And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
4. thrones ] Dan 7:9. “They” who sat upon them, to whom judgement (i.e. the right of judging: see 1Co 6:2-3) was given are identified by Dan 7:22 as “the saints of the Most High” saints, plainly, in the modern sense, as distinguished from angels.
[ I saw ] the souls ] Cf. Rev 6:9.
beheaded ] Lit. struck with the axe, the old Roman mode of execution by sentence of the supreme magistrate. Capital punishment of citizens had been virtually abolished for the last years of the Republic: and when the emperors assumed the right of executing men for treason, it was done as though by military law (cf. St Mar 6:27), by a soldier with a sword. But the old constitutional punishment was inflicted on provincials down to the fall of the Republic (Cic. Phil. XIII. xvi. 33): and it is not impossible that it was revived when it was desired that a citizen should be executed in due form of law. Thus it is not unlikely that St Paul will be included among those thus designated.
which had not worshipped &c.] Rev 13:12; Rev 13:15-16.
reigned with Christ ] 2Ti 2:12. This “reign” was foretold in Rev 5:10. “The nations” of the world continue to exist as usual (Rev 5:3), so it is no doubt over them that the saints and martyrs reign.
a thousand years ] Only in this passage is the kingdom of Christ on earth (which is of course one of the most frequent subjects of prophecy) designated as a millennium or period of 1000 years. It may be added, that this is the only prophecy where there is at all good reason for supposing that the Millennium of popular belief is indicated, as distinct on the one hand from the Kingdom of God which already exists in the Christian Church, and on the other from that which will be set up at the last day.
Nevertheless, this passage is quite sufficient foundation for the doctrine, even if it stood alone: and there are many other prophecies which, if not teaching it so plainly, may fairly be understood to refer to it, if the doctrine be admitted to be according to the mind of the Spirit. We therefore have to consider the question, Is this prophecy to be understood literally? Is it meant that, for a period of a thousand years (or more), before the general Resurrection and the end of this world, this earth will be the scene of a blessed visible Kingdom of God, wherein the power of the Devil will have vanished, and that of Christ be supreme and unopposed? wherein Christ shall either reign visibly on earth, or at least shall make His presence felt far more unmistakeably than at present; while the martyrs and other great saints of all past time shall rise, and, whether on earth or in heaven, share in the glory of His reign?
Down to the fourth century, the decidedly dominant belief of Christendom was in favour of this literal interpretation of the prophecy: since then, at least till the Reformation, it has been still more decidedly against it. In the second century, Papias, who seems to have been more or less personally acquainted with St John himself, taught Millenarian doctrine decidedly: and St Irenaeus and others derived it from him. In the same age St Justin accepted the doctrine, though admitting that Christians were not unanimous on the subject: but he considers St John’s authority, in this passage, decisive.
And in fact, the rejection of the doctrine was usually on the part of those who rejected or questioned the authority of the Revelation as a whole: it was held to discredit the book, that it taught the doctrine. Thus in the third century, Caius the Roman Presbyter seems unmistakeably to ascribe the book, not to St John but to his adversary Cerinthus; on the ground of its teaching this carnal and Jewish doctrine of an earthly kingdom of Christ. And St Dionysius of Alexandria, who, though not admitting the book to be the work of St John the Apostle, yet on the whole recognises its inspiration and authority, thinks it necessary to refute a suffragan bishop of his own, who adopted Millenarian views, as though he were at least on the verge of heresy.
The case seems to have stood thus. The doctrine of the Millennium was current in the Church, but was most insisted on in that section of the Church whose Jewish affinities were strongest: and it is asserted it is very likely true that the heretical Judaizers expressed their millennial hopes in a coarse and carnal form. Orthodox Christians condemned their language: but while some of them, like Justin, felt bound, in obedience to the plain teaching of St John, to believe in a Millennium of spiritual blessedness on earth, others, like Caius, rejected altogether the doctrine of the Millennium, and rejected, if necessary, the Apocalypse as teaching it.
But when St Dionysius proposed to reject millennial doctrine without rejecting the authority of the Apocalypse, a course was suggested which, if less critically and logically defensible, was theologically safer than either. The Apocalypse was declared not really to foretell a millennium, but only such a kingdom of Christ as all prophecy does foretell, viz. a Church such as now exists. To expect His more perfect kingdom to be an earthly and temporal one was pronounced a heresy, a falling back to Judaism.
St Jerome who, living in Palestine, knew more than most men of the Judaizing heresies which still existed in his time, and had once been formidable, spoke very strongly (as his manner was) in condemnation of the Milliarii (this, not Millenarii, is the ancient Latin name of the sect). He apparently grouped together all believers in the earthly kingdom, whether they regarded its delights as carnal or not: and it seems that his strong language frightened the Church of his time into giving it up. St Augustine had held and taught the doctrine, of course in a pure and spiritual form: but towards the close of his life he abandoned it, and though admitting his old belief to be tolerable, he echoes Jerome’s condemnation of the Judaizing caricature of it. The opinion of these two great Fathers was adopted by the Church down to the Reformation, not formally or synodically, but as a matter of popular tradition.
At the Reformation, the Anabaptists proclaimed an earthly kingdom of Christ in the Millenarian sense, and certainly did all they could to discredit the doctrine, by the carnal form in which they held it. There was a tendency to revive the doctrine, among sober Protestants: but the alarm raised by the Anabaptists at first went far to counteract it; e.g. in England one of the 42 Articles of a.d. 1552 condemned it as “Jewish dotage.” But when the controversies of the Reformation quieted down, and both the Romanist and the Protestant Churches formulated their own beliefs, the former adhered to the tradition of SS. Jerome and Augustine, while the latter, for the most part, as was natural, went back to the literal sense of Scripture and the older tradition.
It thus appears, that Catholic consent cannot fairly be alleged either for or against the literal interpretation. Catholic feeling does of course condemn a Judaizing or carnal view of the nature of Christ’s Kingdom: but whether He will have a kingdom on earth more perfect, or reign more visibly, than is the case now, is a point on which Christians may lawfully differ; the Church has not pronounced either way.
If the question be theologically open, it appears that, as a matter of opinion, the literal sense is to be preferred: “when the literal sense will stand, that furthest from the letter is the worst.” Can anyone honestly say, that Satan has been bound during the time (already far more than a thousand years) that the kingdom of Christ on earth has already existed? that he deceives the nations no more till the present dispensation approaches its end in the days of Antichrist? It is far easier to hold that he will be bound for a long time (probably more rather than less than a thousand literal years), after Antichrist has been overthrown, but before the actual end of the world.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I saw thrones – thronous See Rev 1:4; Rev 3:21; Rev 4:3-4. John here simply says, that he saw in vision thrones, with persons sitting on them, but without intreating who they were that sat on them. It is not the throne of God that is now revealed, for the word is in the plural number, though the writer does not hint how many thrones there were. It is intimated, however, that these thrones were placed with some reference to pronouncing a judgment, or determining the destiny of some portion of mankind, for it is immediately added, and judgment was given unto them. There is considerable resemblance, in many respects, between this and the statement in Dan 7:9; I beheld until the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit; or, as it should be rendered, I beheld – that is, I continued to look – until the thrones were placed or set, to wit, for the purposes of judgment. See the notes on that passage. So John here sees, as the termination of human affairs approaches, thrones placed with reference to a determination of the destiny of some portion of the race, as if they were now to have a trial, and to receive a sentence of acquittal or condemnation. The persons on whom this judgment is to pass are specified, in the course of the verse, as those who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, who had the Word of God, who had not worshipped the beast, etc. The time when this was to occur manifestly was at the Beginning of the thousand years.
And they sat upon them – Who sat on them is not mentioned. The natural construction is, that judges sat on them, or that persons sat on them to whom judgment was entrusted. The language is such as would be used on the supposition either that he had mentioned the subject before, so that he would be readily understood, or that, from some other cause, it was so well understood that there was no necessity for mentioning who they were. John seems to have assumed that it would be understood who were meant. And yet to us it is not entirely clear; for John has not before this given us any such intimation that we can determine with certainty what is intended. The probable construction is, that those are referred to to whom it appropriately belonged to occupy such seats of judgment, and who they are is to be determined from other parts of the Scriptures. In Mat 19:28, the Saviour says to his apostles, When the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. In 1Co 6:2, Paul asks the question, Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? The meaning as thus explained is, that Christians will, in some way, be employed in judging the world; that is, that they will be exalted to the right hand of the Judge, and be elevated to a station of honor, as if they were associated with the Son of God in the judgment. Something of that kind is, doubtless, referred to here; and John probably means to say that he saw the thrones placed on which those will sit who will be employed in judging the world. If the apostles are specially referred to, it was natural that John, eminent for modesty, should not particularly mention them, as he was one of them, and as the true allusion would be readily understood.
And judgment was given unto them – The power of pronouncing sentence in the case referred to was conferred on them, and they proceeded to exercise that power. This was not in relation to the whole race of mankind, but to the martyrs, and to those who, amidst many temptations and trials, had kept themselves pure. The sentence which is to be passed would seem to be that in consequence of which they are to be permitted to live and reign with Christ a thousand years. The form of this expressed approval is that of a resurrection and judgment; whether this be the literal mode is another inquiry, and will properly be considered when the exposition of the passage shall have been given.
And I saw the souls of them – This is a very important expression in regard to the meaning of the whole passage. John says he saw the souls – not the bodies. If the obvious meaning of this be the correct meaning; if he saw the souls of the martyrs, not the bodies, this would seem to exclude the notion of a literal resurrection, and consequently overturn many of the theories of a literal resurrection, and of a literal reign of the saints with Christ during the thousand years of the millennium. The doctrine of the last resurrection, as everywhere stated in the Scripture, is, that the body will be raised up, and not merely that the soul will live (see 1 Cor. 15, and the notes on that chapter); and consequently John must mean to refer in this place to something different from that resurrection, or to any proper resurrection of the dead as the expression is commonly understood.
The doctrine which has been held, and is held, by those who maintain that there will be a literal resurrection of the saints to reign with Christ during a thousand years, can receive no support from this passage, for there is no ambiguity respecting the word souls – psuchas – as used here. By no possible construction can it mean the bodies of the saints. If John had intended to state that the saints, as such, would be raised as they will be at the last day, it is clear that he would not have used this language, but would have employed the common language of the New Testament to denote it. The language here does not express the doctrine of the resurrection of the body; and if no other language but this had been used in the New Testament, the doctrine of the resurrection, as now taught and received, could not be established. These considerations make it clear to my mind that John did not mean to teach that there would be a literal resurrection of the saints, that they might live and reign with Christ personally during the period of a thousand years.
There was undoubtedly something that might be compared with the resurrection, and that might, in some proper sense, be called a resurrection Rev 20:5-6, but there is not the slightest intheation that it would be a resurrection of the body, or that it would be identical with the final resurrection. John undoubtedly intends to describe some honor conferred on the spirits or souls of the saints and martyrs during this long period, as if they were raised from the dead, or which might be represented by a resurrection from the dead. What that honor is to be, is expressed by their living and reigning with Christ. The meaning of this will be explained in the exposition of these words; but the word used here is fatal to the notion of a literal resurrection and a personal reign with Christ on the earth.
That were beheaded – The word used here – pelekizo – occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It properly means, to axe, that is, to hew or cut with an axe – from pelekus, axe. Hence it means to behead with an axe. This was a common mode of execution among the Romans, and doubtless many of the Christian martyrs suffered in this manner; but it cannot be supposed to have been the intention of the writer to confine the rewards of martyrs to those who suffered in this particular way; for this specific and ignominious method of punishment is designated merely as the symbol of any and every kind of martyrdom (Prof. Stuart).
For the witness of Jesus – As witnesses of Jesus; or bearing in this way their testimony to the truth of his religion. See the notes on Rev 1:9; compare Rev 6:9.
And for the Word of God – See the notes on Rev 1:9. Which had not worshipped the beast. Who had remained faithful to the principles of the true religion, and had resisted all the attempts made to seduce them from the faith, even the temptations and allurements in the times of the papacy. See this language explained in the notes on Rev 13:4.
Neither his image – notes on Rev 13:14-15.
Neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands – See the notes on Rev 13:16.
And they lived – ezesan, from zao, to live. Very much, in the whole passage, depends on this word. The meanings given to the word by Prof. Robinson (Lexicon) are the following:
(a)To live, to have life, spoken of physical life and existence;
(b)To live, that is, to sustain life, to live on or by anything;
(c)To live in any way, to pass ones life in any manner;
(d)To live and prosper; to be blessed.
It may be applied to those who were before dead Mat 9:18; Mar 16:11; Luk 24:23; Joh 5:25; Act 1:3; Act 9:41, but it does not necessarily imply this, nor does the mere use of the word suggest it. It is the proper notion of living, or having life now, whatever was the former state – whether nonexistence, death, sickness, or health. The mind, in the use of this word, is fixed on the present as a state of living. It is not necessarily in contrast with a former state as dead, but it is on the fact that they are now alive. As, however, there is reference, in the passage before us, to the fact that a portion of those mentioned had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus, it is to be admitted that the word here refers, in some sense, to that fact. They were put to death in the body, but their souls were now seen to be alive. They had not ceased to be, but they lived and reigned with Christ as if they had been raised up from the dead. And when this is said of the souls of those who were beheaded, and who were seen to reign with Christ, it cannot mean:
(a)That their souls came to life again, for there is no intimation that they had for a moment ceased to exist; nor,
(b)That they then became immortal, for that was always true of them; nor,
(c)That there was any literal resurrection of the body, as Prof. Stuart (2:360, 475, 476) supposes, and as is supposed by those who hold to a literal reign of Christ on the earth, for there is no intimation of the resurrection of the body.
The meaning, then, so far as the language is concerned, must be, that there would exist, at the time of the thousand years, a state of things as if the martyrs were raised up from the dead – an honoring of the martyrs as if they should live and reign with Christ. Their names would be vindicated; their principles would be revived; they would be exalted in public estimation above other men; they would be raised from the low rank in which they were held by the world in times of persecution to a state which might well be represented by their sitting with Christ on the throne of government, and by their being made visible attendants on his glorious kingdom.
This would not occur in respect to the rest of the dead – even the pious dead Rev 20:5 – for their honors and rewards would be reserved for the great day when all the dead should be judged according to their deeds. In this view of the meaning of this passage there is nothing that forbids us to suppose that the martyrs will be conscious of the honor thus done to their names, their memory, and their principles on earth, or that this consciousness will increase their joy even in heaven. This sense of the passage is thus expressed, substantially, by Dr. Whately (Essays on the Future State): It may signify not the literal raising of dead men, but the raising up of an increased Christian zeal and holiness; the revival in the Christian church, or in some considerable portion of it, of the spirit and energy of the noble martyrs of old (even as John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elias), so that Christian principles shall be displayed in action throughout the world in an infinitely greater degree than ever before.
This view of the signification of the word lived is sustained by its use elsewhere in the Scriptures and by its common use among people. Thus in this very book, Rev 11:11; And after three days and a half, the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet. So in Ezekiel, in speaking of the restoration of the Jews: Thus saith the Lord God, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, Eze 37:12-14. So in Hos 6:2; After two days he will revive us (cause us to live again); in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. So in the parable of the prodigal son: This thy brother was dead, and is alive again, Luk 15:32.
So in Isa 26:19; Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. The following extract, from DAubignes History of the Reformation, will show how natural it is to use the very language employed here when the idea is intended to be conveyed of reviving former principles as if the people who held them should be raised to life again. It is the language of the martyr John Huss, who, in speaking of himself in view of a remarkable dream that he had, said, I am no dreamer, but I maintain this for certain, that the image of Christ will never be effaced. They (his enemies) have wished to destroy it, but it shall be painted afresh in all hearts by much better preachers than myself. The nation that loves Christ will rejoice at this. And I, awaking from among the dead, and rising, so to speak, from my grave, shall leap with great joy. So a Brief addressed by Pope Adrian to the Diet at Nuremberg contains these words: The heretics Huss and Jerome are now alive again in the person of Martin Luther. For a further illustration of the passage see the remarks which follow (section b) on the state of things which may be expected to exist in the time referred to in Rev 20:4-6.
And reigned with Christ – Were exalted in their principles, and in their personal happiness in heaven, as if they occupied the throne with him, and personally shared his honors and his triumphs. Who can tell, also, whether they may not be employed in special services of mercy, in administering the affairs of his government during that bright and happy period?
A thousand years – During the period when Satan will be bound, and when the true religion will have the ascendency in the earth. See the notes on Rev 20:2.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 20:4-6
The souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus.
Martyrdom a testimony
I. Martyrs are sometimes murdered men. All murders are not martyrdoms; all martyrdoms are murders. For a man to spend his life amidst social scorn, civil disabilities, and religious intolerance, on account of his coscientious beliefs, is a martyrdom, his life is a protracted and painful dying. But thousands have been murdered, and that by every variety of method which satanic cruelty could invent.
II. Martyrs are always witnessing men.
1. To the invincibility of the human will
2. To the force of the religious sentiment.
3. To the power of the soul over the body.
III. Martyrs are often Christian men. Those whom John saw were those who were witnesses of Jesus, and for the Word of God
1. They bare witness to the sustaining grace of Christ.
2. They bear witness against the lukewarmness of living Christians.
IV. Martyrs who are Christians enter heaven.
1. As an encouragement to the persecuted Christian.
2. As a warning to persecutors. (Homilist.)
Lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
The millennium
It is seldom that our sermons bear on the prophecies, and especially on the unfulfilled prophecies. Several reasons bind us to this reserve. First, the study of unfulfilled prophecies has only a secondary importance, and is not essential to salvation. Further, and just because they are not essential to salvation, the unfulfilled prophecies are wrapped up in a considerable amount of obscurity. This fact proves that the study of the prophecies is not without dangers, and that is another reason which should bind a person to devote himself to it only with moderation. Those who give themselves up too exclusively to this study are easily tempted to hand over to the background the great truths of the faith, in order to devote their chief interest to speculations, curious, perhaps, and often attractive; but nearly always without benefit to practical life, and sometimes even dangerous. Nevertheless, it must not be inferred from what precedes that we absolutely condemn the study of the prophecies. Far from it. Restrained within its legitimate bounds, the study of the prophecies presents not only matter of great interest but of great blessing, and many Christians do wrong when they lay aside completely that considerable portion of the Holy Scriptures. I desire particularly to call your attention to that glorious reign of Christ which is announced in a great number of prophecies, and more particularly in the words of our text, and which is known in the Christian Church under the name of the millennium. What meaning should we give to these declarations, and in what will that reign of Christ upon earth precisely consist? Two different systems divide on this point those Christians who are occupied with the prophecies. A certain number of them take the declarations of Scripture in their literal sense; they believe that the Saviour is really to return to the earth, to found here a temporal kingdom; that He will literally sit in His body on the throne of David; that during that reign, which will continue a thousand years, the believing dead only will rise to have part in the glory of their Head; and that this kingdom of Christ will be an epoch of temporal prosperity. The other class of interpreters understand these prophecies in a figurative sense. They think that by the reign of Christ must be understood the dominion which He exercises over souls by the gospel, and that the main point in these magnificent oracles is the spiritual progress of the Church; they think that this resurrection of believing souls spoken of in our text denotes nothing more than the awakening of the spirit of faith. The Christian law having become the rule, and infidelity the exception; the gospel covering the whole earth with its sweet and holy influence; that is what the millennium would be. Of these two interpretations we do not hesitate to prefer the last.
1. Observe, first, that the spiritual or symbolical interpretation is more in agreement with the modes of style observed in general by the prophets, and in particular in the Apocalypse. This style, from one end of the book to the other, is essentially symbolical and figurative; everywhere moral ideas are concealed under a veil of material images; words are incessantly turned aside from their proper meaning to receive meanings altogether novel. In this style, quite impregnated with the symbolical, a church becomes a candlestick, a minister becomes a star.
2. Not only is that interpretation legitimate, in so far as it is in agreement with the analogy of Scripture, but it is in a manner required by the very expressions of our text. In fact, observe well that St. John speaks only of the souls of those who had been put to death for the testimony of Jesus; these are the souls which are to revive again and reign with Christ. Now, souls cannot rise again, in the proper sense of the word.
3. In the third place, the literal interpretation is not in harmony with the other passages of Holy Scripture which relate to the resurrection. Nowhere is the resurrection spoken of as to take place twice or at two different periods. This great event is always represented to us as to take place for all men at once, with this only difference, that the resurrection of the just will immediately precede that of the wicked. The following passages clearly establish this (Dan 12:2; Joh 5:28; 1Th 4:16-17). It evidently follows from these statements that the resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the wicked, shall be immediately followed by the judgment and eternal life.
4. In the fourth place, it is impossible to comprehend how a return to the earth could add anything to the happiness of the righteous who died in the faith, and are gathered into the rest which is reserved for the people of God. The error of the Jews consisted precisely in representing the Messiah as a temporal King; it is into a similar error that the millennarians of to-day fall.
5. And then, what becomes, in the system of literal interpretation, of the death of believers who are born during the millennium? In the actual state of things, the death of believers is a deliverance; they die in peace, because they leave a life of trials and an abode of misery to go to the Lord; but it would not be so during the period of the millennium, if the literal interpretation were true.
6. If the literal interpretation were true, there would then be three comings of Christ–one to save the world, another to judge it, and a third and intermediate one to occupy the throne of the millennium. Now Scripture constantly presents to us the last judgment as the Lords second coming; and nowhere is an intermediate coming admitted.
7. Finally the text is the only passage of Holy Scripture where a resurrection is spoken of to take place before the end of the world; whilst a great number of other prophecies with regard to the millennium announce clearly the progress and general triumph of the gospel. Now, which is more rational: to explain numerous and clear prophecies by one single and enigmatical passage in the Apocalypse, or rather to explain the single and obscure passage by the clear and numerous prophecies? To put such a question is to answer it. It appears then established, as far as we can be positive in such a matter, that the reign of Christ, known under the name of the millennium, is to be understood in a spiritual sense, and that the subject is the authority which He will exercise over souls by the progress of the gospel. The doctrine of the millennium, as we have presented it to you, has important consequences as regards conversion and as regards salvation. Indeed, since that glorious reign of Christ is a spiritual reign, since it will essentially consist in the submission of hearts to the gospel of Jesus Christ, it depends upon each of us as to whether the millennium should commence in our case from the present: in order to that, no more is necessary than that we submit our heart to the gospel and give ourselves to Christ. May God grant that a great number of souls may know in this church of themselves this reign of Christ, at once so powerful and so tender, so sweet and so glorious! (H. Monod.)
The millennium
Scripture reveals to us, in a great many prophecies, that a time will come when the whole earth shall know God our Saviour: that is what it calls, in its figurative style, the reign of Christ. It does not follow from this, however, that all men will from the heart be converted to the gospel: the expressions of the prophecy go not so far; they speak only of the knowledge of the Lord as about to cover the whole earth; and we know that knowledge may co-exist with an unconverted heart. One of the features characteristic of that glorious period is that the gospel, by that very means through which it will have become dominant, will have penetrated to the most elevated classes and to the rulers of the nations. Governments will be inspired by the gospel, administrations will be Christian (Psa 138:4-5). Jesus Christ shall then continue to reign in this sense, that His gospel will be seated on the throne in the person of sovereigns converted to the Christian faith. Then the religion of Christ will no longer be a mere political instrument in the hand of governments; it will no longer cover, as with a sacred mantle, the views of a profane ambition; it will be the sincere expression of the moral life of states. Among the blessed results which the gospel will necessarily produce in the world when submissive to its laws, one of those which Scripture puts in the first class, and to which it reverts most readily, is the abolishment of war and the establishment of a universal peace. Just as in consequence of the progress of civilisation and the softening of manners we no longer comprehend legal torture, just as we no longer comprehend slavery, so a time will come when men will no longer comprehend that there could ever have existed a thing so odious, so horrible, so absurd as war. At the same time that enmities will be appeased among nations, they shall also cease among individuals. Hatred, vengeance, personal violence, will come to an end; the most unyielding characters will be softened; concord, charity, sincerity will preside over all the relations existing among men; natures the most opposed to one another will learn to draw near and love one another. At the same time that the gospel having become dominant, it will produce quite naturally another blessed consequence, which at first view does not seem to depend on its influence. I mean a considerable diminution of physical and moral suffering. Without doubt there will still be trials, but every person will then make an effort to alleviate the sufferings of those who surround him. In a word, the temporal happiness of mankind will increase beyond calculation, and will realise the most characteristic descriptions of prophecy (Isa 65:18-19). At the same time that suffering will decrease, and always by a natural consequence of the benefits attached to the gospel, the duration of human life will be increased; it will reach the utmost limit which nature assigns it; neither vice, nor despair, nor violence, will any longer abridge the days of man (Isa 65:20-22). The extension of human life in duration will necessarily be accompanied by an extraordinary increase of the population. It is easy to understand how much more rapid that increase would be if wars, vice, intemperance, selfishness, poverty, and the want of confidence in God, did not come and put obstacles in the way. We may conclude that the number of men who will live on the earth during the millennium will go beyond that of the men who will have lived during all the preceding ages; so that the portion of mankind which shall be saved will be infinitely more numerous, taken altogether, than those who shall be lost; and that thus grace will abound over sin (Rom 5:20-21). That extraordinary increase of population is moreover a characteristic feature of the prophecies relating to the millennium (Psa 72:16; Isa 60:22). Another feature of the glorious period when the gospel which has the promise of the life that now is as well as of that which is to come, shall prevail, is an unprecedented scope being given to industry and to the arts and sciences. Commerce will no more have for its spring selfishness, nor for its means fraud: consecrated to the general good of humanity, it will freely exchange the produce of all nations, and enrich them, the one by the other (Isa 9:17-18). However marvellous the prospects which we have unfolded may appear, all these blessings are the natural and necessary consequences of the gospel having become dominant in the earth. Let the time only come when the whole earth shall be covered with the knowledge of the Lord, and all the wonders of the millennium are not only possible, but they are in some sort unavoidable. The whole question then reduces itself to knowing if it is really possible that a time should come when all the nations of the earth will be converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Observe, in the first place, that the gospel, from that very consideration that it is the truth, ought of necessity to make progress in the world, and gain little by little upon error. In its struggle against paganism the gospel cannot be overcome: it never has been, it never will be. The conversion of the heathen world can then be only a question of time. Observe, in the second place, that, in the very nature of things, the progress of the gospel in the world proceeds of necessity with a perpetually increasing rapidity. The result of each new year is not the same as that of the preceding one; but it is double, treble, or fourfold. The conversion of the heathen world is therefore sure after a given time, and everything announces that this time need not be very considerable. Let them come then after all, and tell us that the work of missions is useless; that the evangelisation of the world is a chimera; that the sacrifices made for the conversion of the heathen are lost; that all these efforts are but a drop of water which loses itself in an ocean. We know on what to depend. We know that missions are a work, not only appointed by God, but reasonable, productive, and full of prospect; we know that the millennium is not only a brilliant ideal created by prophecy, but that it will be the natural, regular, unfailing consequence of what passes now and henceforth under our eyes. A last question might remain for examination on the subject of the millennium: we do not attach great importance to it, for it is more curious than useful. What conjectures may we form as to the period in the future when the millennium should commence? Let us remark, in the first place, that from the present state of the world, and the progress which the gospel has made since the commencement of our century, it is to be presumed that the millennium ought not to be very far distant. A century and a half ought to suffice, according to all human probabilities, to bring about the conversion of the world. It is thus that the creation of the world was accomplished in six days, or rather in six periods; the seventh day, or seventh period, is a sabbath or rest. The ceremonial purifications ordained by Moses were continued during six days, and were terminated on the seventh. In the sacrifices offered for grievous sins, the sprinkling of blood was made seven times, on the seventh sprinkling the atonement was accomplished. In the visions of the Apocalypse, the Apostle St. John sees a book sealed with seven seals, each of these seals represents a period in the future of the Church. Since then it is a character, which seems essential to the dispensations of God, that they should continue during seven periods, and never beyond the seventh, we may suppose, by analogy, that the present world is to continue during seven periods of a thousand years, the last of which would be the millennium. That supposition acquires especially a high degree of probability when we compare the present dispensation, considered in its successive phases, with the account of creation. According to a very ancient tradition, and one found already among the Jews, the six days of Genesis would be six periods of a thousand years–a supposition which is confirmed by two passages of Scripture, where it is said, in speaking particularly of the creation, That one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. This moral creation, like the physical creation, is to be accomplished in six days, or in six thousand years. In the physical creation there is a progressive gradation from beings less perfect to beings more perfect; there is the same in the moral creation, where humanity goes on perfecting itself from age to age, and from one thousand years to another. The end of the millennium will be the signal of the events which are to mark the end of the world. When the thousand years shall be accomplished, the prophet has told us, Satan will be loosed from his prison, and he will afresh seduce the inhabitants of the earth. But that last seduction will continue but a moment, and will bring with it the final defeat of all the powers of darkness; the dead shall rise to appear in judgment, and the economy of time will give place to that of eternity. (H. Monod.)
Christs millennial reign
I. The witnesses of Jesus shall reign in conjunction with Himself, as their Head. As the Church is the spouse of Christ, she cheerfully acknowledges His supreme authority in everything, and reverently honours Him as her glorious head; yet she shares the felicity of His victories, and, on the full establishment of His kingdom, she will be advanced, to reign together with Him and partake of His dominion.
II. The witnesses of Jesus shall reign with Him on the earth, and exercise positive power over the nations. The kingdom of Christ is heavenly and spiritual. It is the kingdom of truth and righteousness, liberty and peace, love and joy. But, notwithstanding the peculiar nature of the reign of Jesus, the earth is clearly represented as the scene of His dominion. He was encouraged to ask of the Father, the heathen for His inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. On the earth, He will divide the spoil with the strong; judge among the nations; rebuke many people; break in pieces the oppressor. Can it be a low or carnal thing for Christ to reign on the earth? Does it become them who are spiritual to despise that dominion as mean and carnal which God the Father promised to confer on His beloved Son, as the meet reward of His matchless humiliation and obedience? Can that be unworthy of the esteem of His spouse which is not below the dignity of Christ Himself?
III. The saints shall reign personally with Christ on the earth. The honourable privilege is not promised to His saints during their imperfect and militant state, which is the proper period of that course of humble obedience and discipline, by which they are prepared for their future exaltation. It constitutes an important part of that gracious reward which shall be conferred on the faithful soldiers of Jesus, after they overcome their spiritual adversaries and finish their good warfare. John saw them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus advanced to reign with Him as kings and priests of God. Nor shall this high privilege be exclusively confined to those who were beheaded, or in any other way put to death, for the sake of the gospel. The disciples of Jesus that lived in former ages shall share it generally; and that not merely in a figurative sense, by the revival of the cause of religion, which they promoted during their lives, but by being put in the personal possession of positive power and dominion along with their glorious Redeemer. Those who share the kingdom of Jesus must certainly reign while He reigns. Their dominion, in conjunction with Him, must be enjoyed during the proper period of His mediatorial kingdom, and not after the termination of it.
IV. The saints shall reign with Christ in an incorporeal and invisible manner. It is not said that the bodies of the slain witnesses shall be raised from the grave to sit on thrones with Christ. The resurrection of their bodies could indeed add nothing to their influence and happiness in reigning on the earth amongst imperfect creatures. The visible and bodily reign of Jesus and His immortal saints, among sinful men, would out off all occasion for living by faith, and interfere with the performance of almost every part of gospel duty. We are accordingly informed in our text that, at the first resurrection, the souls of them who were beheaded for the witnesses of Jesus shall live and reign with Him. The souls of the martyrs are represented as living, and experiencing a kind of resurrection, at the commencement of the millennium, as they shall then be exalted from a state of rest and expectation to a state of activity and dominion. Materialists and sceptics may refuse to believe what cannot be perceived by the senses, and scoff at the doctrine of a future state; but, if we confess the self-conscious existence of spirits and angels both good and bad, and allow that the angels are indefatigably employed in doing good or evil, according to their nature, why should we hesitate to admit the future activity of those holy spirits that shall live and reign with Jesus Christ?
V. The souls of the saints shall reign with various different degrees of authority, in proportion to their religious attainments and sufferings while in the body. This may be considered highly probable, on the ground of analogy. All those works of God with which we are acquainted show that He delights in order and subordination. But Jesus has not left this important matter to be determined by human conjecture or remote inference. He has promised to reward His servants according to their works. The parable of the ten servants contains a striking example of this (Luk 19:11-19).
VI. The saints of Jesus shall all reign with Him in a very glorious manner, far surpassing our present comprehension. The reign of the saints will be glorious, because all their former prayers shall be answered, their ardent desires shall be granted, and their long continued expectation exceeded. They shall obtain their dominion from Christ Himself, as a token of His high approbation, and the gracious reward of their faithful services and patient sufferings while in the body. If the tokens of personal regard with which earthly sovereigns reward their principal servants be honourable, who can sufficiently estimate the glory of that reward which the King of kings will confer when He shall say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, etc. The saints shall reign together in a state of glorious harmony and perfect love. There will be no misunderstanding, contradiction, or bitter passions, among the spirits of the just made perfect. Their love shall be pure without dissimulation: its ardour shall admit of no decrease; and their felicity shall be mutually augmented by beholding the dignity and happiness of each other. They shall enjoy the most intimate and delightful fellowship with Christ Himself. They shall see Him ruling His enemies with a rod of iron, and subduing the hearts of sinners to Himself by the word of His grace; the progressive accomplishment of His promises to the gospel church will fill them with admiration and delight; and, whilst they share His victories and dominion, they shall cordially unite, with adoring angels, in ascribing the highest glory and praise to Himself (Rev 5:8-12; Rev 19:1-7). The extent and efficacy of their dominion shall be glorious. None of their adversaries shall be able either to defeat or resist them. The beneficial effects of their reign shall be glorious. Righteousness, goodness, and happiness shall be as general and abundant among mankind as wickedness and misery have hitherto been. All the joyful predictions of Scripture respecting the prosperity and glory of the Church in the last days shall be accomplished. The posterity of Israel shall be converted, with the fulness of the Gentiles.
VII. The saints shall reign together with Jesus during a very long period. The Lord frequently pours contempt upon the princes of the earth by causing their great power to terminate in sudden defeat and debasement. The dominion of the saints shall not be of this transient kind. Perhaps the round number of years mentioned in the text ought to be understood in an indefinite sense, as denoting a very large space of time in a general way, the precise extent of which is not fixed. Conclusion:
1. The view of the text which is now presented ought to be examined with much candour and deliberation before it be altogether rejected.
2. The text sets before us an object of the most laudable and hopeful ambition. Compared with this dignity, all human distinctions are insignificant and vain; yet it is accessible to all the servants of Jesus, small and great.
3. This shows how reasonable and advantageous it is for men to forsake all that they have for Christ, in order to win Him and be found in Him. In forsaking all for Christ, we renounce only those things that are vain, ensnaring, and perishing, to obtain the righteousness of faith, conformity to His perfect image, and fellowship with Him in the enjoyment of His heavenly kingdom.
