Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
6. Blessed and holy &c.] He is sure of eternal blessedness, absolutely and indefeasibly consecrated to God. “Holy” refers to the relation to God into which this brings him, not to the foregoing faithfulness that is implied in his being admitted into it.
the second death ] See Rev 2:11, and Rev 20:14. Cf. Rom 6:9-10.
they shall be priests ] Cf. Rev 1:6, Rev 5:10.
of God and of Christ ] The strongest proof, perhaps, in the book of the doctrine of Christ’s coequal Deity. If we read these words in the light of St John’s Gospel, or of the Nicene Creed, they suggest no difficulty, but without the doctrine there taught, they make salvation to consist in the deadly sin which the Moslems call “association” the worshipping the creature by the side of the Creator. Notice, however, that the word “God” in this book always means the Father; and so throughout the N. T., with few exceptions.
thousand years ] We should probably read, “ the thousand years.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Blessed – That is, his condition is to be regarded as a happy or a favored one. This is designed apparently to support and encourage those who, in the time of John, suffered persecution, or who might suffer persecution afterward.
And holy – That is, no one will be thus honored who has not an established character for holiness. Holy principles will then reign, and none will be exalted to that honor who have not a character for eminent sanctity.
That hath part in the first resurrection – That participated in it; that is, who is associated with those who are thus raised up.
On such the second death hath no power – The second death is properly the death which the wicked will experience in the world of woe. See Rev 20:14. The meaning here is, that all who are here referred to as having part in the first resurrection will be secure against that. It will be one of the blessed privileges of heaven that there will be absolute security against death in any and every form; and when we think of what death is here, and still more when we think of the bitter pains of the second death, we may well call that state blessed in which there will be eternal exemption from either.
But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him – notes at Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10.
Section b. – Condition of the world in the period referred to in Rev 20:4-6.
I. It is well known that this passage is the principal one which is relied on by those who advocate the doctrine of the literal reign of Christ on the earth for a thousand years, or who hold what are called the doctrines of the second advent. The points which are maintained by those who advocate these views are substantially:
(a)That at that period Christ will descend from heaven to reign personally upon the earth;
(b)That he will have a central place of power and authority, probably Jerusalem;
(c)That the righteous dead will then be raised, in such bodies as are to be immortal;
(d)That they will be his attendants, and will participate with him in the government of the world;
(e)That this will continue during the period of a thousand years;
(f)That the world will be subdued and converted during this period, not by moral means, but by a new dispensation – by the power of the Son of God; and,
(g)That at the close of this period all the remaining dead will be raised, the judgment will take place, and the affairs of the earth will be consummated.
The opinion here adverted to was held substantially by Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and others among the Christian fathers, and, it need not be said, is held by many modern expositors of the Bible, and by large numbers of Christian ministers of high standing, and other Christians. See the Literalist, passim. The opinion of the Christian fathers, with which the modern literalists, as they are called, substantially coincide, is thus stated by Mr. Elliott: This resurrection is to be literally that of departed saints and martyrs, then at length resuscitated in the body from death and the grave; its time to synchronize with, or follow instantly after, the destruction of the beast antichrist, on Christs personal second advent; the binding of Satan to be an absolute restriction of the power of hell from tempting, deceiving, or injuring mankind, throughout a literal period of a thousand years, thence calculated; the government of the earth during its continuance to be administered by Christ and the risen saints – the latter being now isangeloi – in nature like angels; and under it, all false religion having been put down, the Jews and saved remnant of the Gentiles been converted to Christ, the earth renovated by the fire of antichrists destruction, and Jerusalem made the universal capital, there will be a realization on earth of the blessedness depicted in the Old Testament prophecies, as well as perhaps of that too which is associated with the New Jerusalem in the visions of the Apocalypse – until at length this millennium having ended, and Satan gone forth to deceive the nations, the final consummation will follow; the new-raised enemies of the saints, Gog and Magog, be destroyed by fire from heaven: and then the general resurrection and judgment take place, the devil and his servants be cast into the lake of fire, and the millennial reign of the saints extend itself into one of eternal duration (Elliott on the Apocalypse, iv. 177, 178).
Mr. Elliotts own opinion, representing, it is supposed, that of the great body of the literalists, is thus expressed: It would seem, therefore, that in this state of things and of feeling in professing Christendom (a feeling of carnal security), all suddenly, and unexpectedly, and conspicuous over the world as the lightning that shineth from the east even unto the west, the second advent and appearing of Christ will take place; that at the accompanying voice of the archangel and trump of God, the departed saints of either dispensation will rise from their graves to meet him – alike patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles, and martyrs, and confessors – all at once and in the twinkling of an eye; and then instantly the saints living at the time will be also caught up to meet him in the air; these latter being separated out of the ungodly nations, as when a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats, and all, both dead and living saints, changed at the moment from corruption to incorruption, from dishonor to glory, though with very different degrees of glory; and so in a new angelic nature, to take part in the judging and ruling in this world.
Meanwhile, with a tremendous earthquake accompanying, of violence unknown since the revolutions of primeval chaos, an earthquake under which the Roman world at least is to rock to and fro like a drunken man, the solid crust of this earth shall be broken, and fountains burst forth from its inner deep, not as once of water, but of liquid fire; and that the flames shall consume the antichrist and his confederate kings, while the sword also does its work of slaughter; the risen saints being perhaps the attendants of the Lords glory in this destruction of antichrist, and assessors in his judgment on a guilty world. And then immediately the renovation of this our earth is to take place, its soil being purified by the very action of the fire, and the Spirit poured out from on high, to renew, in a yet better sense, the moral face of nature; the Shekinah, or personal glory of Christ amidst his saints, being manifested chiefly in the Holy Land and at Jerusalem, but the whole earth partaking of the blessedness; and thus the regeneration of all things, and the worlds redemption from the curse, having their accomplishment, according to the promise, at the manifestation of the sons of God, 4:224-231.
To this account of the prevailing opinion of the literalists in interpreting the passage before us, there should be added that of Prof. Stuart, who, in general, is as far as possible from sympathizing with this class of writers. He says, in his explanation of the expression they lived, in Rev 20:4, There would seem to remain, therefore, only one meaning which can be consistently given to ezesan (they lived); namely, that they (the martyrs who renounced the beast) are now restored to life, namely, such life as implies the vivification of the body. Not to a union of the soul with a gross material body indeed, but with such an one as the saints in general will have at the final resurrection – a spiritual body, 1Co 15:44. In no other way can this resurrection be ranked as correlate with the second resurrection named in the sequel, vol. ii. p. 360. So again, Excursus vi. (vol. ii. p. 476), he says, I do not see how we can, on the ground of exegesis, fairly avoid the conclusion that John has taught in the passage before us, that there will be a resurrection of the martyr-saints, at the commencement of the period after Satan shall have been shut up in the dungeon of the great abyss. This opinion he defends at length, pp. 476-490. Prof. Stuart, indeed, maintains that the martyrs thus raised up will be taken to heaven and reign with Christ there, and opposes the whole doctrine of the literal reign on the earth, vol. ii. p. 480. The risen saints and martyrs are to be enthroned with Christ; that is, they are to be where he dwells, and where he will continue to dwell, until he shall make his descent at the final judgment day.
II. In regard to these views, as expressive of the meaning of the passage under consideration, I would make the following remarks:
(1) There is strong presumptive evidence against this interpretation, and especially against the main point in the doctrine, that there will be a literal resurrection of the bodies of the saints at the beginning of that millennial period, to live and reign with Christ on earth, from the following circumstances:
(a) It is admitted, on all hands, that this doctrine, if contained in the Scriptures at all, is found in this one passage only. It is not pretended that there is, in any other place, a direct affirmation that this will literally occur, nor would the advocates for that opinion undertake to show that it is fairly implied in any other part of the Bible. But it is strange, not to say improbable, that the doctrine of the literal resurrection of the righteous, a thousand years before the wicked, should be announced in one passage only. If it were so announced in plain and unambiguous language, I admit that the believer in the divine origin of the Scriptures would be bound to receive it; but this is so contrary to the usual method of the Scriptures on all great and important doctrines, that this circumstance should lead us at least to doubt whether the passage is correctly interpreted. The resurrection of the dead is a subject on which the Saviour often dwelt in his instructions; it is a subject which the apostles discussed very frequently and at great length in their preaching, and in their writings; it is presented by them in a great variety of forms, for the consolation of Christians in time of trouble, and with reference to the condition of the world at the winding up of human affairs; and it is strange that, in respect to so important a doctrine as this, if it be true, there is not elsewhere, in the New Testament, a hint, an intheation, an allusion, that would lead us to suppose that the righteous are to be raised in this manner.
(b) If this is a true doctrine, it would be reasonable to expect that a clear and unambiguous statement of it would be made. Certainly, if there is but one statement on the subject, that might be expected to be a perfectly clear one, it would be a statement about which there could be no diversity of opinion, concerning which those who embraced it might be expected to hold the same views. But it cannot be pretended that this is so in regard to this passage. It occurs in the book which, of all the books in the Bible, is most distinguished for figures and symbols; it cannot be maintained that it is directly and clearly affirmed; and it is not so taught that there is any uniformity of view among those who profess to hold it. In nothing has there been greater diversity among people than in the opinions of those who profess to hold the literal views respecting the personal reign of Christ on the earth. But this fact assuredly affords presumptive evidence that the doctrine of the literal resurrection of the saints a thousand years before the rest of the dead, is not intended to be taught.
(c) It is presumptive proof against this, that nothing is said of the employment of those who are raised up; of the reason why they are raised; of the new circumstances of their being; and of their condition when the thousand years shall have ended. In so important a matter as this, we can hardly suppose that the whole subject would be left to a single hint in a symbolical representation, depending on the doubtful meaning of a single word, and with nothing to enable us to determine, with absolute certainty, that this must be the meaning.
(d) If it be meant that this is a description of the resurrection of the righteous as such – embracing all the righteous – then it is wholly unlike all the other descriptions of the resurrection of the righteous that we have in the Bible. Here the account is confined to those that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and to those who had not worshipped the beast. If the righteous, as such, are here referred to, why are these particular classes specified? Why are not the usual general terms employed? Why is the account of the resurrection confined to these? Elsewhere in the Scriptures, the account of the resurrection is given in the most general terms (compare Mat 25:41; Joh 4:54; Joh 5:28-29; Rev 2:7; 1Co 15:23; Phi 3:20-21; 2Th 1:10; Heb 9:28; 1Jo 2:28-29; 1Jo 3:2); and if this had been the designed reference here, it is inconceivable why the statement should be limited to the martyrs, and to those who have evinced great fidelity in the midst of temptations and allurements to apostasy. These circumstances furnish strong presumptive proofs, at least, against the doctrine that there is to be a literal resurrection of all the saints at the beginning of the millennial period. Compare Christs Second Coming, by David Brown, p. 219ff.
(2) In reference to many of the views necessarily implied in the doctrine of the second advent, and avowed by those who hold that doctrine, it cannot be pretended that they receive any countenance or support from this passage. In the language of Prof. Stuart (Com. vol. ii. p. 479), there is not a word of Christs descent to the earth at the beginning of the millennium. Nothing of the literal assembling of the Jews in Palestine; nothing of the Messiahs temporal reign on earth; nothing of the overflowing abundance of worldly peace and plenty. Indeed, in all this passage, there is not the remotest hint of the grandeur and magnificence of the reign of Christ as a literal king upon the earth; nothing of his having a splendid capital at Jerusalem, or anywhere else; nothing of a new dispensation of a miraculous kind; nothing of the renovation of the earth to fit it for the abode of the risen saints. All this is the mere work of fancy, and no man can pretend that it is to be found in this passage.
(3) Nor is there anything here of a literal resurrection of the bodies of the dead, as Prof. Stuart himself supposes. It is not a little remarkable that a scholar so accurate as Prof. Stuart is, and one, too, who has so little sympathy with the doctrines connected with a literal reign of Christ on the earth, should have lent the sanction of his name to perhaps the most objectionable of all the dogmas connected with that view – the opinion that the bodies of the saints will be raised up at the beginning of the millennial period. Of this there is not one word, one intimation, one hint, in the passage before us. John says expressly, and as if to guard the point from all possible danger of this construction, that he saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus; he saw them living and reigning with Christ – raised to the exalted honor during that period, as if they had been raised from the dead; but he nowhere mentions or intimates that they were raised up from their graves; that they were clothed with bodies; that they had their residence now literally on the earth; or that they were, in any way, otherwise than disembodied spirits. There is not even one word of their having a spiritual body.
