REASON #22
The wicked die twice and from the second death there is no further resurrection.
Rev 2:10-11b, 20:5-6, 13-14; 21:7-8; Jude 12-13:
Revelation 2:10 ‘Fear none of those things which you shall suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried; and you shall have tribulation ten days: be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life. 11 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches; He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death.’
Revelation 20:5 ‘But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.’
Verse 13 ‘And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.’
Revelation 21:7 ‘He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whore mongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.’
Jude 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
This sounds much more like annihilation than eternal conscious torment. When my wife died on the operating table and they brought her back, I later asked her what she saw. Did she see the proverbial white light?
Did she smell smoke? No. She said she blacked out and there was nothing. No sounds. No consciousness. No smells or light. Nothing. That is what death is. It is total unconsciousness.
She was unconscious, and when she awoke, it was just like a good nights’ sleep and waking up in the morning. This is nothing to dread. In fact, I can say with certainty that I could use a good nights’ sleep.
In the resurrection, I will awaken just as I normally do each morning God gives me. If I have done well in life by his standards, I will awaken with a new glorified body, ready to go to work for him, doing whatever he wants done throughout time and space. If not, I will face the Judgment seat of Christ.
If I am condemned, then I will die the second death in the lake of fire and stay dead for all time to come, unconscious, gone and forgotten. This is the second death. I do not want to go there. No one should want that!