4. This subject furnishes a powerful incitement to faithfulness and perseverance in the service of Christ.
5. The hope of reigning with Jesus should induce His disciples to show all meekness and patience while suffering for His sake. The cross is the way to the crown. The meek shall inherit the earth. Those who suffer with Jesus shall reign with Him.
6. This subject affords strong consolation to believers in the prospect of putting off their earthly tabernacle. They know that their soul shall not sleep in a state of dark insensibility, while their body is in the dust. Death to them will be gain. (J. Gibb.)
The age of moral triumph
I. The entire overthrow of moral evil.
1. The great enemy will have lost his stand-place in the world. Error, prejudice, selfishness, evil passions, etc., will have gone. He will have no fulcrum for his lever.
2. The fall of the great enemy will be complete for a time. The more humanity progresses in intelligence, rectitude, and holiness, the more hopeless his condition becomes.
II. The universal sovereignty of Christ.
1. The only true sovereignty is spiritual.
2. A religious spiritual sovereignty over man is the great want of the race. He who rules the human mind–directs its faculties, energies, and feelings rightly–is mans greatest benefactor. This Christ does in the highest and most perfect manner.
III. The general ascendancy of great souls.
1. They will be men who have passed through a spiritual resurrection.
2. They will be men of martyr-mould.
3. They will be men possessing exclusive ascendancy.
4. They will be men raised for ever beyond the reach of all future evil.
IV. The extensive duration of the whole.
1. This long period of holiness is a glorious set-off against all the preceding ages of depravity and sin.
2. This long period of holiness serves wonderfully to heighten our ideas of the grandeur of Christs work. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The blessed dead living and reigning with Christ during the thousand years
I. Here is a vision of men from earth–not of men on it. The souls. (So in Rev 6:11.) That the expression refers here to men in what is called the disembodied state, scarcely admits of question. They are clear and distinct words, fitting in with other statements of Gods Word, teaching us that the souls of the blessed dead have already passed into a higher life: that there is no lapse in their blessed relationship to Jesus.
II. The blessed saints are seen in a more elevated sphere of holy service. They are living and reigning with Christ. They share with Him the government of the world. Here they were kings and priests unto God. But in the higher state of being the meaning of these names, and the glorious dignity they include, become far more manifest than when here below.
III. Their passing upward, in death, to this higher state is called the first resurrection. And most intelligibly so. Surely, says the Rev. F. D. Maurice, if one takes the words as they stand, they do not describe a descent of Christ to earth, but an ascent of the saints to reign with Him. The thought of a real resurrection without a bodily rising from the grave ought to be no difficulty to those accustomed to scriptural phraseology. If, when a man passes from death to life, the phrase risen with Christ, is not inappropriate, neither can it be so when he makes the transition from earth to heaven to be at home with Jesus.
IV. Blessed even in this first resurrection, the saints await in hope the consummation of their bliss. The blessedness indicated here extends over the thousand years. While the Church on earth is enjoying its millennial calm, believers above are reigning in life with Jesus Christ. Knowing the blessedness of their first resurrection, they can look forward with joyful hope to their second.
V. Their glory will be consummated at the resurrection of the body. For this, as the ultimate outlook, the apostle says, believers are waiting (Rom 8:23). The first resurrection is that to a higher state of spiritual being. The second will be to the completed state of glorified life of both body and spirit.
VI. For the wicked there is no such first resurrection. The rest of the dead lived not again () till the thousand years were expired. For the wicked, death brings nothing which can be called a resurrection at all. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness. After death they are not extinct. They exist. They are in Hades. But their life in the invisible realm is no resurrection. No such reward is theirs. They chose the paths of sin and selfishness, and they can but reap as they have sown. The statement of the text is, however, only negative. They lived not again till, etc. What their state is, positively, we are not told. (C. Clemance, D. D.)
The reign of the martyrs with Christ
Instead of looking forward to some future age for the thousand years, is it not more reasonable and helpful to say that we ourselves are living in them? From the time when the Catholic Church was set up in the world and its principles exhibited, all that is noble and intelligent in man, all that he recognises in himself as immortal and made for a higher life, refuses to listen to the beast and to be deceived by him, but acknowledges the Lamb as its true King. The thousand years, i.e., the long period which elapses after the setting up of the Church–and surely this interpretation is more in accord with what we get from the Bible than an arbitrary fixture of just one thousand years of 365 days each–these thousand years, up to this hour, have been marked by evidences that Christ has chained the devil, has proved Himself stronger than the devil, not merely when He resisted his temptations, but ever since. The earth has gone on acquiring new life and strength and capacity, just so far as it has recognised the Lamb for its true Lord, and thus purity has been exalted above lust, thus slavery has been abolished, hospitals have been built, the poor have been educated, prisons have been reformed, criminals have been appealed to by nobler motives than self-interest. There is enough to do yet, God knows; but what has been done has all been clone on principles which Christ laid down, and what is still to be achieved will be done on the same basis, namely, that self-sacrifice is the true life of Gods earth. And what does it all mean but that Christ has chained the dragon? Then St. John says that he saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God–the early Christian martyrs, in fact–and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. They were killed: the world saw no more of them; but St. John says that he did. To him it was revealed what their subsequent lot was–they lived and reigned with Christ in the thousand years. They live and reign with Him now, therefore. Where? That we cannot tell. We know that they have not yet their perfect consummation and bliss. But see what we do know. Christ is reigning now. But is that reigning merely resting on His throne as a glorious spectacle to look upon? Which of us seriously supposes that reigning with Christ means sitting with a golden crown on, holding a sceptre? The reign of Christ is a more real thing–a very active thing–and the martyrs who died for His sake, because they would not worship the beast, reign even as He does. There is to me wonderful help and consolation in all which this involves. The witnesses of Christ, who cared so much for their fellow men whilst they lived on the earth, who had laboured to do it good, and seemed to have laboured in vain, who had told their fellow men who their true King was; they, after they were no more seen, reigned with Christ, i.e., they exercised a greater influence, had a greater power, than ever they had before, and became from the unseen world efficient servants of Him who had given up His life for the salvation of men. This is their high reward, exactly that reward which their Lord promised in His parable. He whose pound had gained five pounds was to be ruler over five cities. They are not offered idleness or luxurious indulgence, they are to enter into the joy of their Lord, to have the delight of knowing more and more of His purposes, and of working in conformity with them. They die and are seen no more, but any good deed which they have ever done goes forth conquering and to conquer. And, the apostle declares, this is the first resurrection, which they who have lived evil lives and followed the beast have no part in. How often we see good and faithful men, whose career is altogether useful and beneficial, cut off in the midst of their work! We think to ourselves, How much good this man would have done if he had lived! What a loss to the Church! So it seems to us, and so it seemed to the first Christians, for we are told they made great lamentation over him. But God knew better than they. He took His martyr away that he might reign with Christ. Well, was there any evidence of his so reigning? Were any victories of his ever seen any more? Many, no doubt, which we know nothing about. (W. Benham, B. D.)
This is the first resurrection.—
The first resurrection
I. Three privileges.
1. Priority of resurrection (1Co 15:20; 1Th 4:13; Php 3:8-11; Luk 20:35; Joh 6:39-40; Joh 6:44; Joh 6:54). I will raise him up at the last day. Now, is there any joy or beauty in this, to the people of God in particular, unless there be a speciality in it for them? It is the lot of all to rise, and yet we have here a privilege for the elect! Surely there is a different resurrection. Besides, there is yet a passage in the Hebrews where the apostle, speaking of the trials of the godly, and their noble endurance, speaks of them as, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. The betterness was not in the after results of resurrection, but in the resurrection itself. How, then, could it be a better resurrection, unless there be some distinction between the resurrection of the saint and the resurrection of the sinner? Pass on to the second privilege here promised to the godly.
2. The second death on them hath no power. This, too, is a literal death; none the less literal because its main terror is spiritual, for a spiritual death is as literal as a camel death. The death which shall come upon the ungodly without exception can never touch the righteous. Oh, this is the best of all. As for the first resurrection, if Christ hath granted that to His people there must be something glorious in it if we cannot perceive it. It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know when He shall appear we shall be like Him. I think the glories of the first resurrection belong to the glories which shall be revealed in us rather than the glories that are revealed to us.
3. They shall reign with Him a thousand years. I believe this reign of the saints with Christ is to be upon earth (Psa 37:10-11; Rev 5:9-10; Mat 19:28). You find such passages as these in the Word of God, The Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously. You find another like this in Zechariah, My God shall come with the multitude of His saints.
II. To the ungodly three things in simplicity.
1. Sinner, you have heard us speak of the resurrection of the righteous. To you the word resurrection has no music. There is no flash of joy in your spirit when you hear that the dead shall rise again. But oh, I pray thee lend me thine ear while I assure thee in Gods name that thou shalt rise. Not only shall your soul live–you have perhaps become so brutish that you forget you have a soul–but your body itself shall live. Go thou thy way, eat, drink, and be merry; but for all these the Lord shall bring thee into judgment.
2. But after the resurrection, according to the text, comes the judgment.
3. After judgment, the damnation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The first resurrection
My conviction is clear that the resurrection here spoken of is the resurrection of the saints from their graves, in the sense of the Nicene Creed, where it is confessed: I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. The placing of it as the first in a category of two resurrections, the second of which is specifically stated to be the literal rising again of such as were not raised in the first, fixes the sense to be a literal resurrection.
1. It is a resurrection of saints only. They that have part in it are blessed and holy. It is true that as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (1Co 15:22). But it is immediately added, every man in his own order. It is not a summary thing, all at once, and the same in all cases. The resurrection of the wicked is in no respect identical with that of the saints, except that it will be a recall to some sort of corporeal life. There is a resurrection of life, and there is a resurrection of damnation (Joh 5:29); and it is impossible that these should be one and the same. There is a resurrection of the just–a better resurrection–a resurrection out from among the dead, for which great zeal and devotion are requisite (Luk 14:14; Heb 11:35; Php 3:10-11)–which is everywhere emphasised and distinguished from another, more general, and less desirable. As it is the resurrection of the just, the unjust have no share in it. As it is a resurrection from among the dead ones, it is necessarily eclectic, raising some and leaving others, and so interposing a difference as to time, which distinguishes the resurrection of some as in advance of the resurrection of the rest.
2. It is a resurrection which takes place in different stages, and not all at one and the same time. Paul tells us expressly that there is an order in it, which brings up some at one time, and others at other times. It starts with Christ the first-fruits; afterwards they that are Christs at His coming; then (still later) the end, completion, or last (1Co 15:23-24). Christs resurrection was also attended with the resurrection of others (Mat 27:52-53).
3. It is a resurrection which as a whole is nowhere pictorially described. The reason is, that the subject is not capable of it.
4. The completion of this resurrection introduces a wonderful change in the earths history. It is the breaking through of an immortal power;–a power which sweeps away, as chaff before the wind, the whole economy of mortal and dragon rule, and thrusts to death and Hades every one found rising up or stiffening himself against it;–a power which gives to the nations new, just, and righteous laws, in the administration of immortal rulers, whose good and holy commands men must obey or die. I think of the coming in of that power–of the havoc it must needs make in the whole order of things–of the confusion it will cause in the depraved cabinets and courts and legislatures of the world–of the revolution it must work in business customs, in corporation managements–of the changes it must bring into churches, into pulpits, into pews, into worship, into schools, into the newspapers, into book-making and book-reading, into thinking and philosophy, and into all the schemes, enterprises, judgments, pursuits, and doings of men. And a good thing it will be for the nations when that day comes. There can be nothing better than Gods law. There can be nothing more just, more reasonable, more thoroughly or wisely adapted to all the well-being of man and the highest wholesomeness of human society. All the blessedness in the universe is built upon it. All that is needed for the establishment of a holy and happy order is for men to obey that law, for it to be put in living force, for it to be incarnated in the feelings, actions, and lives of men. And this is what is to be effected when the children of the resurrection get their crowns, and go into power, with Christ the All-Ruler at their head.
5. The completion of this resurrection promotes the subjects of it to a transcendent glory. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
The first resurrection
I. When is it to be? When the Lord comes the second time. In the preceding chapter He is described as coming with the hosts of heaven for the destruction of His enemies (1Co 15:23; 1Th 4:16; 2Th 2:1). He comes as the resurrection and the life; the abolisher of death, the spoiler of the grave, the raiser of His saints.
II. Who 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. They have suffered with Him here, and they shall reign with Him here.
III. What it does for those who share it. It brings to them such things as the following:–
1. Blessedness. God only knoweth 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 pre-eminently the saints of God; set apart for Him; consecrated and purified, both outwardly and inwardly; dwelt in by Him whose name is the Holy Ghost; and called to special service in virtue of their consecration. Priestly-royal service is to be theirs throughout the eternal ages.
3. Preservation from the second death. They rise to an immortality which shall never be recalled. No dying again, in any sense of the word; not a fragment of mortality about them, nothing of this vile body, and nothing of that corruption or darkness or anguish which shall be the portion of those who rise at the close of the thousand years.
4. The possession of a heavenly priesthood. They are made priests unto God and Christ–both to the Father and the Son. Priestly nearness and access; priestly power and honour and service; priestly glory and dignity;–this is their recompense.
5. The possession of the kingdom. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
The first resurrection
Of these words of this first resurrection there are three expositions authorised by persons of good note in the Church. First, that this first resurrection is a resurrection from that low estate to which persecution had brought the Church. Secondly, that it is a resurrection from the death of sin, of actual and habitual sin; so it belongs to every particular penitent soul. And thirdly, because after this resurrection, it is said that we shall reign with Christ a thousand years, it hath also been taken for the state of the soul in heaven after it is parted from the body by death; and so it belongs to all them who are departed in the Lord. And then the occasion of the day, which we celebrate now, being the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus, invites me to propose a fourth sense, or rather use of the words; not indeed as an exposition of the words, but as a convenient exaltation of our devotion: which is, that this first resurrection should be the first-fruits of the dead; the first rising is the first riser, Christ Jesus: for as Christ says of Himself, that He is the resurrection, so He is the first resurrection, the root of the resurrection. He upon whom our resurrection, all our kinds of resurrections are founded. (J. Donne.)
On such the second death hath no power.—
The happiness of being saved from the second death
I. What the second death is. A second supposes a first; and that which universally we have the clearest notion of is, that death which funerals and the mourners who go about the streets convince us of. For–
1. Death, in the natural signification of the word, is a separation of the soul from the body. Plants die, and beasts and birds and fishes and insects die; and so man dies (Heb 9:27). And this is the first death, which all men, both good and bad, are subject to; and from which none can plead exemption, except preserved from it by the miraculous power of God; as were Enoch and Elias.
2. The second death no creature is capable of but man, no inferior creature; devils and apostate spirits are, but none below the dignity of man; for this death is the wages of sin, and contempt of mercy and the grace of God. This second death is punishment. It is true the first is so too; but by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus that punishment is softened, or rather turned into a mercy, exchanged for eternal life; but from this second death there is no possibility of any release after it is once inflicted. And that we may rightly understand the nature of it, the Holy Ghost in the chapter before us specifies what it is, for so we read (verse 14), And death and hell; i.e., wicked men who had been dead, and the devil and his angels, were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And again, Rev 21:8.
II. Why it is called death, and the second death.
1. The common death of mankind is a separation of the soul from the body; and there being in hell a signal separation, either of the soul, or of soul and body after the resurrection, from the love of Gods complacency and the society of saints, and from all joy and comfort, the true life of the soul, it is upon that account that this future torment is called death.
2. The unhappy sufferer in the lake of fire is always dying, and yet never dies; the anguish he lies under puts him into such agonies that one would think he is expiring every moment, and yet he lives (Mar 9:44).
3. The sufferer in this lake wishes to die, and yet doth not die. The intolerable torment forces him into vehement desires after something that may put a period to his anguish. Common death frees men from the troubles and diseases of the body, and puts an end to the pain we feel here.
4. It is called the second death, i.e., a death different from the common and natural. In this sense the word second is used sometimes (as Dan 7:5). And, indeed, it is a death of another nature, attended with other circumstances and with other consequences. It is, if I may say so, a death and no death; a death joined with sense, that breaks the man, but doth not destroy him; destroys his well-being, but not his being; his felicity, but not his substance.
III. Who the happy persons are on whom this second death hath no power, and why they fall not under that dominion.
1. In this very verse, whereof the text is part, the persons to whom this privilege belongs are said to be priests of God and of Christ, which qualification is in other places ascribed to all the living members of Christs Church (Rev 1:6).
2. As by the second death is meant hell and the lake of fire, so (Rev 21:15) it is said, And whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire, From whence it will naturally follow, that such as are written in the book of life are not subject to that power, and over such the second death hath no power. Now, it is certain that all Christians who are Israelites indeed, they are written in the book of life.
3. We read (Rev 2:11), He that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. And who knows not that self-conquest and overcoming evil with good is the proper task and employment of all sincere Christians? And how should this death have any power over them? As they live to the Lord so they die to and in the Lord Jesus, and blessed are the dead, etc. (Rev 14:13). The Lord that bought them secures them against that formidable power. The Lord that died for them, and hath abolished death, and triumphed over it, hath delivered them from that power. He is a wall of defence to them so that the power of this death cannot reach them. In a word, they are under another Prince, and therefore not subject to that power.
Inferences:
1. There being such a death, even the second death, surely it deserves to be feared and dreaded. It is true there is none desires or cares to feel it, and so far all men may be said to fear it. But to fear, is to use the proper means to escape the danger. It is with fearing as it is with believing: he that takes no care to secure himself and his goods doth not believe there is a consuming fire in his house, and he that doth not arm himself against an approaching inundation doth not fear it.
2. It must needs be a very great privilege to be delivered from the power of the second death; a greater mercy than to be delivered from the deluge of Noah, from the conflagration of Sodom, from Davids bear and lion, and from the most painful diseases; a mercy to be prized above being set with princes, even with the princes of Gods people; a mercy which none can prize but true believers, and the more they believe it, the more they will prize it; a mercy that will be prized another day at a very great rate, even by the sufferers in the burning lake, when it is too late. (A. Horneck, D. D.)
Triumphant
At one of the prayer-meetings in America a person thus spoke:–A few days ago I was in a church in another city, and my attention was attracted by a large marble tablet at the farther end of the church from where I was sitting. It was so far from me that I could not read it; but casting my eye downward towards the bottom of the inscription, I made out one word, Triumphant. As I looked at that tablet on the wall, I thought, Well, that is all I want to know about that man. I knew not whether he had been pastor of the church, or one of the elders, or deacons, or trustees, or who he was; I knew not whether he was a rich or a poor man; but this one thing I had reason to believe–that he died triumphant in Christ; and that was enough.
They shall be priests of God and of Christ.—
Soul priesthood
I. A consciousness of the Divine. The very idea of priesthood implies the practical recognition of God. God was to be everything to the priests of His appointment. He had to do with their clothing, their diet, their means of support. He was at once the Author, Master, and Object of all their ceremonies. They prepared their sacrifices by His directions, and they offered them to Him according to His will. Deep as may have been the impression which the high priest had of Gods presence when he stood in the Holy of Holies, in the full light of the shekinah, it was not deeper than every man should have in passing through this life. But why should souls be ever conscious of Gods presence? Why?
1. Because it is reasonable. His constant presence is a fact. Shall I recognise, as I am bound to do, all the little facts that come under my daily notice, and ignore the great fact that God is in all, ever present, never absent? Shall men of science give attention to the smallest facts of nature; write treatises on an insects wing, or on the microscopic dust that floats in the atmosphere, and ignore the fact that God is present? If it is wise to take notice of the facts of nature, and wise it is beyond debate, how egregious and astounding the folly of ignoring the greatest of all facts–the presence of the all-creating, all-sustaining God?
2. Because it is obligatory. Who is He that is present with us? Our Maker, Sustainer, Proprietor, Author of all we have and are, and of all we hope to possess and be. To disregard the presence of such a Being is a heinous crime, a crime which in all worlds conscience condemns.
3. Because it is necessary. It is indispensable to mans well-being. You may as well endeavour to evolve and bring into perfection the seed the husbandman has scattered over his tilled field without the sunbeam, as to talk about educating the soul without the consciousness of God. This alone can quicken and develop the spiritual faculties of man. Nor is there any moral power without it. It is only as we feel that God is with us that power comes to resist the evil and do the good, to brave peril and face death.
II. A fellowship with the Divine. Concerning the mercy seat, before which the high priest stood in the Holy of Holies in the presence of God, Jehovah said to Moses, There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, etc. It might be asked, how can we hold fellowship with One who is invisible–how does soul hold fellowship with Saul? Human spirits are invisible to each other, yet do they not enjoy fellowship? How? By symbols and sayings, works and words. I hold fellowship with the distant and the dead through the works of their hands, either as they come directly under my eye or are reproduced in my memory. But words are the media of fellowship as well as works. Through words we pour our souls into anothers and our minds meet and mingle in fellowship. Can we not thus hold fellowship with God? Around, above, and beneath me, His works are spread. All I see in nature are the embodiment and revelation of His ideas, and these ideas He intends me to study and appropriate. His Word, too, is in my hand; above all I have that wonderful Word of His–the life of Jesus. This is the great organ by which He communicates His ideas to me. But can man receive the communication? Has he a capacity for it? He has. This is the glory of his nature. Of all the creatures on this earth man alone is able to receive the thoughts of God. Beyond all this–beyond what may be called the fellowship arising from interpretable ideas, there is an unspeakable and mystic intercourse. What devout soul in the chamber of devotion, the services of the temple, or in some lonely walk amidst the grand sceneries of nature, has not felt a softening, hallowing influence that has lifted his soul into the conscious presence of his God, caused it to exclaim with Jacob, Surely God is in this place?
III. A devotion to the Divine. The priests under the law were consecrated in the most solemn and impressive manner to the service of God. They were in an especial sense Gods servants.
1. To offer sacrifices for themselves. We must offer ourselves, nothing else will do. Whatever we present to God, unless we have first offered ourselves, will be worse than worthless; it will be impious. The priests were set apart–
2. To offer sacrifices for others. True priesthood involves intercession. All souls are united by many a subtle bond; no one liveth unto himself, and each is bound to seek the good of others. Intercession with God on behalf of others is a social instinct as well as a religious duty and high spiritual privilege. He who first consecrates himself is sure to mediate for the redemption ai ethers: mediate not merely by presenting the needs of men to God, but by presenting the claims of God to man. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. I saw thrones] Christianity established in the earth, the kings and governors being all Christians.
Reigned with Christ a thousand years.] I am satisfied that this period should not be taken literally. It may signify that there shall be a long and undisturbed state of Christianity; and so universally shall the Gospel spirit prevail, that it will appear as if Christ reigned upon earth; which will in effect be the case, because his Spirit shall rule in the hearts of men; and in this time the martyrs are represented as living again; their testimony being revived, and the truth for which they died, and which was confirmed by their blood, being now everywhere prevalent. As to the term thousand years, it is a mystic number among the Jews. Midrash Tillin, in Ps 90:15, Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, adds, “by Babylon, Greece, and the Romans; and in the days of the Messiah. How many are the days of the Messiah? Rab. Elieser, the son of R. Jose, of Galilee, said, The days of the Messiah are a thousand years.”
Sanhedrin, fol. 92, 1, cited by the Aruch, under the word says: “There is a tradition in the house of Elias, that the righteous, whom the holy blessed God shall raise from the dead, shall not return again to the dust; but for the space of a thousand years, in which the holy blessed God shall renew the world, they shall have wings like the wings of eagles, and shall fly above the waters.” It appears therefore that this phraseology is purely rabbinical. Both the Greeks and Latins have the same form of speech in speaking on the state of the righteous and wicked after death. There is something like this in the Republic of Plato, book x., p. 322, edit. Bip., where, speaking of Erus, the son of Armenius, who came to life after having been dead twelve days, and who described the states of departed souls, asserting “that some were obliged to make a long peregrination under the earth before they arose to a state of happiness, , for it was a journey of a thousand years,” he adds, “that, as the life of man is rated at a hundred years, those who have been wicked suffer in the other world a ten-fold punishment, and therefore their punishment lasts a thousand years.”
A similar doctrine prevailed among the Romans; whether they borrowed it from the Greeks, or from the rabbinical Jews, we cannot tell.
Thus Virgil, speaking of the punishment of the wicked in the infernal regions, says: –
Has omnes, ubi MILLE rotam volvere per annos,
Lethaeum ad fluvium Deus evocat agmine magno:
Scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant,
Rursus et incipiant in corpora velle reverti
AEN., lib. vi., 748.
“But when a thousand rolling years are past,
So long their dreary punishment shall last,
Whole droves of spirits, by the driving god,
Are led to drink the deep Lethean flood
In large, forgetful draughts, to sleep the cares
Of their past labours and their irksome years;
That, unremembering of its former pain,
The soul may clothe itself with flesh again.”
How the apostle applies this general tradition, or in what sense he may use it, who can tell?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is a very difficult text. Thrones are places of dignity and judicature; they seem here to signify only places of dignity.
And they sat upon them; those mentioned afterward in this text sat upon them.
And judgment was given unto them; that is, a power of judgment, 1Co 6:2,3, to be executed afterward. The persons sitting upon these thrones are described to be:
1. Such as had kept themselves from idolatry, or any compliance with antichrist, either in the form of the beast, or of the image of the beast.
2. And for that non-compliance had suffered death, and for witnessing to the truths of Christ contained in his word.
These are described as living with Christ in honour and dignity, all that space of the churchs rest and tranquillity before expressed. Our learned Dr. More interprets the thrones and judgment, concerning those thrones or places of judicature, upon which the dragons officers sat to condemn the saints of God, from whence issued the putting to death of many of the saints of God, and thinks that in this vision there is a recourse to the second thunder. Now these saints are said to
live and reign with Christ a thousand years; that is, say some, in heaven, in a blessed state of glory, while the militant church upon the earth enjoyed great rest and quiet on earth. Others have thought that these should be raised from the dead, and live with Christ on earth these thousand years. Which notion (if true) will solve a great phenomenon, and render it not improbable, that the number of the saints on earth will, during these thousand years, be enough to rule the world, and overbalance the number of all the wicked of the earth. Those who think thus, judge there will be two resurrections; the first, of martyrs, which shall antedate the general resurrection a thousand years: but the Scripture no where else mentions more than one resurrection. For my own part, I shall freely confess that I do not understand this and the two next verses, nor shall I be positive as to any sense of them: for the spiritual resurrection, as to the martyrs, it was long since past, or else they had died in their sins. But of this see more in the next verse. {Rev 20:5}
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4, 5. they satthe twelveapostles, and the saints in general.
judgment was given untothere(See on Da 7:22). Theoffice of judging was given to them. Though in one sense having tostand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yet in another sense they”do not come into judgment (Greek), but have alreadypassed from death unto life.”
soulsThis term is madea plea for denying the literality of the first resurrection, as ifthe resurrection were the spiritual one of the souls ofbelievers in this life; the life and reign being that of the soulraised in this life from the death of sin by vivifying faith. But”souls” expresses their disembodied state (compare Re6:9) as John saw them at first; “and they lived”implies their coming to life in the body again, so as to bevisible, as the phrase, Re 20:5,”this is the first resurrection,” proves; for as surely as”the rest of the dead lived not (again) until,” c., refersto the bodily general resurrection, so must the firstresurrection refer to the body. This also accords with 1Co15:23, “They that are Christ’s at His coming.” ComparePs 49:11-15. From Re6:9, I infer that “souls” is here used in the strictsense of spirits disembodied when first seen by John thoughdoubtless “souls” is often used in general for persons,and even for dead bodies.
beheadedliterally,”smitten with an axe”; a Roman punishment, thoughcrucifixion, casting to beasts, and burning, were the more commonmodes of execution. The guillotine in revolutionary France was arevival of the mode of capital punishment of pagan imperial Rome.Paul was beheaded, and no doubt shall share the firstresurrection, in accordance with his prayer that he “mightattain unto the resurrection from out of the rest of the dead”(Greek, “exanastasis“). The above facts mayaccount for the specification of this particular kind of punishment.
for . . . forGreek,“for the sake of”; on account of”; “because of.”
and whichGreek,“and the which.” And prominent among this class (thebeheaded), such as did not worship the beast. So Re1:7, Greek, “and the which,” or “and suchas,” particularizes prominently among the general class thosethat follow in the description [TREGELLES].The extent of the first resurrection is not spoken of here. In1Co 15:23; 1Co 15:51;1Th 4:14 we find that all “inChrist” shall share in it. John himself was not “beheaded,”yet who doubts but that he shall share in the first resurrection? Themartyrs are put first, because most like Jesus in their sufferingsand death, therefore nearest Him in their life and reign; for Christindirectly affirms there are relative degrees and places of honor inHis kingdom, the highest being for those who drink his cup ofsuffering. Next shall be those who have not bowed to the world power,but have looked to the things unseen and eternal.
neither“not yet.”
foreheads . . . handsGreek,“forehead . . . hand.”
reigned with Christoverthe earth.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them,…. Besides the throne of God the Father, and the throne of glory, on which the Son of God sits, and the twelve thrones for the twelve apostles of the Lamb; there will be thrones set, or pitched, for all the saints, Da 7:9 who will sit on them, in the character of kings, and as conquerors, and shall sit quiet, and undisturbed, and be in perfect ease, and peace, for they that sit on them are the same persons hereafter described in this verse; for after the binding of Satan, an account is given of the happiness and glory of the saints during that time:
and judgment was given unto them; that is, power, dominion, regal authority, possession of a kingdom, answerable to their character as kings, and to their position, sitting on thrones, Da 7:22 unless it should be rather understood of justice being done them, which does not so manifestly take place in the present state of things, and of which they sometimes complain; but now righteous judgment will be given for them, and against their enemies; their persons will be openly declared righteous; their characters will be cleared of all false imputations fastened on them; and their works and sufferings for Christ will be taken notice of in a way of grace, and rewarded in a very glorious manner. And so it may respect their being judged themselves, but not their judging of others, the wicked, which is the sole work of Christ; nor will the wicked now be upon the spot to be judged; nor is that notion to be supported by
[See comments on Mt 19:28],
[See comments on 1Co 6:2],
[See comments on 1Co 6:3]. The Jews fancy that their chief men shall judge the world in the time to come; for so they say w,
“in future time, (or in the world to come,) the holy blessed God will sit, and kings will place thrones for the great men of Israel, and they shall sit and judge the nations of the world with the holy blessed God:”
but the persons here meant are not Jews, but sufferers for the sake of Jesus, as follows:
and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God: these, with the persons described in the next clause, are they who will sit on thrones, during the thousand years of Satan’s being bound, and will have judgment given them; even such who have bore witness to the truth of Jesus being the Son of God, the true Messiah, and the only Saviour of sinners, and to him as the essential Word of God, or to the written word of God, the whole Gospel, all the truths and doctrines of it; and who have been beheaded for bearing such a testimony, as John the Baptist was, the first of the witnesses of Jesus: and since this kind of punishment was a Roman one, it seems particularly to point at such persons who suffered under the Roman Pagan emperors, and to design the same souls said to be under the altar, and to cry for vengeance, Re 6:9. This clause, in connection with the former, is differently rendered; the Syriac version renders it thus, “and judgment was given to them, and to the souls that were beheaded”, c. the Arabic version, “and to them was given the judgment the souls killed”, c. the Ethiopic version, “and then I saw a seat, and the son of man sat upon it, and he rendered to them judgment for the souls of them that were slain for the law of the Lord Jesus”.
And which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands, see
Re 13:1. This describes such who shall have made no profession of the Popish religion, nor have supported it in any way who shall not have joined in the idolatry of the Romish antichrist, but shall have protested against it, and departed from it, and shall have adhered to Christ, and to the true worship of God see
Re 14:1. And so this, with the preceding character, includes all the saints that lived under Rome Pagan, and Rome Papal, to the destruction of antichrist, and the setting up of Christ’s kingdom; not that these martyrs and confessors, or even all the saints of their times, are the only persons that shall share in the glory and happiness of the thousand years’ reign of Christ, and binding of Satan; for all the saints will come with Christ, and all the dead in Christ will rise first, or be partakers of the first resurrection; and all that are redeemed by his blood, of whatsoever nation, or in whatsoever age of the world they have lived, even from the beginning of it, shall be kings and priests, and reign with him on earth,
Zec 14:5 though John only takes notice of these, because the design of this book, and of the visions shown to him, was only to give a prophetic history of the church, from his time, to the end of the world; and these particularly are observed to encourage the saints under sufferings for Christ:
and they lived; meaning not spiritually, for so they did before, and while they bore their testimony to Christ, and against antichrist, and previous to their death; nor in their successors, for it would not be just and reasonable that they should be beheaded for their witness of Christ and his word, and others should live and reign with Christ in their room and stead; nor is this to be understood of their living in their souls, for so they live in their separate state; the soul never dies; God is not the God of the dead, but of the living: but the sense is, that they lived again, as in Re 20:5 they lived corporeally; their souls lived in their bodies, their bodies being raised again, and reunited to their souls, their whole persons lived; or the souls of them that were beheaded lived; that is, their bodies lived again, the soul being sometimes put for the body, Ps 16:10 and this is called the first resurrection in the next verse:
and reigned with Christ a thousand years; as all that suffer with him will, and as all that will live godly must, and do, 2Ti 2:12 2Ti 3:12. Christ being descended from heaven, and having bound Satan, and the dead saints being raised, and the living ones changed, he will reign among them personally, visibly, and gloriously, and in the fullest manner; all the antichristian powers will be destroyed; Satan will be in close confinement; death, with respect to Christ and his people, will be no more; the heavens and the earth will be made new, and all things will be subject to him; and all his saints will be with him, and they shall reign with him; they shall be glorified together; they shall sit on the throne with him, have a crown of righteousness given them, and possess the kingdom appointed for them; they will reign over all their enemies; Satan will be bruised under their feet, being bound; the wicked will be shut up in hell, and neither will be able to give them any disturbance; and sin and death will be no more: this reign will not be in a sensual and carnal way, or lie in possessing worldly riches and honours, in eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage; the saints will not be in a mortal, but in an immortal state; the children of this resurrection will be like the angels; and this reign will be on earth, Re 5:10 the present earth will be burnt up, and a new one formed, in which these righteous persons will dwell, 2Pe 3:13 of which
[See comments on Re 21:1] and it will last a thousand years; not distinct from, but the same with the thousand years in which Satan will be bound; for if they were distinct from them, and should commence when they are ended, the reign of Christ with his saints would be when Satan is loosed, which is utterly inconsistent with it. The Syriac version very rightly renders it, these thousand years, referring to those of Satan’s binding. Nor are these thousand years to be understood prophetically, for as many years as there are days in a thousand years; for as this would defer the judgment of the wicked, and the ultimate glory of the saints, to a prodigious length of time, so it should be observed, that prophetic time will now be no longer, according to the angel’s oath in Re 10:6 but these are to be understood literally and definitely, as before, of just such an exact number and term of years; see 2Pe 3:8 this is a perfect number, and is expressive of the perfection of this state, and is a term of years that neither Adam, nor any of his sons, arrived unto; but Christ the second Adam shall see his seed, and shall prolong his days longer than any of them, Isa 53:10. It is an observation of the Jewish Rabbins x, that the day in Ge 2:17 is the day of the holy blessed God (i.e. a thousand years), and therefore the first Adam did not perfect, or fill up his day, for there wanted seventy years of it: and it is a notion that prevails with them, that the days of the Messiah will be a thousand years y; and so they will be at his second coming, but not at his first, which they vainly expect, it being past: and also they say z, that in these thousand years God will renew his world, and that then the righteous will be raised, and no more return to dust; which agrees with John’s new heaven and new earth during this state, and with the first resurrection: and so Jerom, who was conversant with the Rabbins, says a that the Jews expect a thousand years’ reign.
w Yalkut Simconi, par. 2. fol. 41. 4. x Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 5. fol. 185. 4. vid. Jacchiad. in Dan. vii. 25. y Midrash Tillim, fol. 4. 2. z T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 93. 1, 2. & Gloss. in ib. Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 42. 1. & 49. 3. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 150. 2. a Comment. in Zach. xiv. 16, 18.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And they sat upon them ( ‘ ). First aorist active indicative of . Another period here apparently synchronous (verse 7) with the confinement of Satan in the abyss. No subject is given for this plural verb. Apparently Christ and the Apostles (Matt 19:28; Luke 22:30) and some of the saints (1Co 6:3), martyrs some hold.