(4) There are positive arguments, which are perfectly decisive, against the interpretation which supposes that the bodies of the saints will be raised up at the beginning of the millennial period, to reign with Christ on the earth for a thousand years. Among these are the following:
(a) If the first resurrection means rising from the grave in immortal and glorified bodies, we do not need the assurance Rev 20:6, that on such the second death hath no power; that is, that they would not perish forever. That would be a matter of course, and there was no necessity for such a statement. But if it be supposed that the main idea is that the principles of the martyrs and of the most eminent saints would be revived and would live, as if the dead were raised up, and would be manifested by those who were in mortal bodies – people living on the earth – then there would be a propriety in saying that all such were exempt from the danger of the second death. Once, indeed, they would die; but the second death could not reach them. Compare Rev 2:10-11.
(b) In the whole passage there are but two classes of people referred to. There are those who have part in the first resurrection; that is, according to the supposition, all the saints; and there are those over whom the second death has power. Into which of these classes are we to put the myriads of people having flesh and blood who are to people the world during the millennium? They have no part in the first resurrection, if it be a bodily one. Are they then given over to the power of the second death? But if the first resurrection be regarded as figurative and spiritual, then the statement that those who are actuated by the spirit of the martyrs and of the eminent saints, shall not experience the second death, is seen to have meaning and pertinency.
(c) The mention of the time during which they are to reign, if it be literally understood, is contrary to the whole statement of the Bible in other places. They are to live and reign with Christ a thousand years. What, then? Are they to live no longer? Are they to reign no longer with him? This supposition is entirely contrary to the current statement in the Scriptures, which is, that they are to live and reign with him forever: 1Th 4:17, And so shall we ever be with the Lord. According to the views of the literalists, the declaration that they should live and reign with Christ, considered as the characteristic features of the millennial state, is to terminate with the thousand years – for this is the promise, according to that view, that they should thus live and reign. But it need not be said that this is wholly contrary to the current doctrine of the Bible, that they are to live and reign with him forever.
(d) A further objection to this view is, that the wicked part of the world – the rest of the dead who lived not again until the thousand years were finished – must of course be expected to live again in the same bodily sense wheat those thousand years were finished. But, so far from this, there is no mention of their living then. When the thousand years are finished, Satan is loosed for a season; then the nations are roused to opposition against God; then there is a conflict, and the hostile forces are overthrown; and then comes the final judgment. During all this time we read of no resurrection at all. The period after this is to be filled up with something besides the resurrection of the rest of the dead. There is no intheation, as the literal construction, as it is claimed, would demand, that immediately after the thousand years arc finished the rest of the dead – the wicked dead – would be raised up; nor is there any intimation of such a resurrection until all the dead are raised up for the final trial, Rev 20:12. But every consideration demands, if the interpretation of the literalists be correct, that the rest of the dead – the unconverted dead – should be raised up immediately after the close of the millennial period, and be raised up as a distinct and separate class.
(e) There is no intimation in the passage itself that the righteous will be raised up as such in this period, and the proper interpretation of the passage is contrary to that supposition. There are but two classes mentioned as having part in the first resurrection. They are those who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and those who had not worshipped the beast – that is, the martyrs, and those who had been eminent for their fidelity to the Saviour in times of great temptation and trial. There is no mention of the resurrection of the righteous as such – of the resurrection of the great body of the redeemed; and if it could be shown that this refers to a literal resurrection, it would be impossible to apply it, according to any just rules of interpretation, to anymore than the two classes that are specified. By what rules of interpretation is it made to to teach that all the righteous will be raised up on that occasion, and will live on the earth during that long period? In this view of the matter, the passage does not express the doctrine that the whole church ofi God will be raised bodily from the grave. And supposing it had been the design of the Spirit of God to teach this, is it credible, when there are so many clear expressions in regard to the resurrection of the dead, that so important a doctrine should have been reserved for one single passage so obscure, and where the great mass of the readers of the Bible in all ages have failed to perceive it? That is not the way in which, in the Scriptures, great and momentous doctrines are communicated to mankind.
(f) The fair statement in Rev 20:11-15 is, that all the dead will then be raised up and be judged. This is implied in the general expressions there used – the dead, small and great; the book of life was opened – as if not opened before; the dead – all the dead – were judged out of those things which were written in the books; the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell (hades) delivered up the dead which were in them. This is entirely inconsistent with the supposition that a large part of the race to wit, all the righteous – had been before raised up; had passed the solemn judgment; had been clothed with their immortal bodies, and had been admitted to a joint reign with the Saviour on his throne. In the last judgment what place are they to occupy? In what sense are they to be raised up and judged? Would such a representation have been made as is found in Rev 20:11-15, if it had been designed to teach that a large part of the race had been already raised up, and had received the approval of their judge?
(g) This representation is wholly inconsistent, not only with Rev 20:11-15, but with the uniform language of the Scriptures, that all the righteous and the wicked will be judged together, and both at the coming of Christ. On no point are the statements of the Bible more uniform and explicit than on this, and it would seem that the declarations had been of design so made that there should be no possibility of mistake. I refer for full proof on this point to the following passages of the New Testament: Mat 10:32-33, compared with Mat 7:21-23; Mat 13:30, Mat 13:38-43; Mat 16:24-27; Mat 25:10,31-46; Mar 8:38; Joh 5:28-29; Act 17:31; Rom 2:5-16; Rom 14:10, Rom 14:12; 1Co 3:12-15; 1Co 4:5; 2Co 5:9-11; 2Th 1:6-10; 1Ti 5:24-25; 2Pe 3:7, 2Pe 3:10, 2Pe 3:12; 1Jo 2:28; 1Jo 4:17; Rev 3:5; Rev 20:11-15; Rev 22:12-15. It is utterly impossible to explain these passages on any other supposition than that they are intended to teach that the righteous and the wicked will be judged together, and both at the coming of Christ. And if this is so, it is of course impossible to explain them consistently with the view that all the righteous will have been already raised up at the beginning of the millennium in their immortal and glorified bodies, and that they have been solemnly approved by the Saviour, and admitted to a participation in his glory. Nothing could be more irreconcilable than these two views; and it seems to me, therefore, that the objections to the literal resurrection of the saints at the beginning of the millennial period are insuperable.
III. The following points, then, according to the interpretation proposed, are implied in this statement respecting the first resurrection, and these will clearly comprise all that is stated on the subject:
(1) There will be a reviving, and a prevalence of the spirit which actuated the saints in the best days, and a restoration of their principles as the grand principles which will control and govern the church, as if the most eminent saints were raised again from the dead, and lived and acted upon the earth.
(2) Their memory will then be sacredly cherished, and they will be honored on the earth with the honor which is due to theft names, and which they should have received when in the land of the living. They will be no longer cast out and reproached; no longer held up to obloquy and scorn; no longer despised and forgotten; but there will be a reviving of sacred regard for their principles, as if they lived on the earth, and had the honor which was due to them.
(3) There will be a state of things upon the earth as if they thus lived and were thus honored. Religion will no longer be trampled under foot, but will triumph. In all parts of the earth it will have the ascendency, as if the most eminent saints of past ages lived and reigned with the Son of God in his kingdom. A spiritual kingdom will be set up with the Son of God at the head of it, which will be a kingdom of eminent holiness, as if the saints of the best days of the church should come back to the earth and dwell upon it. The ruling influence in the world will be the religion of the Son of God, and the principles which have governed the most holy of his people.
(4) It may be implied that the saints and martyrs of other times will be employed by the Saviour in embassies of mercy; in visitations of grace to our world to carry forward the great work of salvation on earth. Nothing forbids the idea that the saints in heaven may be thus employed, and in this long period of a thousand years, it may be that they will be occupied in such messages and agencies of mercy to our world as they have never been before – as if they were raised from the dead, and were employed by the Redeemer to carry forward his purposes of mercy to mankind.
(5) In connection with these things, and in consequence of these things, they may be, during that period, exalted to higher happiness and honor in heaven. The restoration of their principles to the earth; the Christian remembrance of their virtues; the prevalence of those truths to establish which they laid down their lives, would in itself exalt them, and would increase their joy in heaven. All this would be well represented, in vision, by a resurrection of the dead; and admitting that this was all that was intended, the representation of John here would be in the highest degree appropriate. What could better symbolize it – and we must remember that this is a symbol – than to say that at the commencement of this period there was, as it were, a solemn preparation for a judgment, and that the departed dead seemed to stand there, and that a sentence was pronounced in their favor, and that they became associated with the Son of God in the honors of his kingdom, and that their principles were now to reign and triumph in the earth, and that the kingdom which they labored to establish would be set up for a thousand years, and that, in high purposes of mercy and benevolence during that period, they would be employed in maintaining and extending the principles of religion in the world? Admitting that the Holy Spirit intended to represent these things, and these only, no more appropriate symbolical language could have been used; none that would more accord with the general style of the Book of Revelation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. Blessed] Happy. And holy; he was holy, and therefore he suffered for the testimony of Jesus in the time when nothing but holiness was called to such a trial.
The first resurrection] Supposed to be that of the martyrs, mentioned above.
The second death] Punishment in the eternal world; such is the acceptation of the phrase among the ancient Jews.
Hath no power] Hath no authority-no dominion over him. This is also a rabbinical mode of speech. In Erubin, fol. 19, 1; Chagiga, fol. 27, 1: “Res Lakish said, The fire of hell hath no power over an Israelite who sins. Rab. Elieser says; The fire of hell hath no power over the disciples of the wise men.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That is, they only are holy ones that shall be thus restored to share in the churchs happiness, and such as shall not perish eternally; but they shall be as priests to God and Christ, glorifying him with the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise, and shall enjoy a quiet and honourable station with Christ upon the earth for a long time.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Blessed(Compare Rev 14:13;Rev 19:9).
on such the second death hathno powereven as it has none on Christ now that He is risen.
