Sometime question arises "If Jesus died for us, then why are we still dying?"
The fact that we are still dying in spite of Jesus dying for us shows death is more than what we know it to be. There is something called "second death" in the Bible (See Revelation 20:6, 14).
“20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who takes part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.”
And again it says at Rev 21:8 But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and all those who lie, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. That is the second death.”
If there is a second death, then logically there has to be a first death.
Bible elsewhere always makes it clear which death is referred to. Therefore the Bible has not to be just read, it has to be studied carefully and prayerfully as Jesus Himself said "Search the scriptures" John 5:39.
One of the first things God told Adam was regarding the forbidden fruit. He said: For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17) The same day they were supposed to have been paying the penalty for their disobedience and die. But they didn't, because: God so loved the world. (John 3:16) He loved them so much, that He Himself decided to pay the price in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. A substitute was found and therefore the penalty of sin was differed.
The Bible says: Adam lived... nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. (Genesis 5:5) Was he paying the penalty of sin after nine hundred and thirty years? No! Jesus paid the penalty for Adam's sin and for all the sins of mankind. Adam's probationary period of overcoming sin was over at nine hundred and thirty years; his lifespan ended.
In fact the Bible uses word sleep, many a time, when talking about the death that comes at the end of a lifetime. Talking about Lazarus' death, Jesus himself called it sleep. He said:
John 11:1, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
This word "sleep" has been used several times, both in the Old and in the New Testament, in reference to the first death or the natural death that all have to face in this sinful world. (For e.g. See Job 14:10-12, 1 Thessalonians 4:15, 16). All the people who ever died on planet earth died only the natural death or the first death; and first death is the consequence (natural result) of sin-because of Adam's fall-and not the wages (punishment) of sin.
The death of Christ and also His resurrection were divine acts, and not natural acts. Death had no power on Him, as He did not sin. For us to die is natural, for Christ it was not. He was doing something that otherwise would not have happened. Just before Jesus could go to Calvary, this is what He said about Satan:
For the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. (John 14:30)
Satan had no power over Christ, as Christ did not yield to temptation. He laid His life down as a voluntary act for our salvation. He was paying the penalty of the human race on the cruel Cross. He was dying the death that we deserved.
Which death was it that He died-the first or the second death? It has to be the second death that Christ died. For if He died the first death, then why are we still dying? Remember He paid the penalty for our sins, so that we need not have to pay it in the lake of fire. For:
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
The first death is a natural consequence of sin. Whether one is a believer or unbeliever, the first death is for all, whether a saint or a sinner. It is the close of probationary time, either to make it or break it to Heaven. When Adam and Eve were told that they would die the day they ate the fruit, was it a reference to the first death (the end of this probationary time) or was it a reference to the second death (the eternal extinction)? It was the eternal extinction-the second death-that God was referring to.
The difference between the first and the second death is that the first death physically destroys the body, but it is not an eternal destruction, as there will be a resurrection. But the second death is the eternal destruction of the person. So the second death is the real death, the complete death. The first death has only a part of the second death in it. The second death has the first death and more in it.
Christ died the second death, the complete death. It is technically incorrect to say He died the first and the second death together, as the second death embraces the first too. When the impenitent die in the lake of fire, it is called the "second death"
(Rev 20:6, 14, 15; 21:8), and not "first and second death", as the second death is the complete death.
Those who die the second death have no resurrection. But Jesus rose from the dead even though He died the second death. Well, because He was sinless, He was dying a substitution death. He was not dying for His sin (He did no sin), but for the sins of the others (the whole world).
When we die the first death, we can afford to smile and die, and even sing while burning at the stake, because we know it is only the first death, and there is a resurrection.
It is at the final death, the second death, when people pay the wages of sin, they would feel the bitter agony of being forever cut off from God and from life, and then all will cry and weep and gnash their teeth.
Christ has conquered death and grave and has the keys of both. At His second coming, He will resurrect all His saints and bring them out of their graves, and bestow immortality to them. And the wicked, later, will be resurrected from the first death to face second death-to pay the wages of sin in the fires of hell according to the amount of sins committed, and then face the "second death".
So the reason we still die today is because Jesus died the "second death" for us, and not the first death.
Many times we see the word death in the Bible having a reference to the second death, and not just first. Look up the following texts. All of these refer to the second death and not the first. (See Genesis 2:17; Ezekiel 33:11; John 5:24; John 8: 51, 52; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:6, etc.)