Judgment was given unto them ( ). First aorist passive of . Picture of the heavenly court of assizes.
The souls ( ). Accusative after at the beginning of the verse.
Of them that had been beheaded ( ). Genitive of the articular perfect passive participle of , old word (from an axe, the traditional instrument for execution in republican Rome, but later supplanted by the sword), to cut off with an axe, here only in N.T. See Rev 6:9; Rev 18:24; Rev 19:2 for previous mention of these martyrs for the witness of Jesus (Rev 1:9; Rev 12:17; Rev 19:10). Others also besides martyrs shared in Christ’s victory, those who refused to worship the beast or wear his mark as in Rev 13:15; Rev 14:9; Rev 16:2; Rev 19:20.
And they lived ( ). First aorist active indicative of . If the ingressive aorist, it means “came to life” or “lived again” as in 2:8 and so as to verse 5. If it is the constative aorist here and in verse 5, then it could mean increased spiritual life. See Joh 5:21-29 for the double sense of life and death (now literal, now spiritual) precisely as we have the second death in Rev 2:11; Rev 20:6; Rev 20:14.
And reigned with Christ ( ). Same use of the first aorist active indicative of , but more clearly constative. Beckwith and Swete take this to apply solely to the martyrs, the martyrs’ reign with Christ.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Thrones. See on ch. Rev 2:13.
They sat. All the faithful members of Christ ‘s Church. Compare they reigned with Christ.
Beheaded [] . From pelekuv an ax. Only here in the New Testament.
They lived. Equivalent to lived again. Compare ver. 5.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And I saw thrones and they sat upon them,” (kai eidon thronous kai ekthisan ep’autous) “And I recognized a plurality of thrones and they (that) sat upon them; the time of the tribulation, the judgment of the harlot, the beast, the binding of Satan, the marriage of the Lamb, and the judgment seat of Christ are now culminating. 2Co 5:10-11.
2) “And judgment was given unto them,” (kai krima edothe autois) “And judgment was given over (doled out) to them.” The thrones include: (1) The former throne of David on which Christ will be seated during the Millennium, (2) The twenty-four (24) thrones over which the twelve apostles and twelve Elders of Israel preside, and (3) thrones or positions of judgment promised to saints of the Lord’s church, as promised, prophecied, and predicted, 2Sa 7:11-13; Isa 9:6-7; Luk 9:32-33; Dan 2:44-45; Dan 7:14; Dan 7:27; Luk 22:28-30; Rev 4:4; Rev 4:9-11; 1Co 6:2-3; Dan 7:18-22.
3) “And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded,” (kai tas psuchas ton pepelekismenon) “And I recognized the souls of those who had been beheaded; during the great tribulation.
4) “For the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God.
(dia ten marturian lesou kai dia ton logon tou theou) “Because of the witness (testimony they gave) of Jesus and because of the Word of God; this appears to be a final rewarding and assignment of judgment honors for believers, who were slain during the tribulation the great, because they refused to take the mark or name of the beast, Luk 21:36-38; 2Th 1:5; 2Th 1:10-12; Rev 2:10.
5) “And which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image,” (kai oitines ou prosekunesan therion oude ten eikona autou) “And who did not worship the beast nor the image of it;” even as Daniel and the three Hebrew children were rewarded for refusing to worship the gods of Nebuchadnezzar, Dan 3:14-18; Dan 3:28; Dan 6:11-12; Dan 6:17-24; Rev 15:2.
6) “Neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands,” (kai ouk elabon to charagma epi to metopon) “And those who did not take the mark (of the beast) upon (their) forehead,” (kai epi ten cheira auton) and upon their hand.”
7) “And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years,” (kai ezesan ebasileusan meta tou Christou chilia eta) “And they lived again (too) and they (also) reigned with Christ a thousand years; “Who are these? Those who came at the eleventh hour (11th) to the marriage reception, judgment seat of Christ, Heb 9:28; 2Co 5:9-11.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Strauss Comments
SECTION 66
Text Rev. 20:4-6
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Initial Questions Rev. 20:4-6
1.
John saw two groups of persons in Rev. 20:4 who were they?
2.
How long was Satan to be bound according to Rev. 20:2? How long were the martyrs to reign with Christ according to Rev. 20:4?
3.
What group composed those that reigned with Christ in Rev. 20:4? Who, then are the rest of the dead of Rev. 20:5?
4.
John says that they shall be priests of God and of Christ. Where, in the N.T., are all Christians called Priests? (1Pe. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; Rev. 5:10).
Rev. 20:4
On the central throne of the universe God alone sits. In this verse we note that there are other thrones. God has delegated some of His judgmental authority. To whom did God give the power to judge?— I saw (there is no verb here in the text) the souls of the ones having been beheaded because of (or on account of) the witness of Jesus, and because of Word of God, and who did not worship the beast, nor the image of it, and did not receive the mark on the forehead or on their hands; and they lived again (literally they lived) and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Who are these souls who lived again and reign with Christ a thousand years? The text is very plain they are the ones having been beheaded (pepelekismenn perfect, passive, participle, the word comes from pelekus, the word for an axe) because of the witness of Jesus, and because of the Word of God,—-. Clearly, this is a special group of martyrs. Many died for the reasons mentioned above but decapitation was the fate of souls that John saw. John himself was banned to Patmos for the same two reasonswitness and word.
Rev. 20:5
John then says that the rest of the dead did not live (again) until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Who are the rest of the dead?) The rest (hoi loipoi) included everyone else that was dead except the beheaded martyrs. (See 1Th. 4:16; Joh. 5:29; Act. 24:15 on the resurrection). Does this verse teach two chronologically separate resurrections? We must admonish Bible students to be very careful about building up theological positions on very ambiguous language. The general biblical teaching about the resurrection and judgment are clear, but passages such as this one present insoluable exegetical problems. We should be absolutely certain on any matter, before we claim that it is a doctrine of the Word of God.
Rev. 20:6
What are the characteristics of those involved in the first resurrection? John says that they areBlessed and Holy; but these are not special blessings which only members of this unique class of martyrs will receive, because all Christians are holy (both in The Revelation and all other N.T. books), and those that are invited to the marriage feast are also called Blessed (Rev. 19:9). The second death has not authority over these, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him the thousand years. According to the N.T. scriptures all Christians are priests of God and Christ. (See 1Pe. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; Rev. 5:10). The characteristics of the reigning ones are the characteristics of all followers of Christ; therefore, if these are a special group who receive a special favor from God besides redemption, we cannot learn this from this verse. The reason is simply that the characteristics holy, blessed, shall escape death, priests of God are all specifically applied by inspired men of the N.T. to all Christians. Much of what we have said will depend upon whether or not one interprets the thousand years literally or symbolically. Though we cannot enter a debate with all of the millennial groups who take the millennium literally; we do not interpret it as literally one thousand calendar years. (See Special Study on Millennial Theories.) Rev. 20:4-6 tells us (1) where the reign takes place, (2) what its nature is, (3) and who participates. It takes place in heaven; it has a spiritual nature, and it involves judging with Christ, living with Christ, and sharing with Christ.
Discussion Questions
See Rev. 20:11-15.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
THE MILLENNIAL REIGN.
(4) And I saw thrones, and they sat . . . There is a prominence given to the thrones, because the thought of the reign of the saints is uppermost in the mind of the seer. The thrones are seen, and those who sat on them. It has been asked, By whom are the thrones occupied? The answer is supplied in the latter part of the verse. Those who are in the latter part said to reign with Christ are clearly those who sit upon the thrones which first caught the prophets eye; these are all the real servants of God. They appear before the seer in two great classes:First, the martyrs who have been faithful unto death; for he speaks first of seeing the souls of those who have been beheaded (strictly, slain with the axe, but clearly the special class of beheaded martyrs is to be taken as representing all), because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God. The number of the martyrs is now complete (comp. Rev. 6:11); these form the first class mentioned. Secondly, those who have been faithful in life occupy these thrones. The prophet sees these, even whosoever did not worship (during life) the wild beast, nor yet his image, and did not receive the mark (comp. Rev. 13:10) on their forehead and upon their hand. The triumph and sovereignty, whatever they be, are shared by all the faithful. These things are stated as constituting their privileges. They lived, whereas the rest of the dead lived not; they reigned, and judgment was given them. This last has been felt to be a difficulty. What sort of judgment is intended? The passage in Daniel (Dan. 7:22) is clearly suggestive of the present one. The phrase (judgment was given) is not there to be understood as meaning that right was done them (see Note in Speakers Commentary on Daniel), neither must it be so understood here. Judicial powers are given to the saints as to those who occupy thrones; the chief power in governing (Gebhardt) is given them (comp. Mat. 19:28, and 1Co. 6:2-3); they reign, they judge, they live; the true and full powers of life are seen to be theirs. And is not this the case always? Who, next to Him who knows the secrets of our hearts, exercises judicial powers over men? Do not those whose lives, as we read them, rebuke our own? Truly, those who lived for God, and refused the mark of earthliness, reign and judge us in our worldliness and weakness. This is their sovereign honour here, besides the glad reign in the unseen world.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
RESULT OF OVERTHROWS THE THOUSAND-YEAR REPOSE OF VICTORY AND REIGN THE MILLENNIUM, Rev 20:4-6.
4. I saw thrones An inauguration of a new and better regimen over the world. The infernals being cast out, the celestials, with benign influences, are crowned as kings. Where John saw the thrones he does not say; but, apparently, they should be in the firmamental heaven, where once (chap. xii) the dragon reigned. And this would represent the place of spiritual natures. Notes on Eph 2:2; Eph 4:9.
And they sat upon them Namely, those who reigned in the latter part of the verse, the souls of the martyred in the battles with antichrist.
Judgment The authority to judge, or, according to Scripture sense, to rule, was given them. Herein is more completely fulfilled the symbolic promise to the twelve that they should sit on twelve thrones, judging, that is, ruling, the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:28. But we see no judging of angels (1Co 6:2-3, where see note) here.
The souls Not bodies. As it was antichristic spiritual beings who have been dethroned, so it is Christic spiritual beings who are now enthroned. Satan and his angels have heretofore ruled; Christ and his saints shall rule now. In both cases the rulers are spiritual, in the spiritual region, that is, in the spiritual atmosphere overlying the earth, and ruling its populations with spiritual influences and sway.
It was these same martyred souls whom the seer beheld, under the fifth seal, (Rev 6:9,) lying under the altar, in sad suppression beneath the despotism of the persecutor, calling for retribution and bidden to wait awhile. They have waited; their number is fulfilled, and their regal time has come. This exaltation is the glorious reversal of that humiliation. They were victims then they are kings now. The order of strata is reversed; those who were then underlying are now overlying. But in both cases they are souls, not bodies. In other cases, where the soul signifies the whole person, the idea of disembodied soul is excluded by the narrative, as in Act 27:37. But here, and in Rev 6:9, they are the souls of dead men; of persons beheaded with the axe. And the Greek word for beheaded is not in the aorist tense, which would imply that the fact was transient, but the perfect, which implies the continuance of the dead condition of the body. Whatever the soul of a living man may be, the soul of a dead man must be a disembodied soul.
We trace the souls under the altar of Rev 6:9, through their history to this verse. We find them among the hosts on Mount Zion with the Lamb, in Rev 14:1-4, where they are in the Lamb’s retinue, following him wherever he goeth, chanting a future victory over Babylon, but not yet reigning. We find them in the armies of heaven, Rev 19:14, (where see note,) who fight the great battle. We find them here, the exalted, inaugurated trophy of that victory, reigning with the Great Victor.
They lived They were endowed with the element of glorified vitality; by which they surmount and overcome the power of the second death, Rev 20:6. This is the true resurrection of souls. What is the nature of this life? It is the same life as occurs constantly in these last chapters of Revelation in the phrases book of life, tree of life, water of life, river of life, word of life, eternal life, life. It is the paradisiac life; by which, over and above the mere conscious existence of the soul, or even its regenerate life in this world, it glows with bliss, and expands into an immortal growth and beauty; the principle of celestial life implanted by Christ in the glorified spirit.
The primal sentence, thou shall surely die, included the fulness of death upon the whole man, and upon his everlasting being. That “die” manifests itself, indeed, in the body, by decay and dissolution, which is the first death; it manifests itself in the soul by spiritual depravity and eternal destruction in the world to come, which is the second death. By Christ both these deaths may be reversed; first, by a revival of the soul to a prospective celestial life here, to be exalted and continued in a glorified spiritual state hereafter, which is the first resurrection; and by a revival and reorganization of the body to an eternal union with the soul, which is the second resurrection. Thus, the first resurrection is a resurrection of souls, the second a resurrection of bodies.
Nor are we quite alone in this interpretation. Grotius, in his commentary upon the passage, says, “The souls which are in hades are not all said ( ) to live; but those only which are translated to beneath the throne of glory, as the Jews say; for so they call the perfected state of souls before the universal resurrection.” Upon the words , they lived not, he remarks, “That is, they remained in hades in that state which was according to the life which they had lived on earth.”
That the blessed souls were said by the Jews to live this paradisiac life in this intermediate state (located by them as under the throne of glory) the following beautiful passages from eminent doctors of the Jewish Church will show, for which we are indebted to Schoettgen’s Horae Hebraicae.
Midrasch Coheleth, (fol. 90:4,) commenting upon the biblical words, “for the living know that they must die,” says: “They are meant who, even in death, are called living. ‘But the dead know not any thing.’ The impious are meant, who, even while active in life, are called dead. Whence we prove this: that the just, even in death, are called living.” Jalkut Simeoni, (part ii, fol. 109:3:) “No difference is there between the just, living or dead, except that they differ in name.” Synopsis Sohar, (p. 138, n. vii:) “Jacob our father, and Moses our teacher, upon whom be peace, are not dead; and so all who are in their perfected state, because the true life consists of this. Although it is written of them that they are dead, this is to be understood in respect to us, not to them.”
That the blessed intermediate state is called under the throne of glory appears as follows: Schoettgen, upon Rev 6:9, “Souls under the Altar,” quotes Sohar Chadasch, (fol. 22, 1.) Said Rabbi Jacob, “All the souls are taken from under the throne of the glory of God, that they may (at the resurrection) resume their body, as a father takes his child.”
The same upon Sol. Son 8:1: “By vine is meant the righteous soul, which in heaven is planted under the throne of glory.” In another place, “How loved by God is that soul which is taken from under the throne of God’s glory from the holy place the land of the living.”
Schoettgen also shows that the same throne of glory was the place of the Messiah in his exaltation. “Messiah was to be descended from the fathers, and in human flesh to redeem us; then he was in the same to occupy the throne of glory.” Vol. ii, p. 439.
From these extracts the meaning of this language from an ancient Jew is plain. The disembodied spirits of the saints, being in the perfected state, are said, in contradistinction to the wicked, to LIVE, and to live with the glorified ( Christ) Messiah. This is the same with the abode of Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom; the same as the “being absent from the body” and the “being present with the Lord” of St. Paul; the same as the being in paradise with Christ of the penitent thief; and the same as the life and reign of souls of St. John.
Reigned Became the overlying, controlling, spiritual power over the nations of the earth, as Satan and his angels once were.
With Christ Yet all their victory and reign is in unification with the Redeemer. As they fought his last battle through his one sword, so they reign through his one sceptre.
This picture of living and reigning souls, however, is given (like the mountains of Rev 17:9) as a double symbol, or more properly, as a symbol and a specimen. As a symbol the souls stand to represent the victory over antichrist. Hence only those who are martyred in that war seem to be made visible. As a specimen they serve to show the true nature of the first resurrection; that is, the glorified triumphant state of the imparadised disembodied spirits, in the glorified side of hades, who have won the battle of life, and await in bliss, incomplete yet wonderful, for the second resurrection. Hence, as a specimen of the nature of the first resurrection, though these alone are in the foreground and visible, yet all the spirits of the departed just, though in the background, are by right and just implication there. Hence, we look to this passage as describing the blessedness of all our departed brethren who have passed through the portals of death to the land of blessed spirits. It is to this blood-washed throng that we hope to go from our death-bed in Christ. See our article, on “The Millennium of Revelation 20,” in the “Methodist Quarterly Review” for January, 1843, for a full discussion of this whole subject.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And I saw thrones, and they sat on them and judgment was given to them, and I saw the persons of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and such as did not worship the beast or his image, and did not receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection, over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years.’
‘I saw thrones.’ The Bible does previously speak of a time when thrones were placed and sat on by those who participated in judgment, where nothing more is said of their participation, and that is in Daniel 7 where we read, ‘and I beheld until thrones were placed’ (Dan 7:9), and nothing more is said of their occupants. It could be that these were for the twenty four elders in Rev 4:4, who did sit on thrones and represented the people of God before the One on the throne. But if so why are they not mentioned?
But the more likely explanation is that they were for the Ancient of Days, and for ‘the son of man’ who approached to receive his/their kingdom. There the One on the throne is described as ‘the ancient of days’ (the eternal One), and ‘the son of man’ (who signifies both the true Israel and especially Israel’s King, i.e. Israel receive kingship in the person of their king – Dan 7:14; Dan 7:27) approaches the Ancient of days to receive the kingdom. It is a time when judgment is being given (Dan 7:10). The thrones are thus for the ‘son of man’, i.e. the people of God and their king.
Just as the beasts previously described had represented both kings and their kingdoms, so this son of man represents the people of God and their messianic leader. He would receive the kingship and worldwide dominion (Dan 7:14), and they would receive the kingship and worldwide dominion in him (Dan 7:27). They too will judge with a rod of iron (Rev 2:27).
That is why Jesus came into the world declaring Himself to be ‘the Son of Man’. Under such a heading He claimed the authority to forgive sins (Mar 2:10), and to reinterpret the law of the Sabbath (Mar 2:28). As the Son of Man He would serve and give His life a ransom for many (Mar 10:45). And as the Son of Man He would suffer and die (as the son of man in Daniel in the person of His people would also suffer and die – Dan 7:25), and would rise again (Mar 8:31).
He was then carried up into Heaven and came into the presence of God where He was given ‘all authority in Heaven and earth’ (Mat 28:18), sitting in the place of supreme authority at God’s right hand and being declared both Lord and Christ (Act 2:33-36). Thus the Son of Man received His kingdom and His dominion on His own behalf and on behalf of His people. And it is as the Son of Man that He will one day return to the earth in glory to exercise judgment (Mar 13:26).
So there is a distinction, and a considerable period, between His coming to the throne of God to receive His kingship, and His return to earth to exercise judgment. One happens at His resurrection, the other at a considerably later time.
However, as we have already stressed, the son of man in Daniel represents not only the King but also His people (just as the beasts represent kings and peoples). They too receive the kingdom, the dominion and the power. They share His throne.
Therefore the mention of the thrones, and those who sat on them, and the giving of judgment, refer to the time when the Son of Man comes to the throne to receive His kingship on behalf of His people, that is, to the time of His resurrection, when He is exalted at the right hand of God and made both Lord and Christ (Act 2:33-36; Eph 1:20-21).
This is indeed the first resurrection, the resurrection of Jesus, along with a number of Old Testament saints who are raised with Him (Mat 27:52). But it is also the time when all His people are ‘raised with Him’ to share His glory (Eph 1:19 to Eph 2:7). For there Paul clearly declares that all who are true Christians have been raised with Him and seated with Him on His throne, even while also being on earth. The throne is potentially ours and we can take our place there by faith. We have come with Him as the son of man to receive the kingdom.
‘They sat on them.’ That is, all the true people of God. They would share with their Lord in the judgment of the world and even of angels. The content of ‘they’ is now described.
‘Even the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and such as had not worshipped the beast — and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.’ The description includes all God’s true people (it is ‘such as had not worshipped the beast’), but with special emphasis on the martyrs. They are all described as enjoying a great blessing ‘They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years’. It does not particularise when they reigned, or where they reigned, only that they did so through the period when Satan was bound, which as we have seen earlier dates initially from the time of His defeat when Jesus was here on earth.
‘Those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus’ describes who they are, not when they reigned. Now it is commonplace with some to assume that this must refer to the period after their resurrection at the end of the age, but this is by no means necessary. Indeed on this interpretation this passage has no place for the raptured people of God. But that would be to overlook the glorious and wonderful truth that we have just drawn attention to, and that is that, in the eyes of the Apostles, Christians were raised from the dead and began to live and reign with Christ as soon as they became Christians . And they no doubt continue to do so in the after-life.
These martyrs, and those who refuse to wear the mark of the beast, began their reign the moment they became Christians, a fact which continued on through their martyrdom, at which point they reigned with Him in Heaven. This is in direct contrast to what had happened to Satan. They were crowned in Christ, he was bound by Christ.
Jesus spoke of this first resurrection and the second resurrection in Joh 5:25-29. In Joh 5:25 He says, “in very truth I tell you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.” Here is the first resurrection when the spiritually dead hear the voice of the Son of God and respond, receiving new life pictured in the form of a resurrection. That this is the picture comes out by comparison with Joh 5:28-29. “The hour comes in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done ill to the resurrection of judgment.” The reception of new life, eternal life, is pictured in terms of the resurrection, and will later finally result in a physical resurrection, the second resurrection.
Paul also declares that we have been buried with Him in baptism ‘wherein you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead’ (Col 2:12). Indeed he says that we have been “raised together with Christ” and should therefore “seek those things which are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God”, a position which true Christians share with Him (Col 3:1).
More emphatically, in Eph 1:20 to Eph 2:6 Paul describes Christ’s effective work when he declares that He was ‘raised from the dead and made to sit in Heavenly places, far above all rule, authority, dominion and power, with all things in subjection under His feet’. Then he adds, “And you — ” (no verb in the Greek), which means – ‘and you also were, in Him, raised from the dead and made to sit in heavenly places, far above all rule, authority dominion and power, with all things in subjection under your feet’.
If this seems too much it is confirmed in Rev 2:4-6, “But God Who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved) and has raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus”. Thus Paul sees us as living and reigning with Him even now.
So in Paul’s eyes we have already partaken of the First Resurrection along with Jesus Christ. This he continually stresses. As he says in 2Co 5:5, because of this we have been given the foretaste and guarantee (an earnest) of the Spirit, until the day we experience it in bodily form. It is through His resurrection life that, having been reconciled to God, we are saved (Rom 5:10), so that “just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4). That is why we should be “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (2Co 4:10). Thus we should be “giving thanks to the Father Who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Who delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us (past tense) into the Kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col 1:12-13), which means that we are seated above with Him (Col 3:1).
The Bible therefore constantly describes Christians as already ‘raised’ with Him, and as already reigning with Him. It also tells us that as He took His place in Heaven, and judgment was given to Him, so it was also given to us, a judgment we exercise ‘in Him’ in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6) and will exercise in the future at the final resurrection. So the First Resurrection, not otherwise specifically so-called in Scripture, is that which we share with Christ. And that is what is pictured here.
But, it may be asked, what of those who have died, and especially those who have been martyred. Have they lost this privilege? John is concerned to encourage God’s people in the face of coming persecution and emphasises that they also continue to reign with Him. Death does not rob them of this glorious privilege. The ‘souls’ of the martyrs (which might be seen as suggesting that there has been to this point no literal resurrection) are also seen as sharing His reign (Rev 20:4. Compare the use in Rev 6:9). It began when they became Christians and it continues on after their martyrdom. And this is in contrast with ‘the rest of the dead’, for the world is still dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1-3).
This incidentally also shows that the passage is confirming that in their rest and their ‘sleep’ before the resurrection (it is their bodies which sleep), the people of God are conscious of and enjoying the presence of Christ, and are also reigning with Him. That is why Paul could say, ‘to me to live is Christ and to die is gain’ (Php 1:21).
When the final bodily resurrection is mentioned in Scripture it is always in such a way as to suggest that the resurrection of both righteous and unrighteous takes place at the same time (Dan 12:2; Joh 5:28-29). But here from Paul we have learned of a different kind of resurrection which precedes the general resurrection, a pre-resurrection, a ‘first resurrection’ along with the One Who first rose. This is the situation John has in mind here.
‘And the rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years were finished’. The general resurrection will not take place until the end of this period, until Christ’s second coming. Then all will be raised physically to face God’s final judgment.
“And they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Rev 20:6). The Bible tells us that we are already a royal priesthood ( 1Pe 2:5; 1Pe 2:9), and that through His blood we have been made kings and priests unto God and His Father (Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10). Note the past tense. It is already true. Thus we and the martyrs, together with all who have died free from the mark of the beast, are priests of God and reign with Him at this present time, and will do so ‘for a thousand years’, that is for an unknown length of time until the end.
“We reign (or shall reign) on the earth” (Rev 5:10) stresses that, in spite of appearances, because we are such kings and priests we will triumph over all obstacles, however powerful they may seem, and currently demonstrate Christ’s sovereignty, and this is again asserted here. We reign on earth and after death we reign in Heaven. Nothing, not even death and martyrdom, can prevent it. Man’s violence cannot take away the Christian’s privileged position for it is inviolate.
‘And they lived and reigned with him a thousand years’. As in Rev 20:3 the period of ‘a thousand years’ indicates that unknown period between Christ’s first and second coming. It is also a round number and can be seen as indicating an ‘ideal’ period of time. Adam, because of his sin, died ‘seventy’ years short of a thousand years. He failed to achieve the ideal. Even Methuselah could not achieve the thousand. For a thousand years indicated life to the full. It was the equivalent to the New Testament idea of eternal life. The Preacher in Ecclesiastes sees ‘a thousand years’ as indicating an ideal length of life (Ecc 6:6), and even speaks of two thousand years. We can compare the usage in the words, ‘the cattle on a thousand hills’ (Psa 50:10). This did not mean that God only owned the cattle on a thousand hills. The thousand hills indicated all hills. Thus it is not to be taken literally but as meaning ‘the perfect time that God has planned’.
It is therefore quite clear from careful comparison with Scripture that this vision described in Rev 20:4-6 reveals the present state of Christian believers ‘in Christ’ and not some future ‘millennium’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Result of Gospel-preaching in the New Testament era:
v. 4. And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
v. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
v. 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. Here the fate of a part of the Church of God during the thousand years is described: And I saw thrones and those that sat upon them, and judgment was given to them; and the souls of those that had been put to death because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God, and as many as did not worship the beast nor his image, and did not receive his mark on their forehead nor upon their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The people whose happiness is here described were the martyrs that were put to death even while the Gospel was victoriously marching forward on earth. They suffered martyrdom on account of their confession of Jesus and of the Gospel. Among these was not a single one of those that worshiped the beast, the kingdom of Anti-Christ, or his image, the hierarchical structure of the Roman Church. The fact that one actually accepts the doctrines of popery in all their idolatrous scope, thus bearing the mark of the beast on the forehead or in the hand, excludes one from the bliss of heaven. Only those that sealed their faith with their blood and life are included in the perfected salvation in heaven. For this living and reigning is not, as the Chiliasts would have it, a visible reign here on earth before the last day. It is a life of the departed children of God in heaven, according to the soul. Though the Christians die here on earth, yet they are alive, according to the soul, with Christ in heaven, experiencing the joy and appreciating the blessedness of their life in heaven. That they are now delivered from all suffering and are sharing in the eternal joys of heaven, that is their reigning with Christ; in this sense they are the assessors of Christ, sitting on thrones in His presence. This took place during the time determined by God for the binding of Satan, to take away his absolute power over the nations.
The prophet adds: But the rest of the dead did not live until the thousand years had come to an end; this is the first resurrection. Those that died in Christ, in the confession of their Lord, were blessed from the moment when they closed their eyes to this world; their souls were taken into the presence of God and Christ, to become partakers at once of the bliss of eternity. The rest of the dead, however, those to whom physical death comes while they are in the state of spiritual death, will not share in this happiness, but are doomed to everlasting death. The slaves of idolatry, the servants of Anti-Christ, have no part in the first resurrection, by which the faithful are immediately taken into the realms of bliss, according to their souls. Of this the prophet writes: Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection; upon these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him thousand years. That, surely, is joy and bliss in richest measure, to have the soul released from its earthly habitation and to be taken up into the home of everlasting happiness. Upon those that have died thus, experiencing only the physical death, the second death, eternal damnation, has no power. Clothed in the white garments of an eternal priesthood, they will serve God and Christ, world without end, for the thousand years are but the preliminary stage of the time when soul and body will be reunited in the second resurrection.
Chiliasm
Chiliasm, or Millennialism, is that peculiar doctrine which expects an era of temporal bliss on earth, with an earthly kingdom for all believers, Christ being the King, while Satan and all forces of evil are removed from the earth for the time being. All this is supposed to take place before the Day of Judgment and to last for one thousand years according to human reckoning, Hence the name Millennialism, or Chiliasm, from the thousand years spoken of in this chapter.
The doctrines of Chiliasm have been held by certain enthusiasts almost since the founding of the Church, and there are almost as many different forms of Chiliasm as there are exponents of the theories. For our purposes, however, it will suffice to divide the Chiliasts into two divisions. To the first group belong those Chiliasts that hold the extreme views. They do not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, but hold that the coming of Anti-Christ is yet to be expected. At the end of the time which is allotted to Anti-Christ, these enthusiasts believe that Christ will come visibly and in glory with all the heavenly hosts, judge Anti-Christ and his false prophet, and condemn them to the torments of hell. At the same time, so they say, Satan will be taken and bound for a thousand years, to be kept absolutely under lock and key until his release. Thrones will also be placed on earth for the resurrected apostles, who will then pronounce judgment and decide which of the believers may arise in the first physical resurrection; and those that are found worthy will be raised from the dead and receive spiritual bodies, while the other dead will be obliged to remain in their graves. The believers will then, as priests of God, reign in the world and cause all the people of the earth to acknowledge Christ as Lord. Sin will have lost its power. And the center of this wonderful kingdom will be the land of Canaan with the rebuilt city of Jerusalem, where Christ will reign as visible King. But after a thousand years, so the Chiliasts dream, Satan will be loosed from his prison to summon all the heathen that are still unconverted to fight against Jerusalem. And then, when the danger is at its greatest height, Christ, who meanwhile had returned to heaven, will come hack for the final Judgment. That is the dream of the Chiliasts.
Other Millennialists hold modified views along the same lines, not insisting quite so strongly on the material side of the kingdom nor on the physical presence of Christ. They merely dream of a time when the Christian Church and the Christian religion will dominate the world, when the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments will be the laws of the world, when all men will bow under the Cross of Christ, when courts of arbitration will render wars obsolete, and when everything will be peace and harmony. These dreams have been rather rudely jarred in the last few years, and they are destined to be jarred very much more, since such views are altogether at variance with Scriptures.
Chiliasm in every form is wrong and therefore, incidentally, very dangerous. In the first place, as we have seen above, there is nothing in the text to justify or substantiate the dreams and claims of the Millennialists. In the second place, the Bible in numerous passages, in passages, moreover, which are not in figurative and prophetic language, tells us that there will be but one return of Christ, namely, to judge the quick and the dead, all of whom will have to appear before Him at the same time. Furthermore, the Bible throughout plainly and unmistakably tells us that the Church of Christ here on earth will be a Church Militant until the end, until the great Day of Judgment, and that persecution and distress and enmity will be its lot until the final day of salvation, Act 14:22; Luk 9:23; 2Ti 3:12; Mat 24:1-51. And, finally, the Bible teaches the suddenness and the unexpectedness of Christ’s return to Judgment, not preceded by a thousand glorious years of a visible reign here on earth, Mar 13:35-37; Mat 24:44-51.
We shall, therefore, continue to believe and confess what we have stated in the Augsburg Confession: “Also they teach that, at the consummation of the world, Christ shall appear for Judgment, and shall raise up all the dead. He shall give to the godly and elect eternal life and everlasting joys, but ungodly men and the devils He shall condemn to be tormented without end.
“They condemn the Anabaptists, who think that there will be an end to the punishments of condemned men and devils. They condemn also others, who are now spreading certain Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall take possession of the kingdom of the world, the ungodly being everywhere suppressed.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Rev 20:4-6 . The one thousand years reign which begins with the first resurrection. The allusion to the glory to be expected in the same, which is at the same time the pledge of participation in the blessedness of the eternity to be opened with the second resurrection, is made not without an express emphasis of the paracletic point which lies in this goal of Christian hope. [4156]
. The prototype of Dan 7:9 ; Dan 7:22 , and the , expressly mentioned in this passage, show that the come into consideration not as thrones of kings, [4157] but only as seats of judges. [4158] The interchange of the definite idea of a judicial session with that of further dominion possibly also manifested in judging coheres with the decided misunderstandings that the and are to be regarded as the subjects of , that the ascribed to these must be esteemed synonymous with the assumed sitting of the same on thrones, and thus belongs to a conception of the whole, Rev 20:4-6 , that is in violation of the context. Thus, especially, Augustine and his successors. [4159] Who they are that sit upon thrones, and to whom judgment is given, is not said, and hence scarcely any thing except a negative determination is possible. According to what follows, they are not the martyrs and the other faithful believers who rather, by the judgment, become partakers of the one thousand years reign. [4160] The forbids us to refer it to God himself and Christ. [4161] Ew. i. refers it to the apostles, [4162] but at the same time to martyrs and Christians in other respects distinguished; and Beng. to the , Dan 7:22 . The most plausible explanation, if the idea is at all to be made more definite than is presented in the text, is to refer it to the twenty-four elders; [4163] for it is especially appropriate to ascribe the reward of victors to these representatives of the Church, who offer the prayers of the saints to God, [4164] and repeatedly testify to their blessed hope. [4165] [See Note LXXXVII., p. 473.]
