John 8:51

Verily, verily. See on Matt. 5:18; John 1:51.

Never see death. The thought of this verse is doubtless connected with that of the preceding. Jesus had introduced the subject of His Father’s judgment. In that judgment those who persevere in the word of Christ will be granted eternal life. The death here referred to is not physical death, which comes to the righteous and wicked alike, but the second death, which will ultimately annihilate the wicked (Rev. 20:6, 14, 15). The opposite of the second death is eternal life (John 3:16), which is represented in the Scriptures as being granted to the believer at the moment he accepts his Lord (1 John 3:14; 5:11, 12; cf. DA 388). This gift the overcomer never loses. Physical dissolution at death and the state of unconsciousness between death and the resurrection do not deprive him of the gift. His life continues to be “hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3) to be translated into glorious immortality on the resurrection morn.