Second death
A second death (Greek: θάνατος ὁ δεύτερος thánatos hò deúteros) will, according to the Revelation of John, befall those souls at the time of the Last Judgement who are not recorded in the Book of Life because they did not unite with the Christ during their earthly incarnations and therefore will not share resurrection. They will be thrown into the lake of fire, in which death and the underworld have already sunk before. In the lake of fire the devil will suffer eternal torment (Rev 20:10).
The Report of the Apocalypse
„11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.“
„8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.“
Those who suffer the second death will not enter the New Jerusalem. They will not be able to participate in the further development on the New Jupiter, the next evolutionary stage of the Earth planet, but will be banished to a moonlike satellite. However, a final decision on their fate has not yet been made. Many can still be saved. Only on New Venus, the sixth planetary state of evolution, in the 6th condition of form of the 6th round - when the great number 666 is fulfilled - will the final decision be made[3].
Literature
- Rudolf Steiner: Die Apokalypse des Johannes, GA 104 (1985), ISBN 3-7274-1040-X English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Aus der Bilderschrift der Apokalypse des Johannes, GA 104a (1991), ISBN 3-7274-1045-0 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Esoterische Unterweisungen für die erste Klasse der Freien Hochschule für Geisteswissenschaft am Goetheanum 1924, GA 270/2 (1999), ISBN 3-7274-2700-0 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
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References
- ↑ Greek (Nestle-Aland 28th edition):
„11 Καὶ εἶδον θρόνον μέγαν λευκὸν καὶ τὸν καθήμενον ἐπ’ αὐτόν, οὗ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου ἔφυγεν ἡ γῆ καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ τόπος οὐχ εὑρέθη αὐτοῖς. 12 καὶ εἶδον τοὺς νεκρούς, τοὺς μεγάλους καὶ τοὺς μικρούς, ἑστῶτας ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου. καὶ βιβλία ἠνοίχθησαν, καὶ ἄλλο βιβλίον ἠνοίχθη, ὅ ἐστιν τῆς ζωῆς, καὶ ἐκρίθησαν οἱ νεκροὶ ἐκ τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν τοῖς βιβλίοις κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν. 13 καὶ ἔδωκεν ἡ θάλασσα τοὺς νεκροὺς τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ ὁ θάνατος καὶ ὁ ᾅδης ἔδωκαν τοὺς νεκροὺς τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἐκρίθησαν ἕκαστος κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν. 14 καὶ ὁ θάνατος καὶ ὁ ᾅδης ἐβλήθησαν εἰς τὴν λίμνην τοῦ πυρός. οὗτος ὁ θάνατος ὁ δεύτερός ἐστιν, ἡ λίμνη τοῦ πυρός. 15 καὶ εἴ τις οὐχ εὑρέθη ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ τῆς ζωῆς γεγραμμένος, ἐβλήθη εἰς τὴν λίμνην τοῦ πυρός.“
- ↑ Greek:
„8 τοῖς δὲ δειλοῖς καὶ ἀπίστοις καὶ ἐβδελυγμένοις καὶ φονεῦσιν καὶ πόρνοις καὶ φαρμάκοις καὶ εἰδωλολάτραις καὶ πᾶσιν τοῖς ψευδέσιν τὸ μέρος αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ λίμνῃ τῇ καιομένῃ πυρὶ καὶ θείῳ, ὅ ἐστιν ὁ θάνατος ὁ δεύτερος.“
- ↑ According to Steiner, there are 7 planetary stages of world evolution corresponding to 7 conditions of consciousness. The names of these 7 planetary states of evolution are: Old Saturn - Old Sun - Old Moon - Earth - New Jupiter - New Venus - Vulcan. Our present earth evolution is the 4th and at the same time middle stage. Every planetary evolution is divided into 7 conditions of life (rounds), each of which passes through 7 conditions of form (globes). After 7x7x7 = 343 stages the evolution is completed. A critical phase of evolution occurs when 6x6x6 = 216 stages have been completed. At this point, everything that cannot reach the evolutionary goal is finally eliminated.
However, there are still smaller cycles of evolution. Thus each state of form is further divided into 7 root races (the term "race" is to be used here only in a very non-genuine sense; Steiner first took it from Theosophy, but later no longer used it), each of which again passes through 7 cultural epochs. We are currently living in the 5th root race, which Steiner also calls the post-Atlantean time, and are here in the 5th cultural epoch, the consciousness soul age. Even when a evolutionary ratio of 6x6x6 has been reached with regard to these smaller cycles, the evolution enters a critical phase - i.e. approximately in the 6th epoch of the 6th root race of the 6th condition of form. The Apocalypse refers to this. The information on this in (Lit.:GA 104, p. 223) is, however, somewhat confusing, as it does not speak of the 6th condition of form but of the 6th condition of life, the conditions of form are skipped over; this is possibly an error in the transcript.