. They, to whom the refers, are represented in two classes: the martyrs, viz., not only those whose souls already cry for vengeance, Rev 6:9 , but also those additional ones [4166] who have been slain throughout the whole earth by the beast, and with whose blood the harlot was drunken; [4167] and all other believers who, notwithstanding the persecution and threatening death, have not rendered homage to the beast [4168] The last class of believers also ( , . . .) is to be regarded, at the point of time fixed in Rev 20:4 , as dead; [4169] partly because of the explicit ; [4170] partly because of the contrast , and the expression , applied to this death, from which a clear light falls upon the first ; partly also because of the definite and in no way allegorical designation . The meaning of the text which is expressed regularly in all these points is, therefore, manifestly this, that while “the rest of the dead” are not revived until the second resurrection (Rev 20:12 sqq.), in the first resurrection only the two classes of dead believers take part, viz., in order to reign with Christ during the one thousand years. It is just by the (Rev 20:4 a ) that this first especial reward of victors is promised them. [4171] [See Note LXXXVIII., p. 473.] But the description of this glory, of this first part of the blessed mystery of God, which is fulfilled now for believers [4172] after the judgment already executed upon their enemies, John cannot give without repeating with especial emphasis the consolation (Rev 20:6 ) which was united previously already, [4173] with the references to the future reward of fidelity: , . . . The item of holiness here especially emphasized has a reference to the priestly dignity ( . , . . .) of those who participate in the one thousand years reign; [4174] then the priestly, as well as the royal, character of believers comes forth in complete glory. [4175]
. Rev 21:8 . Cf. Joh 13:8 ( ).
-g0- -g0- -g0- . Cf. Rev 20:14 ; Rev 21:8 . They who after they have suffered bodily death, viz., the first are revived at the first resurrection, intended only for believers, are thereby withdrawn from the power of the second death; for them the judgment of the world impending at the end of the one thousand years (Rev 20:11 sqq.) brings only the eternally valid confirmation of the priestly and kingly glory which, during the former period, had formed for believers the beginning of the blessedness to be bestowed upon them eternally.
[4156] Rev 20:6 . Cf. Rev 14:13 , Rev 16:15 .
[4157] Eichh., Zll.
[4158] Heinr., Ewald, De Wette, Hengstenb., Ebrard, Bleek, Volkm.
[4159] See on Rev 20:10 .
[4160] Against Augustine, Zll., ete.
[4161] Against Grot., who, however, comprises the angels.
[4162] Cf. Mat 19:28 .
[4163] De Wette, Ew. ii.; cf. Hengstenb., who, besides the twelve apostles, understands the twelve patriarchs.
[4164] Rev 5:8 .
[4165] Rev 5:9 , Rev 7:13 sqq., Rev 11:16 sqq.
[4166] Rev 6:11 .
[4167] Rev 13:7 ; Rev 13:10 ; Rev 13:15 , Rev 16:5 sq., Rev 17:6 , Rev 18:24 .
[4168] Cf., especially, Rev 13:15 sqq.
[4169] Ewald, De Wette, Ebrard; against Hengstenb., etc.
[4170] Cf. Rev 2:8 .
[4171] Cf. Rev 2:11 .
[4172] Cf. Rev 10:7 .
[4173] Cf. Rev 19:9 , Rev 14:13 .
[4174] Beng., etc.
[4175] Cf. Rev 1:6 , Rev 5:10 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
(4) And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (5) But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (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.
The Lord Jesus promised his people by John, that they should set with him upon his throne, Rev 3:21 . And here is the accomplishment. His people are said to be made kings and priests, to God and the Father. And agreeably to this, we find them in their regal and priestly office. Various have been the opinions of the Lord’s people on this reign of Christ. Some have considered it spiritually. Others have supposed it is to be taken literally; and that Christ will reign, with his saints upon earth, otherwise say they, wherefore is Satan bound up. He needed not a chain to keep him, out of heaven, Rev 5:10 . But the Holy Ghost hath left an obscurity upon it, and therefore I shall offer no observations of mine upon it.
But whether this reign with Christ be a spiritual reign, or whether it is to be literally on the earth, what is said of the rest of the dead, even the dead sinners, twice dead as Jude calls them, dead in and in the original Adam-fall-apostasy, and dead in body, gone down to the chambers of the grave, all of this description lived not during the thousand years of Christ’s reign with his saints, and the thousand years imprisonment of Satan! They will remain, as they were found at death, until the general judgment.
In relation to the first resurrection, it should seem to be intended, precisely as the words are. For, as many of the bodies of the saints arose, to celebrate Christ’s resurrection, so it may be supposed, Many also shall arise to celebrate his reign with his saints at his descension. And very blessed it is, to consider the subject in this view. For when God’s children have passed the present time-state of the Church, and their spirits have joined the society of the spirits of just Men made perfect, they are then brought into clear apprehensions of the Lord’s dealings in the great administration of all things, And wherefore may they not be supposed as raised up in their bodies during this thousand years of Christ as well as Enoch and Elijah, who never died at all. God hath immense discoveries to make, through a never-ending eternity of himself, in his threefold character of Persons, in, and through Christ, to his Church and people. And, there doth not seem a single cause of objection to his raising such, and such of his redeemed ones as he shall please, to begin in the union of soul and body, to enter into the joy of their Lord.
When it is added, that he is blessed and holy that hath part in the first resurrection, if it be considered as referring to a resurrection in grace, no doubt, as all the other parts of scripture declare, the second death can have no power upon them, for they are no longer subject to a spiritual death, being made partakers of the divine nature, 2Pe 1:4-5 . But I confess that I am more inclined to believe, that the blessedness and holiness here spoken of, hath respect to the first resurrection just before taken notice of, and is in my view a confirmation, that at this thousand years reign of Christ, there shall be a resurrection of such, as the Lord hath appointed to meet the Lord at his government. The thought is pleasing, and I see no abjection to it. But here, as in every other instance of doubt, I beg to be considered as never speaking at all decidedly.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
XVIII
THE MILLENNIUM
Rev 20:4-6
This particular study contains just three verses, Rev 20:4-6 . The theme is the millennium, but before defining it let us consider its precursors, the things that precede it and bring it about.
The first one we have found to be the downfall of the Romanist counterfeit church, symbolized first by the woman in purple and scarlet and second by the mystic Babylon. We found that, instrumentally, the downfall of this Romanist church was brought about by two agencies: First, the governments of the earth “shall hate the harlot and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire” (Rev 17:16 ). The second agency: The saints, by preaching, teaching, and publishing the pure gospel, shall expose all of her heresies and idolatries (Rev 12:11 ), and by their prayers they shall bring on her the judgment of God (Rev 6:10 ; Rev 8:3-5 ). That is the first precursor the forerunner of the millennium.
The second precursor: “The days of the Gentiles being fulfilled” (see Luk 22 and Luk 24 ), the Jews shall be gathered together out of all the nations where they have been dispersed, into their own land, and the nations shall gather together to make war on them, and then shall come the Jewish harvest of which Pentecost is only the firstfruits; the whole nation to be converted in one day. This conversion of the Jews occurs in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, of the gospel, and is accomplished through their conviction, repentance, faith, and regeneration, just exactly as our conversion was brought about, and if you have any doubt about it read carefully Eze 36:22-27 ; Eze 37:1-14 , and you will see that the Jews are to be regenerated; that is, their souls cleansed by the application of the blood of Christ, and their spirits renewed within them just as yours are. And by reading Zec 12:9-13:1 , you will see that the Spirit was poured out on them the spirit of grace and supplication. They have mourning, or godly sorrow, they have their repentance, their faith in the one they pierced, and the fountain of cleansing is opened to them for sin and uncleanness, just as in your case. And then, if you will read Rom 11:15-31 , you will see that the conversion of the Jews is brought about just like your own conversion. Let it be clear in your minds that when the Jews look upon him whom they have pierced, they see him not by sight in his final advent, but by faith on the cross as lifted up in preaching (see Joh 3:14-15 ; Joh 12:32 ; Joh 19:37 ). And being saved, they become the greatest of all missionaries.
What the Gentiles are doing for the spread of the gospel is nothing to what the Jews will do when they turn to the Lord. As Paul says, if their falling caused the Gentiles to be saved, their salvation will be as life from death. In Rom 11 he goes into ecstasy sublime ecstasy over the result of the conversion of the Jews.
Now, in the conversion of the Jews, we see no coming of the Messiah. On the contrary, Peter, in preaching to the Jews (Act 3 ), says to them: “Repent and turn away [first] so that your sins may be blotted out; [second] so that refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; [third] so that he may send Jesus, whom the heavens must receive until the time of the restoration of all things.” In other words, the salvation of the Jews must take place before Christ can come that is one of the antecedent things and as the salvation of the Jews was the last thing he discussed, bringing us up to the millennium, I am sure that we had not come to any final advent of our Lord.
Following their conversion, we saw that Jehovah smote the nations that had gathered to destroy them, and in his judgment on the nations the beast and the false prophet perished, and all governments contrary to God perished swept away from the face of the earth. I do not very well see how the millennium could come with human governments constituted and run as they now are, I mean municipal governments like Fort Worth, New York City, New Orleans, San Antonio, Galveston, Houston, state governments, national governments, I do not see how it could come under such governments. Then there is a persecuting union of church and state in nearly all the governments of the world at the present time. Now, all these opposing elements to the kingdom of God must be broken down before the millennium can come; so that the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of God (Rev 11:15 ), and as Daniel puts it: “The stone that Nebuchadnezzar saw come out of the mountain without hands” (and that was the fifth great world-empire) “and that stone [says Daniel] became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Now, in this great war, in the conquest of the world from Satan, you are not to understand that our Lord on the white horse, the hero of the war, has come in his final advent, personally, visibly, palpably, tangibly, audibly. You may just as well say that when he first appeared on the white horse in Rev 6 that that was his final advent. He is reigning in heaven, but his armies are fighting on the earth, as Psa 110 explains to you.
We saw, as the last precursor of the millennium, the chaining and shutting up of Satan. You understand that this is a book of symbols. What is the symbolic meaning of the chaining of Satan? I do not suppose that a literal angel will put a literal chain on Satan, who is a spirit. But he is chained when all of his agencies are swept away. The church, and the faithful ministers in the preaching of this book, are to illuminate the world, and when the churches are faithful and multiply and fill the earth, and when the ministers preach only the true gospel, until, as Isaiah says, “the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord,” the very prevalence of light dispels the darkness. So we have something to do in the chaining of Satan. As Paul says in Rom 16:20 , “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly,” according to the first promise in Gen 3:15 , that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head. His people must triumph over Satan; “they must [says Paul] put on the whole armour of God, that they may resist and overcome the devil” the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the girdle of truth, their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and thus they bruise Satan under their feet. Or, as Peter puts it in his letter (1Pe 5:8 ) : “Be sober, be vigilant, your adversary the devil goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith.” I repeat that Christ’s victory over Satan is empty unless we share it. The earth was made for man, the dominion was given to man (Gen 1:26-28 ), but Satan, through man’s sin, usurped the sovereignty of the world and made it his kingdom, and now it must be rescued from him. “The saints [says Daniel] must possess the kingdom.” The fulness of the Gentiles and the conversion of the Jews accomplish this object.
Keeping in mind these precursors to the millennium, we will now consider the millennium itself.
What, then, is the millennium? It is a Latin word which means a period of a thousand years, employed first to delimit the period of time that Satan is chained and sealed up so that he cannot come out to deceive the nations. That is, the saints shall possess the earth just as long as Satan is bound and shut up. It is a victory of the Spirit dispensation through the churches, the ministers and the gospel. It means that Satan has usurped the kingdom of the world for six millenniums, and that the earth shall have in time, and through the gospel, her sabbath millennium that is, the seventh one her thousand years of peace and rest and joy and gospel triumph, with no devil to tempt, seduce, beguile. He has been the author of every evil human government, whether municipal, state, or national. He is the author of every evil religion, all idolatries, all lying, all prostitution, all necromancy and witchcraft, all evil philosophies, all evil theories of life, all immoralities of conduct and life. From him have come strifes, wars, famines, pestilences, slavery of bodies and souls, disease, and death. From him all the monopolies and grinding of the poor for selfish greed. Now, imagine, if you can, what will be the increased population of the world in a thousand years under such conditions no wars to kill off the people and eat up their substance; no pestilences like cholera, smallpox, the bubonic plague, no grinding poverty, and the churches all shining, and the preachers all shining, not a false note in their preaching; the whole earth subdued, the obstacles of nature overcome, every part of the earth brought under the dominion of man until one may live as comfortably at the North Pole as in the temperate zone or the tropics, with the air subdued so one may navigate it as safely as the seas below it of course I mean by human inventions.
Under such conditions, with every latent force of nature developed and paying tribute, Texas alone could support a population of 250 millions easily. All the earth swept with revival power from continent to continent, many fold more people would be converted in that thousand years than ever lived on the earth, in the preceding six thousand years. Indeed, so great will be the majority of the saved over the lost, when you come to make up the totals, that the relative proportion of the lost will be about as those now in the jails and penitentiaries when compared to the outside population. Do not ever deceive yourself with the fear that the devil will get the majority of the human race. And all of this world illumination will be through the Holy Spirit, through the churches, the ministers, and the gospels, while Jesus reigns in heaven, and before his final advent. If you ever supposed that the Holy Spirit, Christ’s vicar on earth, would fail, then give up that supposition. If you ever entertained the notion that the gates of hell would prevail against the church which Jesus Christ established, give that up. If you ever supposed that a true ministry would altogether perish, and a pure gospel cease in the land, then give that up. This book of Revelation was given to teach one great truth as shown in the first revelation in the book that the whole world is to be lighted by the candlesticks and the stars, and Christ in walking among the candlesticks does not walk among them in person, but every time he speaks he says: “Hear ye what the Spirit says unto the churches.” It is a ministration of the Spirit that accomplishes all these things. There will be a final, personal, glorious advent of our Lord only let us wait until we get to it. We will come to it very soon now, but we must not look for it in connection with the millennium. There are just three verses on the millennium in the whole Bible, and not one of those three verses says a solitary word about the advent of Christ or about the resurrection of the body not a syllable. If you think so, let us test you on it as we take it up.
Rev 20:4 , first clause. We want to find out about the living Christians, and that first clause gives it to us: “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them.” Who sat upon thrones? What is the antecedent of that pronoun “they”? If you will look back to chapter 19, you will find who it is. It is that crowd of saints, in fine linen pure and white, who followed the Lord in his great campaign. What is the meaning of “they sat on these thrones”? It means that the good people are on top in every kind of government during the millennium they are the mayors, the police, the sheriffs, the judges: they are the presidents, and if there are any kings, they are the kings. The rule has passed into the hands of the saints. The testimony of the prophets on that subject is express. I do not know anything more sublime, or more beautiful, than the testimony of the prophets to the sway in public matters of the saints in that time. I quote just two or three of these in order to show you what conditions prevail. Isaiah II has one of the finest passages in the Bible on the millennium. The whole chapter is devoted to our Lord:
And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb; and the leopard shall lie down with the goat; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the oxen. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in my holy mountain, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea. Isa 11:6-9 .
Following the conversion of the Jews in one day in Isa 65 this language is used:
But ye be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruits of them, not build for somebody else to inhabit, or plant for somebody else to eat, for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen, shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth to calamity, for they are the seed of the blessed of Jehovah. Isa 65:18-23 .
Then notice Isa 65:24 : “And it shall come to pass that before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear.” And he closes the book with: “And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me, saith Jehovah, and they shall go forth and look upon the dead bodies of the men that have transgressed against me” they shall contemplate the passing away of the destroying things.
Now you see that in this earth condition an earth condition under a very favorable environment life is prolonged. He takes away the diseases that come from the devil and that result through evil government, and the infant shall live to be a hundred years old, when no man shall cease to fill out his days; the sanitary conditions during the millennium will be such as this world has never before witnessed. They marry, they give in marriage; they do die through that thousand years, the people are not immortal but the conditions of life are very widely different. And the main thing is that the saints are on top they are filling the offices; the earth is under their jurisdiction.
Now read the other half of that verse, and see the condition of the dead during the millennium. That is the next thing we want to find out. “And I saw the souls” mark you, not the bodies, as some people would have it “of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God [that is, the martyrs], and such as worshiped not the beast, neither the image of the beast, and received not the mark upon their foreheads nor upon their hands” that is, I saw the souls of the righteous dead, and “they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Where is Christ? He is in heaven reigning, and these souls of the righteous dead live with him and reign with him. That has been promised all through the book.
We find out about the wicked dead directly, but just now we are on the righteous dead. What is their condition during the millennium days? Their state is called the first resurrection: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.”
Why is that changed condition of the righteous dead called a resurrection? Let me make one thing very plain to you: the word “resurrection” is not limited to the body. In Eze 37 , the conversion of the Jews, their regeneration, is set forth in the imagery of a physical resurrection, and yet it is a conversion that is discussed. But the symbolism is as if the bones of the dead were coming together, but the meaning of it is, as expressly given, the salvation of the Jews, as we have just discussed.
Now (in Rev 2:1 ) Paul uses the same symbolism. He says that their very conversation is brought about by the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead: “you hath he quickened,” to quicken means to make alive, and yet that making alive does not refer to the body; it refers to our conversion. In Joh 5:25-29 , our Lord speaks of two resurrections: one spiritual, meaning regeneration; and one physical, referring to the body. Spurgeon has a great sermon on the spiritual resurrection. Indeed, so common was the idea of counting regeneration a resurrection that certain heretics at Corinth and Ephesus maintained that it was the only resurrection, denying altogether the resurrection of the body (see 1Co 15:12 ; 2Ti 2:18 ).
I am simply proving to you from these examples that there may be a resurrection that is spiritual, and not physical. But what is here called the “first resurrection” is not regeneration. While spiritual, it is another kind. Now, it is my business and duty to show you the meaning of the first resurrection in this passage whatever it means, it has no reference to the body and I know exactly how to do it. The correct interpretation of the two passages in this book will clarify the whole matter. Both refer to the souls of the saints; the second presents such a happy change from the condition of the first it may well be called a resurrection. The first passage is:
And when he opened the fifth seal I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of God, and the testimony which they held, and they cried with a great voice, saying: How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And there was given them to each one a white robe; and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little time, and their fellow-servants also and their brethren, who should be killed even as they were, should have fulfilled their course. Rev 6:9-11 .
My contention is that in this state of the righteous dead they are, in a figurative sense, not living. That is, (1) their martyrdom seems to be a failure. Their lives go out in darkness, and the enemy triumphs over the tragedy. (2) Their works do not follow them. It is not apparent and demonstrable that they have won a victory, because they are not avenged. God’s justice seems to be sleeping. The victorious malice of their enemies seems to be accepted by the world as the will of God. They pass into history as convicted and executed felons.
Now consider the next passage (Rev 14:8-13 ). Here the mystic Babylon, the Romanist counterfeit church, which put them to death, is judged. She drinks the cup of God’s undiluted wrath; the martyrs are avenged and vindicated. The reproach is lifted from the tragic ending of their lives. They become the heroes instead of the felons of history. Hence Rev 14:13 : “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow with them.” That is, when God has avenged them and their enemies are fallen, there is a great change in public opinion, in the historic judgment, as to their place in the house of fame. To die in the Lord now is not to pass under a cloud it is a triumphant ascension into glory and light. The change is so great it is called a resurrection. “They live and reign with Christ a thousand years.” The principles for which they died are now triumphant. Judgment upon those who put them to death is to them as life from the dead; it is represented as a resurrection, and this is the only place in the Bible where the term “first resurrection” is used, and it is expressly declared to be a resurrection of souls and not of the body. The principles that they advocated are triumphant they have swept over the world.
“The rest of the dead” the rest of the dead means the wicked dead. They do not so live in that time. They are under no such favorable conditions; their works do not follow them in the millennium. Their day is now. The wicked man is yet on top; it looks like he has accomplished his purposes, the righteous are trampled under foot; the methods of the wicked seem to be wise now because they prevail. But not so in the millennium. The millennium time must pass away before the rest of the dead shall be alive. If, then, “the first resurrection” is this triumphant vindication of God, what is “the second resurrection”? It must be in kind like the first. It comes at the end of the millennium, when the thousand years are finished and Satan is loosed. The wicked dead now live and reign with Satan. During his “little season” of triumph, they appear to come from under the cloud of adverse judgment. It is a common figure of speech. We speak of the dark ages of ignorance, and the subsequent revival of letters, arts) and the sciences. This revival is called “Renaissance” or new birth, or revival of anything which has long been in decay or desuetude. So in millennium times the souls of the righteous have their Renaissance, but when Satan is loosed again the wicked dead have their Renaissance.
Evidently, then, the second resurrection is when the rest of the dead live referring to their souls and not their bodies, and it is distinctly stated that they will live just as soon as this thousand years ends, and they do live just as soon as Satan is loosed and goes forth to deceive the nations again. Now, you see there are two resurrections both of them souls one a resurrection of the souls of the righteous dead, and the other of the souls of the wicked.
Alford, in his commentary, refers to the passage “This is the first resurrection,” and classifies it with the resurrection of bodies in Rev 20:12-13 , and adds in a triumphant way, that we cannot by any sound rules of interpretation make the first spiritual and the second physical. His error is in classification. The resurrection in Rev 20:12-13 , is not the correspondent to the “first resurrection” in Rev 20:6 . The correspondent to the first resurrection must come immediately after the thousand years are finished, when Satan is loosed. That, like the first, will be a spiritual resurrection. The resurrection of bodies in Rev 20:12-13 , comes not when Satan is loosed, but after his last war campaign is ended. His logic would be good if he did not make a mix-up in his premises. I am willing to risk whatever reputation I have on the soundness of my interpretation of this difficult passage. I say to Mr. Alford that neither the first nor the second resurrection is of the body they are both of souls. There is not a word in these three verses about the millennium that tells about the coming of Christ, or about the bodily resurrection of anybody.
Commencing at least in the latter part of the second century, and particularly in the third century, there were a number of people called Chiliasts that means the same in Greek that millennium means in Latin thousand-year people. These Chiliasts taught that the first resurrection here was a physical resurrection, and that Christ came to bring about the millennium in his final advent, and that the millennium was to be Christ’s kingdom on earth, with Christ personally and visibly reigning over the Jews in Jerusalem, and through the Jews ruling the entire Gentile world. Christ rejected that view in his lifetime. The Jews would have made him king at that time joyfully, and so triumphed over the Romans and the rest of the world. He refused that view: “My kingdom is not of this world.”
It would be a tremendous anticlimax, if the view of the kingdom that Christ rejected in his lifetime as unworthy, be accepted as the culmination, renewing all the old temple worship and the old types of ceremonies that were nailed to the cross of Christ and taken out of the way. On account of this teaching of the Chiliasts in the latter part of the second century and in the third century, a great many people began to reject the book of Revelation. And even now, if you accept that view, people will reject the book. Some of the best men living in the third and fourth centuries rejected the book because of the view the Chiliasts had put upon the millennium.
And what was their view? Their view was that Christ had no kingdom at all on the earth until the millennium came, and then he would come and set up his kingdom here upon this earth. They virtually taught that the Spirit dispensation would fail the churches would fail the gospel would fail and the world would get worse and worse, until there would be just a handful living when Christ came, and that he would by his coming in the millennium convert the most of the people that are to be converted in this world, and by a different instrumentality.
Now, you may rest assured that whenever he does come the vicarship of the Holy Spirit ceases; you may rest assured that when he does come the administration of the churches ceases; you may rest assured that when he does leave heaven, intercession ceases. Whenever the High Priest comes out of the holy of holies, never to return again, there can be no more intercession for man. In other words, not a man, woman, or child can be converted after Christ’s return. The only people ever saved will be converted during the dispensation of the Spirit, the administration of the churches and the preaching of the glorious gospel and these instrumentalities of salvation will never be changed. The plan of salvation is one plan and not two or three plans not a few people saved through the churches and the Holy Spirit, and then a great body of people saved through some other instrumentality after Christ comes. When we come to the final advent, I will submit to your judgment the scriptures that support my view as to why he comes, when he comes, what he is to do when he comes but we have not come to that yet. We know that he has not come yet because the man of sin, that Paul speaks about, is to be destroyed by his advent. We have not come to that man of sin yet, but we will get to him in the next chapter.
QUESTIONS
1. What the precursors to the millennium?
2. What the meaning of the word?
3. How much space does the Bible give to the millennium?
4. Is this small account in literal or symbolic language?
5. In interpreting these three verses of symbolism, should they dominate the general trend of a plain literal teaching concerning our Lord’s advent, or should the trend of literal teaching interpret them?
6. What the meaning of the first clause of Rev 20:4 , particularly the “they”?
7. Cite three passages from Isaiah bearing on this time.
8. Is this result brought about ill the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, while our Lord is yet in heaven, and through the churches, ministry, and gospel?
9. Will the saints in millennial times be marrying and producing children?
10. Will these children be subject to inherited depravity, and needing regeneration?
11. What the advantages to children born in millennial times?
12. What distinction is drawn between righteous dead and the wicked dead during the millennial period?
13. Is there any reference in these three verses to Christ’s final advent, or to a resurrection of bodies?
14. If “the first resurrection” denotes a change in the status of the souls of the righteous dead, show from this book what the change is.
15. Illustrate from history how this change may be called a revival or resurrection.
16. When, according to these three verses, comes the “second resurrection,” or the revival of the souls of the wicked, and what does that mean?
17. What capital mistake does Alford make in interpreting this passage?
18. According to this book of Revelation, does the ministry of the Holy Spirit fail, the churches fail, the gospel fail, and the world get worse and worse till Christ’s final advent?
19. How, probably, will the millennium affect the world population and the relative number of the saved and lost?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Ver. 4. And they sat upon them ] Resting from former persecutions, and reigning in righteousness even here upon earth.
And judgment was given unto them ] That is, say some, the spirit of discerning between Christianity and Antichristianism, or the clearing of their innocence, and doing them right, say others. Or, they had their chairs, seats, and consistories, wherein they did both preach the word and execute the Church censures, as some sense it.
And I saw the souls ] This makes against the millenaries. Souls reign not but in heaven, there are “the spirits of just men made perfect,”Heb 12:23Heb 12:23 . True it is, as Mr Cotton well observeth, that there are many devices in the minds of some, to think that Jesus Christ shall come from heaven again, and reign here with his saints upon earth a thousand years. But they are, saith he, but the mistakes of some high expressions in Scripture, which describe the judgments poured out upon God’s enemies in making way to the Jews’ conversion, by the pattern of the last judgment. Thus he. The souls here mentioned are the same, I conceive, that were seen under the altar, Rev 6:9 , and do cry, “How long, Lord?” These are not capable of a bodily resurrection, nor of an earthly reign.
And they lived and reigned with Christ ] They, that is, those that sat on the thrones (not they that were beheaded), “lived and reigned,” as spiritual kings (after the same manner as they are priests, Rev 20:6 ), for else there should be more kings than subjects.
With Christ ] It is not said “with Christ upon earth;” this is an addition to the text; or if the words did import a reigning upon earth, yet this would not infer an earthly reign for a thousand years, in great worldly delights, begetting, many children, eating and drinking, and enjoying all lawful pleasures, as some dream today. The conceit, I confess, is as ancient as Cerinthus, the heretic, and Papias (scholar to St John), a man much reverenced for opinion of his holiness, but yet homo ingenii pertenuis, saith Eusebius, not oppressed with wit. Jerome and Augustine explode it as a Jewish fable, and declare it to be a great error, if not a heresy; so do all the at this day. The patrons of Christ’s personal reign upon the earth are Mr Archer, and Mr Burroughes (Moses’ Choice), who tells us that if the opinion of some concerning Christ’s coming to reign here in the world before the day of judgment be not a truth, he cannot make anything of many places of Scripture, as this place for one. But if he cannot, yet others can. See an answer to his and Mr Archer’s chief arguments in Mr Bayly’s Dissuasive from the Errors of the Times, chap. xxi. p. 238.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 6 .] The Millennial reign . And I saw thrones (combine the two passages in the reff.), and they sat upon them (who? the Apostles, as in ref. Matt.: the Saints, as in 1Co 6:2-3 , ; ; Notice well, that there is nothing to hinder this in the souls of the saints not being seen till the next clause: for there is no mark of temporal sequence connecting the two verses: nay, such an idea is precluded by the specification at the end of Rev 20:4 , that those very souls of the saints are they who reigned with Christ, and were His assessors in reigning and judging, during this time), and judgment ( , the act and decision of judgment) was given to them (so in ref. Daniel (Theod.), , . That is, they were constituted judges). And I saw the souls of them who had been beheaded (the word , to smite with the axe, is found in Polybius (i. 7. 12, xi. 30. 2), Strabo, Plutarch, and Diodorus Siculus, in the sense of beheading) on account of the testimony of Jesus and on account of the word of God (ref.), and (of those) the which did not worship (during life) the beast nor yet his image, and did not receive the mark (mentioned ch. Rev 13:16 ) on their forehead and upon their hand: and they lived (i. e. “ lived again ;” = , as in reff.: and, as the act is presently described as the first resurrection , with their bodies, perfect and complete) and reigned with Christ (took part in His Kingdom; see ch. Rev 1:6 ; 2Ti 2:12 ; also 1Co 4:8 and note) a thousand years (it would certainly appear that this reigning includes the office of judgment. Many interpreters suppose that these saints are the judged: so recently Dsterd.: but there is nothing in the context, nor in other parts of Scripture, to favour this idea. Nay, it is expressly negatived by our Lord’s saying in Joh 5:24 , , , ). The rest of the dead lived not ( again , as above) until the thousand years be completed. This ( is not the subject , as De Wette, but the predicate , as in all such cases: the reduction of the proposition to the logical form requiring its inversion) is the first resurrection (remarks on the interpretation of this passage will be found in the Prolegomena, v. par. 33. It will have been long ago anticipated by the readers of this Commentary, that I cannot consent to distort words from their plain sense and chronological place in the prophecy, on account of any considerations of difficulty, or any risk of abuses which the doctrine of the millennium may bring with it. Those who lived next to the Apostles, and the whole Church for 300 years, understood them in the plain literal sense: and it is a strange sight in these days to see expositors who are among the first in reverence of antiquity, complacently casting aside the most cogent instance of consensus which primitive antiquity presents. As regards the text itself, no legitimate treatment of it will extort what is known as the spiritual interpretation now in fashion. If, in a passage where two resurrections are mentioned, where certain at the first, and the rest of the only at the end of a specified period after that first, if in such a passage the first resurrection may be understood to mean spiritual rising with Christ, while the second means literal rising from the grave; then there is an end of all significance in language, and Scripture is wiped out as a definite testimony to any thing. If the first resurrection is spiritual, then so is the second, which I suppose none will be hardy enough to maintain: but if the second is literal, then so is the first, which in common with the whole primitive Church and many of the best modern expositors, I do maintain, and receive as an article of faith and hope). Blessed (see ch. Rev 14:13 , Rev 19:9 ) and holy is he that hath part in (ref., the expression is peculiar to St. John) the first resurrection: over such persons the second death (see reff.: and bear in mind what is said of our Lord Himself, Rom 6:9 ) hath not power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they [ shall ] reign with Him (Christ) a (or, the ) thousand years .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Rev 20:4 . , tribunal-seats for the assessors of the divine judge (as in Dan 7:9-10 ; Dan 7:22 , of which this is a replica). The unnamed occupants (saints including martyrs? as in Daniel) are allowed to manage the judicial processes (so Dan 7:22 , where the Ancient of days to ) which constituted a large part of Oriental government. But no stress is laid on this incidental remark, and the subjects of this sway are left undefined; they are evidently not angels (Jewish belief, shared by Paul). Such elements of vagueness suggest that John took over the trait as a detail of the traditional scenery. His real interest is in the martyrs, for whom he reserves ( cf. Eus. H. E. vi. 42) the privilege assigned usually by primitive Christianity either to the apostles or to Christians in general. They are allotted the exclusive right of participating in the messianic interregnum. , beheaded by the lictor’s axe, the ancient Roman method of executing criminals ( cf. Introd. 6). Under the empire citizens were usually beheaded by the sword. The archaic phrase lingered on, like our own “execution”. Here it is probably no more than a periphrasis for “put to death”. Even if meant a second division, it must, in the light of Rev 11:7 , Rev 13:15 , denote martyrs and confessors (who had suffered on the specific charge of refusing to worship the emperor). , tenfold the normal period of human life (Plato, Rep. 615), but here = the cosmic sabbath which apocalyptic and rabbinic speculation (deriving from Gen 2:2 and Psa 90:4 ) placed at the close of creation ( cf. Drummond’s Jewish Messiah , 316 f.; Bacher’s Agada d. Tann. 2 i. 133 f.; E. Bi. iii. 3095 3097; Encycl. of Religion and Ethics , i. 204 f., 209). John postpones the till this period is over (contrast Mat 19:28 ). He says nothing about those who were living when the millenium began, and only precarious inferences can be drawn. Does Rev 20:6 contain the modest hope that he and other loyal Christians might participate in it? or does the second ( ) class represent (or include) the living loyalists (so, e.g. , Simcox, Weiss, Bousset)? The latter interpretation involves an awkward ambiguity in the meaning of (= came to life , and also continued to live ), conflicts with . . (5) and (4), and is therefore to be set aside, as 5 6 plainly refer to both classes of 4. A third alternative would be to suppose that all Christians were ex hypothesi dead by the time that the period of Rev 20:1 f. arrived, the stress of persecution ( cf. on Rev 13:8 f.) having proved so severe that no loyalist could survive ( cf. below, on Rev 20:11 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 20:4-6
4Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
Rev 20:4 “Then I saw thrones” This is an allusion to Dan 7:9. Numerous thrones are mentioned in Revelation: (1) God’s throne (cf. Rev. 5:1,1,17; Rev 6:16; Rev 7:10; Rev 7:15; Rev 19:4; Rev 21:5); (2) Satan’s throne (cf. Rev 2:13); and (3) the beast’s throne (cf. Rev 13:2; Rev 16:10). It is a metaphor of authority and power.
“and they sat on them” This is an allusion to Dan 7:22. The question is, to whom does “they” refer? In Daniel it could be the angelic host or the saints. There has been much discussion among commentators about how many groups are mentioned in this verse.
1. some see three groups (those on the thrones, martyred Christians, and other Christians who did not worship the beast)
2. some see two groups
3. some see one group.
If it is one group, it refers to the Christian martyrs. However, there is no other Scriptural parallel to a limited reign of the martyrs. The Bible promises a reign to all saints (cf. Rev 3:21; Rev 5:10; Rev 22:5; Mat 19:28; Luk 22:29-30; 2Ti 2:12). See Special Topic at Rev 5:10.
Others base their view of two groups on the little phrase in the latter part of Rev 20:4, “who refuse to worship the wild beast.” They see this as a second group of Christians, all believers who died a natural death but who refused to worship the beast. In light of the Second Coming in Revelation 19 and the great White Throne judgment of Rev 20:11, this may be the best interpretation. If this interpretation is true, then the great White Throne judgment of vv.11ff refers only to the lost and is not a direct parallel to Mat 25:31 ff.
NASB”and judgment was given to them”
NKJV”and judgment was committed to them”
NRSV”were given authority to judge”
TEV”were given the power to judge”
NJB”was conferred the power to give judgment”
This Greek phrase can refer to either (1) their reigning with Christ (cf. Rev 2:26-27; 1Co 6:2, see Special Topic at Rev 5:10) or (2) their receiving justice (cf. Rev 6:9-11; Dan 7:22).
“the souls of those who had been beheaded” Some interpret this as disembodied spirits (cf. Rev 6:9). The term “beheaded” refers to the double-edged axe which was used for capital punishment in the Roman Republic (cf. Rom 13:4 and Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 14:9:4). This refers to Christian martyrs.
