In relation to all, whether they were to suffer a violent death or not, the same injunction and the same promise was applicable. It is true of everyone who is a Christian, in whatever manner he is to die, that if he is faithful unto death, a crown of life awaits him. Comp. Notes on 2 Ti. iv. 8. ¶ _And I will give thee a crown of life._ See Notes on Ja. i. 12. Comp. 1 Pe. v. 4; 1 Co. ix. 24‒27. The promise here is somewhat different from that which was made to the faithful in Ephesus (ver. 7), but the same thing substantially is promised them――happiness hereafter, or an admission into heaven. In the former case it is the peaceful image of those admitted into the scenes of paradise; here it is the triumph of the crowned martyr. 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 [110]second death. 11. _He that hath an ear_, &c. See Notes on ver. 7. ¶ _He that overcometh._ See Notes on ver. 7. The particular promise here is made to him that should “overcome;” that is, that would gain the victory in the persecutions which were to come upon them. The reference is to him who would show the sustaining power of religion in times of persecution; who would not yield his principles when opposed and persecuted; who would be triumphant when so many efforts were made to induce him to apostatize and abandon the cause. ¶ _Shall not be hurt of the second death._ _By_ a second death. That is, he will have nothing to fear in the future world. The punishment of hell is often called _death_, not in the sense that the soul will cease to exist, but (a) because death is the most fearful thing of which we have any knowledge, and (b) because there is a striking similarity, in many respects, between death and future punishment. Death cuts off from life――and so the second death cuts off from eternal life; death puts an end to all our hopes here, and the second death to all our hopes for ever; death is attended with terrors and alarms――the faint and feeble emblem of the terrors and alarms in the world of woe. The phrase, “the second death,” is three times used elsewhere by John in this book (ch. xx. 6, 14; xxi. 8), but does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. The words _death_ and _to die_, however, are not unfrequently used to denote the future punishment of the wicked.