priests of GodApostateChristendom being destroyed, and the believing Church translated atChrist’s coming, there will remain Israel and the heathen world,constituting the majority of men then alive, which, from not havingcome into close contact with the Gospel, have not incurred the guiltof rejecting it. These will be the subjects of a general conversion(Re 11:15). “The veil”shall be taken off Israel first, then from off “all people.”The glorious events attending Christ’s appearing, the destruction ofAntichrist, the transfiguration of the Church, and the binding ofSatan, will prepare the nations for embracing the Gospel. Asindividual regeneration goes on now, so there shall be a”regeneration” of nations then. Israel, as a nation,shall be “born at oncein one day.” As the Churchbegan at Christ’s ascension, so the kingdom shall begin at Hissecond advent. This is the humiliation of the modern civilizednations, that nations which they despise most, Jews and uncivilizedbarbarians, the negro descendants of Ham who from the curse of Noahhave been so backward, Cush and Sheba, shall supplant and surpassthem as centers of the world’s history (compare Deu 32:21;Rom 10:19; Rom 11:20,c.). The Jews are our teachers even in New Testament times. Sincetheir rejection revelation has been silent. The whole Bible, even theNew Testament, is written by Jews. If revelation is to recommence inthe millennial kingdom, converted Israel must stand at the head ofhumanity. In a religious point of view, Jews and Gentiles stand on anequal footing as both alike needing mercy but as regards God’sinstrumentalities for bringing about His kingdom on earth, Israel isHis chosen people for executing His plans. The Israelite priest-kingson earth are what the transfigured priest-kings are in heaven. Thereshall be a blessed chain of giving and receivingGod, Christ, thetransfigured Bride the Church, Israel, the world of nations. A newtime of revelation will begin by the outpouring of the fulness of theSpirit. Ezekiel (the fortieth through forty-eighth chapters), himselfson of a priest, sets forth the priestly character of Israel; Danielthe statesman, its kingly character; Jeremiah (Jer33:17-21), both its priestly and kingly character. In the OldTestament the whole Jewish national life was religious only in anexternal legal manner. The New Testament Church insists on inwardrenewal, but leaves its outward manifestations free. But in themillennial kingdom, all spheres of life shall be truly Christianizedfrom within outwardly. The Mosaic ceremonial law corresponds toIsrael’s priestly office; the civil law to its kingly office: theGentile Church adopts the moral law, and exercises the propheticoffice by the word working inwardly. But when the royal and thepriestly office shall be revived, thenthe principles of theEpistle to the Hebrews remaining the samealso the ceremonial andcivil law of Moses will develop its spiritual depths in the divineworship (compare Mt5:17-19). At present is the time of preaching; but then the timeof the Liturgy of converted souls forming “the greatcongregation” shall come. Then shall our present defectivegovernments give place to perfect governments in both Church andState. Whereas under the Old Testament the Jews exclusively, and inthe New Testament the Gentiles exclusively, enjoy the revelation ofsalvation (in both cases humanity being divided and separated), inthe millennium both Jews and Gentiles are united, and the wholeorganism of mankind under the first-born brother, Israel, walks inthe light of God, and the full life of humanity is at last realized.Scripture does not view the human race as an aggregate of individualsand nationalities, but as an organic whole, laid down once for all inthe first pages of revelation. (Gen 9:25-27;Gen 10:1; Gen 10:5;Gen 10:18; Gen 10:25;Gen 10:32; Deu 32:8recognizes the fact that from the first the division of the nationswas made with a relation to Israel). Hence arises the importance ofthe Old Testament to the Church now as ever. Three grand groups ofnations, Hamites, Japhetites, and Shemites, correspond respectivelyto the three fundamental elements in manbody, soul, and spirit.The flower of Shem, the representative of spiritual life, isIsrael, even as the flower of Israel is He in whom all mankind issummed up, the second Adam (Ge12:1-3). Thus Israel is the mediator of divine revelations forall times. Even nature and the animal world will share in themillennial blessedness. As sin loses its power, decay and death willdecrease [AUBERLEN].Earthly and heavenly glories shall be united in the twofold election.Elect Israel in the flesh shall stand at the head of the earthly, theelect spiritual Church, the Bride, in the heavenly. These twofoldelections are not merely for the good of the elect themselves, butfor the good of those to whom they minister. The heavenly Church iselected not merely to salvation, but to rule in love, and ministerblessings over the whole earth, as king-priests. The glory of thetransfigured saints shall be felt by men in the flesh with the sameconsciousness of blessing as on the Mount of Transfiguration thethree disciples experienced in witnessing the glory of Jesus, and ofMoses and Elias, when Peter exclaimed, “It is good for us to behere”; in 2Pe 1:16-18,the Transfiguration is regarded as the earnest of Christ’s coming inglory. The privilege of “our high calling in Christ”is limited to the present time of Satan’s reign; when he is bound,there will be no scope for suffering for, and so afterwards reigningwith, Him (Re 3:21; compareNote, see on 1Co 6:2).Moreover, none can be saved in the present age and in the pale of theChristian Church who does not also reign with Christ hereafter, thenecessary preliminary to which is suffering with Christ now. If wefail to lay hold of the crown, we lose all, “the gift ofgrace as well as the reward of service” [DEBURGH].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection,…. This may be considered either as descriptive of the persons that shall partake of this privilege; as that they are only such who are blessed with spiritual blessings, with a justifying righteousness, with pardon of sin, and regenerating grace, and who are sanctified by the Spirit of God; these, and these only, will be first raised, and will be called to inherit the kingdom prepared for them, Mt 25:34 or else as expressive of their happiness and holiness when raised; they shall be perfectly blessed in soul and body, and perfectly holy in both: they shall be “blessed”, for
on such the second death hath no power; which is the lake of fire,
Re 20:14 the sense is, they shall escape everlasting burnings, the fire of hell, the torment and misery of the wicked; they shall be delivered from wrath to come; and as their bodies will die no more, their souls will not be subject to any sense of wrath, or to any sort of punishment: and they will be “holy”; they will have no sin in them:
but they will be priests of God and of Christ; of God the Father, and of his Son Jesus Christ, being made so to the former by the latter, Re 1:6 or of God, even of Christ, that is, of God, who is Christ, since it follows:
and shall reign with him; they will be wholly devoted to and employed in the service of God and of Christ, and will be continually offering up the sacrifices of praise, or singing the song of the Lamb, adoring the grace and goodness of God and Christ unto them, shown them both in providence and in grace:
and shall reign with him a thousand years; this is mentioned again, partly to assert the certainty of it, and partly to point at the blessedness of the risen saints.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Blessed and holy ( ). A fifth beatitude (Rev 1:3; Rev 14:13; Rev 16:15; Rev 19:9) already and two more to come (Rev 22:7; Rev 22:14, seven in all). Here is added to the usual . The second death ( ). The spiritual death of Rev 2:11; Rev 20:14; Rev 21:8 in contrast to the first or physical death. This language raises a question about the interpretation of the first and the second resurrections, whether both are of the body or one of the spirit. There seems no way to reach a solid conception about it. In 1Co 15:23 there is no mention of the resurrection of any save “those of Christ” ( ), though the end follows (verse 24). However, Paul elsewhere (Ac 24:15) speaks of the resurrection of the just and of the unjust as if one event.
Priests of God and of Christ ( ). As in Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10; Rev 22:3; Rev 22:5.
Shall reign with him ( ‘ ). As promised in the same passages. The servants of God are to be priests with Christ and to reign with him (Mt 19:28). In 5:10 (upon earth) occurs, but this item does not appear here. “No hint is given as to where this service is to be rendered and this royalty to be exercised” (Swete).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Hath part [ ] . A phrase peculiar to John as referring to a person. Compare Joh 13:8.
Second death. See on ch. Rev 2:11.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Blessed and holy is he that hath part,” (makarios kai hagios ho echon meros) “Blessed (or spiritually prosperous) and holy is the one having, holding, or possessing a part; having a divine right, in the first resurrection, Rom 8:11. There is also a progressive bodily rapture hope involved in the first resurrection, not available to the wicked, as seen in Enoch, Elijah, Jesus, and those who look for him in expectancy, yet alive at His coming, Luk 21:36-38; Heb 9:27-28; 2Th 1:5; 2Th 1:10-11; 2Pe 1:10-11.
2) “In the first resurrection,” (en te anastasei te prote) “in the first (in order) resurrection,” of the two resurrections, of the just and the unjust, which are to be, the one completed before, and the other after, the millennial (one thousand year) reign of Christ. Joh 5:28-29; Luk 14:14.
3) “On such the second death hath no power,” (epi touten ho deuteros thanatos ouk echei eksousian) “Over these (of the first rank in resurrection) the second death holds no jurisdictional power, or authority.”
4) “But they shall be priests of God and of Christ,” (all’ esontai hiereis tou theou kai tou Christou) “But they will be priests of God and of Christ;- administrators of work and worship of Christ, Rev 5:9-10; 2Pe 2:5; 2Pe 2:9.
5) “And shall reign with him a thousand years,” (kai basileusousin met’ autou (ta) chilia ete) “And they will reign with him (the) thousand years; as he sits on David’s throne, reigning over the house of Israel, in fulfillment of Divine prophecy, Isa 9:6-7; Luk 1:32-33; Act 15:15-17; 1Co 15:24-28; and the twelve apostles and church (his bride) shall reign with him, Luk 22:28-30; Eph 3:21; Luk 19:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(6) Blessed and holy is he that hath. . . .This is one of the benedictions of the Apocalypse. The blessing on those who have part or share in the first resurrection has this definite feature. On these the second death has not power (or authority). The second death stands in contrast with the first resurrection. The second death is not the mere physical dying; it is rather that more awful death which lies outside the region of the things seen and temporal. Whatever it means, and whatever the conditions which surround it, it is spiritual rather than physical. It is not the life of the body which protects the life of the spirit; it is the living and believing in God which protects from the second death; according to Christs word of such, they shall never die (Joh. 11:26; comp. Joh. 10:27-28). Blessed, too, are such in being priests and kings (they shall reign). Theirs is the priesthood of life who have offered themselves a living sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1). The kingship of life is theirs, who have overcome the world-powers in the word of God and in the blood of the Lamb; these truly reign. (Comp. Note on Rev. 5:10.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Our seer now specifies the nature of the life of this first resurrection. Over that high and unique vitality the second death hath no power. By the first resurrection we are raised from beneath the power of the second death to above the power of the second death. This is initiated at our earthly regeneration, but it is not completed until the glorification of our spirits. Our souls pass through as true and literal a resurrection as our bodies; and it is by that resurrection of our souls that they become a fitting unity with our resurrection bodies. We might, perhaps, more truly say that it is by the resurrection and glorification of the body that it becomes fit for unification with the resurrect soul. Or, stronger still, it is by its own first resurrection that the blessed soul brings the raised body to a fitting unity with itself. It is the soul that glorifies the body. And thus soul and body both pass through each its literal resurrection to the final glorious unification. The first resurrection is, therefore, a resurrection of souls; the second, of bodies.
A thousand years As we are here still in the land of symbol, there is ample reason for applying the symbolic interpretation to this number. We have the number of universality, ten, raised to a cube, and producing, on the year-day principle, 360,000 years. The 1260 years of antichristic rule dwindle thereby to an insignificant extent in comparison with the earthly reign of Christ. Glasgow well says, “Against the hypothesis of the contracted millennium there lies this startling objection: that it assigns to antichrist a more extended reign than to Christ. But, if the reign of Jesus be 360,000 years, and the end of antichrist or heathenism be speedily approaching, their duration is of no moment, being, at most, about 7,000 out of 360,000, or one-five-hundredth part.” We are then only in the morning dawn of human history. Progress is the law, not only in nature and in history but in the Messianic kingdom. It is not only the few that are finally saved. Entirely correct is the inference drawn from the doctrine of the millennium by Dr. Bellamy, that the number of the lost in comparison to the saved may finally be as the number of malefactors now hung to the rest of society. See our work on The Will, p. 359.
Alford, on the passage, in insisting that this resurrection of souls is a bodily resurrection, makes two points. 1. If the first resurrection is “spiritual,” so must be the second. To which we answer, If the first is not a “spiritual” resurrection, it certainly is a soul -resurrection: and a soul -resurrection is not a body-resurrection. It does not follow that if a soul -resurrection is spiritual, therefore a body-resurrection must, also, be spiritual. Professed “literalists” must render souls literally, and not figuratively, as bodies. 2. “Those who lived next to the apostles,” says Alford, “and the whole Church for 300 years understood them in the plain, literal sense;” that is, forsooth, understood souls to mean bodies! And that is a very queer “literal sense!” This argument, based on the authority of the post-apostolic Church, comes with a bad grace from Alford, who persistently maintains, in his Commentary, that the apostles themselves, even in their inspired writings, made the sad mistake of expecting the second advent to take place in their own day. And we call the attention of our readers to this special point: That this very mistake of expecting the advent in their own day is identical with the mistake of placing the advent before the millenium. Many of “those who lived next the apostles” did make this mistake. Bringing the advent into their own day, they, of course, thereby cut off the millennium, and placed it beyond the advent, and hence arose the errors of ancient Chiliasm, or pre-millennialism. This error was not held by “the whole Church for 300 years;” but, probably, by a decided majority of the post-apostolic Church. See the whole question of ancient Chiliasm discussed in our article on “Millennial Traditions,” in the Methodist Quarterly Review for July, 1843.
In his commentary on the Apocalypse, Mr. Glasgow has some ingenious methods of disproving the danger of millennial over-population. The fear of some is, that in 360,000 years of peace and prosperity the earth would be over-stocked with inhabitants. Glasgow first quotes many beautiful texts to prove the future increased fertility of the earth. “The wilderness shall be a fruitful field.” “I will plant in the wilderness the shittah-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree.” “He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her deserts like the garden of the Lord.” “Break forth into joy, ye waste places.” “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.”
The mountains, deserts, and morasses, may be, he thinks, rendered a fertile plain, and the earth become a garden by geological changes, by a better distribution of waters, and a diffusion, truly possible, of warmth over the Arctic regions. Nay, there are supposable methods by which the orb of the earth may be enlarged and furnish a larger area of life. In all which, he professedly and carefully states what may, and, for aught science can show can, be; not what certainly will be. The latest conclusion of science seems to be that the area of land is continually gaining upon the ocean.