“and those who had not worshiped the beast” If the above phrase refers to martyrs, then this phrase refers to others who died during this period of time (cf. Rev 13:15). Now if this is a picture of the period between Christ’s two comings, then it refers to all believers. If it is just this end-time period, then only that generation.
“had not received the mark” See note at Rev 13:16-17. The mark is parallel to “who had not worshiped the beast or his image.”
“they came to life” This term (z) often refers to physical resurrection (cf. Mat 9:18; Joh 4:25; Act 1:3; Act 1:9-11; Rom 14:9; Rev 1:18; Rev 2:8; Rev 13:14). Interpreters cannot interpret one use of the term in Rev 20:4 as spiritual resurrection and the second use in Rev 20:5 as physical resurrection. Do the martyrs who reign with Christ have resurrection bodies or physical bodies which decay? If they have resurrection bodies, then what about “the nations”?
“and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” The concept of Jesus reigning is mentioned in Rev 12:5; Rev 19:5 and seems to be alluded to in Psa 2:8-9; the saints’ reigning with Christ is mentioned in Mat 19:28; Luk 22:28-30; 2Ti 2:12; Rev 3:21; Rev 5:10; Rev 20:4; Rev 20:6; Rev 22:5. Is the reigning millennial or eternal (cf. Dan 7:14; Dan 7:18; Dan 7:27 and Rev 22:5)? Is the reigning earthly (cf. Rev 5:10) in a Palestinian context or a universal context? See Special Topic on Reigning in the Kingdom of God at Rev 5:10. See chart of the different millennial views in Appendix Five.
If the 1,000 years is symbolic of the church age (incarnation to Parousia), then this 1,000 years (10x10x10 Hebrew superlative form of the number for completeness) refers to eternity.
However, this scenario does not fit Rev 20:5-6 very well. This is a good example of how one interpretive approach answers some texts well, but not all. These different interpretive schemes developed as different interpreters emphasized different texts and read the whole NT through certain chosen “key” texts. There is fluidity here, ambiguity here, mystery here. Let’s not compound the problem with exclusivism and dogmatism!
Rev 20:5 The NRSV and the TEV translations make Rev 20:5 a parenthesis. Who is involved in this first resurrection will determine who is involved in the general judgment of Rev 20:11 ff. Here are the options for “the rest of the dead.”
1. the lost (cf. Rev 20:6; Dan 12:2)
2. Christians from previous periods (cf. Rev 20:6; 2Ti 2:12)
3. Christians from this period, but who died natural deaths (cf. Rev 20:4 c)
“the first resurrection” Throughout the NT there has been an emphasis on the resurrection of the dead (cf. Joh 5:28-29; Luk 14:14; Act 24:15; 1Co 15:52; Php 3:3; 1Th 4:16; 2Th 1:7-10). However, there is no parallel in the Bible for two separate resurrections for believers, unless it is an allusion to the dual resurrection of Dan 12:2 (the lost and saved), although George Ladd sees Joh 5:29 and 1Co 15:24-25 as possible parallels. All theological systems, even those which believe in a literal one thousand year reign, have major interpretive problems with this split resurrection. Are raptured Christians (cf. 1Th 4:13-18; Rev 4:11 or Rev 11:12) involved in the thousand year reign; are OT believers involved in the thousand year reign? Does this include OT martyrs, or only those who were martyred during the end-time tribulation?
“they will be priests of God and of Christ” This is an allusion to Exo 19:5-6. This terminology, referring to Israel as God’s instrument of Gentile revelation and redemption, has in the NT been widened to include all the church (cf. 1Pe 2:5; 1Pe 2:9 and Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10). In the letter to the church of Philadelphia, an allusion is made to the saints in relation to a temple (cf. Rev 3:12). The metaphor has changed from servants of God on behalf of this world to intimate fellowship with God.
Rev 20:6 This verse adds to the interpretive problem. Why would any believer be subject to the second death, which is a metaphor for hell (cf. Rev 20:6)? Are only the martyrs priests to God or are all saints (cf. Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10; 2 Pet. 2,5,9)? Will only first century martyrs reign or will OT martyrs be included, will the martyrs in every age be included or will all Christians who remained faithful be included?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
they. i.e. the Father and Christ (Rev 3:21), and the heavenly beings associated with them as assessors (Rev 1:4; and compare Mat 25:31. 1Ti 5:21).
upon. App-104.
judgment. App-177.
was given. i.e. not judging or ruling authority, but sentence, or pronouncement, or award in their favour.
unto = for. No preposition. Dative case.
them. i.e. those who had been beheaded.
and = even.
I saw. Omit.
souls. App-110. Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Part). App-6.
were = had been.
witness = testimony. See Rev 19:10 and p. 1511.
Jesus. App-98.
word. App-121.
which = whosoever. Greek. hoitines, as Mat 5:39, Mat 5:41.
had, &c. = did not (App-105) worship (App-137)
neither. Greek. oude.
neither . . . received = and received (See Rev 13:16) not (App-105).
his = the.
or in = and upon(as above).
hands = hand.
lived. i.e. lived again. App-170.
Christ. App-98. The resurrection of these not mentioned but necessarily implied.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4-6.] The Millennial reign. And I saw thrones (combine the two passages in the reff.), and they sat upon them (who? the Apostles, as in ref. Matt.: the Saints, as in 1Co 6:2-3,- ; ; Notice well, that there is nothing to hinder this in the souls of the saints not being seen till the next clause: for there is no mark of temporal sequence connecting the two verses: nay, such an idea is precluded by the specification at the end of Rev 20:4, that those very souls of the saints are they who reigned with Christ, and were His assessors in reigning and judging, during this time), and judgment (, the act and decision of judgment) was given to them (so in ref. Daniel (Theod.), , . That is, they were constituted judges). And I saw the souls of them who had been beheaded (the word , to smite with the axe, is found in Polybius (i. 7. 12, xi. 30. 2), Strabo, Plutarch, and Diodorus Siculus, in the sense of beheading) on account of the testimony of Jesus and on account of the word of God (ref.), and (of those) the which did not worship (during life) the beast nor yet his image, and did not receive the mark (mentioned ch. Rev 13:16) on their forehead and upon their hand: and they lived (i. e. lived again; = , as in reff.: and, as the act is presently described as the first resurrection, with their bodies, perfect and complete) and reigned with Christ (took part in His Kingdom; see ch. Rev 1:6; 2Ti 2:12; also 1Co 4:8 and note) a thousand years (it would certainly appear that this reigning includes the office of judgment. Many interpreters suppose that these saints are the judged: so recently Dsterd.: but there is nothing in the context, nor in other parts of Scripture, to favour this idea. Nay, it is expressly negatived by our Lords saying in Joh 5:24, , , ). The rest of the dead lived not (again, as above) until the thousand years be completed. This ( is not the subject, as De Wette, but the predicate, as in all such cases: the reduction of the proposition to the logical form requiring its inversion) is the first resurrection (remarks on the interpretation of this passage will be found in the Prolegomena, v. par. 33. It will have been long ago anticipated by the readers of this Commentary, that I cannot consent to distort words from their plain sense and chronological place in the prophecy, on account of any considerations of difficulty, or any risk of abuses which the doctrine of the millennium may bring with it. Those who lived next to the Apostles, and the whole Church for 300 years, understood them in the plain literal sense: and it is a strange sight in these days to see expositors who are among the first in reverence of antiquity, complacently casting aside the most cogent instance of consensus which primitive antiquity presents. As regards the text itself, no legitimate treatment of it will extort what is known as the spiritual interpretation now in fashion. If, in a passage where two resurrections are mentioned, where certain at the first, and the rest of the only at the end of a specified period after that first,-if in such a passage the first resurrection may be understood to mean spiritual rising with Christ, while the second means literal rising from the grave;-then there is an end of all significance in language, and Scripture is wiped out as a definite testimony to any thing. If the first resurrection is spiritual, then so is the second, which I suppose none will be hardy enough to maintain: but if the second is literal, then so is the first, which in common with the whole primitive Church and many of the best modern expositors, I do maintain, and receive as an article of faith and hope). Blessed (see ch. Rev 14:13, Rev 19:9) and holy is he that hath part in (ref., the expression is peculiar to St. John) the first resurrection: over such persons the second death (see reff.: and bear in mind what is said of our Lord Himself, Rom 6:9) hath not power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they [shall] reign with Him (Christ) a (or, the) thousand years.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rev 20:4. [217] ) , an axe, especially used by the Romans in punishments. Raphelius compares the passage of Polybius, , ( ) .-, lived) returned to life, [in that manner, in which the rest of the dead lived not again before the general resurrection.-V. g.].-The same word is thus used with the same force in Rev 20:5 and ch. Rev 2:8. John saw them not only when restored to life, but when in the act of reviving (comp. Eze 37:7): as before he saw the dragon in the act of being bound, and not only in that condition.-, with) They shall be with Christ (Rev 20:6), and with God (Rev 20:6), not Christ and God with them. Therefore that kingdom will be in heaven. Comp. ch. Rev 21:3, , with.- , a thousand years) They who are held back by the article , here improperly inserted before ,[218] greatly entangle themselves. Two millennial periods are mentioned in this whole passage, each three times: the former is the millennium in which Satan is bound, Rev 20:2-3; Rev 20:7; the other, that of the reign of the saints, Rev 20:4-6. Lange wrote, Epicris. p. 421, that he finds no foundation for two periods of a thousand years, either in the text, or in the event itself, or in the connection of the parts of the Apocalypse. But the second millennium extends even to the resurrection of all the dead, Rev 20:5; the former comes to a close before the end of the world, Rev 20:7, etc. Therefore the beginning and end of the former is before the beginning and end of the second. On this account, as at Rev 20:2 in the first mention of the former millennium, so at Rev 20:4, in the first mention of the second, it is said without the article, : in the other places, , the article having the force of a relative, and meaning those thousand years, Rev 20:3; Rev 20:5; Rev 20:7. Finally, , without the article, is used in Rev 20:6,[219] as though in a separate enunciation. The omission of the article conveys a less restricted meaning than its insertion. Many admit, that the millennium in which Satan is bound, is different from the millennium in which the saints reign, as Pareus testifies on the Ap. col. 1093, where he seems to hint at Brightman and Cotter. Jungman altogether agrees with them in his Observ. Germ. against Beverley, p. 71. To this are added all those who take the second millennium only for eternity itself, as Viegas on the Ap. p. 793, Nic. Collado, Corn. a Lapide, and Nic. Muler.
[217] , thrones) tribunals, judgment-seats.-V. g.
[218] A rejects the : so Lachm. and Tisch. B and Rec. Text support it.-E.
[219] B and Syr., however, read in ver. 6 . But weightier authorities omit it, viz. A and others.-E.
This distinction between the two periods of a thousand years affords a great advantage, and that too of such necessity, as to prove this very distinctness of the millennial periods. In the judgment of an illustrious man, a serious difficulty is raised by the hope of better times, or even by the reconciling of the millennial kingdom itself with the final perverseness and damnable security of men of the last times. The keeping the times distinct alone remedies this difficulty. During the course of the former millennium, the promises which describe most flourishing times of the Church will be fulfilled: ch. Rev 10:7; afterwards, while the saints who belong to the first resurrection shall reign with Christ, men on earth will be remiss and careless, Mat 24:37, etc.; according to which explanation that remarkable passage, Luk 18:8, retains the natural meaning of the words. Respecting this [false] security, which will seize men, when the enemies are now removed, there is a valuable suggestion subjoined to the commentary of Patrick Forbes on the Apocalypse. The confounding of the two millennial periods has long ago produced many errors, and has made the name of Chiliasm hateful and suspected; the distinction between the two resolves the difficulties to which Chiliasm is justly liable, and aids in the sound interpretation of prophecy. Let the treatise, Erklrte Offenb., I beg, be consulted, p. 942, etc. As to what remains, what can orthodoxy itself blame? Let them pronounce sentence, on whose authority others depend. Add, that they who neither extend the remaining times of the world beyond the truth of Scripture, nor curtail them, they alone are well able to meet and contend with scoffers.
This is the last period in the age of the world; wherefore in this place we will comprehensively repeat an analysis of the times, which we have already abundantly spoken of, with sobriety and modesty.
The age of the world, contains 3 ons.
An on, 2 Chroni.
A Chronus, 5 or times.
A Time, 2 ancient scula.
A Sculum, 7 prophetical months.
A Month, 2 weeks of Daniel.
A Week, 7 59/63 ordinary years.
A Year, 365 97/400 days.
The same age of the world comprises 7777 7/9 natural years, which are 490 prophetical months.
Therefore a perfect septenary is displayed, I will not here say in the natural days, and that indeed a square, but in the prophetical months, and that indeed a square; in the natural years, it is seen through all the expressed articles of the whole sum, from the thousandth to the unit, and below. This TESSELATED CONFORMATION of times, natural and prophetical, of those of Daniel and those of the Apocalypse, ought to convince of their truth every one who has any capacity for receiving this kind of truth.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rev 20:4-6
2. THE MILLENNIUM DESCRIBED
Rev 20:4-6
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them:–In the vision John saw thrones and persons sitting upon them, and describes in the next statement who they were. The word “judgment” is evidently used in the sense of rule which is the idea implied in the word “thrones.” It means that those whom John saw were reigning in some sense. The particular sense will be discovered in the remainder of the paragraph. It is clear from the language that verses 7-10 logically followed verse 3 to complete the story begun with Rev 19:19. The narrative is interrupted at verse 3 and this paragraph is interposed to describe things that would transpire during the thousand years which had just been mentioned. It is an explanation of how Satan’s binding, the first big event in his overthrow, would affect the church during the millennial period.
Both judge and rule carry the idea of authority to command, approve, or condone. One can reign in a secondary sense when he is authorized to state or enforce the laws of the actual ruler. In this sense the apostles rule under Christ as our king. He conferred upon them the right to express the conditions of pardon which he gave them–thus to remit and retain sin. (Joh 20:21-23.) In harmony with this is the reply of Jesus to Peter’s question in Mat 19:27-28. He said: “Ye who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” “The regeneration” means the Christian dispensation–that is, the time when men can be regenerated or born again. The apostles had followed Jesus; hence, they were given the right to rule by his authority. There can be no mistake about this, for in Luk 22:28-30, a parallel text, Jesus said he appointed them a kingdom “that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.” This refers to the Lord’s Supper and shows that the apostles were in the kingdom while they lived on earth. If so, then they sat upon the thrones and judged while on earth. But Jesus said they would do this while he was sitting upon the throne of his glory. This incidentally shows that Jesus began his reign on Pentecost, as taught in Heb 10:12, 1Co 15:25, and disproves his supposed millennial reign on earth.
There is also a figurative sense in which Christians may rule: either by influencing others to correct living, or to condemn by implication the disobedient through faithfulness to God. Such is the teaching of Mat 5:16 Heb 11:7. Nothing is more certain than that the lives of men, both good and bad, continue to rule in the hearts and lives of others long after death. See Rev 2:26-27; Rev 14:13; Heb 11:7. It is a solemn thought to know that the final salvation or damnation of men can depend upon how their lives, as examples, have ruled over others
and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand;–This tells who were sitting upon the thrones. The definite statement is that John saw “souls”; no mention whatever of “bodies.” Selecting the term “souls” could not have been accidental, and certainly indicates that the resurrection in this passage is not that of bodies. This alone is fatal to the idea that Jesus will come personally at the beginning of the 1,000 years. By a figure of speech soul sometimes stands for the whole man, but in such passage a soul in the body –a living man–is clearly indicated. See Act 2:41; Act 27:37. The Greek word for soul (psyche) often means life, as the following texts will show: Mat 6:25; Mat 10:25; Mat 16:26-27. The “souls” John saw symbolically represented the lives of the classes which he immediately mentions. They reign with Christ because their lives are imitated by saints on earth who, like themselves, would die before becoming traitors to the faith, or by accepting false doctrines. Those on the thrones are further described as “souls” of those who had been “beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God,” which means they had been killed because of their belief in Christ and refusal to deny him or God’s word. Beheading, which was a common form of dispatching the condemned, probably stands for all kinds of martyrdom. It may be questioned whether the whole description here applies to martyrs only, or includes a second class of such as would not worship the beast and his image and refused to receive his “mark.” The grammatical construction will allow either view; hence, neither one can be declared as absolutely certain. It is immaterial, however, which is accepted; for in either case they were saints who distinguished themselves by enduring persecution or death for the church. Only the lives of servants of God who have distinguished themselves would fit the symbol of reigning spiritually for a thousand years.
Another distinguishing feature of these who are here said to reign is the fact that the thing which gave them their position is that they resisted the power and influence of the beast. They must have lived then before Satan was bound–that is, when the apostate church exercised supreme power. Their millennial reign is put in direct contrast with the period in. which they suffered. This is no mean proof that the millennium–time when Satan is bound–began when the papacy lost its supreme power. This is also proof of two important facts –namely, that we are now in the millennium and that Christ did not come at its beginning. On the “mark” of the beast see notes on 13:16, 17.
and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.–“They lived” does not mean that souls were brought to life, for souls do not die in the literal meaning of death. Those who obey Christ can never die (Joh 5:25), but bodies of saints and sinners will die. Spiritually they continued to live in the sense that their work was vindicated and their names honored through those who perpetuated the same truth for which they suffered or died. Figuratively, that would be as though they had been raised and were reigning in person. This, as a fact, was true of the apostles and other martyrs long before the papal beast came into existence. This passage, however, speaks of a special class of martyrs that fought the corruptions of the apostate church. We know that the apostles, though dead in body, do reign with Christ on earth now. Why not allow that those who were a later set of martyrs do the same?
It is also a fact that living Christians whose lives are sufficiently noted reign, which, of course, is with Christ. So teaches Paul in Rom 5:17; 1Co 4:8. Such lives cannot be without influence after death. This is the direct promise of Heb 11:4.
5 The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished.—“Lived not until the thousand years should be finished” implies that they would live after that time. “Lived not” evidently is in contrast with “they lived” (verse 4), which, in the latter part of verse 5, is called “the first resurrection.” An important question here is this: Will the living again of the “rest” (an implied second resurrection) come immediately after the thousand years end or some time later? It must be remembered that a comparatively short period, called a “little time” (verse 3), will intervene between the thousand years and the judgment. In this period Satan will be “loosed,” which means that wickedness will again prevail and all his evil forces will be marshaled for the last struggle against the church. The vital point that must be considered is, will the second resurrection occur at the beginning of the “little time” or at its close? This cannot be ignored in any fair interpretation of this millennial passage.
There is probably no text in Revelation about which commentators are more hopelessly disagreed than this verse. Only four views seem to have enough plausibility to merit consideration. They are: (1) That it refers to the bodily resurrection of all the wicked dead at the end of the thousand years, or, maybe, at the end of the “little time.” The advocates of this theory do not seem very definite on the exact time. (2) That the word “rest” means the remainder of the same class–that it includes all the righteous dead except the martyrs and others distinguished for service to God. (3) That it refers to the noted persecutors of saints–such as Nero–who will figuratively be raised in the lives of their imitators during the “little time.” (4) That it refers to all the dead –both good and bad–who will be raised bodily at the judgment.
The first theory is a premillennial view. The decisive fact that proves it wrong is that Jesus himself places the bodily resurrection of both saint and sinner at the same time. (Joh 5:28-29.) Until this passage is proved false, that point is settled.
If the second theory means that the inconspicuous righteous dead will be raised ‘at the end of the millennium, it is pertinent to ask for a reason. If the passage has noted saints reigning during the millennium when Satan is bound, it would hardly be consistent to represent inconspicuous saints as reigning during the “little time” while Satan is loose. If such saints are to be raised at the judgment, then the theory is true so far as the resurrection of the righteous dead are concerned. But it does not express all the truth on the question, for all the dead–righteous and wicked–will be raised then.
Regarding the third theory, it may be remarked that it would be no violation of either facts or consistency to represent noted church persecutors as being figuratively raised in the lives of those who imitate them in wickedness in the “little time.” However, this would forbid the resurrection to be understood as that of the body. It would be the “souls” of the wicked, similar to the “souls” of the martyrs in verse 4, and, therefore, obviate any charge of logical inconsistency.
An apparent objection to the fourth theory is that it violates the law of consistency by making the “first” resurrection figurative and the “second” (which is implied) literal. It is enough to reply that if verse 6, which mentions first resurrection, refers to the body, it also mentions second death which refers to the soul. But there is no unvarying law that prevents words being used in a figurative and literal sense in the same passage. Usually they should be given the same sense, but plain facts may require a different sense. Jesus uses “born” in Joh 3:6 in both a literal and figurative sense. In Joh 5:24-25 “life” and “live” unquestionably imply a spiritual resurrection, while the language in Joh 5:28-29 just as clearly means a literal one. There is, then, really no inconsistency in saying that the “first” resurrection is a moral, spiritual, or figurative one and the “second” (implied) is a literal one. Verses 11-15 of this chapter are a vivid description of a literal resurrection of all classes at the judgment. This is at least strong presumptive proof that the fourth view is correct. It is consistent with words of Jesus and probably the true meaning.
To make the first resurrection a literal one involves the following insuperable difficulties, based upon Jesus’ words in John 5 that all will be raised at the same time: If Jesus comes before the millennium, all the righteous and wicked will be raised then; hence, there can be no wicked left to be raised at the end of the millennium. If he comes after the millenium, then there will be no righteous dead raised at its beginning. If he comes after the “little time”–that is, at the judgment, then there will be none of either class raised either at the beginning or end of the millennium. In either case the premillennial theory is bound to be false. That Christ’s personal coming will be at the judgment is the plain teaching of 2Th 1:7. If the first and second resurrections come at the beginning and end of the millennium, and are to be literal resurrections of the body, then there will be three literal resurrections unless there should be none at the judgment. To deny a literal resurrection of the body at the judgment conflicts with verse 13 of this chapter, for there can be no question about what it teaches.
This is the first resurrection.–That is, of those mentioned in verse 4, not the “rest” of verse 5.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; –Those who faithfully contended against the beast, false prophet, and all wicked doctrines till death certainly were entitled to the salvation Jesus promised. (Mat 24:13.) They not only reign during the millennium, but are made sure against being hurt by the second death. The members of the church at Smyrna were urged not to fear what the devil would do to them, and promised that if they were faithful unto death they would “not be hurt of the second death.” (Rev 2:10-11.) The reason for that is that they are in a state where Satan’s power can never reach them. If raised bodily and reigning personally, as the literal kingdom theory demands, he could reach them unless their ability to sin has been removed. If so, then the devil could not deceive them when loosed for a season, as verse 8 says he will do.
but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.–Those here who are guaranteed freedom from the second death not only resisted false teachings “unto death,” but were faithful worshipers of God. Hence, figuratively they are represented as reigning and also officiating in the services of God–they are kings and priests. Peter declares that saints are “an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” (1Pe 2:9.) A royal–kingly–priest-hood agrees exactly with John’s description in this book. (Rev 1:6.) The idea is a kingdom of priests. Since Peter and John both teach that Jesus had already made that kingdom, then we know that the reign of “souls” in the millennium is through those on earth who imitate their fidelity. Any interpretation that conflicts with John’s own words about he kingdom must be wrong. John the Baptist is called Elijah. (Mat 11:12-14.) He came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luk 1:17)–another way of saying that Elijah was raised from the dead in the person of John. Ezekiel represented the restoration of the Jews from Babylon to their own land as a coming “out of your graves.” (Eze 37:12-14.) Those who are old may be “born again,” and those naturally alive may die, be buried, and raised without changing their physical state. (Col 2:12.) Who can deny the metaphysical use of terms, especially in a book filled with symbols?
Commentary on Rev 20:4-6 by Foy E. Wallace
3. The souls on the thrones. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the words of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years-Rev 20:4.
These souls were not bodies and were not embodied. They were souls. And a resurrection was not necessary for souls to live. These souls lived–they did not begin to live. They lived. These souls were under the altar in chapter six; they were on thrones in chapter twenty. In the first scene a cause had suffered in defeat; in the second, a cause has been crowned with victory. They lived and reigned– taking the souls out from under the altar and elevating them to thrones is referred to as a resurrection; the resurrection of a cause. They lived in the cause for which they died. They reigned in the persons of their successors, and like characters of like spirit. As John came in the spirit and power of Elijah; as the spirit of Huss lived after his martyrdom; a cause survives the death of its advocates and they live in the spirit of its torchbearers.
Judgment was given unto them–that is, the avenging for which the souls under the altar had pleaded was now received. In Rev 6:10 John heard the martyrs crying for judgment: How long, 0 Lord, holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Meaning their persecutors. In Rev 20:4 John saw them receiving the judgment for which they had called.
Lived and reigned–if reigned is limited by a literal thousand years, lived is also thus limited. So if the reigning ends with the thousand years, the living ends with a thousand years, which ending would upset all the glory of a millennium.
Thrones–not literal and earthly, but the exalted state of those who had overcome their persecutions.
Beheaded–John saw the souls of the beheaded; they did not live in an earthly state. If literal, only those who are literally beheaded could enter the millennium. If figurative, there is no millennium, which is the fact of the matter.
With Christ–the text says nothing of the reign of Christ, but specifies a reign of the martyred saints withChrist. Reigning with Christ is a state. In 1Co 4:8, Paul rebuked the Corinthians because they reigned as kings in wealth and worldliness; and he wished that they reigned in righteousness with the apostles. In Rom 5:17, Paul referred to the time under the law when death reigned, but under grace the righteous reign in life by Jesus Christ. So these martyred saints reigned with Christ in a state of complete victory over death and in felicity of the beatitude blessed of verse six.
Thousand years–the vision of victory, complete victory. It stood for infinity; it was not a cycle of time nor a period of time, and had no reference to time. God remembers his covenant to a thousand generations, and one day with the Lord is as a thousand years–that is, Gods memory of his covenant is infinite; and in Gods infinite world days and years are not reckoned. The term denoted completeness, perfection, infinity. Their victory was complete, their triumph full, and their reign infinite.
The fundamental principle of exegesis forbids that the thousand years be interpreted literally here, and the word year symbolically in all the book elsewhere. So, if it is literal, the reign of Christ was for one thousand years only, not one day more or less. And, if literal, since both verbs lived and reigned are modified by the thousand years, when they shall cease to reign, they shall cease to live also. Furthermore, if literal, only the beheaded lived and reigned. And, finally, the third personal pronoun, they cannot be changed to the first personal we; and the verbs of past tense lived and reigned cannot be changed to verbs of future tense shall live and reign. The conclusion is that there are too many difficulties in the way of the literal application.
[NOTE: the following is taken from the writers comments overviewing the chapter, and can also be found in the chapter section of this module]
It is a common expression, we hear it on every hand; that the Bible plainly says that Christ will reign on the earth a thousand years. That is something that the Bible nowhere says, plainly or vaguely. Like the battle of Armageddon notion, the millennium imagination is not in the Bible. Armageddon is mentioned in the Bible but the battle of Armageddon theory is nowhere found in the scriptures. The Bible has something to say about a thousand years but nothing about a thousand years reign on the earth. Christ reigns, but the reign of Rev 20:1-15 was not the reign of Christ. It was rather a peculiar and special reign of certain souls with Christ. It does not mention or refer to the reign of Christ. The ones mentioned were reigning; it was a special use of the word, applied to a special incident of the Revelation vision. The text says they lived and reigned. Where did they live and reign? They lived and reigned with Christ. John saw souls out of the body, not in the body. It was a vision of the souls of the martyrs living and reigning with Christ in a particular and peculiar sense.
In a conversation with any group of denominational preachers one will invariably be heard to say that the Bible plainly says that we shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years. When the asserter is asked for the passage that so plainly says it, he will just as invariably and confidently refer his listeners to Rev 20:1-15, (See verse 4). It is in order, in time and in place now to dissect this misunderstood and misapplied passage of scripture.
This is the way its reads: And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them andjudgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
The passage is almost universally believed to actually say that we shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years. The text says, they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The pronoun we is a personal pronoun of first person, but they is a personal pronoun of the third person; the verbs lived and reigned are verbs of past tense; but shall live and reign are verbs of future tense. No man can claim the right to change the sentence of this text from the third personal pronoun they to the first personal pronoun we, nor to change the verbs lived and reigned of the past tense to shall live and reign of future tense. That is too much change for any man to make who has an ounce of respect for the word of God.
John said, they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The passage says nothing about the thousand years reign of Christ. There is a great difference in the two expressions. Rev 20:1-15 says, they lived and reigned with Christ. They who? Lived–lived where? Reigned –how, with whom and where? Lived and reigned–with whom, in what place? It is not the reign of Christ, but the reign of souls with Christ, that is mentioned in Rev 20:1-15. There is a vast difference between living and reigning with Christ and a millennial reign of Christ.
So let us be true to the facts in the case. It does not mention the reign of Christ, but the reign of souls with him. They not only reigned with him, they lived with him. They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The two verbs lived and reigned are both limited by the thousand years. If the expression denotes time, then when the reign is over, and they ceased to reign; the living would be over and they would cease to live.
Rev 20:1-6 does not mention the second coming of Christ. That is not the subject of it. It does not mention a bodily resurrection, and that is not the subject of it. It does not mention a reign on the earth, nor does it mention the reign of Christ–and neither is the subject. Is it not possible for souls to live and reign with Christ without Christ being on earth? Furthermore, it does not mention the throne of David or any other throne on earth. And it does not mention either Jerusalem or Palestine, nor does it mention Christ on earth.
Jesus said that Jerusalem is not the place where men should worship (Joh 4:21), but they want to put it there. He said that his kingdom is not of the world (Joh 18:36), but they want to put it here, and make it of the world. Can millennialists consistently say that though it mentions none of these things, it teaches all of them? It is altogether possible and consistent for all the things mentioned to exist without being on the earth.
(2) The thousand years reign with Christ.
There are twenty figures of speech in the nineteenth and twentieth chapters alone. In a series of symbols such as these, it is not reasonable to make a literal application of the thousand years and a figurative application of all the rest of the symbols, without a contexual or historical reason for doing so. The thousand years, like the other parts of the vision, is a figure of speech–a symbol of something else.
It is said in Deu 7:9 that God keeps his covenant and his mercy unto a thousand generations. God does not count a literal thousand generations, then quits remembering his covenant. It means Gods memory of and faithfulness to his covenant are perfect and complete. The term thousand was a figure of completeness. It does not denote a cycle of time.
Then what about the millennium? Nothing was said of a millennium. The thousand years did not mean a millennium. There is no millennium. There never was a millennium. There never will be a millennium. The twentieth of Revelation did not refer to a millennium. The thousand years was not literal, therefore was not a millennium and has no reference to a millennium. There is no connotation for the notion. The magic word millennium is not in the text.
In this vision John saw thrones and the ones that sat on them. And those whom he saw were the souls of the beheaded. They had not worshipped the beast. They had not received his mark, and they lived and reigned with Christ.
First: They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. It does not mention the second coming of Christ, a bodily resurrection, a reign on the earth, or a literal throne in Jerusalem or elsewhere. It does not mention us, and it does not mention Christ on earth. Rev 20:1-15 mentions none of those things, and a curse was pronounced on the one who adds to the words of the book.
Second: They lived and reigned with Christ. It says they–the souls of the martyrs, those who were beheaded. The beheaded souls lived and reigned with Christ. Only those who were beheaded entered into that thousand years.
If that thousand years is literal, then the beheading is literal, and only those literally beheaded get into the millennium. If the beheading is figurative, the thousand years is figurative, and that cuts us out; for there could be no literal millennium. If it is a literal thousand years, it is a literal beheading. If it is a figurative beheading, it is a figurative thousand years, and either way there is no millennium for us.
Third: They lived and reigned. If the term reigned is limited by a thousand years, the verb lived is also limited by a thousand years. If the reigning ends with the thousand years, the living ends with athousand years, and the millennium will end with everybody in it ceasing to live. That would be quite a hopeless millennium.
4. The rest of the dead. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection-Rev 20:5.
The rest of the dead lived not–since the only ones who are said to have lived were the souls of the slain martyrs, and the rest of the dead lived not, but judgment was given to them–whom did they judge, and how? And if lived means that they were given literal bodies, then when the rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years was finished, it meant that the rest of the dead would be given literal bodies at the end of the thousand years. That consequence forces the resurrection of the wicked too early; before the little season; and before the time for the resurrection and the judgment in the millennial order of things.
So their theory bogs down again.
The rest of the dead here simply referred to the persecutors whose oppressions had been overcome, just as Isa 26:13-14 referred to the wicked lords who had dominion over Israel as being dead and should not live, deceased and should not rise.
The statement until the thousand years were finished did not denote that the figuratively deceased persecutors would be revived afterward. The preposition until denotes end or termination, for which there are numerous exemplifications. In Heb 9:10 the carnal ordinances of the Mosaic order were imposed on them until the time of reformation- but this does not mean that after the present gospel dispensation the ordinances of Judaism will be imposed again.
In 1Sa 15:35, after Sauls disobedience in the expedition against the Amalekites, it is said that Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. This could not mean that Samuel continued to visit Saul after his death. The use of until expressed end or termination.
In Luk 16:16, Jesus said, the law and the prophets were until John- -that is, until Johns order ended, but the Lord did not imply that the law and the prophets would be re-inaugurated afterward.
In Gal 3:19, the apostle said the law of Moses “was added because of transgression till (until) the seed should come, but the statement assuredly has no implication that the Mosaic law will be reconstituted after the dispensation of Christ.
In Luk 21:24, in foretelling the fall of Jerusalem, the Lord said, And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. On the premises of these passages the Lords statement in Luk 21:24, means that the old Jerusalem was trodden down permanently–the end of the apostate harlot Jerusalem.
In the light of these examples it is patent that the statement of Rev 20:5, the rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years were finished, did not imply that the figuratively dead persecutors would come to life afterward. The symbolic statement declared the end of the imperial persecutors of the church, just as Isa 26:13-14 meant the end of the dominion of the wicked lords over Israel after deliverance from the Babylonian exile. The imagery was parallel, and the language was figurative in both passages.
This is the first resurrection–just as Israels deliverance from the bondage of Babylon was referred to in Eze 37:1-28 as a resurrection out of their graves; and the broken dominion of the lords was a resurrection from oppression, of Isa 26:1-21; so overcoming these persecutions, triumphing over death and martyrdom, in a victorious cause of Christ, was called a resurrection in Rev 20:1-15. The visional procedure of taking the souls of the martyrs out from under the altar in chapter 6, and elevating them to thrones in chapter 20, was symbolized as a resurrection; as in Eze 37:11-14 the return of Israel from Babylonian captivity was a symbolic resurrection. In the symbolic picture of Rev 20:5, the martyrs of the altar in chapter six were raised to the thrones of chapter twenty, and were pictured as living and reigning with Christ. It was the resurrection of the cause for which they died. The fact that they had to be told that it was a resurrection is proof that it was used in an unusual sense of the word; it was a figurative, metaphorical use, not a physical employment of the word.
The first resurrection was therefore spiritual–the resurrection of the cause for they had passed through tribulation and for which the martyrs died.
