The Condition Of The Wicked: The Wicked Die In Sin

John 8:21, 24 -- "Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." Rom.6:23 -- "For the wages of sin is death." See Rev.20:14, 15; 21:8.

The "death" spoken of here does not mean cessation of existence any more than eternal life means the beginning of existence. Eternal life does not mean merely to live forever, but to live in a state of blessedness forever. Eternal life deals not so much with quantity as with quality of existence, just so with eternal death. It is a quality of existence, not cessation of being. Even in this life death can co-exist with life: "But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth" (1 Tim.5:6); Eph.2:1. What men call life God calls death. There are two things which the believer gets: at his regeneration, eternal life; at his resurrection, immortality; but in both instances he already has life and existence. So it is in the case of the wicked: the second death does not mean cessation of existence, for he is dead already, now in this life (1 Tim.5:6; Eph.2:1; John 5:24, 25). Rev.21:8 describe what "death," as here used, means: "But the fearful, and the unbelieving... shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."