Thank you Halbhh! Good thoughts. However, I think this forum is for Christians only but there are ways to share these Scriptural truths. And yes no metaphorical language is used for the second death. If that is true then the first death, physical death is just a metaphor, right? Hardly, people actually physically die every day. It is real. And the second death is just as real. There really will be a physical resurrection of both the believing & the unbelieving.
And there will be a judgment as to the good seed the Lord has planted, those who believe & the evil seed of the evil one, that are the tares. You cannot make a good seed into a bad seed nor can you make a bad seed into a good seed. You cannot make a good tree bear bad fruit nor vice versa. You can't make a thorn bush produce figs. All these examples in Scripture are harmonized & saying the same thing.
And who is the One who will judge the living & the dead? Who is the One who will punish the wicked nations in the great tribulation & the time of the wrath of the Lamb? It is none other than Jesus Christ. He is not only the Savior but the Righteous King & Judge. People often forget that. He is the LION of the tribe of Judah.
People say God is love & God is merciful but at the same time God is holy & God is just & God is spirit but God is also consuming fire, mentioned numerous times throughout the Bible. All these are true of God, at the same time.