No Second Death

Revelation 20:4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

In this life our greatest fear is death - most of all, not knowing how and when and what it will be like.  Throughout this Revelation to John, God keeps us moving beyond that to the eternal.  When our trust is in Christ, we need not fear the second death.  This chapter has a few powerful paragraphs: the binding of Satan, the Millennial Kingdom, the final defeat of Satan, and the Great White Throne Judgment, but today we want to just think on the one above: no second death. Instead what we are promised is life eternal, with none of the ill-effects that lead to death.  Let us focus on that as we increasingly see that day approaching.