Mankind was not created to die. There is no such thing as a "natural" death.
Death is the result of sin.
Adam and Eve were told -- you eat of the forbidden fruit and you shall surely die.
That is the first death. All have sinned and the wages of sin is death.

Had Jesus not come to earth, become a human, and died in mankind's place, the first death would have been the final death.

Genesis 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.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Cor. 15:21 For since by man [Adam] came death, by man [Jesus] also came the resurrection of the dead.
15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

The only reason there will be resurrections for anyone, is because Jesus died in our place, and thus we can be forgiven. Those who accept that gift and make Jesus their Lord and Savior, will not die the second death.
Those who reject that gift, though they will be raised, for Jesus died for all, but they will not have eternal life, because they rejected the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. They will die the second final death.

No there is no "third" death. There is the death from which a person will be raised (and yes, some have died that death more than once) it is termed "a sleep" that is the first death. The second death is FINAL, there is no return.

The people Jesus raised from the dead while on earth -- Lazarus, Jairus daughter, the widow of Nain's son -- they all died again, they experienced the first death twice. But it is not final. They are sleeping.
If they accepted Christ and His gift of salvation they will awake in the first resurrection.
Christ's sacrifice made the first death a sleep, it's not the end, and yes the Bible shows a person can die the first death more than once, and be raised again.

But the second death is FINAL.

There is no such word as "first death" in the Bible. We must carefully investigate what might be referred to as the first death since the second one is mentioned.

Should we say that Lazarus, Jairus daughter and the widow of Nain's son, experienced a resurrection from their first death? When they died again, did they share the second death, then? The second death is what Jesus experienced on the cross for sinners. Therefore, I do not determine the first death as my portion to drink. Similarly, all saints who died in human history should not be considered as the first death.

Revelation defines what the second death is. Those who will be thrown into the lake of fire after a thousand years of reviewing the judgment of God by the redeemed saints, then the punishment of the second death occurs.

The Bible never describes saints who died in the Lord died, but a sleep. Repented sinners experienced a second death with Christ on the cross when a conversion happens. Gal. 3:13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."
Gal. 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Biblically, the new life I now live has no threat of death from either the first or second death.
Jesus did not experience a first death, and saints shall not share it either.

The first death is reserved for the most wicked at the second coming of Jesus. Revelation says that the beast and the false prophet will be captured alive and thrown into the lake of fire until they burnt up. They will not be captured alive and be reserved somewhere until the final lake of fire happens after the millennium. The following passage clarifies that the lake of fire also exists at the second coming, for those who remain remnant will be slain at the same time. So, the wicked who parted in the first death will be resurrected again at the third coming of Jesus to be thrown into the lake of fire to experience the second death.

Rev. 19:20-21 "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."

The first death is mentioned hundreds of times in the bible. Unless you don't believe people all die in this world. Death is the result of sin. If it weren't for Christ's death upon the cross there would be no resurrection from that first death. The only reason there is even a "second death" possible is because Christ made it possible for people to be resurrected from that first death which is the lot of us all.

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once G530 to die, but after this the judgment:

That is the way it is ever since Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit. Billions have died the first death and if it weren't for Christ's sacrifice that would be the end of it.



It was Christ death upon the cross that made sleep symbolic of death. When people die, they rot away into dust or ashes, they are no more. I'm sure you've experienced the death of loved ones. Death is real and often painful and slow !!!!
The cross made resurrection of the dead possible.
Death was turned into a sleep because (even before the cross Christ pledged Himself to be slain should mankind fall).
The symbol of death being a sleep does not make death any less real. It simply means there will be a resurrection.
How many times can you go to sleep and wake up again? Since it is not final, it can happen more than once. That's what the symbolic representative of sleep means. The dead aren't really sleeping, they are rotting away, gone, really DEAD. BUT it's compared to sleep because of Christ's sacrifice, they will rise again!

So, yes, Lazarus, Jairus daughter and the widow of Nain's son all experienced DEATH. The first death every human, (unless Christ comes in their lifetime) experiences.
And yes, they were resurrected from that death, but only given back only their earthly life for a time. When they died again, they fell back into the sleep death, and like all the billions now in their graves, they are awaiting the resurrection.




The sad truth is that unless the second coming happens before; you will just as surely as everyone else, experience the first death. It's a sad reality in this old sinful world. Christ came to save us from the second (final) death, not the first death.

In what way did Jesus experience the second death?

Jesus did NOT have another Being's sacrifice to forgive Him and give Him grace, if during His life time on earth, He had sinned.
He was not entering the symbolic "sleep" death of the first death. He had nothing to cover Him had He sinned. Thus if He had even one sin against Him He would have perished.
The wages of sin is death. There was no gift of grace available for Him had He sinned.

When He died with the sins of the world upon Him He suffered complete separation from God.
"My God My God why have you forsaken Me". He experienced the agony the sinner will experience when they are completely shut out from God and suffering eternal extinction.

If Christ had even ONE sin against Him personally, He would not have been raised again, because there was no sacrifice to save Him.
BUT CHRIST HAD NO SIN. Satan could not hold Him, because Christ HAD NO SIN.

