A number of people asked me this week about the second death mentioned in Revelation 11:2.
The verse states:
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”
The verse is included in the Christian Science Bible lesson for this past week on the subject of Spirit.
I’ve always interpreted the second death as the recurrent death that happens to mortals who have not yet discovered Life in Spirit after having passed from earth. And logic implies that there may be a third death, a fourth death, and so on, until the belief of life in matter is totally conquered.
Heaven is not a place people die into, I’ve always believed. It’s a state of Mind we grow into through increased spiritual understanding, whether the growth is accomplished here or hereafter.
From what I know, Jesus Christ did not teach that we die into heaven. His example taught the opposite, that death is to be conquered in order to discover heaven. That’s why he went through the crucifixion and then came back with the resurrection, to prove that death is not real.
Life is real and eternal. And he said, “Follow me.” In other words, Follow me in my demonstration of Life, and conquer death so you can discover heaven too.”
A lesson gained from death is the truth that there is no death. Mortals go through the experience only to learn they never died. And then existence goes on. As Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science wrote,
“As death findeth mortal man, so shall he be after death, until probation and growth shall effect the needed change.”
We all have to conquer sin, disease and death through Christ. First sin and disease must be proven unreal, then death will disappear.
The “second death” is not anything to fear or worry about, but the mention of it by the Revelator John, who saw beyond the veil of matter to all things to come and all things that had passed, is proof that we need to be working out the problem of being now. We do not die and then get magically popped into paradise. There is spiritual work to be done first.
Heaven is a state of Mind discernible here and now. We find it in Life, in Spirit, where there is no death, no matter, and no end of anything good.
I take heart in knowing that in Spirit, there is no first death or second death. There is no death at all, only eternal Life.
We can live Life now. We don’t have to wait. And then we see that the so-called “second death,” is not even a remote or far off possibility, for in Life there is no death. Only on-going good.
I don’t know what source this slightly different definition of the second death came from (other than that it would have come from something or someone in Christian Science), but I have been taught that the second death is what the world calls death. The first death is what the world calls birth into a mortal state of consciousness.
Both birth and death are nothing more than misperceptions about eternal life in Spirit, or God — the only life there is, the life we are now living. Both are non-events, with all their baggage of sin and dis-ease, grief and disappointment. But dispelling this almost-unversally-accepted falsity takes a lot of prayer, spiritual reasoning, mental digestion, and assimilation.
The eternal truth of being is that which is stated in the Scientific Statement of Being, found on p. 468 of Science and Health. Like Einstein’s “e=mc2,” the proving of this scientific statement will give (S)cientists plenty of employment for a long time to come!
It really doen’t make a lot of theological difference as to what the inspired writer known as John had in mind when he used this term “the second death”. There is only one “plane of existence,” and that one is the eternal oneness of Life. “Love alone is Life,/And life most sweet,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy (Hymn 30) What a relief to accept this sweetness as the only life!
Death will occur in our experience — our consciousness — until we learn that death is nothing but a mistake about Life, God, good. The sooner we learn it the better, but learn it we must. As you said, Evan, we cannot die into heaven. Death loses its fearful fascination when it is dissected with divine Science, and then we know it has no more reality than a talking snake!
Hi Carol,
I like your ideas, especially about the belief of mortal existence to begin with being the “first death.” It would imply the “death” of eternal life. But of course, as you point out, that is impossible. Christ came to prove otherwise, that life is eternal in Spirit.
Thanks for sharing!
The day I read this blog, one of the History channels aired a show on “near death” experiences and normally I would keep turning the channel. What caught my attention was a Dr. talking about how “our consciousness goes right on after death”. Wow! A pretty radical statement I thought coming from the medical community. He went on to say more abut this but most of it was summed up quite well in your blog. The point I’d like to make is that mortal mind tries to mirror the spiritual, whether it is our DNA coming from one individual (The Adam and Eve parable) or near death experiences (Ascension). It is all a falsity to the real Man, GOD’s expression. The medical community, all of us for that matter get this in glimpses and I continue to realize everyday how subtle this lie of mortal existence is in our thinking. You do a great job of “keeping it real” so to speak and a big thanks!!!!!!