But the most valid solution of this difficulty lies in what are now the known laws of population. In the animal creation it is found, largely, that low life is enormously prolific, and high life chary of over-population. The fishes spawn and the insects breed in trillions while the lion and elephant are generating a score. So also among mankind the poor, ignorant, and miserable are prolific, while the higher classes, the rich, the aristocratic, and the intellectually and morally cultured classes tend to sterility. The nobility of England would die out were it not replenished from the commons. People who have few resources for enjoyment fall back upon the animal and domestic gratifications within their reach. As the higher faculties find full play in a variety of directions, these enjoyments are often deserted. As the passions of mankind become regulated, fecundity becomes moderate, and a perfectly balanced race would never over-populate the earth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
SPECIAL DOCTRINO-ETHICAL AND HOMILETICAL NOTES (ADDENDUM)
Section Eighteenth
Third or General End-Judgment. Judgment upon Satan and all his Associates. The Second Death. a. The Heavenly Prognosis. (Rev 20:6-8)
General.As we must distinguish between the elect, who have part in the first resurrection, and the general throng of the blessed, we have also to distinguish between the blossom of the earth and of the nations, constituting the Millennial Kingdom, the eschatological , and the terrestrial orb in general and its masses of peoples. It is a prophecy corresponding with the most profound anthropology that the rudest constituents of humanity shall at last, at the instigation of Satan, instinctively band themselves together for an assault upon the City of God. The lineaments of this anticipation are distinctly expressed in the passages quoted from Ezekiel. From an ethical point of view, it is the fundamental idea of this anticipation that evil shall, after the annihilation of all its idealistic illusions, make one last attack upon the Kingdom of God, with the convulsive movement of pure brutality, savageness, hostility to, and rebellion against, the holy. From an ethnographical point of view, the remoter heathen Orient appears, in antithesis to the nearer theocratic Orient, as the natural lodgment of the elements for such a final struggle. Already the East has frequently threatened the civilized world of anterior Asia and Europe with its terrors, by its great military incursions. There fanaticism slumbers in millions,in the diverse forms of Grco-Catholicism, Mohammedanism, and Paganism, the latter of which is further sub-divided into the opposite ground-forms of Brahmanism and Buddhism. Imagine a gigantic Oriental coalition, equipped with the most modern military instruments of the European world, its leaders inspired with the magic song of the three Apocalyptio frogs. In such a case, the ethically monstrous assault against the Church of God must have the aspect of a Titanic cosmical power;the Divine cosmos, however, must also, infallibly, take upon itself an annihilating counter-agency.
Special.[Rev 20:6.] Glory of the first resurrection. The summit of life is the first resurrection; the summit of death is the second death.The true priestly domination in the Millennial Kingdom: 1. A domination of all the elect; 2. A domination with Christ.[Rev 20:7.] Sublimity of Gods power in the final loosing of Satan.Last form of evil on earth.
Rev 20:8. 1. The absolute majority in conflict against Christ; 2. Rude violence [might] in conflict against the consummate right of His Church; 3. The brutalized power of earth in an assault upon the spirit-kingdom of God from Heaven. Consummate irrationality in its hatred of the consummate Kingdom of light, love and life.The serpent nature of evil in its last struggle.The last struggle itself, the foretoken of its destruction.
Starke (Rev 20:8): Satan is the greatest rover; he goes to and fro, in order to seduce men and to do harm. (Job 1:7. In other words: Demonic evil ever and anon issues forth from its dark nothingness, without rule or system, but yet sympathetically, or rather in sympathetic antipathies, and consistently. Oneness in the Kingdom of God is based upon harmony in the Spirit; oneness in the kingdom of darkness is based upon a conspiracy for Antichristian purposes.)
Graeber (p. 357). [Rev 20:9.] And fire came down from Heaven. This figurative expression indicates that their ruin is brought about by a special event, sent by God, the saints themselves having no hand in the matter. This is described with more particularity, Eze 38:21-23.
[From M. Henry: Rev 20:6. None can be blessed but they that, are holy; and all that are holy shall be blessed.From Bonar: Rev 20:6. The First Resurrection. 1. When is it to be? When the Lord comes the second time. (See 1Co 15:23; 1Th 4:16; 2Th 2:1). 2. Whom it is to consist of. This passage speaks only of the martyrs and the non-worshippers of the Beast; but other passages show that all His saints are to be partakers of this reward. Oneness with Christ now secures for us the glory of that day. 3. What it does for those who share it. It brings them (1) Blessedness. God only knows how much that word implies, as spoken by Him who cannot lie, who exaggerates nothing, and whose simplest words are His greatest. (2) Holiness. They are consecrated to God and purified, both outwardly and inwardly. (3) Preservation from, the second death. Their connection with death, in every sense, is done forever. (4) The possession of a heavenly priesthood. They are made priests unto God and Christboth to the Father and the Son. Priestly nearness and access; priestly power and honor and service; priestly glory and dignity;this is their recompense. (5) The possession of the kingdom.Sinner, what is resurrection to bring to you?]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
III. THIRD OR GENERAL END-JUDGMENT. JUDGMENT UPON SATAN AND ALL HIS COMPANY. THE SECOND DEATH
Rev 20:6-10
A.HEAVENLY PROGNOSIS OF THE LAST GENERAL JUDGMENT
Rev 20:6-8
6Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on [over] such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and [ins. they] shall reign with him a [the]8 thousand years. 7And when the thousand years are expired [finished], Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8and shall go out to deceive [seduce or mislead ()] the nations which are in the four quarters [corners] of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to [the]9 battle [war]: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
SYNOPTICAL VIEW
The prophecies relative to the three judgments here taper, so to speak, to a point. The most detailed of these prophecies was that which concerned the Harlot; the prophecy concerning the Beast was couched in less ample terms; and this last prophecy of judgment is concentrated in a very little sketch, so that we can scarce perceive the articulations which separate one cycle from another, and divide the heavenly prognosis from the earth-picture. Nevertheless, the breaks in question are still to be found. The words of Rev 20:6 do indeed glance back to the thousand years; but this is, manifestly, in order to the introduction of the last Judgment, which brings with it the second death. Even within this diminutive judgment-picture, the antithesis is unmistakable. Rev 20:7-8 speak of the loosing of Satan and the seduction of Gog and Magog in the future tense. But with Rev 20:9 the Seer makes a historic presentation, in the prophetic preterite, of the fact which he has before predicted. The plan of the whole Book is, therefore, retained in this case also. The perspective brevity of this section testifies unmistakably to the canonical truth and chasteness of the description. For an apocalyptic fiction, the elaboration of this sombre picture of the last revolt of the heathen, the fiery judgment upon Satan, and the second death in the lake of fire, would have possessed the greatest charms. Our Prophet, however, gives only the few features that he has seengives them as he has seen them, darkly, in well-nigh figureless language. It cannot be said, however, that he is wearied, for soon after follows the picture of the perfected City of God, magnificently developed and vividly distinct.
With a beatitude relative to the sharers in the first resurrection, the perspective of the last judgment is opened. The participants in this resurrection are called blessed, as those whose lot is absolutely decided, who have passed their judgment and come forth from it as holy ones, forever consecrate to God. This retrospect is occasioned by the prospect of the second death as the doom of the third and last judgment. Over such the second death hath no authority. The second death ( ) is damnation in the pool of fire, according to Rev 20:14 and Rev 21:8; not gradual dissolution and annihilation (Rothe). The term eternal death [Dsterdieck] is less explanatory of this mysterious judgment than the figurative expression, the pool of fire. It is a fellowship with all those who are in that condition of absolute irritation which is at the same time absolute stagnation, in endless ethical self-consumption and annihilation as a punishment for the persevering negation of God and the personal Kingdom of love. The opposite of this death-peril consists in the fact that the sharers in the first resurrection will be priests of God and of Christ. This priesthood, as absolute submission to God in blessedness in Him, stands contrasted with the unblest madness of the pool of fire; and, furthermore, it is perfect submission in reference to the economy of the Father as well as to the economy of redemption. They offer the whole creation, they offer the whole Church, with all the good things of them both, evermore to God and to Christ; and this is the condition whereby an eternal and ever-better possession of these good things is secureda participation in the dominion of the Lord. Even in the Millennial Kingdom they shall reign with Christ.
Not in the vision form, but in prophetic discourse the Seer now announces the loosing of Satan after the thousand years. He shall be loosed out of his prisonnot break out of it. In accordance with the determination of God, Satan, and with him all evil, must be thoroughly and completely judged. Hitherto judgment has been predominantly accomplished through instrumentalities. The historic judgment upon the Harlot was executed by the Beast, i. e., the preliminary hypocritical instance of evil has been judged by the perfect consistency of evil, in accordance with a very general historic law;half-way-ness succumbs to consistency. Antichristian evil, as a spiritual power, has been judged by the spiritual effect of the personal appearance of Christ, by the terror of His and by the sword out of His mouth. In the end, however, Satan employs the means of resistance still afforded him by his creaturely strength, reviving in a convulsive struggle, in rebellion against God; and with the brutal opposition of consummate Satanity, corresponds the savage sense of strength of the heathen [nations] in the corners of the earth, who have withdrawn themselves from the sanctifying process of the eschatological economy (the new ), aye, have hardened themselves under it, and have become, especially in their resentment against that heavenly order of things which oversways them, kindred in mind to Satan. It has been asked: whence come these countless heathen, since, according to Rev 19:21, Christ has slain the Antichristian host? But apart from the fact that He slew them with the breath of His mouth, i. e., morally annihilated them, which might not prevent a continuance of physical vegetation on their part, the terms employed, the heathen [nations] in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, afford sufficient explanation. Ezekiel prophesied that the people of God should, long after the more familiar anti-theocratic assaults, have to sustain an attack from the circle of the remotest barbaric Orient (Ezekiel 38, 39). This eagle-glance at the future, whose significance trains of Huns, Mongols, Tartars and Turks have already confirmed, could not be missing from our Apocalypse. The present prophecy is heralded in Rev 16:12. But whilst Ezekiel, in prophesying of Gog in the land of Magog, referred to distinct Asiatic peoples (see Dst., p. 552), John employs the terms as a universal symbol, in designation of all the barbarous peoples in the corners of the earthso, however, that the distant Orient plays the principal part. The idea of these last heathen is precisely analogous to the churchly idea. In the earlier days of Christianity, the inhabitants of the villages (pagani) or of the heaths, far remote from the great centres of civilization, formed the remnants of the old worldremnants which were both unconverted and difficult of conversion. Thus the entire old world will leave its remnants in a moral, symbolical heathenism, which will surround the Kingdom of Christ not merely as a terrestrial, but also as a spiritual boundary. But the idea that Evil shall at last break out and incur judgment in such a final heathenish mutiny, in a brutal revolt, the stupidity of which is veiled by the innumerable force of the hosts therein concerned, is characteristic of the great Prophet, who sees far above and beyond the learning of the schools.
EXPLANATIONS IN DETAIL
Rev 20:6. Blessed and holy is he, etc.As in the process of the formation of Christian character, the beatitudes of the righteousness of faith condition sanctification or the becoming holy, so in the condition of consummation, blessedness is still more decidedly the eternal source of the renewal of holiness. It is a remarkable fact that even Spinoza had a dim idea of this, that blessedness is itself a virtue and a condition of virtue. Even civic contentment has, in a limited degree, an ennobling influence. By holiness, eternal and complete consecratedness to God is here expressed.Over such the second death, etcThey are beyond temptation, and cannot relapse into sin, and hence cannot fall under the fearful dominion of the second death.The second death is, Rev 20:14, declared to be the judgment in the pool of fire: eternal agitation amidst the eternal frustration of plots and attempts: the specific demonic and Satanic suffering. A dying and an inability to die, ancient expositors were wont to say. The fact is here expressed that the Millennial Kingdom forms only a heavenly circle of culture of the new world within the old earthin other words, that the heathen [nations], from whom the last rebellion proceeds, form an antithesis to Gods people of the first resurrection. The remains of the old humanity will occupy very much the same relation to the new humanity which the remains of the pre-Adamite creation occupy to the human world; although a general recognition of Christ, and, to this extent, the beginning of Christianity amongst all these peoples, is induced by Christs victory over Antichrist (Revelation 14). The general conversion of the heathen even precedes the Parousia of Christ. They shall be priests of God and of Christ.Because they shall be priests, they shall also be co-regents with Christ, and being both throughout the thousand years, they appear unconditionally elevated above the perils of the last Satanic assault.
