God wants us to learn good and evil, life and death, so it makes sense that He would put us in both to allow us to experience them and learn accordingly. Learning to be an overcomer requires us to experience sin and death, as well as being raised from the dead to walk in the newness of life.
Where the problem comes in is when a person partakes in death and gets trapped by it and can't get out. Death is a repetitive curse that haunts many people. To be carnally (earthly) minded is death, and many people not only experience it but can't get free from the thoughts that come with only thinking earthly. This way of thinking keeps you dead in your sins without hope.
In death a person will perish if not raised up. When you're trapped in death, it's no longer about learning; it's about your struggle to get free from death.
When you read John 3:16, something important stands out, and you see something exciting: God doesn't want you to perish. He didn't say you wouldn't experience death because in Adam, all die, but He did say you don't have to perish. Knowing this should give you hope while learning the secrets of good and evil, life and death.
John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Question
What does it mean to perish in death?
Answer
In John 3:16, the word perish is the Greek word apollymi, which means to be lost, destroyed, or to die a permanent death. To perish is to enter death and not rise out of it because you get trapped in sin and can't escape death; therefore, you perish in it. (This is not God's will or desire for His people. He does not want you to be lost from Him forever.)
Explanation
John 3:16 answers one of the greatest questions that people have: Can we escape death? The answer is clear: yes. Reading Jesus' words, we see that it has always been God's desire that we do not perish in death. Peter also adds to this idea.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The only way to enter into eternal life is to go through death. Death is not the problem we are facing; it's the perishing in death that is the problem. Jesus overcame death by having a spiritual mind. He endured death because of the joy that was set before Him with His entrance into resurrection and eternal life. That's why God gave His begotten Son, to help us overcome death with Him.
The real problem is not death; it's when you reject Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life that God provided to overcome death. By rejecting His truth, you will perish in death and resurrect in damnation rather than life.
Let's be clear: everyone will experience death, but it's the believers in Jesus who will not perish in it because they experience resurrection from the dead. Don't fear death; fear God, and let Him teach you what you need to learn so that He can raise you from it.
What to do
Believe in Him, Jesus, whom God sent, and you will not perish but have eternal life. It is God's will that you learn to be an overcomer and learn to have power over death because of the resurrection of Jesus. Ignoring this truth will only lead you to destruction and damnation.
You can be dead in sin and not perish in it. The answer is to learn to overcome death by repenting of your sin, and in the resurrection of Jesus, you will destroy the power of death temporarily held by the Devil.
Jesus died, which means He took on death and rendered it powerless. To be dead is now to be free from sin.
Scripture references
Matthew 10:28; John 3:16-18; Romans 5:1-8; 6:1-14; Hebrews 2:14; 2 Peter 3:9