The passage in Rev 20:1-15 described no period of blessing to be enjoyed at the close of this dispensation. It will not bear the literal construction and the theorists themselves will not accept the conclusions and consequences of it. But as a practical lesson to us, the derived application is this: It is the portion of every true believer in any age who shares the life of the risen Lord through obedience to his commands.
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 incontrast 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 Rev 20:4. It had reference to the same souls and the same reign and simply denoted its continuation,
Commentary on Rev 20:4-6 by Walter Scott
THE REIGN WITH CHRIST
CHRISTS PERSONAL REIGN.
This interesting passage, round which controversy has raged for many centuries, is one which powerfully appeals to every thoughtful reader. It concerns every saint on earth. Who are they who reign with Christ in heavenly glory over this earth? Are they saints or angels? Christs sovereignty as Man (Psa 8:1-9) and King (Psa 2:1-12) is the unquestionable truth of the Scriptures, a royal sovereignty to be displayed for a thousand years. Seers of old beheld it in vision. The bards of Judah sang of it. The rays of the prophetic lamp, as held in the hands of the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi, were directed on to the glories and blessings of the coming millennial kingdom. The earth, so long under the tyranny of Satan and the misrule of man, waits for its promised deliverance.
The moment has arrived for the actual realisation of the scene celebrated in Heaven, The kingdom of the world (or world kingdom) of our Lord, and of His Christ, is come, and He shall reign to the ages of ages (Rev 11:15,R.V.). There it was announced in anticipation; here it isactually come. The verses in Rev 20:4-6 are unique inthis respect, that in them alone is unfolded a summary of those who share with Christ in the blessed reign of righteousness and glory. There are three classes specified.
MILLENNIAL THRONES.
Rev 20:4. – I saw thrones. The two exiled prophets,Daniel (I beheld till the thrones were cast down (Dan 7:9). But the text in the original says exactly the opposite. It reads till the thrones were placed (R.V.), that is, set or established. We may also add that the Hebrew prophet does not conduct his readers into the millennium, but simply to its introduction. He breaks off at that point where one like the Son of Man receives from the Ancient of Days the universal and everlasting kingdom (Dan 7:13-14). The prophet Ezekiel takes us much further. The millennium in some of its most important features is described,such as the settlement of the tribes in parallel bands across the face of enlarged Palestine, the temple and its services, the Jewish prince, Christs vicegerent, on the throne, the healing of the Dead Sea, etc. (Eze 40:1-49; Eze 41:1-26; Eze 42:1-20; Eze 43:1-27; Eze 44:1-31; Eze 45:1-25; Eze 46:1-24; Eze 47:1-23; Eze 48:1-35).) and John, beheld in vision the same thrones. The former saw them unoccupied. The heavenly sitters thereon constitute a revelation peculiar to the New Testament, and hence John supplements the vision of Daniel by adding, they sat upon them. Both scenes refer to the commencement of the millennial reign. Nor must the thrones in our text be confounded with the twenty-four thrones of Rev 4:4. Those seen in vision by Daniel (Dan 7:9) and by John (Rev 20:4)relate to the millennial government of the earth. Those beheld in the earlier vision (Rev 4:1-11) grouped around the throne of the Eternal are set in Heaven. The twelve thrones on which the apostles are to sit in sessional judgment upon Israel (Mat 19:28) are no doubt included in the larger and more comprehensive governing idea conveyed by the Seer (Rev 20:4).
THE FIRST CLASS MENTIONED
WHO REIGN WITH CHRIST.
Rev 20:4. – They sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. To whom do the pronouns they and them refer? for the company mentioned is not otherwise described. Some have suggested nations as being the immediate antecedent (Rev 20:3), others angels. Again, they sat upon them has been supposed to signify the twelve thrones of the apostles (Mat 19:28), and by others to mean thetwenty-four heavenly thrones (Rev 4:4). Another class of expositors limit the application to martyrs only, supposing the pronouns to be a summary of the two classes of martyrs referred to in the text. But they are evidently a separate and independent company from the martyrs first seen in the separate state; whereas our company are witnessed enthroned – judgment was given to them. It is never predicated of spirits that they are crowned and reign. To refer the sitters on the thrones to nations seems a far-fetched idea. Nor can the idea of enthroned angels be entertained, even if supported by the weight of such names as Ewald, P. W. Grant, and others. The reign of angels is nowhere taught in the Scriptures, but rather the contrary, For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak (Heb 2:5). The government of the earth is to be administered by Christ and His heavenly saints (see 1Co 6:2-3). We must, too, look for a larger and broader view of the kingly reign in our text, and not narrow it down to apostles or any limited company.
The they evidently refers to a well-known class. We have already seen, more than once, the redeemed in Heaven represented by the twenty-four elders taking part in the scenes unfolded from chapters 4 to 19. They are the sum of Old Testament and New Testament believers raised or changed at the Coming into the air (1Th 4:15-17). This is a much larger body of saints than themartyrs, and hence you have nowhere to locate them in the reign, save as included in the two plural pronouns they and them. It would be strange indeed to have the reign of martyrs to the exclusion of those very saints in Heaven made kings and priests unto God. The Old and New Testament saints in Heaven during the time of the apocalyptic judgments are the sitters on the throne beheld by the Seer.
Rev 20:4. – Judgment was given to them. That is, royal authority to rule is conferred on these saints. It is the fulfilment of that grand and unqualified statement, Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? (1Co 6:2).
THE SECOND CLASS WHO REIGN WITH CHRIST.
Rev 20:4 – And (I saw) the souls (We are quite aware that the term soul often stands for or represents a person, as in Act 27:37; Gen 12:5, etc., but is it so in the case before us? Twice the Seer beheld the souls of those slain or beheaded, i.e., the souls of persons. They are first beheld under the altar (Rev 6:9). then on the eve of reunion with their bodies. But in both he sees them out of the body in the separate state. In our chapter John first beholds the souls of the martyrs, then he sees them as raised in life and reigning, no longer in the separate state. The soul never dies, it cannot be killed. It has a life which neither sword nor axe can reach (Mat 10:28).) of them that had been beheaded on account of the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God (R.V.). What John sees in vision is not persons but souls, the souls of martyrs in the separate state. These form an earlier class of martyrs than those who suffer under the Beast, and are evidently identical with those slain under the fifth Seal (Rev 6:9-11). This persecution takes effect soon after the removal of the saints to the Fathers house (Joh 14:1-3). The grounds of this outburst of rage and cruelty are twofold: first, on account of the testimony of Jesus, which is of a prophetic character. The testimony of Jesus in the Gospels is very different from that in the Apocalypse; there it is the unfolding of grace, here it is the disclosure of judgment; there the Father in love, here God setting up the kingdom. This latter is a testimony which the apostate peoples of the earth cannot endure, hence those who receive it must suffer even to death. The second ground of this persecution is on account of the Word of God. Faithful adherence to it characterizes the remnant in these times. Men will then take sides for or against the rights of God. No trimming of sails or temporizing policy will be allowed. A rigid cleaving to the Word will show up the scene in its true light and character – a path so narrow and a sphere so circumscribed that death alone is the end. We gather that no saint in the coming crisis dies a natural death. He either lives through the period or is martyred.
THE THIRD CLASS WHO REIGN WITH CHRIST.
Rev 20:4. – And (I saw) those who had not worshipped the Beast, nor his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and hand. If the descriptive words the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God connect the previous company with those noted in Rev 6:9-11, so here the reference to the Beast, his image, and mark on forehead or hand, unmistakably directs us to Rev 13:15-17. How good and wise is our God to furnish us with those helps by the way. There are difficulties in every part of the divine volume, but the key to unlock the door is always at hand. The Apocalypse is no exception to the rule. Was there a key sent with the book, and has this been lost? Was it thrown into the Sea of Patmos or into the Meander? asks a distinguished theologian.
Death in one of its many forms is the only alternative to active and public support of the Beast. The Beast tramples down all rights and ruthlessly destroys all who stand in his way. The inalienable right and responsibility of the creature as such to worship God the Creator is impiously denied. It is the attempt of man on earth to take the place of God. The Antichrist, or Man of Sin, does so in the temple and amongst the Jews (2Th 2:4). The effort under the first of the Gentile monarchies (Dan 3:1-30), as also under the last (Rev 13:1-18), to banish God from the heart and conscience of man can have but one issue: death and ultimate triumph on the one hand, judgment and everlasting ruin on the other. For Nebuchadnezzar, however, there was repentance granted and mercy shown. To the Beast and his followers there will be neither.
The mystic mark on the forehead, whatever that may be, publicly proclaims the person as an adherent of the Beast; on the hand intimates active support, a willing worker in the interests of the Beast.
THE LIFE AND REIGN OF THE MARTYRS.
Rev 20:4 – And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The martyred saints are raised after the marriage and supper (Rev 19:7-9), and just on the eve of the assumption of the kingdom, hence they are neither part of the bride nor amongst the guests at the bridal supper. The two martyred companies are specifically referred to. John has just seen their souls in the separate state, now he sees them raised – they lived, which, of course, implies their resurrection. Death had overtaken their bodies. Hence to men they were dead, but to God they were alive, for John saw their souls. Physical death is never applied to the soul, nor is the term resurrection. The terms death and resurrection are used of the body only. We do not here refer to any figurative use of them, but to the words as literally understood. (Compare with Mat 10:28,which shows that the soul has life of itself which man cannot reach; also Mat 22:32; Luk 20:38, even after physical death, all live unto Him.) The duration of the reign of these martyrs, for they have not lost butgained by laying down their lives, is now stated for the first time to be a thousand years.
These two associated facts are clearly emphasized: the confinement of Satan and the reign of Christ for the lengthened period of one thousand years. Hallelujah! what an hour of triumph, what an answer to the life laid down under the axe of the executioner, in the dungeons of the inquisition, or under the fiend-like cruelty of a Nero!
THE REST OF THE DEAD.
Rev 20:5. – The rest of the dead did not live till the thousand years had been completed. That a literal resurrection and a literal reigning are meant seems unquestionable. Why depart from the simple and obvious meaning of the words, and suppose a resurrection and a reign of principles? It is persons and not principles which are before us in the text. It is surprising that such a far-fetched and unnatural theory should find support in certain quarters generally considered sober and orthodox.
The doctrine of a general resurrection, of good and bad alike, of just and unjust, is disproved in our text. It must be frankly conceded that the Lords words in Joh 5:28-29 seem to teach a general resurrection: Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in 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 or judgment. The hour referred to embraces a thousand years, at the commencement of which the righteous are raised, and at its close the wicked. We are not giving an arbitrary force to the term hour, as in the very chapter quoted from, the hour of spiritual quickening, that is, of the soul, has already lasted nigh two thousand years (v. 25).
Between the resurrection of those that have done good and those that have done evil a thousand years transpire. The rest of the dead are the wicked raised to judgment (Rev 20:13). Not one saint of God will be found in this last closing scene of resurrection and consequent judgment, which is final and eternal. There is a resurrection of the just, effected at different times, commencing with Christ the first-fruit (1Co 15:23), afterward they that are Christs at His coming into the air (At the death of Christ the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the Holy City, and appeared unto many (Mat 27:52-53). We have no reason to suppose that those saints died again and were buried. It is appointed unto men to die once (Heb 9:27). We question if the Jerusalem martyrs (Rev 11:11-12) are raised simultaneously with the general body of martyrs. In our judgment the time, occasion, and circumstances are different. The Jewish witnesses perhaps take precedence.) when the living are changed and the dead in Christ of all ages raised (1Th 4:16).Then on the eve of the introduction of the millennial kingdom we have the resurrection of the apocalyptic martyrs (Rev 20:4-6). Thus from the resurrection of Christ till those of Old and New Testament times we have a period of nigh two thousand years; again, between the raising of those latter and that of the martyrs several years, at least seven, transpire. But with the wicked dead it is far different. From Cain onwards all remain in their graves till after the millennial reign, when they are raised – the last act in time – and then judged in eternity (Rev 20:12-13). All such are raised at one and the same time, and find themselves after judgment in the lake of fire with the devil, the Beast, and his Jewish associate in crime, the False Prophet. Then the curtain closes only to be drawn aside once more (Rev 21:8) for a passing glance.
INTERPRETATION OF THE VISION.
Rev 20:6. – This is the first resurrection. (It may be noted here that, according to the true reading, the living and reigning is certainly resurrection. The rest of the dead lived not until, etc.; so that it is clearly used here for resurrection, as the following words confirm: This is the first resurrection. – Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, vol. 5, p. 636 footnote, Morrish ed.) Blessed and holy he who has part in the first resurrection: over these the second death has no power; but they shall be priests of God, and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. The vision itself occupies Rev 20:4 (the longest verse in the apocalypse) and the first part of Rev 20:5. Then the interpretation follows, commencing with the words, This is the first resurrection, and continues down to the close of Rev 20:6. The interpretation we have transcribed in full. The change which will pass over the living saints at the Coming is equivalent to the raising of the dead (1Co 15:51-54). Then every trace of mortality and corruption shall disappear, and all be glorified. The dead are raised in glory (v. 43). The bodies of saints, whether alive or in the grave at the Coming, are changed into the likeness of His body of glory (Php 3:21). The first resurrection is here regarded as completed. It is a term of special blessedness and import. To have part in it was the eager desire of the apostle (Php 3:11). The resurrection of the dead is equally taught in both Testaments, but resurrection from the dead is New Testament revelation alone, and is first taught in Mar 9:9; then in Luk 20:35 its application to believers is assured. The term second resurrection is never used of the wicked.
Every one who has part in the first resurrection is pronounced blessed and holy. It is a matter of individual blessedness. The first term is descriptive of his happy condition: the second of his character. Happiness and holiness are inseparably associated, and must never be separated. Over these the second death has no power. The expressions, first resurrection and second death are contrasted terms, because all who have no part in the one shall certainly share in the other. The second death is the lake of fire (Rev 20:14). Into it the raised wicked dead are cast. But this awful death, dying yet never dead physically, has no title, no authority over those embraced in the first resurrection, for these die no more. Their bodies are immortal. They can no more die than can angels (Luk 20:36). The second death has no claim over the sons of the resurrection.
The positive blessedness of the risen and glorified saints is next declared, not simply their immunity from the eternal consequences of sin – the second death – but they shall be priests of God and of Christ. Both the holy (1Pe 2:5) and royal character of priesthood (v. 9) shall then be in fullest exercise, unceasingly and unhinderedly. We shall have continual access into Gods presence as His priests, and in association with Christ exhibit in its blessed fullness the royal virtues of Him Whom our souls delight to honor.
THE REIGN OF A THOUSAND YEARS.
Rev 20:6 – And shall reign with Him a thousand years. (We have the authority of the late Dean Alford for the statement that for the first three hundred years the whole Church understood the thousand years reign in its plain and literal sense. He also maintained, as we do in our exposition, that Rev 20:4 reveals three classes of saints.) The greatness of the statement and the grandeur of the subject leave the soul amazed. Once poor wretched sinners, then raised to such a height, only subordinate to Him Who redeemed us by His blood, and exalted us by His grace to such glory! This reign in regal power and splendor, this assumption of kingly dignity as Christs fellow-heirs, continues for a thousand years, but the eternal state which succeeds shall disclose fresh glories and added dignities, although the mediatorial kingdom as such outlasts the longest span of life yet recorded. Methuselah lived 969 years, and he died (Gen 5:27). Saints in the heavens and saints on earth shall live a thousand years, and shall not die.
The reign of Christ and the confinement of Satan are associated facts. The tempter of men must be removed. The glory must not be dimmed nor the blessing marred by the further machinations of Satan. The reign of a thousand years is the grandest event in the history of the race. There are no details given, but simply a statement of the fact. The earthly blessings secured to Israel and the world under the sway of Christ are, in the main, the subjects of the prophets, whilst the heavenly character of the reign is unfolded from Rev 21:9 to Rev 22:5.The millennial reign is better described by the scriptural term THE KINGDOM. It consists, however, of two departments, respectively spoken of as the kingdom of the Son and the kingdom of the Father (Mat 13:41-43).The former relates to the earth, the latter to the heavens. Dan 7:27 unites the two. Most High is in the plural, and signifies the heavenly places, as in Eph 1:3; Eph 1:20. The people (Israel) of the saints. The people and saints are distinguished. Israel on earth is the former, the changed and risen saints in the heavenlies are the latter. The people are said to belong to the saints; for, after all, the kingdom in its widest extent forms the joint dominion of Christ and His heavenly people, although Israel shall exercise sovereign rule and authority amongst the nations – their head, and not as now the tail.
Commentary on Rev 20:4-6 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 20:4. And I saw thrones . . . given unto them. This is the same vision that is described at chapter 17:12 and the reader should see the comments at that passage. The pronoun they means the kings who had occupied their thrones in form only, but who really had not been free to use their own judgment in their ruling. Sat upon them denotes that they were occupying their thrones in fact and not merely in name. Judgment was given unto them signifies they were allowed to render their own judgment in matters pertaining to their kingdoms. Saw the souls . . . a thousand years. Before reading further at this place, let the reader reexamine very carefully the first paragraph of the note referred to previously. That is especially necessary to get the significance of the thousand years of reign with Christ. The souls John saw were of those who were beheaded by Papal Rome because they refused to submit to her false demands. Their death recalls a like experience recorded in Rev 6:9 of those who had been slain by Pagan Rome. These whom John saw in our present verse resisted the beast (Babylon), his image (those who imitated the beast) and the mark (those who brought upon themselves the guilt of doing the things originally incited by Nero.)
Rev 20:5. Rest of the dead is symbolical or figurative and refers to people who did not “have enough life” or interest to be active in defense of the truth. Until the thousand years were finished. When that bright period of the Reformation (here called the thousand years) was over and the former defenders of truth began to lag, then the enemies of the Bible “came to life” and became active in opposition to the word of God, acting under the influence of Satan who was now loosed in that the Bible was not binding him as it did. Such a movement stimulated the former “dead” ones to action and then was begun the conflict between the friends of truth and its enemies, a conflict that has continued to our day. This is the first resurrection. The pronoun does not refer directly to what has been said but to what is yet to be said, and it refers to the subject as a whole. Joh 11:25-26 should be considered in connection with the first resurrection, also read the note to which reference was made.
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 hat 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 Rev 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 (Rev 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.
Commnetary on Rev 20:4-6 by Burton Coffman
Rev 20:4
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them … This is another proleptic vision of the blessed state of the dead in Christ, introduced for the encouragement and support of suffering and persecuted Christians. It was by this device that this prophecy “strengthened the faith of those who were suffering persecutions by giving them a vision of the final triumph of Christ and of the blessedness of his followers.”[21] Some millennial theories place these thrones upon earth, but there is no more reason to do this than to suppose that the “twelve thrones” occupied by the apostles during “the times of the regeneration” (Mat 19:28) are actually upon earth. In fact, those thrones are exactly like these.
And judgment was given unto them … It is wrong to think that this means only the martyrs received judgment and sat upon thrones. “The thrones are occupied by the living, reigning saints, who have either suffered martyrdom or refused to worship the beast.”[22] It is also easy to miss the meaning of “the judgment” that was given unto them. It means that God’s judgment was given in their favor, and not that the prerogative of judging other people was to be exercised by them. The New Testament makes it absolutely clear that that prerogative belongs to the Son of God alone (Joh 5:27). Another view is advocated by some who appeal to 1Co 6:2-3 for support; but that passage also is devoid of any thought that judgment will ever be the prerogative of Christians. Judgment belongs to the Son of God alone. For further discussion of Christians “judging,” see in my Commentary on 1,2Corinthians, pp. 82-85.
And I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded … Not these alone, but including these, is the thought. Even those who were beheaded are shown by this vision to have been favorably judged by the Lord and granted the right of glorification at the last day. “This assurance was of importance for the Christians of John’s day … even if they were called to yield up their lives, their sacrifice would issue in God’s vindication of them.”[23]
And such … “In the Greek, this is literally and those who, a second class of persons who had not necessarily been beheaded.”[24] This forbids limiting this passage to the martyrs.
Worshipped the beast … Glorious indeed as were the martyrs, God also loves those who are faithful throughout life, regardless of the time or manner of their death. One may only deplore the over-emphasis upon “the martyrs” by so many commentators, as if the blessed promise of a passage like this pertained only to martyrs.
And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years … Again, this is exactly the same promise Christ made to the Twelve (Mat 19:28), where he defined the period as “the times of the regeneration,” a reference to the whole Christian age; and it is absolutely imperative so to understand it here. Neither did any of the apostles, nor any of those in view here, actually live a thousand years; but what is taught is that the reign of Christians with Christ will be a perpetual phenomenon throughout the whole Christian age (the thousand years).
And the souls of them that had been beheaded … “John sees souls, not bodies.”[25] The reigning here is not that of people who have been bodily resurrected from the dead. The thrones also are not upon the earth, but in heaven where this vision is centered.
And how do they reign with Christ? They do this in the spiritual sense of their victory over sin and temptation, doubt, fear, suffering, and persecution.
And they lived … Ladd read this as meaning “They came to life again”;[26] but that is neither what this says nor what it means. It means that the righteous dead do not really die, in the sense of perish; they pass through death but continue to be “with the Lord.” “Although they die, yet their souls will live and reign with Christ.”[27] “The selection of the term souls in this passage could not have been accidental, and it certainly indicates that the ‘resurrection’ in this place is not that of bodies.”[28]
And they lived … is described in Rev 20:5 as “the first resurrection.” “This can only be referred to that first awakening from sin to the glorious life of the gospel.”[29] For more on the first resurrection, see under next verse.
[21] James William Russell, Compact Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1964), p. 651.
[22] Michael Wilcock, op. cit., p. 192.
[23] G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Greenwood, South Carolina: The Attic Press, 1974), p. 293.
[24] Ralph Earle, Beacon Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 610.
[25] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 230.
[26] George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 265.
[27] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1089.
[28] John T. Hinds, op. cit., p. 284.
[29] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 472.
Rev 20:5
The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection.
The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished … This is the passage upon which some fasten their interpretation of Rev 20:4 as a literal resurrection; but there is ample Scriptural authority for words having both a figurative and a literal meaning in the same passage. Christ himself told us exactly what the first resurrection is:
The hour cometh, 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 cometh, in which all that are in their tombs 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 judgment (Joh 5:25-29).
An analogy of the above passage inevitably leads to the conclusion that the conversion of sinners by the gospel is the first resurrection. Significantly, this was recorded by John; and it is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to believe that he here advanced some other conception of what the first resurrection is. Also, both the spiritual resurrection in conversion, and the literal resurrection at the last day are presented here, side by side, in the teaching of Jesus. Thus, there is no impediment to seeing the “first resurrection” here as spiritual and the second as literal. “There are few that would agree that the resurrection of the witnesses” (Rev 11:11) was literal – the passages are parallel.”[30] “There is no reason for restricting resurrection to a literal meaning.”[31]
Therefore, we confidently affirm that the “first resurrection” here is a spiritual resurrection, having reference to the conversion of sinners through the preaching of the gospel. Some dispute this, because, they say, “the second death” has no power over them who had the first resurrection; but this is no better proof of the impossibility of apostasy than Joh 8:51-52. Impossibility of apostasy is not in either passage.
The rest of the dead … These are the rest of the “dead” humanity “in sin,” the remainder of the total humanity dead in trespasses and sins. That portion of the dead race (in sin) who heard and obeyed the truth “live” (spiritually) in the first resurrection; but the rest of the “dead humanity” enjoyed no such resurrection; for them, following their physical death, “they lived not again until the judgment day,” explained here as “till the thousand years were finished.”
Many concur in this interpretation:
There is no adequate reason to assume that this first resurrection is physical.[32] The first resurrection verily is first.[33] These were sinners who will not experience a resurrection of any kind until the end of time.[34] We tend to forget that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.[35] The New Testament places the bodily resurrection of both saint and sinner at the same time (Joh 5:28-29); and until that passage is proved false, that point is settled.[36] The rest of the dead means all those who died in unbelief.[37]
The rest of the dead … They did not live, that is, they did not inherit eternal life through their obedience of the gospel. Thus the “souls” of verse 4 are the martyrs and others who like the rest of the dead “left their bodies on earth when they died.”[38] John tells us here that the wicked dead “did not live” until the thousand years were finished, at which time, all people, good and bad alike, will physically rise from the dead to face the final judgment.
[30] J. W. Roberts, The Revelation of John (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company, 1974), p. 174.
[31] W. Boyd Carpenter, Ellicott’s Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 624.
[32] Ibid.
[33] Frank L. Cox, Revelation in 26 Lessons (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1956), p. 116.
[34] Ibid.
[35] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 624.
[36] John T. Hinds, op. cit., p. 287.
[37] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 584.
[38] Ibid.
Rev 20:6
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection … This beatitude pertains to all who are “in Christ.” Such persons already enjoy eternal life in the sense of possessing the promise of it, having the earnest of it, and participating in some of the joys of it.
They shall be priests of God and of Christ … Preeminently, throughout the whole New Testament, this status of Christians is established as their status at the present time, and in this dispensation, now! Therefore, the priesthood and the reigning of these saints is exactly the same as that of the Christians of all ages, showing that no special period of any kind whatever is meant by this “thousand years” in this passage. See my comment on 1Pe 2:5, and also in my Commentary on James, pp. 191-199. “All the evidence we have is against the theory of the first resurrection being understood otherwise than as a spiritual resurrection that takes place when any sinner is converted to Christ.”[39]
And shall reign with him a thousand years … “This living and reigning must not be limited to the time after the death of those mentioned.”[40] All Christians are now living and reigning with Christ. Plummer paraphrased the thought here thus:
You Christians sit upon thrones and reign with Christ; yea, even those who suffered shameful death share that perfect safety and exaltation, though, in the eyes of the world, they were afflicted and degraded.[41]
A thousand years … This is the whole period of the Christian dispensation, the same as the time and times and half a time, the same as the forty-two months, the same as the one thousand two hundred and threescore days. All these time-periods are exactly the same and refer to the entire period between the two Advents of Christ.
[39] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 254.
[40] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 472.
[41] Ibid.
Commentary on Rev 20:4-6 by Manly Luscombe
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Here we have a description of those who live and reign with Christ. NOTE: Notice what is NOT in this verse. This is not the reign of Christ. It is the co-reign of Christians. The thousand years is not the length of Christs reign. It is the length of the time we reign with Christ. This is not a scene of eternity with resurrected bodies. John saw souls. These were souls of the martyred saints. (See the fifth seal – Rev 6:9-11) These souls had died because of their faith. They had remained faithful, not receiving the mark of the beast. They had not worshipped his image. These faithful Christians, whose faith had stood the ultimate test, death, were living and reigning with Christ. This reign continued through the Christian Age.
5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. There are two views here. 1) The rest of the dead are all the non-Christians. 2) The rest of the dead are the faithful Christians who were not killed, but died natural deaths. I believe the first view is correct. The rest of the dead are those who are not Christians. The issue is not how a Christian dies – natural vs. persecution. The fact is that the death of faithful believer is distinguished from the death of an unbeliever. Here is the message of this verse. There is a group who, after death, lives and reigns with Christ. This group is faithful Christians. Implied in this statement is: There is a group who does not live and reign with Christ. This group of unbelievers will not live and reign with Christ. They will not be resurrected until the thousand years (Christian Age) is finished. What is the first resurrection? The New Testament is of great help here. Paul explains that baptism is a death, burial and resurrection. (Col 2:12-13; Rom 6:3-6) When we confessed our faith in Christ, and repented (died to sin), we were buried in a watery grave and raised to a new life in Christ. Have you participated in that first resurrection called baptism? Woodruff comments, Therefore, the first resurrection is the resurrection of the soul from the grave of sin. It is a spiritual resurrection. (Col 1:18) (1, 370)
6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. If you have participated in the first resurrection (baptism into Christ) you are blessed. If you have already shared in the first resurrection, the second death poses no real credible threat. The second death will not harm the faithful baptized believer in Christ. We will be priests of God. (See comments on Rev 1:6). We will reign with Christ during the Christian Age.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Chapter 48
Living and reigning with Christ
‘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 20:4-6
What happens to a believer when he dies? Where does he go? What is his condition? What does he do? How many times we have asked ourselves these questions. One of our loved ones is taken from us, a man or a woman who loves Christ; or a child, who is loved, chosen, and redeemed by Christ, is taken out of this world. We go to the funeral home, pay our last respects, hold them in precious, honorable memory, and weep for the aching void in our hearts. Finally, we take them to the cemetery, bury their bodies in the earth, and say good-bye. We have laid the precious body of a dear friend, a loving companion, an aged parent, or a beloved child in the ground. Then, we go home. All the friends are gone. The rest of the family has gone home. And we sit alone. In the middle of the night, in the still hours of the early morning, as we wipe away the tears, these questions arise in our hearts. Where has my beloved one gone? What is his condition now? What is she doing? Do they yet see us? Do they still hear us? Like Martha, we know that they shall rise in the resurrection at the last day (Joh 11:24). And we comfort ourselves with the hope of the resurrection. But what about the time between the death and the resurrection of the body?
Our Lord has not left us in the dark. He has supplied us with answers to these questions in Rev 20:4-6. We have seen that ‘the thousand years’ in Revelation 20 refers to the whole gospel age in which we live. They represent not a literal number of years, but the whole span of time between Christs first advent and his second advent. These thousand years have a glorious meaning for Gods people on the earth. During this time satan is bound, the gospel is preached, Gods elect are gathered from the four corners of the earth. The body of Christ, the church, is being completed. The kingdom of God is going on from victory to victory. But the glories of heaven far transcend those of Gods saints upon the earth during this period. Rev 20:1-3 describes the advance of the church in the world during the gospel age. But Rev 20:4-6 describe the condition of the victorious saints in heaven today.
In order to grasp the meaning of these verses (Rev 20:4-6), we must go back in our minds to the first century, and try to see these things as John and those early believers saw them. Roman persecutions are raging against the young church. Martyrs, one after the other, are beheaded. Paul and James have already been slain. Why? Simply because they refused to say, ‘Caesar is Lord,’ and refused to drop incense upon the altar of a pagan priest. They were not slain for worshipping Christ, but for refusing to participate in or give credibility to any worship except the worship of Christ. Because of their allegiance to Christ alone, and the gospel of Gods free and sovereign grace in him, multitudes of believers were burned at the stake and thrown to wild beasts in the Roman amphitheaters. But our Lord was not unmindful of his persecuted saints. He sustained them for their trials and gave them grace and strength to remain faithful to the end. It was for the comfort and strength of these afflicted saints that our Lord gave us this vision of ‘the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands.’ In this vision our Lord describes the slain martyrs, together with all the departed saints who had faithfully confessed Christ upon the earth, as kings reigning with Christ in heaven (Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10). It is as though the Lord is saying, ‘In the world you shall have tribulation; but, in that better land above, all the saints live and reign with Christ.’ What comfort! Our departed friends, loved ones, and companions in the grace of God are living and reigning with Christ right now. ‘Truly, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which is revealed to the souls of believers reigning with their exalted Lord in heaven!’ (William Hendriksen).
Who did John see
Those who die without Christ, perish without Christ, and enter the eternal torments of the damned in hell. If you do not know, trust, love, and worship the Lord Jesus Christ in this world, when you die you will be in hell. If you die without Christ, you will forever suffer the just wrath of God. If you refuse to trust Christ, God will refuse to be merciful to you. Not all people go to heaven when they die. But there are some in this world who do enter into eternal life when their bodies die. Who are they?
They are men and women who have given their lives for Christ
Our text speaks specifically of these martyrs who were beheaded for Christ. But they represent all who die in faith. In fact the very word for ‘witness’ (Act 1:8), which all believers are, is ‘martyr.’ A martyr is one who sacrifices his life for a noble cause. He lays down his life for the cause that is more precious to him than life itself. That is exactly what every believer is, one who lays down his life for Christ and gives his life to Christ. Faith in Christ is nothing less than the surrender of ones life to the Lord Jesus Christ (Mat 10:39; Mat 16:25; Mar 8:34; Luk 9:23-26; Luk 17:32-33; Joh 12:25-26). These people had given their lives to Christ. And they had given their lives for Christ.
They were men and women who had been beheaded
What was there about these people which so enraged their enemies and brought such severe persecution upon them? Were they rebels, traitors, murderers? What had they done? How were their lives characterized? They boldly confessed Christ and the gospel of his grace in the face of his enemies-‘For the witness of Jesus.’ They so confessed Christ as to make all men see that any religion opposed to Christ and the gospel doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone is false religion, damning to the souls of all who believe it (See Act 4:8-12.). These saints were martyred because they rejected and refused to participate in, support, or approve of any doctrine or worship which is contrary to the Word of God. They believed the doctrine of the Word, worshipped the Christ of the Word, practiced the ordinances of the Word, and lived by the rule of the Word. They might have saved their lives but for one thing – These servants of Christ refused to give any credibility to any false religion in any form. They would not worship the beast! Cost what it may, they could not, in good conscience, worship any false god, under any image, by any name, or embrace as their brethren those who did. These are the people John saw. They are martyrs, men and women who had given their lives to Christ. And many of them were required to give their lives for Christ.
Where were these saints seen
They were no longer in the earth. Their bodies had been buried, or burned, or eaten by wild beasts. Yet, John saw them alive! Where? They are all sitting upon thrones. What does that mean? For one thing, it means that they are in heaven! Throughout the Book of Revelation, the throne of Christ and his people is in heaven (Rev 1:4; Rev 3:21; Rev 4:2-6; Rev 4:9-10; Rev 5:6-7; Rev 5:11; Rev 5:13; Rev 6:16; Rev 7:9-11; Rev 7:15; Rev 7:17; Rev 8:3; Rev 12:5; Rev 14:3; Rev 14:5; Rev 16:17; Rev 19:4-5; Rev 20:4; Rev 20:11; Rev 21:5; Rev 22:1; Rev 22:3). ‘Comfort one another with these words.’ Those who sleep in Jesus are in heaven today, sitting with him upon his throne! For another thing, it means that they are actively engaged with Christ in the rule of the world. ‘They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.’ I do not know what all that means. But I do know this: The saints of God in heaven are already victorious, out of the reach of harm. And I know that they are still very interested in Gods saints upon the earth. Without us, they are not complete (Heb 11:40; Heb 12:1). And it means that they are perfectly happy, content, and satisfied. The saints in heaven have attained that which they had long desired and sought. They are with the Lord Jesus Christ (Php 3:8-14). For the believer, death is a great honor, a great privilege, and a great reward, not a thing to be dreaded and feared, but anxiously anticipated. It will be a welcome relief to lay aside this cumbersome body of flesh!
What are the Saints of God Doing in Heaven
Many have the idea that Gods saints are floating around on clouds, strumming harps, and singing, with nothing to do. According to this vision they are very busily engaged in the most important affairs of the universe. They are judging the world with Christ. The ransomed souls in heaven not only praise Christ for his righteous judgments, they actually participate in them. These saints in glory are constantly pictured as taking part in all that Christ does. They sit with him in His Throne (Rev 3:21). They stand with him on Mount Zion (Rev 14:1). They worship at his throne (Rev 5:8-10). They sing before his throne (Rev 14:3; Rev 15:3). They see his face (Rev 22:4).