Rev 20:7. And when the thousand years are finished.When the destination of the thousand years is fulfilled ( ). Satan shall be loosed.The obedience of the heathen [nations], their Christianity, their faithfulness, must finally undergo a fiery test, after they have long enough been spectators of the Heaven on earth, and enjoyed, in nature and grace, the blessings of the Parousia of Christ. For a similar purpose Satan was permitted to exercise his arts in the first Paradise, to tempt Job, Christ Himself, and His Apostles. Such is the Divine method for the testing and perfecting of the elect, the purification and sifting of the churches, the unveiling of the wicked in order to their judgment, and the inducement of the self-judgment of Satan, resulting in his dynamical destruction. Under this Divine economy, evil in abstracto is permitted fully to develop, as is also evil in concreto, in wicked individuals, in the fellowship of the wicked, in the father of liars.
Rev 20:8. And shall go out to seduce [or mislead] the nations [Lange: heathen].The difficulty occasioned by the statement that heathen peoples are here once more represented as going up to battle against the saints, after the destruction (Rev 19:21) of all peoples and kings that worshipped the Beast (Dsterd.), is very simply solved by a distinction between the Antichristian host and the remaining world of peoples, particularly those under the Eastern kingsirrespective of the fact that it is doubtful whether the killing of the rest (Rev 19:21) should be taken literally. Vitringa calls attention to the fact that the , Gog and Magog, dwell in the uttermost ends of the earth (Eze 38:15 and Rev 20:9).10 Another difficulty, according to Dsterdieck, consists in the fact that foes belonging to this earthly life fight against the faithful who have part in the first resurrection. This will undoubtedly be a very foolish proceeding, but it will not on that account be improbable, as those who have passed through the resurrection dwell upon earth in bodily form. Dogs attack lions, beasts attack men, barbarians and savages attack civilized nations, the foes of Christ attack the Church of God;all these are wars from motives of, sheer instinct, the rationality of which we have not to take upon ourselves to prove. In the antithesis of Cain and Abel, it was, in reality, the mortal who assaulted the immortal. Consider further that these heathen peoples are seduced to battle against the saints by Satan himself directly. Rev 16:13, it is affirmed, militates against this idea. That passage, however, rather gives an explanation of the manner in which we should conceive of the agitation of Satan. At first, as the red Dragon (Revelation 12), he had no such definite organs as at a later period (Revelation 13), and yet even then he could work by spiritual influences. And even though the Beast and the False Prophet are destroyed, the frogs which went forth from their mouths as well as from, the mouth of the Dragon, reminiscences of rancor, resentment and rage [Groll. Gram und Grimm], can be made effectual for the seduction of the heathen, primarily through their leaders. In the four corners of the earth.Hengstenberg, in the interest of his exegesis, has very ingeniously taken the edge off of the four corners of the earth by striving to prove that the corners comprehend that which lies within them, and that hence the four corners of the earth denote the same ground as (see his citations, vol. ii., 368 sq. [Eng. Trans.]). But allowing that the four corners might denote, by synecdoche, the complete totality of the land or the people, such a use of the term is entirely different from the present statement, that Satan shall go out to seduce the heathen in the four corners; and from the further statement that they went up upon the breadth of the earth. Gog and Magog.The following questions arise here: 1. What ethnographical sense did the theocratic world attach to Gog and Magog? 2. How did Gog and Magog become, in the Old Testament, the symbol of the last foes of the theocratic Church of God? 3. How has the Apocalypse taken up this symbol and applied it in manifold forms? 4. How is the same idea reflected in Jewish tradition? [1.] In respect to Biblical ethnography, the name of Magog appears, by the side of Gomer, amongst the sons of Japhet, Gen 10:2; see Comm. on Genesis, p. 348 [Am. Ed.]. Josephus explains Magog as indicative of the Scythians. Magog seems to be a collective name, denoting the sum of the peoples situate In Media and the Caucasian Mountains, concerning whom a vague report had reached the Hebrews, etc. See Winer, Title Magog; Dsterdieck, Note on p. 552. Gog, according to Uhlemann, as there quoted, and others, means mountain; Magog the dwelling-place, or land of Gog. According to Ezekiel, eze38:2, the prince or the nation is called Gog, the land of the same being denominated Magog, which embraces Rosch,11 Meshech and Tubal (see the table of nations). [2.] In the Apocalypse of Ezekiel, the spirit of prophecy has, in accordance with a distinct ethical pre-supposition, arrived at the idea that the people of God shall, after all its conflicts with familiar anti-theocratic enemies, after its complete restoration, re-instatement and renewal, have to undergo one more last assault from the rude and brutal enmity of Eastern barbarian nations. These enemies are introduced by Ezekiel under the names of Gog and Magog. Hitzig [Commentar. zu Ezech., p. 288) thinks that the Prophet chose the name Gog, the Scythian, on account of its being the name of the most remote peoples; and adds that the Scythians had appeared in Palestine not so very long prior to the time of Ezekiels prophecytwo explanations which invalidate each other. On the question as to whether the Scythians had been in Palestine previous to the prophecy, comp. Winer, Title Scythians. We behold in the name the symbolic term for the rudest and most savage heathenism as contrasted with the perfected Theocracy. Jehovah will curb, subdue and destroy Gog like a wild beast. [3.] In harmony with the same eschatological idea, the Apocalypse took up the symbolical announcement, and to its representation of Gog and Magog as two collateral powers the inducement was given by Ezekiel, in his designation of Magog as a complex of different peoples. In the general judgment picture (Revelation 16) these enemies appear as the kings of the east, who come from the region of barbarism beyond the Euphrates. [4.] In Jewish Theology, also, the two names, of which the first denotes in Ezekiel l. c., the king of the land and people of Magog, are found in conjunction as the names of nations: In fine extremitatis dierum Gog et Magog et exercitus eorum adscendent Hierosolyma et per manus regis Messi ipsi cadent, et VII. annos dierum ardebunt filii Israelis ex armis eorum (Targ. Hieros. in Num. xi. 27, etc.). Duesterdieck. Comp. De Wette, p. 191. Ibid., singular interpretations of the names by Augustine, Jerome et al.; application to the Goths, Saracens, Turks, all enemies of the Church, Antichrist. The sorriest interpretation is that of Bar Cochab (Wetst.). Hengstenb. (2. p. 369 [Eng. Tr.]) seems to find a significancy in Brentanos initial juxtaposition of Gog, Magog and Demagog. A witty reply to the perhaps only seeming desire to discover Gog and Magog in the demagogues of the 19th century, see in Ebrard, Note, p. 517. To the war.That last great war, foretold for ages by Prophecy. The number of whom is as the sand of the sea.According to Ezekiel even, Gog leads with him a mixture of eastern nations (as did, in reality, Attila, Genghis Khan and Timur). At the same time, the figure employed is expressive, on the one hand, of the multitude of sordid human natures, and on the other hand, of a blind trust in this multitude. The salvability of the Scythians, however, is expressly declared by the Apostle Paul, Col 3:11.
In the coalition of Satan with the mob of Gog and Magog, the combination of demon and beast, serpent and swine, formed by the dragon figure, is completely realized.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 2527
THE FIRST RESURRECTION
Rev 20:6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.
RESPECTING the events spoken of in my text, and which are generally known under the name of the Millennium, commentators have been greatly divided. What has been spoken on the subject by wild enthusiasts, I shall pass over without notice: but the two leading opinions of pious and judicious men may fitly come under our review. Some have thought that there will really be a resurrection of saints and martyrs, who shall again live upon the earth a thousand years, and that the Lord Jesus Christ also will come down from heaven to reign over them during that period. Others conceive the resurrection to be altogether figurative, and that it imports no more, than that for the space of a thousand years there will arise a succession of holy men, resembling the saints and martyrs of former ages: and that the spiritual kingdom of Christ will for that period be established upon the face of the whole earth. I confess that, in my opinion, this latter sentiment is by far the more just and scriptural; and, feeling that persuasion, I will endeavour to shew you,
I.
What we are to understand by the first resurrection
The whole of the book of Revelation is confessedly mystical and figurative; and, if we interpret this passage in a literal sense, we make it essentially to differ from every other part. In confirmation of the view which I have of the first resurrection, as being not a literal, but only a mystical and figurative, resurrection, I would observe,
1.
That the words do not by any means of necessity require to be taken in a literal sense
[It is well known that a spiritual change is often spoken of in the Scriptures as a resurrection from the dead: we are said to be quickened when dead in trespasses and sins; and to have passed thereby from death unto life [Note: Eph 2:1. 1Jn 3:14.]. In several places, where the terms are quite as strong, or even stronger than those in the text, no one ever thought of putting a literal interpretation. When the Prophet Hosea says, Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up: after two days will he revive us, in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight [Note: Hos 6:1-2.]; every one understands him as speaking of a spiritual resurrection. The language used by the Prophet Ezekiel is yet more to our purpose. He represents the Jewish nation as not only dead, but as so long dead, that their very bones are scattered on the earth, and almost pulverized. And he speaks of their bones being re-united, each to its kindred bones, and the whole covered with flesh, and every body animated again by a living spirit which has entered into them, and restored them to life [Note: Eze 37:1-10.]. But did ever any one understand him as speaking of a literal resurrection?
It may be said, that, in our text, particular persons are specified, even those who have died as martyrs in the cause of Christ, and that therefore the text must be literally applied to them. I answer, that it is not of them personally that the Apostle speaks, but of persons resembling them in mind and spirit; just as Elijah is said to have come to introduce the Messiah, because John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elias [Note: Compare Mal 4:5. with Mat 11:14; Mat 17:12 and Luk 1:17.]. And, if we make their resurrection personal, we must then regard the resurrection of the wicked also as personal, of whom it is said, that, when the thousand years shall be finished, the rest of the dead will live again [Note: ver. 5.]. But did ever any one suppose that the wicked would rise to live on earth again? Yet, if the pious dead, who have been slain by the sword of martyrdom, are literally to rise and reign on earth a thousand years, the ungodly dead, who have been slain by the avenging sword of the Almighty, must literally, and in their own persons, rise at the expiration of that time [Note: The in ver. 5. are the same persons with in Rev 19:21; and they, beyond all doubt, are spoken of symbolically, as designating, not individual persons, but persons of their spirit and character. This shews that we must understand ver. 4. also, not in a literal, but in a symbolical sense, as designating persons who resemble the martyrs of old time. The same mode of explication must apply to both; if the one be taken literally, so must the other be. Both must be literal, or both symbolical. And this quite, as it appears to me, determines the point at issue.].
But shall any, whether the risen martyrs, or others resembling them, live, and reign a thousand years? No: there is no reason to think that their lives shall be protracted to any such length: but there shall be a succession of saints during that period: and as that succession will be uninterrupted through that whole time, they are said to live through that time; because, though they do not personally live, their piety does live, and is transmitted unimpaired through all the successive generations that shall arise. It is in this sense that the two witnesses who prophesy in sackcloth, are said to prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore prophetic days, (or years) [Note: Rev 11:3.]. It relates not to their persons, but to others rising in continued succession in their spirit, to bear the same testimony. Indeed of them also is it said, that they were overcome by their enemies and killed; and that their death caused exceeding great joy; but that, after three days (years) and an half, to the utter dismay of their enemies, they rose and lived again [Note: Rev 11:7; Rev 11:10-11.]. But no one ever imagined, that this was fulfilled literally; every one understands this of a succession of prophets who arose to bear the same testimony as they had borne who had suffered martyrdom for their fidelity: and in the same manner must the resurrection of the saints also, and their reigning for a thousand years, be understood of a continued succession of eminently pious persons reigning with Christ over all the enemies of their salvation; whilst the ungodly shall have no successors till the expiration of that time.
