…because we all know and understand that everyone is physically born once, and everyone will physically die (unless they are raptured, vanished, disappeared, harpazo, departed, caught up). But some will die a second death…
Dr. Chuck Missler explained the correlation like this: “If you are born once, you die twice. If you are born twice, you die once.”
What does he mean? The key is understanding how a person can be born twice. (John 3:3) The second birth is spiritual (John 3:5) and there are three distinct biblical levels to consider…
First: Physical birth from womb into this world is an event over which an infant has no control. And because children are innocent, God automatically takes them to heaven should they die. (Deuteronomy 1:39, Matthew 18:1-3, 14) More on this below…
Second: The highly aware and very personal decision a believer makes to recognize their sins, repent of them, and take the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior is a mindful choice, under the believer’s control, and once acted upon must be followed by another decision.
Which is to be baptized, whereby the new believer verbally announces their decision to be spiritually reborn by full water emersion (Romans 10:10). The new believer rises out of the water reborn—a Child of God—no longer of this world, but traveling through on their way to Him. A true believer’s home is with God in heaven.*+*
(A valid question is often raised at this point regarding infant sprinkling baptism. Much can be said about the historical significance of this act, but there is no biblical reference to it. Sprinkling infant baptism holds the same ramifications as physical birth meaning the decision is outside the child’s knowledge and understanding of what’s taking place. Parents lacking biblical awareness have their children sprinkle baptized to ‘save them’ from hell in the event they should die. The Word of God states should a child die, He takes them into heaven, because He views children as innocents—incapable of making their own decisions. Now, there is some contention regarding at what age a person moves from childhood into adulthood. OT passages indicate age 18. Regardless, the child did not make the personal decision to choose the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.)
Third: The one birth = two deaths signifies the fact that the non-believer chose to remain in worldly sin. At the time of physical death, there was no spiritual rebirth, and this separates the non-believer from God, because they are not covered in Christ’s sacrificial blood. Hence, at the Great White Throne Judgement, they will be cast into hell—the second spiritual death—which is eternal.
In the modern-day argument against one birth = two deaths, another, much less valid question arises regarding reincarnation. God is repeatedly clear regarding humanity’s one chance to receive Him. And that is during their one and only lifetime on earth.
And there is no purgatory either—where relatives can pay and pray their dead out of that wasteland and into heaven. No, another person cannot be responsible for an individual’s choice to accept the Lord Jesus as Savior. As stated above, there is only one lifetime to make that decision.
The responsibility rests upon each of us.
*+* From gotquestions.org: How can believers be in the world, but not of the world? When we read of the “world” in the New Testament, we are reading the Greek word ‘cosmos’. Cosmos most often refers to the inhabited earth and the people who live on the earth, which functions apart from God. Satan is the ruler of the ‘cosmos’ (John 12:31, 16:11, 1 John 5:19). By the simple definition that the word world refers to a world system ruled by Satan, we can more readily appreciate Christ’s claims that believers are no longer of the world—we are no longer ruled by sin, nor are we bound by the principles of the world. In addition, we are being changed into the image of Christ, causing our interest in the things of the world to become less and less as we mature in Christ. Believers in Jesus Christ are simply in the world—physically present—but not of it, not part of its values (John 17:14-15).
Believers are set apart. They are to follow and serve Christ while in the world. If they are not set apart, they are not believers—as this too, is a conscious and dedicated decision. (Romans 12:1-2)
Amen.