6. What does it mean in verse ten (above) "and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever."
The first Adam died to God and righteousness, and became alive unto sin. The last Adam died unto sin-- "For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God," (Romans 6:10), and so fulfills all righteousness. The first Adam made all men sinners, the last Adam makes all men righteous. The lives and deaths of the two Adams are thus greatly contrasting the one to the other.
The second death is a transition from corruption to incorruption, from present mortality to immortality. Transformed from the carnal mind to the spiritual min. It is a transformation wrought by DYING out to the one realm, to come alive to the higher realm. The SECOND DEATH IS PREPARED TO PURGE OUT AND BURN AWAY ALL SIN AND ITS RESULTS, and in so doing cleanse all of God's universe.
Death came as an enemy, the fruitage of an act of disobedience that turned man away from God, and into the minding of the flesh.
Now, GOD MAKES DEATH OVERCOME ITSELF. It is by death that death is rendered powerless, and there arises the bursting forth of new life. It took the death of Christ to destroy death, and thus He did "taste death for ever man.- That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Hebrews 2:9, 14-15). In that He tasted (experienced) death for, in behalf of, every man, this was not to absolve us from dying, but to make sure, guarantee that ever man would die once more time--
in a second death that would end all the work of the first death in us. Paul caught a glimpse of this precious truth when he said, "Because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and He died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again."
(2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Calvary guarantees that ultimately every man will die out to self. Thus Paul's desire to be "made conformable to His death," for in that DYING PROCESS he would be brought to the threshold of resurrection life. The Christ-life is not to be lived instead of us, but freely given INTO us that we might live. Thus we experience both His death and His life. Through the first we experience both His death and His life. Through the first Adam we experienced natural, self-life, and ended in death. Through the last Adam we experience death to the self-life, and end up by LIVING-- living in His more abundant life. Wonderful!
"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27). This does not mean that we must all die physically, for Paul clearly taught, "We shall not all sleep (physical death), but we shall all be changed." (1 Corinthians 15:51). Since every man has already tasted of the first death when they are born into this earth realm, it is now APPOINTED UNTO ALL MEN TO DIE ONCE MORE-- die out to the realm of the first death, that they might come alive unto God. After this, there must come judgment, namely, that process of correction, purging, training, development, a bringing into maturity into the new life of God.
It may be that God uses our "physical death," which is the last visible outworking of the first death, to also become part of HIS PROCESS of the "second death," to loose us from the bonds of the carnal mind, to where we surrender to the will of God. "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be lord both of the dead and the living." (Romans 14:9). The KEYS are in His hand, and He may use any part of the process to accomplish any part of His purpose that He desires. He now holds the key to the "first death," so that even our natural life is in His hand, and He also holds the key to the "second death," and the outworking of its process in us all.
In the measure that we are identified with the cross of Christ, and made conformable to His death, in that measure we are dying out to the first death, via the process of the second death, that we might then be partakers of His resurrection.
"He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." (Revelation 2:11). There is a yielding to the spirit now, when He draws us. There is a participation in His cross now. There is a DAILY OVERCOMING all of the carnal desires of the flesh, and then we shall not be "hurt" when the second death processes are manifested in their more severe forms, as portrayed in the terms of being "cast into outer darkness," or being in "a lake of fire."
There are those who build with wood, hay, and stubble (flesh works), which shall all be burned, and then "he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire".(1 Corinthians 310). In fact it was said to the slothful servant, "Take therefore the talent from him... and cast ye the unprofitable servant into out darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 25:28, 30). That will hurt-- for it means that such are a part of "the dead which live not again until the thousand years are ended." Not until the inward purgings are complete will they be released into the fulness of His life-- thus they have suffered the loss of "living and reigning with Him" these are still being brought to the fulness of their purification through the second death process.
Numbers are symbolic of ideas and concepts. It is not a literal "thousand year death span," for the issue is not that "time" but of the FULNESS OF MEASURE-- a completed work. It is a multiple of ten, which number signifies a complete cycle. The thought is that while others are enjoying the fulness of His life, "living and reigning with Him," these are still being brought to the fulness of their purification through he second death process.
Jesus made this very clear-- there are those who "shall go away into age-abiding correction, but the righteous into age-abiding life." (Matthew 25:46, Rotherham). For the time is coming when ALL shall hear His voice, "And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (judgment)." (John 5:29).
But the overcomer shall suffer no loss, no injury, as do those who only mind the flesh, for they build aright, so that "an entrance shall be ministered unto them abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:11). And then their Lord shall say, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." (Matthew 25:21).
Ray Prinzing