In any other sense than this, it would be extremely difficult to make this passage agree with what is spoken of the resurrection in other parts of Scripture; for the resurrection is always represented as taking place all at once, except that the godly will rise first, before those who shall then be alive upon the earth shall be changed [Note: 1Co 15:51-53. 1Th 4:15-17.]: but in the sense we have annexed to it, it accords exactly with the language of St. Paul, when he says, If the casting away of the Jews be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead [Note: Rom 11:15.]? If it be thought, that this similarity of metaphor will occasion confusion in the sense, let it be remembered, that our blessed Lord used the very same terms to express the conversion of souls to him now, and their rising again to judgment in the last day: Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Note: Joh 5:25; Joh 5:28-29.]. Here our Lord distinguishes the two resurrections, both effected by his almighty power; the one upon the souls of men, and the other on their bodies: the one in order to their reigning with him on earth, (for they are made kings and priests unto God;) and the other, in order to their reigning with him in glory.
Thus the very terms themselves are best explained in reference to a spiritual resurrection; whilst, if taken in a literal sense, they would establish a doctrine not found in any other part of Holy Writ. To all of which I may add, that the text speaks only of their souls living, which is never once in all the Scriptures used to designate the resurrection of the body.
In confirmation of the foregoing statement, I proceed to observe,]
2.
That the event which a literal sense of them would establish, is neither probable nor desirable
[One cannot conceive that the saints in glory should be brought down from heaven, where their happiness is complete and without alloy, and be placed again in a situation where they must be encompassed with infirmities, and be subjected even to death itself; or that the Saviour should leave his bright abodes, to sojourn here again in a tabernacle of clay for the space of a thousand years. If indeed he had plainly declared such an event, we should most readily submit to his all-wise determinations, and should expect assuredly that he would ultimately be glorified by it: but, when there is no other passage of Scripture that sanctions such an idea; and all similar expressions have confessedly a spiritual import; and the spiritual or figurative sense accords with innumerable other declarations of Holy Writ; I cannot hesitate about the true interpretation of the words, or about the expectations which they teach me to form respecting the glory of the latter day.
In this view of the passage I am confirmed by the circumstances which will take place at the close of the Millennium: Satan will then be loosed out of his prison, and will go forth to deceive the nations, and to gather them together to battle, the number of whom will be as the sand of the sea. And with these he will compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire will come down from God out of heaven to devour them [Note: ver. 79.]. Now all this I can understand, on the supposition that there be a succession of saints for a thousand years; because I can easily conceive that hypocrites and apostates may at last arise from among them, just as they did from among the immediate converts of the Apostles: but I cannot possibly conceive, either that Satan should so prevail over saints that are brought down from heaven, as to occasion them at last to be cut off by fire from heaven; or that, though preserved faithful to their God, they should ever be subjected to such assaults from men and devils. We are told expressly, that the sun shall not light on them, nor any heat, and that they shall have no more sorrow, or crying, or pain: and therefore I cannot but conclude, that they shall be with Christ in Paradise, till they shall come forth at the last day to be reunited to their bodies, and to possess both in body and soul the inheritance provided for them from the foundation of the world.]
With such a view of the first resurrection, we are prepared to contemplate,
II.
The blessedness of those that shall have a part in it
Blessed and holy will they all be; and that too in a pre-eminent degree above the saints of other ages:
1.
Their views will be more enlarged
[Our light far surpasses that of the prophets: insomuch that the least and meanest of the saints under the Christian dispensation excels in that respect even the Baptist himself, who was greater than all the prophets: and amongst ourselves, some have far deeper and richer views of divine truth than others. But in that day, the great mystery of redemption will be exhibited in far brighter colours than it has yet been. Not that any fresh revelation will be vouchsafed to men; for I conceive that the canon of Scripture is closed: but there will be a more abundant measure of the Spirit poured out upon them, revealing to them the Saviour, in all the brightness of his glory, and in the incomprehensible wonders of his love: the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven-fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound [Note: Isa 30:26.].]
2.
Their graces will be more vigorous
[They will be blessed and holy; and blessed, because holy. This indeed will be a necessary consequence of the foregoing; for the more any man beholds the Saviours glory, the more will he be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of our God [Note: 2Co 3:18.]. The whole vineyard of the Lord will then be watered more abundantly; and such showers of blessings will be poured out upon it, that every plant in it will grow, and be fruitful in all the fruits of righteousness, to the praise and glory of our God. We may form some idea of their state from what is recorded of the saints on the day of Pentecost: what exalted piety did they manifest towards both God and man! So will it be also in that day: for brass they will have gold, and for iron silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron [Note: Isa 60:17.]: and that prayer of the Apostle will in a more ample measure be answered to them; The God of peace, that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, will make them perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in them that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ [Note: Heb 13:20-21.].]
3.
Their consolations more abundant
[As their communications from God will be increased, so will their fellowship with him be more intimate and abiding. Their communion with each other also will be most profitable and endearing. Wherever they turn their eyes, they will behold a brother, or a sister, a partaker of the same faith, an heir of the same glory. If even now the communion of the saints be so sweet, that it is almost a foretaste of heaven itself, what will it be in that day, when the loveliness of each, and the disposition of all to exercise the principle of love, will be so greatly augmented? And what will the ordinances be in that day? What, but the very gate of heaven? Methinks, the pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit will then be a daily occurrence; and the language of earth be like that of heaven, one continued effusion of praise and thanksgiving. The descriptions given of that period in the Scriptures are precisely similar to those which are given of heaven itself; because the state of the Church then will be an emblem, and an earnest of heaven. So happy will they be in their intercourse with God, that the sun will be no more their light by day, neither for brightness will the moon give light unto them; but the Lord will be unto them an everlasting light, and their God their glory [Note: Compare Isa 60:19. with Rev 21:23; Rev 22:5.].]
4.
Their progress more easy
[Satan will then be bound, and sealed up in the bottomless pit, so that he can have no access to harass and deceive them [Note: ver. 2, 3.]. Now it is well known, that this subtle enemy presents more formidable obstacles in the Christians way than all other enemies together; as the Apostle says, We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places [Note: Eph 6:12.]. How rapid then will be the progress of those who have not this tide to stem, and at the same time are carried forward by breezes the most favourable that heaven can bestow, and amply sufficient to fill all their sails! To this subject we may well apply that beautiful description which the Prophet Amos has given of that period; Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop wine, and all the hills shall melt [Note: Amo 9:13.]: for in a spiritual, as well as temporal view, so fruitful shall be the seasons, that the blessings of heaven shall almost supersede the labours of cultivation. And all who are bending their course heavenward will fly with the celerity of doves to their windows, and without interruption, as the clouds of heaven [Note: Isa 60:8.].]
5.
Their prospects more glorious
[Breathing thus, as they will do, the atmosphere of heaven, they will be ever ready to take their flight, and to wing their way to their celestial abodes. From the top of Pisgah they will view their promised inheritance: and when the Lord Jesus says, Behold, I come quickly, the united cry of all will be, Amen: even so, come Lord Jesus [Note: Rev 22:7; Rev 22:20.]. In a word, their whole spirit and deportment will evince the presence, and the reign, of Christ in all their souls.]
Application
But may not this period be anticipated? May we not at least have the commencement of it amongst ourselves? Yes, surely we may. We may assuredly enjoy the dawn of that light, which they will behold in its meridian splendour. With a view to assist you in the noble enterprise of forestalling and anticipating that blessed day, I would say,
1.
Improve the privileges which you do enjoy
[These, let me say, are equal to any that have been enjoyed since the apostolic age: for the light of the Gospel shines with a splendour unknown to former ages, and is diffusing its rays to an extent which but a few years ago no human being could have contemplated. Satan indeed exerts his utmost efforts to obstruct the progress of divine truth; but he cannot succeed: he is foiled in almost every attempt; and his kingdom trembles to its centre. I need go no farther than to you, my brethren, in proof of what I have asserted. You see how the Lord Jesus Christ is extending his empire, amongst yourselves, as well as in the world at large: and therefore you have every encouragement to fight under his banners, and to expect a successful issue of your warfare. It is worthy of observation, that the saints of the millennial period have no distinction above you, except that they shall reign a thousand years; for over you the second death shall have no power, any more than over them: and you, as well as they, are priests of God and of Christ [Note: Compare ver. 6. with 1Pe 2:9.]. Improve then, I say, your privileges, and seek to attain the graces that will distinguish them: they are characterized by their freedom from the pollutions of the world, and by the fidelity of their adherence to Christ [Note: ver. 4.]. Be ye then faithful unto death; and know assuredly that God will give you the crown of life.]
2.
Look forward to a still better resurrection
[We are ready to envy the millennial saints: but think how much more glorious a resurrection awaits you, than can possibly be enjoyed by embodied souls on earth! They will of necessity be subject to infirmities, even in their best estate: but in a little time you shall be as free from all infirmity as the angels around the throne of God: your souls shall be altogether perfected after the Divine image, and your bodies be made like unto Christs glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself [Note: Php 3:20-21.]. Then shall you be ever with the Lord, and possess in all its fulness the complete fruition of your God. Look forward with joy to that blissful period; and in the mean time, Comfort ye one another with these words [Note: 1Th 4:17-18.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Ver. 6. Blessed and happy is he ] The holy only have part in this resurrection, and are therefore happy, or out of harm’s way, as the word signifies.
The second death hath no power ] For they are brought from the jaws of death to the joys of eternal life, where is mirth without mourning, riches without rust, &c.
But they shall be priests ] See Trapp on “ Rev 1:6 “
They shall reign ] The righteous are kings, Mat 13:17 ; cf. Luk 10:24 ; “Many righteous” is the same with “many kings.” See Trapp on “ Rev 20:4 “
A thousand years ] These thousand years begin (saith Mr Brightman) where the former ended, that is, in the year 1300, whereby continuance thereof is promised for a thousand years forward, among some of the Gentiles; and how long it shall reign afterwards among the Jews, He only knows that knows all. The most interpreters by a thousand years here understand not any definite time, as Rev 20:2 ; of this chapter, but an indefinite time, that is, for ever, as Psa 84:10 . This thousand years they take for eternity, and a further degree of glory for such as are called forth to suffer. See Eze 37:1-14 Isa 26:19 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
An interpolated explanation of the preceding vision. , if a continuation of ., must almost be taken in its archaic sense of ‘belonging to God”. The ordinary meaning reduces the phrase to a hysteron proteron, unless the idea is that the bliss consists in holiness (so Vendidad xix. 22, “happy, happy the man who is holy with perfect holiness”). “Blessed and holy,” however, was a conventional Jewish term of praise and congratulation ( cf. Jub. ii. 23). . . . . According to the Hellenic faith recorded in Plutarch (in his essay on “the face in the moon’s orb”), the second death, which gently severs the mind from the soul, is a boon, not a punishment. But John’s view reflects the tradition underlying the Iranian belief (Brandt, 586 f., 592) that the righteous were exempt from the second death (defined as in Rev 21:8 ). The clause refers to the permanent standing (Rev 1:6 , Rev 5:10 a ) of these risen martyrs not only during but after the millennium; otherwise it would be meaningless, since the danger of the second death (as the penalty inflicted on all who are condemned at the final assizes) does not emerge until the millennium is over. The subsequent clause . . . is independent, referring back to the special and temporary privilege of the first resurrection and the millennium. For this reason it is precarious to infer from (elsewhere ) that the occupation of these saints is the mediation of divine knowledge to the whom Satan is temporarily prevented from beguiling. The likelihood is that the phrase simply denotes as elsewhere the bliss of undisturbed access to God and of intimate fellowship. John ignores the current belief that the loyal survivors on earth would be rewarded ( cf. Dan 12:12 ; Ps. Sol. 17:50, etc.), which is voiced in Asc. Isa. iv. 14 16, but he reproduces independently the cognate view (Asc. Isa. iv. 16 f.) that “the saints will come with the Lord with their garments which are (now) stored up on high in the seventh heaven [ cf. Rev 6:11 ] they will descend and be present in this world” (after which the Beloved executes judgment at the resurrection). He, retains, however, not only the general resurrection (12) but the variant and earlier idea ( cf. 4 Ezr 7:26 f.) of a resurrection ( , 4) confined to the saints. He calls this the first resurrection not because the martyrs and confessors who enjoyed it had to undergo a second in the process of their final redemption but because it preceded the only kind of resurrection with which sinners and even ordinary Christians had anything to do (Titius, 37 40; Baldensperger, 74, 79 f.). , apparently on earth. This would be put beyond doubt were we to take the view of the risen martyrs’ occupation which has been set aside above. But, even apart from this, in the light of all relevant tradition and of the context, the earth must be the sphere of the millennium; Christ might of course be conceived to execute his sovereignty from heaven, but, though Rev 20:9 denotes a different cycle of tradition from 4 6, it is put on the same plane, and the vision of 4 (cf. Rev 20:1 ) is evidently this world. would be more in keeping with this context than with that of Rev 20:10 , where again the refrain of Rev 22:5 ( . . ) would be more appropriate. . This enigmatic and isolated prediction has led to more unhappy fantasies of speculation and conduct than almost any other passage of the N.T. It stands severely apart from the sensuous expectations of current chiliasm (fertility of soil, longevity, a religious carnival, etc.), but even its earliest interpreters, Papias and Justin, failed to appreciate its reticence, its special object, and its semi-transcendent atmosphere. For its relevance, or rather irrelevance, to the normal Christian outlook, see Denney’s Studies in Theology , pp. 231 f., and A. Robertson’s Regnum Dei , pp. 113 f. When the millennium or messianic reign was thus abbreviated into a temporary phase of providence in the latter days, the resurrection had to be shifted from its original position prior to the messianic reign; it now became, as here, the sequel to that period.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Blessed. Greek. makarios. Forty-eighth occurances in N.T.