Thus His death, is the victory over the death of extinction, and all will be resurrected.
Christ turned the first death into a sleep. We can have the gift of grace and forgiveness for our sins, through Him. We can be redeemed and have eternal life through Him. And only those Who reject Him need suffer the second death.

All people throughout earth's history are subject to and suffer the first death.
Praise God, Jesus has turned that death into a "sleep" from which we will awake at His calling. Some to everlasting life, but others who clung to their sins will suffer the death of extinction (the second death)

Revelation 20 speaks of the Great White Throne judgment before which all who ever lived stand. The righteous are with Christ in the Holy City. The wicked have formed a vast army and seek to conquer God's City. But they see Christ enthroned in all His glory. They see what they lost. They see what God did to save them, but they rejected that salvation. They realize their own folly and have no excuse. But they don't repent, even though they suffer mental anguish.
The lake of fire (the second death) is a cleansing fire, that wipes all sin, pollution, etc. away forever.
And then God makes all things new --






Mixing spiritual applications to destroy the reality of things is never a good way to interpret scripture.

Yes, Christ took our sins to the cross and died.
When we accept Christ we are to die (not physically but figuratively) to sin. That is, we are to consider our desires for sin dead. Why continue in that which Christ died to remove from us. Consider the sinful life dead, and walk in newness of life with Christ. We do not die physically.

The first and second death are PHYSICAL death -- they are death of our physical reality.

We do not die the 2nd death at conversion. We are to die to our sinful desires and sinful ambitions, and live with and for Christ. A spiritual conversion. A New birth. Death and Birth here is understood in a symbolic way and we should not make it literal like Necodemus who asks "Can a grown man reenter the womb"

Christ's second coming is not to instigate a punishing first death. The first death is the lot of all sinful humanity. No one since Adam has escaped it.

The only way the first death occurs at the second coming is that those unsaved who are alive at the second coming will die then. No one is left on earth living. But it is still the sleep first death, for they will be resurrected after the 1000 years.

I explained that all in a previous post.






I guess you live in a different world from the one I live in. Cause in my world people die, they suffer from things like cancer or get mutilated in car accidents and die the first death, and they are not physically asleep, they grow cold and stiff and rot away. They are DEAD, and that death is very real. But God says, don't mourn like others, cause it's like a sleep for He will raise then up again.

As for the beast and the false prophet -- they are whole systems. And they all, along with those who died due to the brightness of Christ's second coming will face the WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT of Rev. 20, at the end of the 1000 years.

Maybe you missed the point where Revelation 20 tells us the beast and false prophet are in the lake of fire where Satan will also be thrown.

20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Do you believe the lake of fire does burn forever as in never going out, for here 1000 years later the beast and false prophet are in the lake of fire.
or do you believe God will burn them to death twice?

No -- there is only ONE lake of fire that is the destiny of all sin when God completely and fully cleanses the earth of every trace of sin after the 1000 years. It's not some vengeful thing, it is an act of physically cleansing everything from sin once God's intense desire to save them has been made manifest, and their rejection of His grace is fully obvious.

Those that pierced Him will realize they pierced the One Who desperately wanted to save them.
Those who rejected His calls of mercy and life, will realize just what wonderous love they rejected.
And those standing on the walls of the New Jerusalem will NOT be rejoicing, they will be weeping as out there will individuals they loved, who are lost.

Ellen White writes of the first death in the following quote:

Satan is at war with Christ, the divine Restorer. His agents are leagued against the Saviour's work of elevating and ennobling man. The first death in our world was caused by the working out of Satan's principles; and ever since that time Christ and His followers have been the object of his malignant hate.
Mrs. E. G. White. {ST, March 21, 1900 par. 15}

Satan is at war with Christ, the divine Restorer. His agents are leagued against the Saviour's work of elevating and ennobling man. The first death in our world was caused through the working out of Satan's principles; and ever since that time, Christ and His followers and Satan and his followers have been two distinct parties. Satan is ever seeking to imbue men with his own spirit and attributes, and those whose hearts are not subdued by the grace of Christ will be guided by the same spirit that decoyed the angels from the heavenly courts. Those who break the law of Jehovah and try to compel their fellowmen to obey man-made laws are in the service of Satan. {ST, March 28, 1900 par. 2}

Hatred caused the first death in our world. After sin came, God gave to men the promise of the Redeemer, who was to die for the redemption of the race, and thus obtain pardon for them. Man was to show his faith in this promise by offering as a sacrifice a lamb without blemish. Thus he was to show his belief in the great truth that without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin. {ST, December 25, 1901 par. 2}

She wrote about a "first death" also in the above quote.

If there hadn't been a "first death" as a consequence of sin, there couldn't have been a "second death."

The fact that the Bible speaks about a "second death" there obviously existed a "first death."

II see a contradicting concept when we consider those who Jesus resurrected, Lazarus, Jairus daughter, and the widow's son of Nain, who were saved from the first death. Then, when they die again, it must be labeled as the second death. We must also label that they experienced the first resurrection.

Rev. 20:6 says, "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."


