Never Born or Second Death

As mentioned in a previous blog post, there is a phrase in the scriptures, "it had been better for them never to have been born." (D&C 76:32) As stated in this scripture, this phrase specifically identifies sons of perdition, "the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power." (D&C 76:37) If something only applies to sons of perdition, then the opposite applies to the kingdom of God, aka all kingdoms of glory. In 3 Nephi 28:34-35, it refers to those sons of perdition with these words: "And wo be unto him that will not hearken unto the words of Jesus, and also to them whom he hath chosen and sent among them; for whoso receiveth not the words of Jesus and the words of those whom he hath sent receiveth not him; and therefore he will not receive them at the last day; and it would be better for them if they had not been born."

The opposite of this could be stated, 'blessed be he that will hearken unto the words of Jesus, and also to them whom He hath chosen and sent among them; for whoso receiveth the words of Jesus and the words of those whom He hath sent receiveth Him; and therefore He will receive them at the last day.' This refers to everyone who is not a son of perdition. All those who are not sons of perdition will be blessed because they will hearken unto and receive the words of Jesus and those whom He hath chosen and sent; all they receive Him and will be received by Him at the last day.

This of course means that those who ultimately receive any glory, including telestial glory, must receive Jesus, the words of Jesus, and the words of those sent by Him; otherwise, they would not be received by Him at the last day. We see that they receive those sent by Him in D&C 76:86-88, "These are they [those of the telestial world] who receive not of his fulness in the eternal world, but of the Holy Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial; And the terrestrial through the ministration of the celestial. And also the telestial receive it of the administering of angels who are appointed to minister for them, or who are appointed to be ministering spirits for them; for they shall be heirs of salvation."

We also see that they will be received at the last day as shown in D&C 76:107, "he shall deliver up the kingdom, and present it unto the Father, spotless." This reference to the kingdom includes all three glories, particularly the immediate reference to the telestial. Then in D&C 76:112 it states, "they shall be servants of the Most High." They of course could not be His servants if the were still filthy, or if they continued to reject Him or His words.

I want to reiterate that they could not be heirs of salvation or be spotless without previously accepting the atoning sacrifice of the Savior through faith on His name, which includes repentance and baptism; knowing, of course, that they receive and "deny not the Holy Spirit." (D&C 76:83) We know that suffering for sin does not pay for sin, as some have supposed, neither does it make anyone clean. We know this because the followers of satan, the sons of perdition, suffer and never become clean.

As we mentioned the second death earlier, we learn in Revelation 20:14-15 that those sons of perdition are the only ones not written in the book of life. "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." I will suggest that this is the book of eternal life. There are many references, potentially hundreds, in the scriptures which only use the word 'life' when referring to eternal life. This of course indicates that all those who are not partakers of the second death receive eternal life. Again showing that all who receive glory in the kingdom, of any degree or kingdom, receive eternal life, not just those in the celestial kingdom.