732 The Spiritual Man
nor can it be an allusion to “the second death” since the Lord’s sheep
cannot perish. It necessarily signifies the death of the body.
Now let us especially notice what the essence of mortal sin is. To
do so will enable us to know how to keep ourselves away from it so
that (1) our flesh may not be corrupted, (2) we may not forfeit the
blessing of being raptured before death, or (3) we may still finish the
Lord’s appointed work before our days are fulfilled and we die, if He
should tarry and we must pass through the grave. May we say that
because of their negligence in this matter quite a few of God’s
children have had their years shortened and their crowns lost. Many
of God’s workers, had they given attention to this, might yet be
serving the Lord.
The Word has not spelled out concretely what this sin is. It only
assures us that such a sin is possible. From the Scripture records we
understand that this sin varies according to people. A particular sin
for some is mortal, yet to another person it may not be a sin unto
death, and vice versa. This is because of differences in grace
received, light accepted, and position attained among different
believers.
While the Bible never identifies this sin, we can nevertheless
observe that any sin which results in death constitutes a mortal one.
The people of Israel committed such a sin at Kadesh (Num. 13.25-
14.12). Although they had tempted the Lord many times before
(14.22), He always simply forgave them. But this time, though He
still forgave them after they refused to enter Canaan, He additional
caused their bodies to fall in death in the wilderness (14.32).
At the waters of Meribah Moses was provoked to speak “words
that were rash” (Ps. 106.33) : this was his “mortal sin”: he died
outside Canaan. Aaron committed the same offense as Moses and he
likewise was forbidden to enter the holy land (Num. 20.24). The man
of God who journeyed from Judah to Bethel disobeyed the