Lazarus, Jairus' daughter and the widow's son of Nain, experienced a resurrection when Jesus gave them life again. We do not regard their resurrection as the first resurrection, as Rev. 20:6 speaks. We know they were asleep and came back to life again when Jesus resurrected them. To be faithful to Scripture, I believe a saint's death is but a sleep, never a first death.


2 Pet. 3:10 says, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

If the elements melt with fervent heat at the second coming, nothing will remain after the substances are burnt up; things will burn until all are consumed. At the second coming of Jesus, the beast and false prophets would be thrown into the lake of fire, and the fire would burn them until every element was consumed, not forever. The lake of fire shall not exist forever but until total consumption. That's why "day and night" is always coupled with the phrase "for ever and ever," indicating the limited end.

Rev. 20:10 "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented for ever and ever."

Rev. 14:11 "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

The context of Ch. 19 is the Second Coming of Jesus. The beast and the false prophets will be caught alive, and it clearly says they will be thrown alive into the lake of fire. And the remnants of wicked shall be consumed by the sword from the mouth of Jesus. If they were to return to the lake of fire at the third coming of Jesus, they must be resurrected after a thousand years.

Rev. 19:20-21 "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."

So, the beast and the false prophets, and the wicked remnants will experience the first death at the second coming of Jesus. They are not caught alive to be preserved but thrown into the lake of fire at the second coming.

They will be resurrected again after the millennium to receive the punishment of the second death.

I praise God that I won't die the first and second death by any means. I have eternal life in me now that Jesus promised to give all who believe in Him. No death reigns in me. I may sleep in the Lord if Jesus does not come during my lifetime in this world. But I am confident I should not experience the first death because Jesus gave me eternal life.

You are free to believe what you will, but it is not adventist interpretation it is your own.



You are limiting things to basic mathematics here, not to the principle of the meaning.

Death is not counted by mathematical reasoning.
The first death is a death from which, because of Christ's sacrifice and resurrection, they will be resurrected, given physical life again.
The second death is the death of extinction. Mainly because sin will not allow a resurrection for those with sin who are not covered by the Divine sacrifice.

I have a relative who was in a bad car accident. He was declared DEAD several times, even has an official paper saying he died, all his vital signs gone, but somehow his body started up again. He is alive, though with some serious handicaps. By medical standards he died several times.
Thus he experience basically what the widow of Nain's Son, and Jairus' daughter experienced. When the time comes for him to die again (the death that comes to all humans sooner or later) it will again be the first death. Every time it was the first death, the death from which people, by God's power can awake.

You see -- DEATH is humanities biggest enemy. It's not just a sleep naturally. It would not be a sleep in any sense of the word if Christ had not stepped in to gain the victory over the grave with His own death and resurrection .
The first death deprives us of life. It takes away our loved ones. It's a horrible thing. The older one gets the more they realize how horrible it is as friends and loved ones are torn away from them.
And if Christ had not conquered the grave, with His death and resurrection, that death which all suffer here on earth would be final, with no hope or chance of life in any shape or form ever again.

If it were not for the fact that Christ died to save us, that first death, which you deny is death, would have been the final death. But praise God, Christ opens the grave, and we will live again!!! He has turned it into a death from which we can awake when He calls. That's why God calls it "a sleep", because He will awaken them.

Rev. 20:6 says, "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."

They were awakened from the first death and will not suffer the second death.





The first death IS the sleep death from which all will rise again ONLY because Christ won the victory over the grave, and made resurrection possible.
But here again, you limit things to basic mathematics not to the principle meaning of the words.

The "first resurrection" of Revelation, is the resurrection in which the corruptible puts on incorruption and mortal puts on immortality.
1 Cor. 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality.
15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
15:55 O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory?
15:56 The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin [is] the law.
15:57 But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. No, Lazarus, Jairus daughter, and son of the widow, nor my relative, did not experience that resurrection. The were simply restored back to their earthly life, only to face the first death, sleep death again to await the first resurrection.




You can have the promise that you will never experience the second death.
Christ's death upon the cross covers you when you accept Him as Lord and Savior, so you can rest in the promise that He will raise you in the first resurrection should you experience the first death before He comes, it would be only like a short sleep.

John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
6:54 (Jesus said) Whoso eateth my flesh, (finds their nourishment in Christ) and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Praise the Lord He has conquered the grave so He can raise us up from the first death into eternal life. Our eternal life is now in that we claim the promise, but not yet, in that we wait for His coming.

The people who die at the second coming, die the same death that everyone died over the last six thousand years. They all died the first death which the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ has turned into a "sleep" -- meaning they will experience a resurrection.

But instead of receiving immortal bodies at their resurrection which Christ died to give them; they will come up in the second resurrection and face judgment and the second death, because they rejected God's amazing grace and lived in rebellion against God, there is no more sacrifice to cover them, Hebrews 10:26-27.



The second death is extinction.

And for most of these lost people it does follow the mathematical reasoning.
They died the first death (the sleep death) and after the 1000 year they are resurrected, and they die again, the second death (the death of extinction)

But the first death the "sleep death" has occasionally (not often) happened more than once, for people have occasionally been awakened from the first death and die (fall asleep) back into that same death again, before the great first resurrection, or sad second resurrection.