Date: 2026-07-15

Before anything below is read. It is up to you to understand and check full context and conclusions based upon Scripture. In this case read the book of Revelations. 

Do you have the same trouble and doubts that I have when reading the Bible? Like man, am I really saved? Sometimes I have trouble even to grasp the simple things of the Bible that can lead me to doubt or a troubled mind, like when I read in the book of Revelations of our Lord:

Revelation 2:11 -  "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death."

The little confusion was, what is this second death really, and if I had to be victorious after the first death. So that is a question. 

The second death

Only in the book of Revelations using a digital search I have found the following references to the second death: 

Revelation 20:6 -  "Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years."

This is a scentence that also indicates a new thing, there are two resurrections. We now live towards the first resurrection. The first resurrection will be at the end of the 6000 years since creation and then the saints will rule the Earth under the rule of Christ for a 1000 years. Satan will be locked up after the first resurrection - and will be set loose near the end of 7000 years. A good question here is, who are we to rule? My guess would be, that we'd be ruling those that came to repentance after the rapture of the Church - because after that at some point the Great Tribulation will start and the most wonderous things will happen. Believing would not be an issue anymore, it is the will and the courage to repent which is at stake.

Revelation 20:14 - Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

This is a sentence that comes with questions and maybe some translation issues. Is death a person or those who ended up in Hades. But the core of it is horror - being thrown in the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:8 - "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Also here, a good reminder what the second death us, being in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is just one description of what hell is like. When you read the book of Revelation you'll see that being thrown in the lake of fire is after God's Judgement. 

Judgement

If it comes to judgement our Lord is absolutely Sovereign. So I am not taking point on that here - I'll keep any judgement from me out of this text. For my simple mind the parable of Lazarus in Luke 16:19-25 - the poor and sick dying man leads to the understanding that in this life you get only one chance. The unnamed rich man went to Hades when he died, and Lazerus was received in Heaven escorted Abraham. 

So if you repent wholeheartedly to Jesus you are saved. And if you die, you will go to Heaven. If you do not repent, when you die you will go to hell. But even this alinea brings confusion - I'll put this in another article. 

For the unrepented: to be hurt by the first death is Hades. But, and here comes, after being in Hades, comes the Judgement of our Lord. And everyone who did not repent will be in Court and be judged the Law of God. And as I far as I can understand for not obeying, the Judgement of our Pure and Holy God is death, in the case of Adam and Eve for eating an apple that would open the knowledge of good and evil. So being in the Courtroom of our Lord and being Judged by the Law of God, is not very recommendable. Because everyone has broken the Law countless of times. You'll understand how serious this is when sin not only by saying and doing evil, but thinking evil is sin as well. And all of this leads me to think that the hurting by the first death (Hades) is less heavy then the second death because that is after the Judgement of our Lord.

Any (wo)man is guilty

Repent of your sins and accept Christ as savior makes you an adoptee of the Kingdom of God, but it does not make you less guilty of breaking the Law. But righteousness is imputed by the only ones, the Holy Trinity, that can impute righteousness on you, because God is Righteous and Holy. So therefore no-one can boast because none was good, not even one. (Romans 3:12).

This one scentence in Revelation 2:11 - does bring a lot of thoughts to the table...

The victory is for those who rather die than to forsake our Lord. Looking the first death related to (true) Christians and righteous Jews a lot of Christians and Jews have suffered horrible deaths for our Lord. And one could associate that to the hurting at the first death (not after). The outcome is Heaven. Once in Heaven you will be judged too, at the appropriate time, by your works if you deserve at all any rewards from the Lion of Juda (Jesus). That will certainly proove if saved Christians are while they were alive on Earth more were busy with God or with their own things...

My Conclusion

Thus in short the answer is: The sentence is really about not to forsake the Lord until death - and keep the faith. All of those conquer death by faith in Jesus, that is the victory. And therefore if you die, that is the first death, you will be lead to Heaven and be with our Lord, and therefore the second death will not be even applicable to you, because that is only for the wicked.

Notice

For Christians, surely this is a message that should make you keep the faith and not to forsake our Lord. This is why we try to save people. This is why we try to save you from the One of Who made you Who warns us from Himself. This is His wish - to proclaim the Gospel. Like the brothers from Living Waters say: We all jumped out of a plane, but God warns that that you have to pull the cord in order to land safely. Jesus is the cord, your lifeline, the Way to Life. Amen.