What Is the Purpose of “the Second Death”?

“The second death” is a return to death and, with that, also a continuation of death. The judgment at the Great White Throne is an intermezzo, an interruption of the state of death.

But why must these dead be raised if afterward they die again anyway? The reason the dead rise is to be judged “according to their works” (Rev. 20:13). They appear before the Great White Throne so that the whole past can be set right. Before God can become “All in all,” this process must precede it. It will also become clear why one has no access to the new Jerusalem: one is not written in it (Rev. 21:27).

“The second death” demonstrates the Biblical truth that “the unrighteous shall have no allotment in the Kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5). Whoever’s name is absent from “the book of life” will be absent during “the eons of the eons” in which Christ will reign as King. This verdict, too, is part of the setting right at the Great White Throne.

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