, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the old world, and which they had used to form into idols, and to corrupt themselves with, God has reserved in the earth, in the shape of coal and oil to use as agencies in their final destruction. As he called forth the waters in the earth at the time of the flood, as weapons from his arsenal to accomplish the destruction of the antediluvian race, so at the end of the one thousand years he will call forth the fires in the earth as his weapons which he has reserved for the final destruction, not only of successive generations since the flood, but the antediluvian race who perished by the flood. {3SG 87.1}

APL, do you believe Jesus exercises His wrath by removing His protection and allowing people to reap the consequences of natural law? If so, doesn't that mean nature is self-acting?


Does nature unleash its pent up power when Jesus withdraws His protection? Or, does Jesus employ the power of nature to accomplish His work? Is nature self-acting? Or, does it depend on Jesus to act?

Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some, in order to further his own designs; and he will bring trouble upon others and lead men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them. {CH 460.2}

While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast. "The earth mourneth and fadeth away," "The haughty people . . . do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." Isaiah 24:4-5. {CH 461.1}

To answer the question that serves as title of this thread: No, Jesus didn't die the second death. He tasted, consumed, and conquered it. He paid our sin debt of death. He died for our sins. Satan, the Scapegoat, will die the second death in the lake of fire. He will die with our sins.

M: APL, do you believe Jesus exercises His wrath by removing His protection and allowing people to reap the consequences of natural law? If so, doesn't that mean nature is self-acting? . . . Does nature unleash its pent up power when Jesus withdraws His protection? Or, does Jesus employ the power of nature to accomplish His work? Is nature self-acting? Or, does it depend on Jesus to act?

A: Who is bringing the fires, famine, floods, pests? Are we to blame God for all of this?

M: To answer the question that serves as title of this thread: No, Jesus didn't die the second death. He tasted, consumed, and conquered it. He paid our sin debt of death. He died for our sins. Satan, the Scapegoat, will die the second death in the lake of fire. He will die with our sins.

What death did Jesus die then? The first death.

Good question. Not sure. Jesus will transfer the sins of the saved to Satan and he will suffer and die with them in the lake of fire.

“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [Romans 6:23.] While life is the inheritance of the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked. Moses declared to Israel, “I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.” [Deuteronomy 30:15.] The death referred to in these scriptures is not that pronounced upon Adam, for all mankind suffer the penalty of his transgression. It is the “second death” that is placed in contrast with everlasting life. {GC88 544.1}