in. App-104.
on such = over (App-104.) these.
power. App-172.
priests. See Rev 1:6.
a. Some texts read “the”. The “first resurrection” is the former of the two resurrections referred to in this passage. It is the antithesis of the resurrection implied though not specifically mentioned in Rev 20:12. This is the resurrection which was both the subject of revelation and the hope of Israel. Compare the antithesis in Dan 12:2. Joh 6:29. Act 24:15. This “first resurrection” should not be confused with 1Th 4:13-17 (see notes there and on Php 1:3, Php 1:11).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 20:6. , blessed) The word is with great propriety applied to him over whom the second death has no power: for it is derived from , , so that it denotes one who is immortal.- , in the first resurrection) The thiopian Version, according to John de la Haye, has, on that day which precedes His coming.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Chapter 49
Christ our resurrection
‘Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power’
Rev 20:6
Believers live in hope of the resurrection. With Paul, every believer might declare, ‘If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of al men most miserable’ (1Co 15:19). In making that statement the Apostle does not mean that: (1.) The believers life in this world is a sad, morbid existence; or (2.) It is really more delightful and pleasurable to live in this world without faith in Christ; or (3.) Were it not for the hope of eternal glory the saints of God would prefer not to live as they do in obedience and submission to their heavenly Father. We do not serve our God for gain! Paul simply means that if there were no such thing as eternal life in Christ, no eternal bliss of life with Christ in glory, and no resurrection of life at the last day, then believers would be the most miserably frustrated people in the world. We would never have that which we most earnestly desire. We would never enjoy that for which we are most ambitious. We would never see the end of our hope. We would never embrace Christ, or be embraced by Christ. We would never see our Redeemer. A more distressing thought cannot be imagined. Nothing could be more cruel and miserable than to live in hope of seeing Christ, being like Christ, and spending eternity with Christ, only to die like a dog! ‘If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.’ What a horrible thought! What a tormenting supposition! But it is not so! We live in hope of the resurrection (Job 19:25-27). The believer is calm in sickness, peaceful in sorrow, at ease in trial and affliction, confident in bereavement, and serene in death because he lives in hope of the resurrection. This is not some foolish philosophy. It is not a mere religious tranquilizer by which he is enabled to cope with the trials of life. This is the clear, calm, confident assurance of the believers heart. It is the necessary, inevitable result of faith in Christ, who declares, ‘I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die’ ‘(Joh 11:25-26).
The hope of the resurrection is much more than belief in a point of orthodox doctrine. It is a matter of faith and hope in a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is himself our Resurrection. He is the Resurrection and the Life of all who trust him. Though believers do die physically, we shall never really die. The death of the body is, for the believer but an elevation in life. And even these bodies shall be resurrected with Christ at the last day (Joh 5:28; Php 3:20-21).’Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.’ As we saw in our previous study, this hope of the resurrection is based upon three things: The representative resurrection of Gods elect with Christ, the spiritual resurrection of every believer in Christ, and the revelation of God concerning the resurrection.
The representative resurrection of God’s elect with Christ
We live in hope of the resurrection, because we know that Gods elect have been resurrected with Christ representatively. ‘God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved/) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Eph 2:4-6). The new birth, our spiritual resurrection, is the result of our having been resurrected with Christ representatively, even as our ultimate glorification will be the result of our having already been glorified in Christ our Representative (Rom 8:30).
When the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the grave he arose, not as a private individual, but as a public representative, as the Representative of Gods elect. All that Christ, the God-man, has done and experienced, all of Gods elect have done and experienced in him, by virtue of our representative union with him. His obedience to the law of God was our obedience (Rom 5:12; Rom 5:18-21). His death as a penal sacrifice for sin was our death (Rom 6:6-7; Rom 6:9-11; Rom 7:4). His resurrection was our resurrection. In all things Christ is our Representative.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is an indisputable fact of revelation and history upon which we rest our souls
If any could disprove the resurrection of Christ, he would disprove the gospel. ‘If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins’ (1Co 15:17). But no one can ever disprove the resurrection of Christ. It is one of the most well-attested facts in history (1Co 15:1-8).
The bodily, physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ necessitates the resurrection of all who are in Christ
That which has been done for us representatively must be experienced by us personally. Otherwise, the representative work of Christ would be meaningless. All believers are members of Christs mystical body, the church (1Co 12:12; 1Co 12:17). If one member of the body were lost, the whole body would be maimed. If one member were lost, the head would not be complete (Eph 1:22-23). Our bodies of flesh must be fashioned like unto his glorious body (Php 3:21). Christ was raised as the firstfruits of them that sleep (1Co 15:20). If he is the firstfruits, the full harvest must follow. All those saints whose bodies sleep in the earth shall be raised from death to life; even as Christ was raised from death to life.
Christ is the second Adam. As we have born the image of our first covenant head, Adam, we must also bear the image of the second (1Co 15:21-23; 1Co 15:47-49). Otherwise, his headship would be meaningless.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has obtained the victory over all that could hinder the glorious resurrection of his people. He put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. He took satan into captivity by his death upon the cross. He delivered us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. He spoiled death, hell, and the grave by his triumph over them. By all of this he has delivered his people from the fear of death (Col 2:13-15; Heb 2:14-15).
We are also assured of the resurrection because the covenant engagements of Christ as the Surety of Gods elect require their resurrection (Joh 6:37-40). In that great and glorious resurrection day, our great Savior will present all the host of his redeemed ones holy, unblameable, and unreproveable to God his Father (Eph 5:27), saying ‘Behold, I and the children which God hath given me’ (Heb 2:13). Then ‘There shall be one fold and one shepherd’ (Joh 10:16).
The spiritual resurrection of every believer in Christ
We live in hope of the resurrection, because we have experienced the resurrection of Christ in regeneration. The new birth is nothing less than a resurrection from the dead. It is a spiritual resurrection. This is the resurrection of which John speaks in Rev 20:6. ‘Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.’ Like all other people, Gods elect are born in spiritual death and deserving of eternal death. In regeneration, God the Holy Spirit, by invincible, irresistible grace gives them life in Christ. He raises them from death to life. Never in the Scriptures is the new birth attributed to the freewill of man, or even to his faith. It is the work of God the Holy Spirit. Only the omnipotent God can give life to dead sinners (Joh 3:3-8). The new birth is always spoken of in the Scriptures as a resurrection (Joh 5:25; Joh 11:25-26; Eph 2:1-4). It is not a decision, but a resurrection. It is not a reformation, but a regeneration. It is not a new start in life, but an entirely new life!
The Word of God gives numerous illustrations of the new birth, this spiritual resurrection, by the power of God. Ezekiels description of the deserted infant, cast off, polluted in its blood, naked in its loathsomeness, and dead, but raised to life by the word of Gods power in the time of love, is a vivid picture of the new birth (Eze 16:1-8). The prophets vision of dry bones, caused to live by the preaching of Gods Word and the power of Gods Spirit (Eze 37:1-14), is certainly intended by God to be an illustration of our regeneration by the power if the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel. But there is not a clearer, more instructive picture of the believers spiritual resurrection in Christ than the story of the resurrection of Lazarus in John 11. Five things are revealed about Lazarus and his resurrection which are reflected in the spiritual resurrection of every believer.
1. His condition
Lazarus was dead (Joh 11:14); and so were we when the Lord God came to us with his saving grace. God could have prevented Lazarus death and could have prevented our death in Adam; but he allowed it that he might glorify himself in delivering us from death to life by the power of his grace (Joh 11:4; Eph 2:7).
2. His calling
The Lord Jesus ‘cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth’ (Joh 11:43-44). Someone said, ‘There was such power in the Saviors voice that when he cried, `Come forth, had he not specified, `Lazarus, come forth, the whole cemetery would have been emptied!’ Our Lords call to Lazarus was a personal, particular, and powerful call. He called Lazarus. He called Lazarus alone. And Lazarus came forth. He was raised from the dead by the effectual power of the Saviors voice. There is a general call in the gospel that goes out to all men indiscriminately whenever the gospel is preached; and all who hear are responsible to obey. But dead sinners cannot and will not ‘come forth,’ they will never live before God, until God the Holy Spirit calls them by the effectual, irresistible, life-giving call of his sovereign power. At Gods appointed time, in ‘the time of love,’ he will call every chosen, redeemed sinner. When that time comes, when he calls, the dead shall live. ‘It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profitteth nothing’ (Joh 6:63).
3. His conversion
‘He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go’ (Joh 11:44). As the graveclothes that bound Lazarus had to be taken away, so conversion always follows calling. When sinners come to Christ and are taught of him the graveclothes of ignorance, superstition, tradition, religion, and fear fall away.
4. His communion
When the Lord Jesus was in Bethany, ‘Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him’ (Joh 12:2). Saved sinners, being raised from death to life in Christ by the power and grace of God, live in communion with Christ. Their communion is sometimes interrupted by their sin, or by the Savior hiding his face from them for a season in loving chastisement (Son 5:2-8; Isa 54:7-10); but he will not forsake his own, neither will he let them forsake him (Jer 32:38-40). In the tenor of their lives, believers walk with Christ. They live in the Spirit (Rom 8:9; Rom 8:14), in blessed communion with the Son of God.
5. His conflict
Because of Lazarus many others believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Jews sought to kill him (Joh 12:10-11). And anyone in this world who lives with Christ and serves him will be the object of the worlds scorn and persecution. ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation’ (Joh 16:33). ‘Yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution’ (2Ti 3:12).
The revelation of God concerning the resurrection of our bodies
There shall be a resurrection of life at the second coming of Christ (1Co 15:35-44; 1Co 15:51-58; 1Th 4:13-18). The Word of God does not teach a secret rapture of the church, but a glorious resurrection of the just. The fact is, Gods elect never really die. Our Lord said, ‘whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die’ (Joh 11:26). For the believer, the death of the body is only a temporary thing. When Christ comes again our bodies shall be raised in immortality, made like unto his glorious body (Php 3:21).
Immediately following the resurrection of the just, there shall be a resurrection of the damned (Joh 5:28-29). When Christ comes: the dead in Christ shall be raised; then the saints who are living on earth at the time shall be translated (glorified); and then the wicked shall be raised to judgment. Believers shall be raised by virtue of their union with Christ in order to be judged (declared justly righteous) and rewarded with all the fullness of everlasting glory. The wicked, the unbelieving, shall be raised by the power of Christ in order to be judged (declared justly condemned) and have the sentence of Gods wrath executed upon them. The righteous shall be raised in love to a great wedding feast. The wicked shall be raised in wrath, to everlasting condemnation. Soon, you and I will stand before the living God in judgment. ‘Prepare to meet thy God!’
