Indeed, to be dead is to be without life. What can a non-living thing do according to man's natural perceptions? What does Solomon write of the dead?
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." Ecc 9:5
Death can be an unending thing, but it is not always so, is it? Jesus showed us clearly by examples that natural death could be reversed by the power of God. But... he also spoke of reversing the spiritual death of sin into which every one of us was born when we exited out natural mother's womb.
Is there an unending death? If there is, why must we speak of such death being an existence of unending torment when the verse quoted above says "the dead know not anything"?
Whatever the "lake of fire" is, it is seemingly a final end for some as mentioned in the verse you quoted. It speaks of "the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers", etc. Could we say this is all of the unbelievers or might it be only those who have believed and fallen into unbelief?
Why do people who never believed need an additional punishment? Is not every person born into the natural world we call planet Earth already in condemnation?
"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:18
Those who are already condemned are dead already according to Jesus:
"Let the dead bury their dead" Matt 8:22
For them, unless they obtain the Life of Jesus, there is no second death. They are already dead and will remain so although burial may be required.
What does this verse mean to you?
"Quench not the Spirit." I Thess 5:19
Isn't the apostle writing about the Holy Spirit within us?
What does that Spirit do within us?
"Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." II Cor 3:6
Doesn't this mean that the Body of Jesus [the scripture?] that we have eaten will die without the Spirit? When we quench it, when we put it out, is that not putting out the Light in us, the Life in us? When we sin after being "saved" is that not what we do? The power of God in us is just as strong as it is in the man Jesus in carnal flesh... but we have also the power to "limit" God. When we do, isn't it because we have chosen to sin?
To be baptized is to be immersed. We are to be immersed in water and we are to be immersed in the Word of God. We are to be immersed in the Spirit of God. We are to be immersed in Him. we are to be in Him.
Jesus overcame the world of "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" [I John 2:16] as our sacrifice and as our example. He paid the price for us, but he also showed us what we needed to do. All that is necessary for you and I to become overcomers like him has been provided. All we have to do is to become immersed and stay that way so that the work in us can be completed. Every time we quench the Spirit, we delay or stop the work. Every time we eat something (not material eating) other than Jesus, we hinder the process by giving the Holy Spirit the new work of cleaning up our new mess.
It's kind of like a person on very good healthy diet who pauses to go on another "fast food restaurant binge" and then rushes home to get back on the diet. If he does this daily, how likely is it that he will lose the desired weight?
Do we want to be saved and live however we want in this world of men too? "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
When we are fully dead and fully renewed, then we will fully resurrected. John the Baptist expressed it this way:
"He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30
While we continue to eat slop as well as the flesh and blood of Jesus, the "old man" of sin may well at times be increasing faster than the "new man" of Christ. One, one hour worship service per week, and five minutes of rushed prayer per day, with 15 minutes of Bible reading when it doesn't interfere with our favorite TV shows or our regular meetings with friends for fun type activities, may starve the "new man" [the one of Christ] to death. With that starving we push out... no, we kill any Life that we may have had!!!
