Lawrence Welk was a pop band director who began his career back at the dawn of age of television. He started out in a dance hall on the beach in Venice, California, but he soon moved up to become one of the most famous performers with his own show on TV for many years. Even today his show may be seen in reruns. One of his favorite expressions was to precede each musical number with a preliminary three-beat count, "A-one, a-two, a-three."
Some one has jokingly applied this to baseball by describing an inning in which there are three batters up and three batters down, when no batter reaches first base, as an a-one, a-two, a-three inning.
The Bible describes three categories of dead people at the time of the resurrection. We are not talking here about those who are alive when Jesus returns, for they will be translated without seeing death. But rather we are concerned here about those who are dead when He returns. At that time, the righteous will be resurrected, and will join the translated saints in their journey to heaven. They never have a part in the second death. They die only once.
Then there is another group of dead, those who have lived wicked lives and have refused to accept the offer of divine mercy. They live not again for 1000 years, at the end of the millennial judgment ( Rev. 20:5). At that time they will be resurrected to face the executive judgment, and will suffer eternal destruction in the fire prepared for the devil and his angels. This is called the second death. They die twice.
Then there is a special group of wicked persons who were responsible for Christ's crucifixion. They will be resurrected along with the saints at Christ's second coming to see Him coming in all His glory as King of Kings and Lord of Lords ( Rev. 1:7). However, this group will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming. That will be death number two for them. Then they will be resurrected a second time to join the other wicked in the final death of the wicked. They die three times.
And so the end-game for this earth will involve those who die once, those who die twice, and those who die thrice. The final inning will be an a-one, a-two, a-three ending.
