Revelation 2:11: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

John exhorted the saints with hearing ears in all the congregations to hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.¹ The message was simple: He that overcometh shall not be hurt² of the second death.³ This promise antithetically parallels the promised crown of life in Revelation 2:10.⁴ The entire book of Revelation draws the same sharp contrast between eternal life and eternal death.⁵

The second death is called the lake of fire in Revelation 20:14-15.⁶ This figurative name comes from the Hinnom (Gehenna) valley in Jerusalem.⁷ This valley was a place of great corruption and evil, where ancient trash fires and bodies of the dead burned continually.⁸

Some religions believe that second death is a complete destruction of the soul or spirit after physical death.⁹ That teaching is not correct.¹⁰ Second death is a spiritual death,¹¹ which is "an everlasting death as to things pertaining unto righteousness."¹² Willfully wicked and rebellious people that die a second death¹³ are forever banished from the presence and influence of God.¹⁴ They are sons of perdition consigned to the second death permanently at the final judgment.¹⁵ Only sons of perdition suffer the second spiritual death permanently.¹⁶

Persons of the terrestrial and telestial kingdoms are spiritually dead in part¹⁷ because they do not enjoy the full presence of the Father in the celestial kingdom after their resurrection.¹⁸ However, they are not spiritually dead in the sense that they suffer a second death permanently.¹⁹ Disembodied spirits in hell or spirit prison of the postmortal spirit world also suffer a second or spiritual death, but this is only a temporary condition for those that resurrect to the telestial kingdom or higher.²⁰