You may choose to die twice, or to be born twice. The first death is physical and the second is spiritual. If you experience spiritual death your soul is separated from God, heaven and all things righteous. If you are to be born twice, once physically and again spiritually, you will live eternally. The timing of the second death, if it comes, is on judgment day. The second birth is “of the Spirit.” The second birth happens the day that you acknowledge that the Son of God is your personal redeemer and Lord. It is a birth that keeps your name in the Book of Life.
In other words, you make that decision now and your place in eternity is sealed. If you simply decide not to decide, that is a decision in itself and the consequences are whatever they will be, but the Bible says they are not good.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NKJ)
19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
20 “that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Isaiah 1:18 (NKJ)
18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Once you acknowledge that your sins have been atoned for, perfectly, by the shed blood of the Messiah, you spend the remainder of your days, whether brief or long, inscribing things on the only page that matters; the page of life, the record that chronicles your faith, your love of God and your new found capacity to love your fellow man. This side of the page is only available to those who can now stand acceptably before the LORD (See Chapter 31: LIFE – ONE TWO-SIDED PAGE). You stand, not in your own worthiness, but in His, accepting the unmerited gift of the grace of God, with a contrite heart and a humble spirit.
What you and I decide to do, dictates whether the pages of our personal eternity are to be inscribed in God’s Holy presence or whether they are to be eternally endured in some very unpleasant place, separated from God’s love and the company of His chosen people.
In these following verses, Solomon further distinguishes between life and death. Realize that “finding life” occurs after your spiritual birth. Your choice to ignore your spiritual birth and to go on sinning is a declaration against your own soul and according to the Bible, eternal death awaits.
Proverbs 8:33-36 (NKJ)
33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not disdain it.
34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the LORD;
36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; all those who hate me love death.”
Listen again to the words of God, recorded by Moses.
Deuteronomy 30:19 (NKJ)
19 …I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.