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Blessed: Rev 20:5, Rev 14:13, Rev 22:7, Isa 4:3, Dan 12:12, Luk 14:15
the second: Rev 20:14, Rev 2:11, Rev 21:8
priests: Rev 1:6, Rev 5:10, Isa 61:6, Rom 12:1, 1Pe 2:5, 1Pe 2:9
and shall: Rev 20:4, Rev 1:6, Rev 5:10, Rom 8:17, 2Ti 2:12
Reciprocal: Gen 2:17 – surely Exo 19:6 – a kingdom Deu 11:21 – as the days Psa 45:16 – princes Isa 26:19 – dead men Isa 66:21 – General Zec 14:20 – HOLINESS Luk 20:36 – can Act 8:21 – hast Act 24:15 – that Rom 5:17 – shall reign 1Th 4:16 – and the Jam 5:20 – from death
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 20:6. The first resurrection is that mentioned in the preceding verse of which John said he was going to speak. He is doing so now and telling us of the blessing that will be for those who have part in this first resurrection. In Joh 11:25 Jesus says “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus was the first one to be resurrected never to die again (Act 13:34). To have part in the first resurrection means to have part in Christ. And to get the spiritual benefits of the resurrection of Christ as the bodily benefits, it is necessary to be faithful after coming into Him. That is what is meant in Joh 11:26 by “liveth and believeth in me.” That person “shall never die” according to Christ’s statement to Martha, which means the same as on suck the second death hath no power in our present verse. This second death is the punishment in the lake of fire and brimstone according to chapter 21:8 of our present book. Shall reign with him a thousand years. This period is the same that is explained at verse 2. Of course the word reign is not literal because Christ is the sole King on the throne. Thayer’s explanation of the word as it is used here is as follows: “Paul transfers the word to denote the supreme moral dignity, liberty, blessedness, which will be enjoyed by Christ’s redeemed ones.” The principle expressed will apply to the faithful in Christ of all ages. However, the present application is made to those who had been faithful to Christ under the persecutions of Babylon. This spirit of devotion in the presence of death was a reenactment of the spirit of the first martyrs (chapter 6:9-11), and they lived (were in evidence) all through this bright period of the Reformation. It is in that sense only that they were to be resurrected and reign with Christ through the thousand years. There was no prediction of any literal resurrection of some while others were to remain in their graves. There will be but one bodily resurrection (and it is still future), and at that same hour all human beings, both good and bad, will be brought to life (Dan 12:2; Joh 5:28-29). It is plainly taught in other passages that when Jesus comes again it will mark the end of the kingdom and all things on the earth. (1Co 15:24-25; 2Pe 3:10). All statements of a resurrection that is to occur before the second coming of Christ are figurative only.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 6.
5. Part in the first resurrection. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years”–Rev 20:6.
There is an axiom which decrees that things equal to the same thing are equal to each other. In Rev 2:11 it is said that overcoming the persecutions exempted them from the second death. But in Rev 20:6 it is said that part in the first resurrection exempted them from the second death. Things equal to the same things being equal to each other– part in the first resurrection referred to overcoming the persecutions and entering into the triumph of that victory. Again, it is the same kind of a resurrection prophesied in Isa 26:1-21 and Eze 37:1-28.
On such the second death hath no power–the implication of the context is that the first death was the martyrdom of the saints as represented by the souls of them that were slain under the altar in Rev 6:9. Receiving the guerdon of martyrdom for their overcoming faith, promised by their Lord in Rev 2:10-11, these martyred saints had exemption from the judgment of them that had received the mark of the beast in submission to the imperial edict commanding the worship of the Caesar-image. They were in a state of special dispensation, not amenable to judgment. This in contrast with those who had “worshipped the beast” and “his image” and who had received “his mark,” and in consequence shared the same retribution–the oblivion of eternal banishment.
Priests of God and of Christ–the expressions of “priests of God and Christ” and “reign with” in this imagery were used synonymously, as in Rev 1:6 and Rev 5:10; and compares with the phrase “kingdom of Christ and God” in Eph 5:5, in which all Christians reign with Christ. It symbolized the perpetual performance of heavenly functions in the presence of God and Christ in “the kingdom of Christ and God.” In this heavenly state they shall reign with him a thousand years–that is, in complete victory and infinite reward, removed from transitory time and terrestrial place.
The use of thousand years here is further proof that it had no reference or application to a literal cycle of years. They shall be priests of God and Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. This, of course, referred to the souls who lived and reigned; and here shall reign with him referred to the continuity of that reign which had begun in the expression “lived and reigned” of verse four. It had reference to the same souls and the same reign and simply denoted its continuation,
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 20:6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. In chap. Rev 19:9 all believers were pronounced blessed, and the word holy denotes the consecration that is given not to a few only but to all the saints of God (chaps. Rev 18:20, Rev 19:8): besides which, we are immediately told, they shall be priests of God and of the Christ The whole description leads directly to the view that all Christians have part in the reign of the thousand years, whatever it may mean.
Over these the second death hath no power. We have spoken of the first resurrection as a state, not an act. It is even more clear that the same thing must be said of the second death. The Seer has indeed himself distinctly explained it when he says, in Rev 20:14, This is the second death, even the lake of fire (comp. also Rev 2:11). It is more than the death of the body, more even than the death of the body (could we suppose such a thing) twice repeated. It is the death of the whole man, body and soul together, the eternal punishment denounced by our Lord against those who refuse to imitate His example, and to imbibe His spirit (Mat 25:46). As again bearing on our exposition of Rev 20:4, it may be well to notice that escaping the second death is spoken of in chap. Rev 2:11 as the privilege not of those alone who are in a special sense martyrs, but of all believers.
But they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. These words again mention privileges (1) that are common to all believers, and (2) that continue not for a thousand years merely, but for ever. All believers are priests (chap. Rev 1:6); all sit upon Christs throne (chap. Rev 3:21).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
They are blessed because they are resting from their labors ( Rev 14:13 ) and are living and reigning with Christ. They are pure, or holy, because Jesus’ blood has cleansed them. They will not be cast into the lake of fire (verse 14), but will give the sacrifice of praise to God and Christ throughout Christ’s reign as king.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Verse 6
Priests of God. The word priest is used in such a connection as this, simply to denote, in accordance with Jewish ideas, very honorable rank and station. It does not appear to be intended to convey to us any idea in respect to nature of the duties of that station.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
20:6 Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the {12} second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, {13} and shall reign with him a thousand years.
(12) That by this both body and soul, that is, the whole man is condemned and delivered to eternal death; Rev 2:11 .
(13) A return to the intended history, by resuming the words which are in the end of the fourth verse Rev 20:4 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Revelation’s fifth beatitude reveals that those who participate in the first resurrection are blessed and holy. The "second death" is final death beyond physical death (cf. Rev 20:14; Rev 2:11; Rev 21:8). It involves death of the soul (whole person) as well as the body (Mat 10:28). Specifically, the first resurrection involves deliverance from the lake of fire. Those who participate in the first resurrection are also blessed because they will be priests of God and Christ, and they will reign with Christ for 1,000 years. Priests have unlimited access to and intimate fellowship with God. Exactly how they will reign remains to be seen, though the extent of their authority under Christ seems connected with their previous faithfulness (cf. Mat 25:14-30; Luk 19:12-27).
Note that many of the promises to the overcomers in the letters to the seven churches find their fulfillment in the Millennium (cf. Rev 2:11 with Rev 20:6; Rev 2:26-27 with Rev 20:4; Rev 3:5 with Rev 20:12; Rev 20:15; and Rev 3:21 with Rev 20:4). This seems to indicate that the rewards Christians receive from the Lord at the judgment seat will also involve serving under Him in the Millennium (cf. Mat 25:14-30; Luk 19:11-27) and beyond (Rev 22:3; Rev 22:5).
The phrase "a thousand years" occurs six times in this chapter (Rev 20:2-7). Since God revealed that events will occur both before and after Christ’s thousand-year reign, we should interpret this number literally (cf. Rev 11:2-3; Rev 12:6; Rev 13:5; Rev 20:3). John specifically located this reign yet future in this verse. This is a strong argument against interpreting it simply as Jesus Christ’s present reign in human hearts, or His reign throughout eternity, as many amillennialists do.
John gave us no information here regarding what life will be like on earth during the Millennium, but many Old Testament passages provide this revelation. [Note: See John F. Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom, pp. 296-323, for a full discussion of government, spiritual life, social, economic, and physical aspects of the Millennium.] The main point here seems to be that the Millennium will follow Jesus Christ’s second coming, the main event in the Book of Revelation.
There are three major schools of interpretation that deal with millennial prophecies. Amillennialists interpret the Millennium figuratively and believe it does not correspond to any specific era. Some of them teach that it refers to Jesus Christ’s rule in the hearts of His people presently living on earth. For example, Arthur Lewis wrote that the Millennium of chapter 20 is not a perfect state, but the future messianic kingdom is a perfect state. Therefore the Millennium of chapter 20 cannot be the future messianic kingdom, but it is the present age. He believed the kingdom age is really the eternal state of chapters 21 and 22. [Note: Arthur H. Lewis, The Dark Side of the Millennium: The Problem of Evil in Revelation 20:1-10. For a good critique of this book, see Jeffrey L. Townsend, "Is the Present Age the Millennium?" Bibliotheca Sacra 140:559 (July-September 1983):206-24.] Other amillennialists teach that the Millennium refers to Christ’s rule over His people in heaven throughout eternity. Berkouwer articulated the view of many amillennialists regarding this pericope.
"This vision is not a narrative account of a future earthly reign of peace at all, but is the apocalyptic unveiling of the reality of salvation in Christ as a backdrop to the reality of the suffering and martyrdom that still continue as long as the dominion of Christ remains hidden." [Note: G. C. Berkouwer, The Return of Christ, p. 307.]
Postmillennialists hold that Christ will return after the Millennium. Some of them believe we should interpret the thousand-year reign of Christ figuratively as referring to the present age in which we live. Others believe it is a literal thousand-year period yet future. Postmillennialism has not been very popular since the First World War. Since then it has become increasingly clear to most people that the world is not getting better and better but worse and worse. While there has been progress in many areas of life, it seems clear that worldwide peace and the other millennial conditions that the prophets described will never come without divine intervention that will change the course of history. Postmillennialism teaches that world peace and all millennial conditions will precede the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Premillennialists take the revelation in these passages more literally as a description of events that will proceed chronologically in order. We believe the Second Coming will precede a literal earthly millennial reign of Jesus Christ. [Note: For more information on these views, see John F. Walvoord, The Millennial . . ., pp. 263-75, or idem, The Revelation . . ., pp. 282-90. See also the diagram of premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism at the end of my comments on chapter 6 in these notes.] Among premillennialists there are two main groups. "Historic premillennialists" (Covenant premillennialists) believe that God will fulfill His promises to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3; Gen 12:7; et al.) through the spiritual seed of Abraham, namely, believers whom the Old Testament writers called Israel and the New Testament writers called the church. "Dispensational premillennialists" believe that God will fulfill His promises to Abraham through the physical seed of Abraham, namely, the Jewish people whom the writers of both testaments referred to as Israel.
Jesus Christ’s earthly reign will be the fulfillment of many prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the reign of a completely faithful descendant of David (2Sa 7:10-16; et al.). God promised David that one of his descendants would reign over the Israelites forever, that His kingdom would have no end. Most dispensationalists have believed that this reign will begin after Jesus Christ returns to earth at His second coming, and it will continue through the Millennium and on into eternity forever. We believe that since David’s kingdom was an earthly kingdom and since David and his successors ruled on the earth, the coming fulfillment of Davidic kingdom promises will take place on the earth. Progressive dispensationalists, on the other hand, believe that Jesus’ rule as David’s successor began when He ascended into heaven following His resurrection and that it will move to earth at the second coming and will continue throughout eternity. They view the promised Davidic kingdom as having heavenly (already) and earthly (not yet) stages. Almost all dispensationalists believe that what is in effect now is some form of God’s kingdom program (cf. Matthew 13). The difference of opinion is over whether the present form of the kingdom, the church, is a stage of the Davidic Kingdom or distinct from it.