They are living with Christ
‘They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years’ (See Rev 7:9-17.). The saints in heaven respond in a perfect manner to their perfect environment. That is living!
They are sharing the royal glory of Christ
Not only do they behold his glory, they share his glory as the divine Mediator, our covenant Head (Joh 17:22-24)! All their prayers are answered. All their desires are constantly fulfilled. All their troubles are over (sin, unbelief, temptation).
How are the saints in Heaven described
Sometimes the best way to see something is by contrast. So in this vision the bliss and glory of the saints in heaven is contrasted with the condition of the lost. ‘But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.’ Does that mean that those who die in unbelief simply cease to exist when they die; or that their souls sleep with their bodies in the earth? Certainly not! (Remember the rich man in Luke 16). John simply means for us to understand that those who die without Christ cease to live. They exist in hell. But they do not live. Their existence is eternal death. In hell they await their final judgment, when both body and soul shall forever suffer the infinite wrath of God! But the saints in heaven live! After the resurrection of the body their bliss shall be increased. But even now, they live. They have eternal life!’This is the first resurrection!’ The first resurrection is a spiritual resurrection. It is the resurrection of sinners from spiritual death to spiritual life in Christ (Joh 5:25). This first resurrection begins in the new birth. It is completed in the translation of the soul from this body of sin and this sin cursed earth to Gods holy heaven. It will be followed by the resurrection of the body to immortal glory at Christs second coming. The Word of God teaches us three things about the resurrection of Gods elect: 1. We have been raised representatively in Christ (Eph 2:5). 2. We have been raised spiritually by the power of God the Holy Spirit (Joh 5:25; Eph 2:1-3). 3. We shall be raised bodily when our Lord comes again (1Th 4:17).
In this vision we also see the blessedness of all who are born of God (Rev 20:6)
Here John gives us a word of comfort and assurance regarding ourselves, even while we live in this world. If we are born of God, if we have part in the first resurrection…. We are blessed (Eph 1:3). We are holy (saints), made holy by the righteousness of Christ imputed to us in justification and imparted to us in regeneration…Over us the second death, the everlasting wrath of God, has no power (Rom 8:1; Rom 8:33-34). Soon, we shall be priests with God, serving him in the most holy place. We too shall reign with Christ for a thousand years. That is to say, we too shall enter into heavens glory and bliss when we leave this world. What a blessed hope this is! (Read 2Co 4:17 to 2Co 5:9).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
thrones: Dan 7:9, Dan 7:18, Dan 7:22, Dan 7:27, Mat 19:28, Luk 22:30, 1Co 6:2, 1Co 6:3
the souls: Rev 6:9, Mal 4:5, Mat 17:10-13, Mar 9:11, Luk 1:17, Luk 9:7-9
beheaded: Mat 24:10, Mar 6:16, Mar 6:27, Luk 9:9
the witness: Rev 1:9, Rev 11:3, Rev 11:7, Rev 12:11
and which: Rev 13:12-17, Rev 14:11, Rev 15:2, Rev 17:8
and they: Rev 5:9, Rev 11:11, Rev 11:15, Dan 2:44, Dan 7:18, Dan 7:27, Rom 8:17, Rom 11:15, 2Ti 2:12
Reciprocal: Lev 19:28 – print Deu 4:4 – General Deu 11:16 – your heart Psa 49:14 – upright Isa 2:2 – the mountain Isa 65:16 – because Eze 9:4 – set a mark Eze 37:10 – the breath Dan 7:11 – the voice Dan 12:12 – General Oba 1:21 – to judge Mic 4:1 – the mountain Zec 14:5 – the Lord Mat 6:10 – Thy kingdom Mat 11:14 – this Luk 1:33 – he Luk 11:2 – Thy kingdom Rom 5:17 – shall reign Heb 4:12 – the word Heb 13:7 – word Rev 2:26 – to him will I give Rev 4:4 – were four Rev 7:3 – in their Rev 11:18 – and the time Rev 12:17 – and have Rev 13:14 – they Rev 13:15 – cause Rev 13:16 – a mark Rev 20:6 – and shall
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 20:4. And I saw thrones . . . given unto them. This is the same vision that is described at chapter 17:12 and the reader should see the comments at that passage. The pronoun they means the kings who had occupied their thrones in form only, but who really had not been free to use their own judgment in their ruling. Sat upon them denotes that they were occupying their thrones in fact and not merely in name. Judgment was given unto them signifies they were allowed to render their own judgment in matters pertaining to their kingdoms. Saw the souls . . . a thousand years. Before reading further at this place, let the reader reexamine very carefully the first paragraph of the note referred to previously. That is especially necessary to get the significance of the thousand years of reign with Christ. The souls John saw were of those who were beheaded by Papal Rome because they refused to submit to her false demands. Their death recalls a like experience recorded in chapter 6:9 of those who had been slain by Pagan Rome. These whom John saw in our present verse resisted the beast (Babylon), his image (those who imitated the beast) and the mark (those who brought upon themselves the guilt of doing the things originally incited by Nero.)
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 4.
3. The souls on the thrones. “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the words of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years”–Rev 20:4.
These souls were not bodies and were not embodied. They were souls. And a resurrection was not necessary for souls to live. These souls lived–they did not begin to live. They lived. These souls were under the altar in chapter six; they were on thrones in chapter twenty. In the first scene a cause had suffered in defeat; in the second, a cause has been crowned with victory. They lived and reigned– taking the souls out from under the altar and elevating them to thrones is referred to as a resurrection; the resurrection of a cause. They lived in the cause for which they died. They reigned in the persons of their successors, and like characters of like spirit. As John came in the spirit and power of Elijah; as the spirit of Huss lived after his martyrdom; a cause survives the death of its advocates and they live in the spirit of its torchbearers.
Judgment was given unto them–that is, the avenging for which the souls under the altar had pleaded was now received. In Rev 6:10 John heard the martyrs crying for judgment: “How long, 0 Lord, holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Meaning their persecutors. In Rev 20:4 John saw them receiving the judgment for which they had called.
Lived and reigned–if “reigned” is limited by a literal thousand years, “lived” is also thus limited. So if the reigning ends with the thousand years, the living ends with a thousand years, which ending would upset all the glory of a millennium.
Thrones–not literal and earthly, but the exalted state of those who had overcome their persecutions.
Beheaded–John saw the “souls” of the beheaded; they did not live in an earthly state. If literal, only those who are literally beheaded could enter the millennium. If figurative, there is no millennium, which is the fact of the matter.
With Christ–the text says nothing of the reign of Christ, but specifies a reign of the martyred saints with Christ. Reigning with Christ is a state. In 1Co 4:8, Paul rebuked the Corinthians because they “reigned as kings” in wealth and worldliness; and he wished that they reigned in righteousness with the apostles. In Rom 5:17, Paul referred to the time under the law when death reigned, but under grace the righteous reign in life by Jesus Christ. So these martyred saints reigned with Christ in a state of complete victory over death and in felicity of the beatitude blessed of verse six.
Thousand years–the vision of victory, complete victory. It stood for infinity; it was not a cycle of time nor a period of time, and had no reference to time. God remembers his covenant to a thousand generations, and one day with the Lord is as a thousand years–that is, God’s memory of his covenant is infinite; and in God’s infinite world days and years are not reckoned. The term denoted completeness, perfection, infinity. Their victory was complete, their triumph full, and their reign infinite.
The fundamental principle of exegesis forbids that the thousand years be interpreted literally here, and the word year symbolically in all the book elsewhere. So, if it is literal, the reign of Christ was for one thousand years only, not one day more or less. And, if literal, since both verbs “lived” and “reigned” are modified by the thousand years, when they shall cease to reign, they shall cease to live also. Furthermore, if literal, only the beheaded lived and reigned. And, finally, the third personal pronoun, they cannot be changed to the first personal we; and the verbs of past tense lived and reigned cannot be changed to verbs of future tense shall live and reign. The conclusion is that there are too many difficulties in the way of the literal application.
[NOTE: the following is taken from the writer’s comments overviewing the chapter, and can also be found in the “chapter” section of this module]
It is a common expression, we hear it on every hand; that the Bible plainly says that Christ will reign on the earth a thousand years. That is something that the Bible nowhere says, plainly or vaguely. Like the battle of Armageddon notion, the millennium imagination is not in the Bible. Armageddon is mentioned in the Bible but the “battle of Armageddon” theory is nowhere found in the scriptures. The Bible has something to say about “a thousand years” but nothing about a thousand years reign on the earth. Christ reigns, but the reign of Rev 20:1-15 was not the reign of Christ. It was rather a peculiar and special reign of certain souls with Christ. It does not mention or refer to the reign of Christ. The ones mentioned were reigning; it was a special use of the word, applied to a special incident of the Revelation vision. The text says they lived and reigned. Where did they live and reign? They lived and reigned with Christ. John saw souls out of the body, not in the body. It was a vision of the souls of the martyrs living and reigning with Christ in a particular and peculiar sense.
In a conversation with any group of denominational preachers one will invariably be heard to say that the Bible plainly says that we shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years. When the asserter is asked for the passage that so plainly says it, he will just as invariably and confidently refer his listeners to Revelation 20:1-15, verse 4. It is in order, in time and in place now to dissect this misunderstood and misapplied passage of scripture.
This is the way its reads: And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
The passage is almost universally believed to actually say that we shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years. The text says, they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The pronoun we is a personal pronoun of first person, but they is a personal pronoun of the third person; the verbs lived and reigned are verbs of past tense; but shall live and reign are verbs of future tense. No man can claim the right to change the sentence of this text from the third personal pronoun they to the first personal pronoun we, nor to change the verbs lived and reigned of the past tense to shall live and reign of future tense. That is too much change for any man to make who has an ounce of respect for the word of God.
John said, “they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” The passage says nothing about “the thousand years reign of Christ.” There is a great difference in the two expressions. Rev 20:1-15 says, “they lived and reigned with Christ.” They who? Lived–lived where? Reigned –how, with whom and where? “Lived and reigned”–with whom, in what place? It is not the reign of Christ, but the reign of souls “with Christ,” that is mentioned in Rev 20:1-15. There is a vast difference between living and reigning “with Christ” and a millennial reign “of Christ.”
So let us be true to the facts in the case. It does not mention the reign of Christ, but the reign of souls “with” him. They not only “reigned” with him, they “lived” with him. They “lived and reigned” with Christ a thousand years. The two verbs “lived” and “reigned” are both limited by the thousand years. If the expression denotes time, then when the reign is over, and they ceased to reign; the living would be over and they would cease to live.
Rev 20:1-15 does not mention the second coming of Christ. That is not the subject of it. It does not mention a bodily resurrection, and that is not the subject of it. It does not mention a reign on the earth, nor does it mention the “reign of Christ”–and neither is the subject. Is it not possible for souls to live and reign “with Christ” without Christ being on earth? Furthermore, it does not mention the throne of David or any other throne on earth. And it does not mention either Jerusalem or Palestine, nor does it mention Christ on earth.
Jesus said that Jerusalem is not the place where men should worship (Joh 4:21), but they want to put it there. He said that his kingdom is not of the world (Joh 18:36), but they want to put it here, and make it of the world. Can millennialists consistently say that though it mentions none of these things, it teaches all of them? It is altogether possible and consistent for all the things mentioned to exist without being on the earth.
(2) The thousand years reign with Christ.
There are twenty figures of speech in the nineteenth and twentieth chapters alone. In a series of symbols such as these, it is not reasonable to make a literal application of the thousand years and a figurative application of all the rest of the symbols, without a contexual or historical reason for doing so. The thousand years, like the other parts of the vision, is a figure of speech–a symbol of something else.
It is said in Deu 7:9 that God keeps his covenant and his mercy unto a thousand generations. God does not count a literal thousand generations, then quits remembering his covenant. It means God’s memory of and faithfulness to his covenant are perfect and complete. The term thousand was a figure of completeness. It does not denote a cycle of time.
Then what about the millennium? Nothing was said of a millennium. The thousand years did not mean a millennium. There is no millennium. There never was a millennium. There never will be a millennium. The twentieth of Revelation did not refer to a millennium. The thousand years was not literal, therefore was not a millennium and has no reference to a millennium. There is no connotation for the notion. The magic word millennium is not in the text.
In this vision John “saw thrones” and the ones that “sat on them.” And those whom he saw were the souls of the beheaded. They had not “worshipped” the beast. They had not “received” his mark, and they “lived” and “reigned” with Christ.
First: They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. It does not mention the second coming of Christ, a bodily resurrection, a reign on the earth, or a literal throne in Jerusalem or elsewhere. It does not mention us, and it does not mention Christ on earth. Rev 20:1-15 mentions none of those things, and a curse was pronounced on the one who adds to the words of the book.
Second: They lived and reigned with Christ. It says “they”–the souls of the martyrs, those who were beheaded. The beheaded souls lived and reigned with Christ. Only those who were beheaded entered into that thousand years.
If that thousand years is literal, then the beheading is literal, and only those literally beheaded get into the millennium. If the beheading is figurative, the thousand years is figurative, and that cuts us out; for there could be no literal millennium. If it is a literal thousand years, it is a literal beheading. If it is a figurative beheading, it is a figurative thousand years, and either way there is no millennium for us.
Third: They lived and reigned. If the term “reigned” is limited by a thousand years, the verb “lived” is also limited by a thousand years. If the reigning ends with the thousand years, the living ends with a thousand years, and the millennium will end with everybody in it ceasing to live. That would be quite a hopeless millennium.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 20:4. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them. A new vision, or rather a further unfolding of that with which we have been occupied, is presented to us. We have first to ask what the thrones are. Are they simply places of exalted dignity, or are they seats for judgment? The two ideas might be combined were it not that reigning, not judging, is the prominent idea both of this passage and of Dan 7:22 upon which the representation in all probability rests. The thrones before us are thrones of kings (chap. Rev 3:21). Those that sat upon them are certainly neither angels nor God; nor are they the twenty-four Elders, for it is the invariable practice of the Seer to name the latter when he has them in view. They can be no other than all the faithful members of Christs Church, or at least all of whom it is said in the last clause of the verse that they reigned with Christ.
And judgment was given unto them. These words cannot mean that the righteous were beheld seated as assessors with the Christ in judgment, for the word of the original used for judgment denotes the result and not the act of judging; and, so far as appears, there were at this moment none before them to be judged. The use of the word given leads to the thought of a judgment affecting themselves rather than others. If so, the most natural meaning will be that the result of judgment was in such a manner given them that they did not need to come into the judgment. As they had victory before they fought (1Jn 5:4; see also on Rev 20:9), so they were acquitted before they were tried.
And I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not his mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. What the Seer beheld was souls, and the analogy of chap. Rev 6:9, a passage in many respects closely parallel to this, makes it clear that they were no more than souls. They had not yet been clothed with their resurrection bodies. The word beheaded is very remarkable; nor does it seem a sufficient explanation when it is said that beheading was a Roman punishment. It was certainly not in this way alone that the earliest witnesses of Jesus met at the hands of the Roman power their martyr fate. There must be some other reason for the use of so singular a term. It would seem that the bodies of Jewish criminals were usually cast out into the valley of Hinnom, the beheaded or hanged in one spot, the stoned or burnt in another (Geikies Life of Christ, ii. 575). May the Seer have in his mind the thought present to him in chap. Rev 11:8-9, when he spoke of the dead bodies of the two witnesses as lying in the street of the great city and not suffered to be laid in a tomb? These were the beheaded. The exposure to which they had been subjected, and the contumely with which they had been treated, are thought of more than the manner of their death. And who were they? Are they no others than those described in the next clause as not worshipping the beast, etc., or are they martyrs in the more special sense of the term? The particular relative employed in the original for such as, together with the grammatical construction, favours the former idea. In all the clauses of the verse only a single class is spoken of, that of Christs faithful ones, and they are described first by their fate and next by their character (comp. chap. Rev 1:7, and see on chap. Rev 14:12). If we suppose them to be martyrs in the literal sense we must think of that very small class which suffered by decapitation, excluding the much larger army of martyrs who had fallen by other means. Besides which, we introduce a distinction between two classes of Christians that is foreign to the teaching of Christ both in the Apocalypse and elsewhere. Gods people without exception are always with their Lord; the promise that they shall sit upon His throne is to every one that over-cometh (chap. Rev 3:21); and in Rev 20:6 nothing more is said of these beheaded sufferers than may be said of all believers. We have already seen that St. John recognises no Christianity that is not attended by suffering and the cross. Every attempt to distinguish between actual martyrs and other true followers of Jesus must in the very nature of the case be vain. How often has there been more true martyrdom in bearing years of pining sickness or meeting wave after wave of sorrow than in encountering sword or axe or fire!
And they lived, and reigned with the Christ a thousand years. The word lived must, by every rule of interpretation, be understood in the same sense here as in the following clause, where it is applied to the rest of the dead. In the latter connection, however, it cannot express life spiritual and eternal, or be referred to anything else than mere awaking to life after the sleep of death in the grave is over. In this sense we must understand it now. The word might have been translated rose to life as in chaps, Rev 2:8, Rev 13:14. At this point, therefore, the resurrection of the righteous comes inthey lived. But they not only lived, they reigned. The word denotes only that condition of majesty, honour, and blessedness to which the righteous are exalted. There is no need to think of persons over whom they rule.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Subdivision 7. (Rev 20:4-15.)
The Consummation.
1. And now we have what requires more knowledge of the Word to understand it rightly; but here also, more distinctly than before, there are visions and the interpretation of the vision, so that we will be inexcusable if we confound them. The vision is of thrones, and people sitting on them, judgment (that is, rule) being put into their hands. “The souls of those beheaded for the witness of Jesus and the word of God” are another company separate from these, but now associated with them; and “those who have not worshiped the beast” seem to be still another. All these live and reign with Christ a thousand years, and the rest of the dead do not live till the thousand years are ended. That is the vision. The interpretation follows; “this” we are told, “is the first resurrection;” and that “blessed and holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection: upon these the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”
We must look carefully at all this, and in its order. First, the thrones, and those sitting on them: there should be no difficulty as to who these are, for we have already seen the elders crowned and seated in heaven, and before that have heard the Lord promise the overcomer in Laodicea that he should sit with Him upon His throne. That being now set up upon the earth, we find the saints throned with Him. In the interpretation it is said they reign with Him a thousand years. The vision is thus far very simple.
Daniel has already spoken of these thrones: “I beheld,” he says, “till the thrones were placed” (as the R.V. rightly corrects the common one) “and the Ancient of Days did sit” (Dan 7:9). But there was then no word as to the occupants of the thrones. It is the part of Revelation to fill in the picture on its heavenly side, and to show us who these are. They are not angels, who, though there may be “principalities” among them, are never said to reign with Christ. They are redeemed men -the saints caught up at the descent of the Lord into the air (1Th 4:1-18), and who, as the armies that were in heaven, we have seen coming with the white-horsed King to the judgment of the earth.
This being so, it is evident that the “souls” next spoken of are a separate company from these, though joined to them as co-heirs of the kingdom. The folly that has been taught that they are “souls” simply, so that here we have a resurrection of souls and not of bodies, -together with that which insists that it is a resurrection of truths or principles, or of a martyr-“spirit,” -bursts like a bubble when we take into account the first company of living and throned saints. In the sense intended, Scripture never speaks of a resurrection of souls. “Soul” is here used for “person,” as we use it still, and as Scripture often uses it; and the word “resurrection” is found, not in the vision, where its signification might be doubtful, but in the explanation, where we have no right to take it as other than literal. What is the use of explanation, except to explain?
The recognition of the first company here also removes another difficulty which troubled those with whom the “blessed hope” revived at the end of the eighteenth century -that the first resurrection consisted wholly of martyrs. The second company does indeed consist of these, and for an evident reason. They are those who, converted after the Church is removed to heaven, would have their place naturally in earthly blessing with Israel and the saved nations. Slain for the Lord’s sake, during the tribulation following, they necessarily are deprived of this: only to find themselves, in the mercy of God, made to fill a higher place, and to be added, by divine power raising them from the dead, to the heavenly saints. How sweet and comforting this assurance as to the sufferers in a time of unequaled sorrow!
When we look further at this last company, we find, as already intimated, that it also consists of two parts: first, of those martyred in the time of the seals, and spoken of under the fifth seal; and secondly, the objects of the beast’s wrath, as in Rev 13:7; Rev 13:15. This particularization is a perfect proof of who are embraced in this vision, and that we must look to those first seen as sitting on the thrones for the whole multitude of the saints of the present and the past. To all of which it is added that “the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished” -when we find, in fact, the resurrection of judgment taking place (vers. 11-15). All ought to be simple, then. The “first resurrection is a literal resurrection of all the dead in Christ from the foundation of the world; a certain group, which might seem not to belong to it, being specialized, as alone needing this. The first resurrection is “first” simply in contrast with that of the wicked, having different stages indeed, but only one character: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection! upon 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.”
To suppose that this passage stands alone and unsupported in the New Testament is to be ignorant of much that is written. “Resurrection from the dead” as distinct from the general truth of “resurrection of the dead” is special New Testament truth. The Pharisees knew that there should be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust (Act 24:15); but when the Lord spoke of the Son of man rising from the dead, the disciples question among themselves what the rising from the dead could mean (Mar 9:9-10). Christ’s own resurrection is the pattern of the believer’s. The “order” of the resurrection is distinctly given us: “Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming” (1Co 15:23): not a general, but a selective resurrection. Such was what the apostle would by any means gain: not, as in the common version, “the resurrection of” but the resurrection from the dead (Php 3:11).
In his epistle to the Thessalonians the same apostle instructs us more distinctly as to it, speaking in the way of special revelation by “the word of the Lord: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent” -or, as the R.V., “precede” -“them that are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1Th 4:15-17). Thus, before He appears shall His saints be with Him; and of course, long before the resurrection of the lost.
But the Lord Himself has given us, in His answer to the Sadducees, what most clearly unites with this vision in Revelation (Luk 20:34-36). They had asked Him, of one who had married seven brethren, “whose wife shall she be in the resurrection?” meaning, of course, to discredit it by the suggestion. “And Jesus said unto them, The children of this world marry and are given in marriage; but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.”
Clearly this asserts the fact, and gives the character of the special resurrection which the vision here describes. It is one which we must be “accounted worthy” to obtain, not one which nobody can miss; it is grace that acts in giving any one his place in it. Those who have part in it are by that fact proclaimed to be “the children of God;” thus again showing that it cannot be a general one. They die no more; that is (as here), they are not hurt of the second. death. They are equal to the angels: above the fleshly conditions of this present life. Finally, it is the resurrection from the dead, not of the dead merely. All this is so plain that there should be no possibility of mistaking it, one would say; and yet it is no plainer than this scene in Revelation.
How dangerous must be the spell of a false system, which can so blind the eyes of multitudes of truly godly and otherwise intelligent persons to the plain meaning of such scriptures as these: and how careful should we be to test everything we receive by the Word, which alone is truth! Even the “wise” virgins slumbered with the rest; which shows us also, however, that error is connected with a spiritual condition, even in saints themselves. May we be kept from all that would thus cloud our perception of what, as truth, alone has power to bless and sanctify the soul!
2. Of the millennial earth, not even the slightest sketch is given us here. The book of Revelation is the closing book of prophecy, with the rest of which we are supposed to be familiar; and it is the Christian book, which supplements it with the addition of what is heavenly. Thus the reign of the heavenly saints has just been shown us: for details as to the earth, we must go to the Old Testament.
In the Millennium, the heavenly is displayed in connection with the earthly. The glory of God is manifested, so that the earth is filled with the knowledge of it as the waters cover the sea. Righteousness rules, and evil is afraid to lift its head. The curse is taken from the ground, which responds with wondrous fruitfulness. Amid all this, the spiritual condition is by no means in correspondence with the outward blessing. Even the manifest connection of righteousness and prosperity cannot avail to make men love righteousness; nor the goodness of God, though evidenced on every side, to bring men to repentance. At the “four corners of the earth,” retreating as far as possible from the central glory, there are still those who represent Israel’s old antagonists, and thus are called by their names “Gog and Magog.” Nor are they remnants, but masses of population, brought together by sympathetic hatred of God and His people -crowding alike out of light into the darkness: a last and terrible answer to the question, “Lord, what is man?”
The “Gog, of the land of Magog,” whose invasion of Israel is prophetically described in the book of Ezekiel (38, 39), is the prototype of these last invaders. There need be no confusion, however, between them; for the invasion in Ezekiel is premillennial, not postmillennial, as that in Revelation is. It is then that Israel are just back in their land (Eze 38:14), and from that time God’s name is known in Israel, and they pollute His holy name no more (Eze 39:7). The nations too learn to know Him (Eze 38:16; Eze 38:23). There needs, therefore, no further inquiry to be sure that this is not after a thousand years of such knowledge.
But Gog and Magog here follow in the track of men who have long before made God known in the judgment He executed -follow them in awful, reckless disregard of the end before them. This is clearly due to the loosing once more of Satan. While he was restrained, the evil was there, but cowed and hidden. He gives it energy and daring. They go up now on the breadth of the earth -from which for the moment the divine shield seems to be removed, and compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city. The last is of course the earthly Jerusalem. The “camp of the saints” seems to be that of the heavenly saints, who are the Lord’s host around it. The city is of course impregnable: the rebels are taken in the plain fact of hostility to God and His people; and the judgment is swift and complete: “fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” The wicked are extinct out of the earth.
The arch-rebel now receives final judgment. “And the devil that deceived them was cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are; and they shall be tormented day and night for the ages of ages.”
These words deserve most solemn consideration. They are plain enough indeed; but what is there from which man will not seek to escape when his will is adverse? The deniers of eternal punishment, both on the side of restitution and that of annihilation, are here confronted with a plain example of it. Two human beings cast in alive into the lake of fire a thousand years before are found there, at the close of this long period still in existence! How evident that this fire is not, therefore, like material fire, but something widely different! All the arguments as to the action of fire in consuming what is exposed to it are here at once shown to be vain. That which can remain a thousand years in the lake of fire unconsumed may remain, so far as one can see, forever; and it is forever that they here are plainly said to be tormented.
But it is objected that there is, in fact, no verb here: the sentence reads simply, “where the beast and the false prophet,” and that to fill up the gap properly we must put “were cast,” which would say nothing about continuance. But what, then, about the concluding statement, “and they” -for it is a plural -“and they shall be tormented day and night for the ages of ages”?
Finding this argument vain, or from the opposite interest of restitution, it is urged that “day and night” do not exist in eternity. But we are certainly brought here to eternity, and “for the ages of ages” means nothing else. It is the measure of the life of God Himself (Rev 4:10). No passage that occurs, even to the smoke of Babylon ascending up, can be shown to have a less significance.
Growing desperate, some have ventured to say that we should translate “till the ages of ages.” But the other passages stand against this with an iron front, and forbid it. We are, in this little season, right on the verge of eternity itself. The same expression is used as to the judgment of the great white throne, which is in eternity. It will not do to say of God that He lives to the ages of ages, and not through them. The truth is very plain, then, that the punishment here decreed to three transgressors is, in the strictest sense, eternal.
Whether the same thing is true of all the wicked dead, we now go on to see.
The Millennium is over: “And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things that were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hades delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every one according to their works. And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
This is the judgment of the dead alone, and must be kept perfectly distinct in our minds from the long previous judgment of the living. The judgment in Mat 25:1-46, for example, where the “sheep” are separated from the “goats,” is a judgment of the living -of the nations upon earth when the Lord comes. It is not, indeed, the warrior-judgment of those taken with arms in their hands, in open rebellion, which we have beheld in the premillennial vision. The nations are gathered before the Son of man, who has just come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him; and that coming, as when elsewhere spoken of throughout the prophecy, is unquestionably premillennial. As mankind are divided into three classes, “the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God,” so the prophecy in relation to the Jew is to be found in Mat 24:1-42; that in relation to the professing church, to the 30th verse of the next chapter; and the rest of it gives us the sessional judgment of the Gentiles, so far as they have been reached by the everlasting gospel. The judgment is not of all the deeds done in the body: it is as to how they have treated the brethren of the Lord (ver. 40) who have been among them, evidently as travelers, in rejection and peril. The Jewish point of view of prophecy as a whole clearly points to Jewish messengers who as such represent Israel’s King (comp. Mat 10:40). There is not a word about resurrection of the dead, which the time of this judgment excludes the possibility of, as to the wicked. It is one partial as to its range, limited to that of which it takes account, and in every way distinct from such a general judgment as the large part of Christendom even yet looks for.
Here in the vision before us there is simply the judgment of the dead; and although the word is not used, the account plainly speaks of resurrection. The sea gives up the dead which are in it, as well as, by implication, also the dry land. Death, as well as hades, deliver up what they respectively hold; and as hades is unequivocally the receptacle of the soul (Act 2:27), so must “death,” on the other hand, which the soul survives (Mat 10:28), stand here in connection with that over which it has supreme control -the body.
The dead, then, here rise; and we have that from which the “blessed and holy” of the first resurrection are delivered -the “resurrection of judgment” (Joh 5:29, R.V.). From personal judgment the Lord expressly assures us that the believer is exempt (Joh 5:24, R.V.). Here, not only are the works judged, which will be true of the believer also, and for lasting blessing to him, but men are judged according to their works -a very different thing. Such a judgment will allow of no hope for the most upright and godly among mere men.
And this would seem to show that, though a millennium has passed since the first resurrection, yet no righteous dead can stand among this throng. The suggestion of the “book of life” has seemed to many to imply that there are such; but it is not said that there are, and the words “whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” may be simply a solemn declaration (now affirmed by the result) that grace is man’s only possible escape from the judgment. May it not even be intended to apply more widely than to the dead here, and take in the living saints of the Millennium negatively, as showing how, in fact, they are not found before this judgment-seat?
At any rate, the principle of judgment -“according to their works” -seems to exclude absolutely any of those saved by grace. And there are intimations also, in the Old Testament prophecies, as to the extension of life in the Millennium, which seem well to consist with the complete arrest of death for the righteous during the whole period. If “as the days of a tree shall be the days of God’s people” (Isa 65:22), and he who dies at a hundred years dies as a child yet, and for wickedness -because there shall be no more any one, apart from this, that shall not fill his days (ver. 20) -it would almost seem to follow that there is no death. And to this the announcement as to the “sheep” in the judgment-scene in Matthew, that “the righteous shall go away into life eternal,” strikingly corresponds. For to go into life eternal is not to possess life in the way that we at present may; in fact, as “righteous” they already did this: it means apparently nothing less than the complete canceling of the claim of death in their case.
And now death and hades are cast into the lake of fire -that is, those who dwelt in them are cast there. These exist, as it were, but in those who fill them; and thus we learn that there is no exemption or escape from the last final doom for any who come into this judgment. The lake of fire is the second death. The first terminated in judgment man’s career on earth; the second closes the intermediate state in their judged alienation from the Source of life. The first is but the type of the second. As we have seen, it is not extinction at all; and indeed a resurrection merely for the sake of suffering before another extinction would seem self-contradictory. In fact, death -what we ordinarily call that -is now destroyed. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” which is thenceforth, therefore, undying (Heb 9:27).
With the great white throne set up, the earth and the heavens pass away, and there come into being “a new heaven and a new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness” (2Pe 3:13).
3. Before the face of Him who sits upon the great white throne “the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them” (Rev 20:11). We have now a complementary statement: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” It is clear, therefore, that an earthly condition abides for eternity. It is a point of interest as to which Scripture seems to give full satisfaction, whether this new earth is itself a “new creation,” or the old earth remodeled and made new. At first sight, one would no doubt decide for the former; and this was the view that at one time almost held possession of the field, the new earth scarcely being regarded by the mass as “earth” at all. Practically, the earth was simply believed to exist no more; and in contrast with it, all was to be heavenly: the double sphere of blessing; earth and heaven, was lost sight of, if not denied.
Lately, for many, reaction has set in, and the pendulum has swung past the point of rest to the other extreme. The prophecies of the Old Testament rightly understood as to be literally taken, and delivered from the glosses of a falsely called “spiritual” interpretation, seem to agree with the apostle Peter and the book of Revelation in making the earth to be the inheritance of the saints -the earth in a heavenly condition, brought back out of its state of exile, and into true relation with the rest of the family of heaven, not alienated from their original place. Contrast between earth and heaven as an eternal existence was again, but from the other side of it, denied.
The whole web and woof of Scripture is against either of these confusions: the point of rest can only be in accepting the distinction of earthly from heavenly as fundamental to all right understanding of the prophetic Word. The Old Testament “promises” which have in view the earth as a sphere of blessing, are, as the apostle declares (Rom 9:1-4), Jewish, not Christian. The New Testament emphasizes that the blessings of the Christian are in “heavenly places” (Eph 1:3); nor can this last possibly apply to the earth made heavenly. The Lord has left us with the assurance (Joh 14:1-31) that in His Father’s house are many mansions, -permanent places of abode, -that He was going to prepare a place there for us, and that He will come again to receive us to Himself, that where He is, there we may be also. As well assure us that the Lord’s permanent abode is to be on earth, and not in heaven, as that our own is to be here, not there.
Each line of truth must have its place if we are to be “rightly dividing the word of truth.” The heavenly “bride of the Lamb” is not the earthly; “Jerusalem which is above” is not the Palestinian city; the “Church of first-born ones who are written in heaven” are not that “Israel” declared God’s “firstborn” as to the earth; the promise of the “Morning Star” is not the same as that of the “Sun of Righteousness,” although Christ is assuredly both of these. Discernment of such differences is a necessity for all true filling of our place, and practical rendering of Christian life.
Let us look now, however, at the question of continuity between the earth that flees away and the earth that succeeds it. At first sight we should surely say they cannot be identical. The well-known passage in the epistle of Peter would seem to confirm this (2Pe 3:10; 2Pe 3:12). There we learn that “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned. up.” And it is repeated, and thus emphasized by repetition, that “the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.”
Yet, as we look more closely, we shall find reason to doubt whether more is meant than the destruction of the earth as the place of human habitation. In the Deluge, to which it is compared (vers. 5-7), “the world that then was perished;” yet its continuity with the present no one doubts. Fire, though the instrument of a more penetrating judgment, yet does not annihilate the material upon which it fastens. The melting even of elements implies rather the reverse, and dissolution is not (in this sense) destruction.
Yet the heavens and the earth pass away -that is, in the form in which now we know them; or, as the apostle speaks to the Corinthians, “the fashion of this world passes away” (1Co 7:31); and that this is the sense in which we are to understand it, other scriptures come to assure us.
A new earth does not necessarily mean another earth, except as a “new” man means another man -“new” in the sense of renewed. And even the words here, “there was no more sea,” naturally suggest another state of the earth than now exists. This fact is a significant one: that which is the type of instability and barrenness, and condemns to it so large a portion of the globe, is gone utterly and forever. At the beginning of Genesis we find the whole earth buried under it; emerging on the third day, and the waters given their bounds, which but once afterward they pass. Now they are gone forever, as are the wicked, to whom Isaiah compares it: “The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.” This last is the effect of chafing against its bounds, as “the mind of the flesh” is “not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom 8:7).
These analogies cannot fail to illustrate another which the Lord Himself gives us, when He speaks of the millennial kingdom as the “regeneration” -ye who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Mat 19:28). Here let us note that it is the Lord’s kingdom that is the regeneration of the earth. That reign of righteousness which is the effectual curb upon human wickedness, not the removal of it, answers thus to what “regeneration” is for him who is in this sense in the Lord’s kingdom now. Sin is not removed; the flesh abides even in the regenerate; but it has its bound -it does not reign, has not dominion. In the perfect state, whether for the individual or the earth, righteousness dwells, as Peter says of the latter: sin exists no more. How striking does the analogy here become when we remember that the change, perhaps dissolution, of the body comes between the regenerate and the perfect state, just as the similar “dissolution” of the earth does between the Millennium and the new earth! Surely this throws a bright light upon the point we are examining.
The new heavens are, of course, only the earth-heavens the work of the second of the six days. They are of great importance to the earth which they surround and to which they minister. More and more is science coming to recognize how (in natural law at least) “the heavens rule.” Yet, who but an inspired writer, of the time of Peter or John, would have made so much of the new heavens? And these only, as Peter reminds us, develop a much earlier “promise.” This we find in Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24, a repeated announcement, the second time explicitly connected with the continuance of Israel’s “seed” and “name”: “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall abide before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.” Thus, even in the new earth there will be no merging of Israel in the general mass of the nations. The first-born people written on earth will show still how “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” as will the “Church of the first-born who are written in heaven.” These different circles of blessing, like the principalities and powers in heavenly places, are quite accordant with what we see everywhere of God’s manifold ways and ranks in creation. Why should eternity efface these differences, which of course do not touch the unity of the family of God as such, while they are abiding witnesses of divine mercy in relation to a past of which the lessons are never to be lost?
Earth, then, itself remains, but a “new” earth; and, as the seal upon its eternal blessedness, “I saw,” says the prophet-evangelist, “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, their God.” Here is the promise in Immanuel’s name made finally good to the redeemed race: and he who is privileged to show us the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father, tabernacling among men when the Word was made flesh, is the one who shows us the full consummation. Of the new Jerusalem we have presently a detailed account; here, what is emphasized is, that it is the link between God and men; God Himself is with men, in all the fulness of blessing implied in that.
We must not, however, pass over anything: the less even that is said, the more should we ponder that which is said. Let us see, then, what is here, putting it in connection with what seems most naturally to throw light upon it elsewhere. Standing where we are, -at the end of time, -we stand, indeed, whither the whole stream of time has been conducting us, and therefore with the countless voices of the past sounding prophetically to us. What will it be to be actually there, at the end of the ways which, though through the valley of Baca, lead up to the city of God!
First, here, we are shown that He has prepared for us a city -“the holy city.” The new Jerusalem is surely, what its earthly type is, a “city of habitation:” it is not simply a figure for the saints themselves. The patriarchs of old, content to await in patient faith the end of their pilgrim-journey, “looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God;” and He will not disappoint their expectations -“He hath prepared for them a city” (Heb 11:10; Heb 11:16). At the very beginning of the world’s history we find in one who manifested a totally opposite spirit, still the desire of the human heart which this promise meets. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, fugitive and vagabond as he was, to build a city. Without faith or patience, he only shows the natural craving of the heart, but not in itself evil because natural. Ever since, the history of man has connected itself mainly with its cities. From Babel on to Rome, these have been the centres of power and progress ever, and (the world being what it is) they have exhibited in the most developed way its opposition to God. But God too has His city, and makes much of it, “beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,” and with it associates (Psa 87:1-7) the one great Name which eclipses that of all others.
The tendency of the day is toward cities, and in these, for good or for ill, we find the greatest development of man; only, man being fallen, the development is monstrous. When the day of the Lord has put down, however, all human thoughts, it is only to exalt Jerusalem upon the earth, and to make way for the display of that better Jerusalem that is here before us.
The city is the expression of human need, and the provision for it. In the midst of strife and insecurity, men gather together for protection; but that is only a small part of what is implied in it. There are other needs more universal than this, as that of co-operation, the division of labor, the result of that inequality of aptitudes by which God has made us mutually dependent. Our social nature is thus met, and there are formed and strengthened the ties by which the world is bound together; while the intercourse of mind with mind, of heart with heart, stimulates and develops every latent faculty. “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend” (Pro 27:17).
The eternal city implies for us association, fellowship, intercourse, the fulness of what was intimated in the primal saying, “It is not good for man to be alone,” but which in respect of the bride-city, which this is, has still a deeper meaning. Here, the relationship of the saint to Christ, who as the Lamp of divine glory enlightens it, alone adequately explains all. “Alone” we can nevermore be. “With Him” our whole manhood shall find its complete answer, satisfaction, and rest.
This is necessarily, therefore, the “holy city.” Cain’s has but too much characterized every city hitherto. Where shall we find, as in the city, the reek of impurity and the hotbed of corruption? There poverty and riches pour out a common flood of iniquity, out of which comes, ever increasing, the defiant cry of despair. But here at last is a “HOLY CITY,” the new Jerusalem, “foundation of peace:” not, like Babel of old, towering up to heaven, but coming down from heaven, the way of all good, of all blessing for men. The tabernacle of God is with men. God Himself tabernacles with them.* His own hand removes every trace of former sorrow, every effect of sin. His own voice proclaims what His hand accomplishes: “Behold, I make all things new.” Here, that we may be fully assured, a confirmatory word is added.
{*Is there not in this word “tabernacle” the suggestion that any habitation of God with men must be in pure grace? He is infinitely sufficient unto Himself, and it is only in love that He dwells with men. On the other hand, this does not imply that there is anything temporary in the abiding. It is surely eternal, as Christ is eternally Man. -S.R.}
4. And along with this, and in view of it, in the name of Him who is Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, the sweet invitation of the gospel is once more published, the free gift of the water of life to every thirsty soul is certified, and the inheritance to the overcomer, for it is reached by the way of conflict and of triumph -grace securing, not evading, this: “He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God; and he shall be My son.”
Just here, too, with no less earnestness, and in eternity, past all the change of time, the doom of the wicked is pronounced: “But the fearful,” -too cowardly to take part with Christ in a world opposed to Him, -“and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
5. The last vision of Revelation is now before us: it is that of the city of God itself. But here, where one would desire above all to see clearly, we become most conscious of how feeble and dull is our apprehension of eternal things. They are words of an apostle which remind us that “we see through a glass darkly” -en ainigmati, in a riddle. Such a riddle, then, it is no wonder if the vision presents to us: the dream that we have here a literal description, even to the measurements, of the saints’ eternal home, is one too foolish to need much comment. All other visions throughout the book have been symbolic: how much more here! how little need we expect that the glimpse which is here given us into the unseen would reveal to us the shape of buildings, or the material used! Scripture is reticent all through upon such subjects, and the impress to be left upon our souls is plainly spiritual, not of lines and hues, as for the natural senses. “Things which eye hath not seen” are not put before the eye.
On the other hand, that the “city” revealed to us here is not simply a figure of the saints themselves, as, from the term used for it, “the Bride, the Lamb’s wife,” some have taken it to be, there are other scriptures which seem definitely to assure us. “Jerusalem, which is above, which is our mother” (Gal 4:1-31), could hardly be used in this way, though the Church is indeed so conceived of in patristic and medieval thought. But even thus it would not be spoken of naturally as “above.”
In Heb 12:1-29 we have a still more definite testimony. For there the “Church of the first-born ones which are written in heaven,” as well as “the spirits of just men made perfect,” -in other words, both Christians and the saints of the Old Testament, -are mentioned as distinct from “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem;” and this will not allow them to be the same thing; although, in another way, the identification of a city with its inhabitants is easy.
We are led in the same direction by the mention of the “tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God,” -the place to which the apostle thought he might have been caught, even bodily (2Co 12:1-21), -and here is the tree of life in the midst of the city, beside the “river of water of life” which flows from the throne of God! Figurative language all this surely; yet these passages combine to give us the thought of the heavenly abode, already existing, and which will be in due time revealed as the metropolis of the heavenly kingdom -what Jerusalem restored will be in the lower sphere. Indeed, the earthly here so parallels and illustrates the heavenly as to be a most useful help in fixing, if not enlarging, our thoughts about it -always while we realize, of course, the essential difference that Scripture itself makes clear to be between them. But this we shall have to look at as we proceed.
“The holy city, Jerusalem,” is certainly intended to be a plain comparison with the earthly city. But that is the type only; this is the antitype, the true “foundation of peace,” as the word means. What more comforting title, after all the scenes of strife, the fruit of the lusts that war in our members, which we have had to look upon! Here is “peace” at last, and on a foundation that shall not be removed, but that stands fast forever. For this is emphatically “the city that hath foundations,” and “whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11:10). How blessed it is, too, that it should be just one of the seven angels that had the seven last plagues that shows John the city! for no mere executioner of judgment we see is he: judgment (as with God, for it is God’s) is also his “strange work.” It had to come, and it has come: there was no help, no hope without it; thus the stroke of the “rod of iron” was that of the shepherd’s rod: it was the destruction of the destroyers only. But it is past, and here is the scene wherein his own heart rests, to which it returns with loyalty and devotion: here, where the water of life flows from the throne of God, -eternal, from the Eternal, -refreshment, gladness, fruitfulness and power are found in obedience.
But the city is the “Bride, the Lamb’s wife.” In the Old Testament, the figure of marriage is used in a similar way. Israel was thus Jehovah’s “married wife” (Isa 54:1; Jer 31:32), now divorced indeed for her unfaithfulness, but yet to return (Hos 2:1-23), and be received and reinstated. Her Maker will then be once more her husband, and more than the old blessing be restored. In the forty-fifth psalm, Israel’s King, Messiah, is the Bridegroom; the Song of Solomon is the mystic song of His espousals. Jerusalem thus bears His name: “This is the name whereby she shall be called: Jehovah our Righteousness” (Jer 33:16, comp. Jer 23:6). The land, too, shall be “married” (Isa 62:4).
In the New Testament, the same figure is still used in the same way. The Baptist speaks of his joy, as the “friend of the Bridegroom,” in hearing the Bridegroom’s voice (Joh 3:29); and in the parable of the virgins (Mat 25:1-46), where Christians are those who go forth to meet the Bridegroom, they are, by that very fact, not regarded as the Bride, which is still Israel (according to the general character of the prophecy), though not actually brought into the scene. Some may be able to see, also, in the marriage at Cana of Galilee (Joh 2:1) the veiling of the same thought.
All this, therefore, is in that earthly sphere in which Israel’s blessings lie; our own are “in heavenly places” (Eph 1:3), and here it is we find, not the Bride of Messiah simply, but distinctively “the Bride of the Lamb.” The “Lamb,” as a title, always keeps before us His death, and that by violence, “a Lamb as it had been slain” (Rev 5:6); and it is thus that He has title to that redemption empire in which we find Him throughout this book. But “the Bride of the Lamb” is thus one espoused to Him in His rejection, sharer (though it be but in slight measure) of His reproach and sorrow, trained and disciplined for glory in a place of humiliation. And so it is said that “if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him;” and again, “If so be we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together” (2Ti 2:12; Rom 8:17).
The saints in the Millennium have no heritage of suffering such as this; even those who pass through the trial which ushers it in have not the same character of it, although we must not forget those associated with the Lamb upon mount Zion, who illustrate the same truth, but upon a lower platform. Even these are not His Bride.
Ephesians, the epistle of the heavenly places, shows us the Church as Eve of the last Adam, whom Christ loves, and for whom He gave Himself. Formed out of Himself and for Himself, He now sanctifies and cleanses her with water-washing by the Word, that He may present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. In another aspect, this Church is His body, formed by the baptism of the Spirit as at Pentecost, complete when those who are Christ’s are caught up to meet Him in the air. The doctrine of this is, of course, not in Revelation; the difficulty is in seeing the conformity of Revelation with it.
Outside of Revelation even, there is a difficulty in the connection (if there be, as one would anticipate, a connection) between the Church as the body of Christ now, before our presentation to Him, and the “one flesh” which is the fruit of marriage. Israel was the married wife, and will be, though now for a time “desolate,” as one divorced. The Church is “espoused” (2Co 11:2), not married. Thus the “one body” and the “great mystery” of “one flesh,” of which the apostle speaks (Eph 5:29), must be distinct.
Looking back to Adam, to whom as a type he there refers us, we find that Eve is taken out of his side -is thus really his “flesh” by her very making. Thus, as one with him in nature, she is united to him -a union in which the prior unity finds its fit expression. The two things are therefore in this way very clearly and intimately connected. The being of Christ’s body is that, then, which alone prepares and qualifies for the being of His Bride hereafter; and body and Bride must be strictly commensurate with each other.
The mystery here is great, as the apostle himself says; nor is it to be affirmed that the type in all its features answers to the reality. It is easily seen that this could not be; yet there is real correspondence and suitability thus far: according to it, the Church of Christ alone, from Pentecost to the rapture, is scripturally (in a strict sense) the “Bride of the Lamb.”
Yet can we confine the new Jerusalem to these? There would, of course, in this case be no difficulty as to the character of a city which it is given in this vision. A city is commonly enough identified with its inhabitants, so that the same term covers both place and persons. But are none to inhabit the new Jerusalem except the saints of Christian times? Are none of these so illustrious in the Old Testament to find their place there? Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are among those with whom the Lord assures us we are to sit down in the kingdom of God (Luk 13:28-29); -are they to be outside the heavenly city?
This is positively answered otherwise, as it would seem, in Revelation itself. For while the general account of those who enter there is that they are those “written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev 21:27), “without” the city are said to be only “dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” (Rev 22:15).
In the eleventh of Hebrews, moreover, in a verse already quoted, “the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God,” for which the patriarchs looked and waited, can surely be no other than that which we find here; and it is added that they desired” a better country -that is, a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city.” It could not be the New Testament Church for which Abraham looked; for this was as yet entirely hidden in God (Eph 3:9). Another and larger meaning for the new Jerusalem must surely, therefore, be admitted.
And why should there not be in it an inclusion of both thoughts? Why should it not be the Bride-city, named from the Bride-Church, whose home it is, and yet containing other occupants? This alone would seem to cover the whole of the facts which Scripture gives us as to it; and the Jewish Bride is in like manner sometimes a wider, sometimes a narrower conception; sometimes the city Jerusalem, sometimes the people Israel. Only that in the Old Testament the city is the narrower, the people the wider view; while in the New Testament this is reversed. And even this may be significant: the heavenly city, the dwelling-place of God, permitting none of the redeemed to be outside it, but opening its gates widely to all. A Bride-city indeed, ever holding bridal festival, and having perpetual welcome for all that come: its freshness never fading, its joy never satiating; blessed are they whose names are written there!
As before, the city is seen “descending out of heaven from God.” We shall find, however, here, that the present vision goes back of the new heavens and earth to the millennial age -that is, that while itself eternal, the city is seen in connection with the earth at this time. Not yet has it been said, “The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them.” The descending city is not, therefore, in that settled and near intimacy with men outside of it in which it will be. A significant and perfect note of time it is that the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of nations (Rev 22:2). Tender as this grace is, the condition it shows could not be eternal.
All the nearer does it bring this vision of glory and of love, no more to be banished or dimmed by human sin or sorrow. The city has the glory of God; and here is the goal of hope, complete fruition of that which but as hope outshines all that is known of brightness elsewhere. It cannot be painted with words. We cannot hope even to expand what the Holy Ghost has given us. But the blessedness itself we are soon to know.
The holy city descends from heaven, “having the glory of God.” She is the chosen vessel of it, to display it to the universe, being the fruit of Christ’s work, the fullest witness of abounding grace. Her shining is “like a most precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper-stone,” or diamond, as we have already taken it to be.* The carbon crystallized into this lustrous brilliant, which still shines with a light not its own, is a fit representation of the “glory” that is to be “in the Church in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages” (Eph 1:21). This glory which God manifests through His creatures, He manifests to His creatures, satisfying His own love in bringing them thus nigh unto Himself. How blessed to be a means of such display!
{*See on Rev 4:3.}
The wall of the city clearly speaks of its security: it has “a great and high wall;” for “salvation hath God appointed as walls and bulwarks” (Isa 26:1). And in the wall, which has 4 sides, there are 12 gates, 3 gates on every side, for egress and ingress -home, as this is, of a life which is unceasing activity. The number 12 is upon all the city, 12 being an expanded 7, with the same factors (4X3 instead of 4+3), and the symbol of manifest divine government, God being here manifestly supreme. This is perfection in its deepest analysis; and the numbers are thus one in fact. The 12 here is the usual 4X3; the 3 still speaking of divine manifestation, while the 4 shows it to be universal, the sides facing also every way.
At the gates are 12 angels; upon them the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. As the tabernacle of God, a reference to the tabernacle of old is surely in place here, though to that there was but one entrance, for a simple and beautiful reason, Christ being seen in it as the only way of approach to God. Now there are 12 gates, answering to the 12 tribes, which in the wilderness also were grouped in similar 3s around the tabernacle. Ezekiel, in his last vision of the future (Eze 48:1-35), shows us what more exactly answers to what is here, though speaking of the earthly city restored, and not the heavenly; and there the gates are appropriated, one to each particular tribe. Israel are here, as it would seem, their own representatives, as in the vision of the seventh chapter; and we are reminded of their being in nearest connection upon earth with the heavenly city. In the heavenly sphere, at the gates are angels. The heavenly and earthly relations of the city are thus declared.
There are 12 foundations of the wall of the city also; but on these are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. They have laid the foundations, and their names are stamped upon their work. We are surely not to imagine any individualizing here, as if any one foundation could be appropriated to any one apostle, or indeed that the number 12 itself is anything but characteristic. This connects itself also with the question of the presence or absence of Paul’s name from the number. It is remarkable that almost the same difficulty connects with the 12 tribes of Israel, which often exclude and often include the tribe of Levi. Taking Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph, as tribal heads, equal in this respect to Jacob’s other sons, (and this is the place that they are given in the history,) yet they are none the less always counted 12. Why may not the apostles, in spite of the addition of Paul to their number, be counted here as 12?*
{*As Paul; too, was distinctively the apostle of the Church, through whom its unity as the body of Christ and its heavenly destiny as the Bride of Christ were revealed, we may well associate him with the city as a whole, rather than one of its foundations. -S.R.}
The measurements of the city and the wall are next given. The city is a cube, 12,000 furlongs every way; the wall, 144 cubits high. The number 12 still governs everywhere. The cube speaks of substance, reality. The sanctuary in the tabernacle and in the temple were both cubes. This is the eternal sanctuary, and the full fruition of every hope of the saint.
The building of the wall is of jasper (or diamond). The divine glory is itself a safeguard of the eternal city. What can touch that which God has ordained for His own praise? The city itself is pure transparent gold, -pure, permanent, radiant, -not hindering, but welcoming the enraptured sight. The foundations of the wall are adorned with every precious stone -all the attributes of God displayed in that upon which rests the salvation of the people of God. The stones, in their separate meanings, are again a mystery. The 12 gates are 12 pearls -the picture of such grace as has been shown in the Church (Mat 13:45-46). These gates stand open all the unending day. The street of the city is, again, “pure gold, like transparent glass.” The street, especially in the East, is the place of traffic, the meeting-place constantly of need and greed. But here, all circumstances, all intercourse, the whole environment, is absolute holiness and truth, fit for and permeated by the felt presence of God.
And this leads us directly to the next statement, that because the city is all sanctuary, there is no more any special one. The presence of God is the temple of the city: there is no other; and the Lamb is He who characterizes for us, and will always characterize, this otherwise ineffable Presence. There is no distance; there is nothing that can produce distance; there never can be more. It is that which the presence of Jesus among us -now nearly nineteen centuries since -implied and pledged to us: it is Immanu-El -“God with us” -in full reality, and in the highest and most intimate way.
It is true we have not the Father spoken of as such: it is “the Lord (or Jehovah) God Almighty,” -the God of Old-Testament revelation, -with “the Lamb,” in whom we have the revelation of the New. Nothing less, surely, is meant than God in full display, so far as the creature can ever be made to apprehend Him. There is a glory of the Light always inaccessible -not hid in darkness, but in light which no human eye can ever penetrate. None can fully know God but God. This is only to say that the creature remains the creature; but the limitation of faculties does not mean distance, as if kept back. “The Lamb” shows, on the one hand, the desire of God to be known, while implying, in the very fact of manhood taken for this revelation, that God purely as God could not be known.
Thus, it is immediately added that the glory of God lightens the city, and “the Lamb is the lamp thereof.” The lamp sustains the light. It adds nothing to it, for to divine glory nothing can be added: if anything could be, it would no longer be divine. But the light is “put upon a candlestick (or lamp) that they who enter in may see the light” (Luk 8:16). So will Christ always be the One in whom the Father is made known: nay, the sacrificial word (“Lamb”) assures us that we shall always have need of the past also for this. But this does not at all mean that there will not be what the Lord has assured us the angels of the little children enjoy continually: “Their angels do always behold the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
It is time now to inquire whether the measurements of the heavenly city cannot receive further developments. As already said, there is no temple in the New Jerusalem, and the reason is that it is all temple. “The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” Over the earthly Jerusalem, in its millennial condition, the cloud of glory broods (Isa 4:5), and the city itself receives the name of Jehovah Shammah, that is, “Jehovah is there.” Still the temple and the city, as we see by Ezekiel, are separate things. Here, on the other hand, they are brought together. The city is the temple, through the presence of God in it which constitutes it this. It is natural, therefore, to look at the earthly temple to see if there be not some connection between it and this heavenly one. Now, in each case we have careful measurements, in testimony that every detail is of divine appointment. And when we come to look at this measurement, we shall find some relationship between the two, which must certainly be intended for our instruction. In Revelation, the measurement is by “a golden reed,” in the hands of an angel, who is also spoken of as a man; and this twofold designation of him, manifestly applies in some way to the measurement itself. “He measured the wall,” we are told,” 144 cubits, the measure of a man, that is of the angel.” Thus it is human measure, and yet surpassing this; and when we turn to Ezekiel, we shall find what seems to explain this in a remarkable way. The one who measures is, in Ezekiel, spoken of all through as a “man;” but the measure shows a difference from mere human measurement, which is noted for us. It is human measure, for the cubit is used, which is such, but the cubit is more than the human one. Each cubit in it is “a cubit and an hand-breadth,” not the ordinary one. This has perplexed the commentators, who explain it in various and contradictory ways. The rationalistic one is that Ezekiel simply adopted the cubit of the country in which his people were now captives, -it is a Babylonian cubit, therefore, that we find here. Think of God taking this as a measure of His own things! But what does this “cubit and an hand-breadth” mean? Meaning there is and must be everywhere, so that we are surely right in inquiring as to it. Such a detail is not given us without there being in it something that is to be carefully observed. The cubit, then, was the common, human measure. The hand-breadth added made it more than the human. That is surely plain, and it seems to refer us at once to what we have in Revelation, where the measure is stated to be “the measure of a man,” but not an ordinary man -in fact, “the measure of an angel.”
Let us look at these measures further. What is the cubit? It is simply the human fore-arm, the measure taken from the elbow-tip to the end of the little finger. The cubit is in Hebrew ammah, which in its application to it evidently means “support.” The fore-arm is that upon which one supports oneself in various positions. Now, if this be the simple, human measure, there may yet be a divine meaning in it, for God works through everything, and nothing is left without the touch of His hand. Now the measure in human hands, and as used here, is, as we may say, the measure of accomplishment. A man lays down by measurement the house that he is projecting for himself. But while it is thus significant of what is to be humanly accomplished, the weakness of man comes out in his very measure. He needs in every undertaking, in everything that he accomplishes, the support of Another. He does what he is permitted and enabled to do -no more. The cubit by itself is, then, strictly human. But now, if we add the hand-breadth to it, this gives us plainly, according to what we have seen, what is beyond man; and if we look at the only occurrence of it elsewhere, we shall find it in the border which is made to the table of showbread, a “border of a hand-breadth round about.” If the table speaks, then, of communion with God, which is the fundamental thought, the hand-breadth round about it is at once the divine guard and the divine support. The full breadth of the divine hand it is that is round about here. Now let us apply this to the cubit in Ezekiel. If the cubit show in itself human weakness, that will not do for what is before us in the vision of the prophet. The divine hand must come manifestly in. Man may be permitted his part in the structure which the prophet sees in vision, but it must be man enabled and guarded by the divine hand which is upon him. Ezekiel in his own person shows us this hand of the Lord in its effect upon himself (Eze 40:1). Thus the human element testifies to gracious communion on man’s part, which God permits and enables for. It testifies of how near to man God is coming, and of His desire for that wonderful intimacy which, as the Lord taught His disciples, when enjoyed upon earth, was the pledge and foreshadow of that that was to be eternal (Joh 14:2).
In Revelation, therefore, the interpreting angel is still the “man”; and the measurement, as we have seen, adapts itself to this. With Christ before us, we know well that the human measure now for God must be, nevertheless, beyond what is merely human.
But now let us look at the measurement of the temple-city itself. If the new Jerusalem be a temple, it is yet like none other that has existed. In the temple upon earth, and in the tabernacle before it out of which it grew, there was a holy place separate from the holiest in which alone God was (and yet how little was) displayed. The holy place as separate from the holiest shows, not what is in the mind of God for eternity, but what was of necessity on account of man’s present condition. He cannot unrestrictedly draw near to God. In the law, the dividing veil is shown us by the apostle to declare that the “way into the holiest was not yet manifest while the first tabernacle had its standing.” That first tabernacle was but the ante-chamber to the true dwelling-place of God, and shut off from it, even in mercy to man in his present unfitness. The law could bring no one nigh. For us now, as we know, the “first tabernacle,” as such, is abolished by the rending of the veil. Holy and holiest come together, and we have, blessed be God, the way made open for us into the holy places,* through the blood of Jesus.
{*See the notes on Heb 10:19.}
But let us look at the figures now. The tabernacle was 30 cubits long, in breadth 10, and in height 10. The holy place was 20 cubits long, the measurements otherwise being the same; and the holiest of all was but 10 cubits long, making it a perfect cube, the breadth and the length and the height of it being equal. The city here and the holiest are in perfect agreement. In the temple, the measurements were double those of the tabernacle, but relatively similar. The whole building was 60 cubits long, 20 broad, and 20 high, of which the holy place was 40 cubits long and the holiest 20, this being again, therefore, a perfect cube, the breadth and the length and the height of it equal. How easy to recognize in this the perfect realization of God’s mind only in the holiest. The cube speaks, as we see, everywhere of realization, and the number 3, which is its sign, of divine manifestation.
Let us still look at the numbers which are thus brought before us. The fundamental one is everywhere beautifully the number 5. The figures are 10s throughout, and 10 is in its meaning simply twice 5. But what is this number 5? Of what would it necessarily speak to us in such connections as are here? It speaks everywhere of man with God, as has been abundantly shown elsewhere. But it might be man with God as simply under divine government, and thus intimating responsibility -a responsibility, too, which, as he has taken it, has been so often interpreted in a way fatal to himself. But of this we can have nothing here. We have come to God’s accomplishment of His dwelling-place amongst men, and therefore nothing but grace or glory could enter into the thought. 5 in this way we read, therefore, in Immanuel -“God with us “certainly what tabernacle and temple, and much more the city before us, declare to us. 5 is therefore the fundamental number; that is, “God in relationship with man;” and here the number 10 only brings out still more distinctly the thought of this relationship; for almost the primary thought of the number 2 is just that of relation. Thus, then, the holiest itself, the very dwelling-place of God, is above all stamped with this thought, which in Christ we see accomplished, of God dwelling with man.
Now the measurement of the city, the New Jerusalem, is, as we have it in the common version, in its threefold measure, 12,000 furlongs. Here we have the 5 or 10 connected with another number which we see everywhere stamped upon the city too -the number 12: that is, the number which speaks of that perfect rule of God which is its certified and perfect blessedness. Let us dismiss for a moment the thought of the “furlong,” which is human throughout, and nothing else. Furlong is “furrow-long,” the length of the furrow which a plow makes in the field. The Greek word is stadia, of which, of course, the furlong is the natural enough translation, while this, however, is destitute of the thought which the word used by inspiration gives us, of something that is stable, fixed, as everything about this city is. We have come to that which stands forever, where there is not even a leaf that fades.
The 1000 is, of course, once more cubic. It is the cube of 10. If we read the whole together, the 12,000 stadia show us God in perfectly realized relationship with man, and therefore God of necessity in His supreme place as God: this, as the stadia show us, abiding. This is surely the real significance of the measurements of the one truly eternal city. The wall that guards it is 144 cubits, the real sacred cubit, as in this connection is pointed out to us, the 144 being, of course, but 12X12, the manifest supremacy of God in strongest emphasis. This is its height and thickness, no doubt, as the wall is similarly measured in Ezekiel, though with almost infinitely smaller numbers. Its length must be such as to surround the city, plainly. The divine glory fences it round on every side, save where the gates of pearl, the beauteous image of divine grace, open a way of access and of egress to its blessed inhabitants.
This, then, is the glory of the heavenly city, in the light of which the nations of the earth themselves walk, while the kings of the earth bring their glory unto it. As another has said, “They own the heavens and the heavenly kingdom to be the source of all, and bring there the homage of their power.” And “they bring the glory and honor of the nations unto it.” That is, “Heaven is seen as the source of all the glory and honor of this world.” The nations are, as we shall see directly, undoubtedly the millennial nations; and it is no question of these entering themselves into the heavenly city; their glory and honor it is they bring; and though the words in the original admit the force of “into,” they by no means compel it. The mention of the continually open gates speaks indeed of peaceful and constant intercourse, and we must remember that here is the abode of those who reign with Christ over the earth. Whether these are the “kings of the earth” meant, is, however, a question: if it were so, the “into” might be still the true sense.
The next statement as to the city regards those who do enter therein, that is, have part in the blessedness which is here depicted. In opposition to all defilement, one class alone has title here: it is “they who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” This surely shows that the whole of the Old Testament saints enter into the city. No one is excluded whose name is there: while, on the other hand, the millennial saints have as clearly their portion on earth -the new earth -in connection, indeed, with the “tabernacle of God,” but not in it. The heavenly city remains always heavenly, and when it descends from heaven has then received its inhabitants. These distinctions, which indeed are gathered from elsewhere, are nevertheless to be kept in remembrance here, or all will be confusion.
We have next before us the “paradise of God,” in which the city lies. Man’s paradise of old could not yet have the city; and when the city came, it was outside of paradise altogether. Here at last the two things are united.
We are of necessity reminded also of one of the closing visions of Ezekiel, while a comparison easily shows also the difference between the earthly and the heavenly in these pictures -the one being indeed the shadow, but no more than the shadow, of the other. John here sees “a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” And in Ezekiel the life-giving waters issue forth from the house of the Lord; and this is specially noted in connection with the fruit of the trees that are nourished by it: “And by the river, upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to its months, because their waters issued out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine” (Eze 47:12). How like the account in Revelation is to this, no one can fail to understand: even the language might seem to be taken from it: “In the midst of the street of it, and on this side of the river and on that, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, and yielded its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
But in Ezekiel all is distinctly earthly, and the blessing is not yet full. The waters go down into the salt sea and heal it, so that a great multitude of fish are in its waters; but there are miry places and marshes that are not healed, but given over to salt. With both the Old Testament prophet and the New we see that the earth is yet in the millennial, not the eternal, condition; for the leaves of the tree are for medicine in both alike; there is in both need of healing yet.
The waters are in both cases from the sanctuary, for that is the character of the whole city of God. In Revelation they are specifically from the throne of God; for here the one blessedness is, as we have seen, that God reigns, -God revealed in that perfect grace that is expressed in Christ, -the throne of God being also that of the Lamb. Thus the water is the type, as always in its highest meaning, of the fulness of the Spirit, the power of life and sanctification -indeed, the power of God in all creation. The tree of life bears witness, as in the earthly paradise at first, of dependence upon Another, of life in dependence; but all the plenteous and varied fruits of this could not even be symbolized in the time of old: fresh fruits and abundant; who can tell the blessed meaning? or what Christ is to those that have their life in Him?
“And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads.” Thus He is openly theirs; they too are openly His. Service is taken up afresh in glory according to the fulness of that open-eyed and open-faced communion which is here so assured. It is indeed, when it has its proper character, communion itself. The love that serves us all is the love of God Himself, and of this Christ is the perfect expression. How is it possible to be in communion with Christ without the diligent endeavor to serve Him in the gospel of His grace, and in ministry to His people? In heaven service will not for a moment cease, although some precious possibilities of the present will have passed away indeed. Would that this were more realized, with the Lord’s estimate of greatness in the kingdom of which He is greatest of all!
But the Light! and our inheritance is in the light. To this the vision returns, and ends with it: “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, nor light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for the ages of the ages.” Thus the reign of the saints is not for the Millennium only, nor simply as partakers of the power of the rod of iron. “If by one man’s offense death reigned through one, much more shall they who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:17). Reigning is, for the heavenly saints, inseparable from the life they enter into in the coming day. The new Jerusalem is a city of kings and priests -the bridal city of the King of kings. Here the eternal reign seems associated necessarily with the glory in which all here live and move. For those who were once sinners, -slaves of Satan, and of the lusts by which he enthralled them, to be delivered and brought, by the priceless blood of Jesus, into such communion as is here shown with the Father and the Son, -how can their condition be expressed in language less glowing than this -needing no candle, nor light of the sun, because the Lord God giveth them light -than that they reign for ever and ever?
6. The series of visions is thus completed. What remains is the emphasizing of its authority for the soul, with all that belongs to Him whose revelation it is, and who is Himself coming speedily. Thus the angel now affirms that “these words are faithful and true:” necessarily so because of Him whose words they are. “The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets hath sent His angel to show unto His servants things which must soon come to pass.” Here we return to the announcement of the first chapter. The book is, above all, a practical book. It is not for theorists, or dreamers, but for servants -words which are to be kept, and to have application to their service in the Church and in the world.
The things themselves were soon to come to pass. In fact, the history of the Church, as the coming epistles depict it, could be found imaged, as we see, in the condition of existing assemblies. The seeds of the future already existed, and were silently growing up, even with the growth (externally) of Christianity itself. As to the visions following the epistles, from the sixth chapter on, we have acknowledged the partial truth of what is known as the historical fulfilment of these. It is admitted that there has been an anticipative fulfilment in Christian times of that which has definite application to the time of the end, although it is the last only that has been, in general, dwelt upon in these pages.
Historicalists will not be satisfied with such an admission, and, refusing on their side (as they mostly do) the general bearing of the introductory epistles upon the history of the Church at large, insist upon such affirmations as the present as entirely conclusive that the historical interpretation is the only true one. In fact, the view which has been here followed brings nearest to those in the apostles’ days the things announced, as well as makes the whole book far more fruitful and important for the guidance of servants. For how many generations must they have waited before the seals and trumpets would speak to these! and when they did, how much of guidance would they furnish for practical walk? The application of Babylon the great to Romanism is fully accepted, and that of Jezebel in the same way insisted on, so that as to the errors of popery we are as protestant as any, even if in the “beasts” of the thirteenth chapter we find something beyond this. But nothing of this could have been intelligible to the saints of the early centuries, while the fulfilment of Ephesus, Smyrna, and even Pergamos, would soon be of the first importance.
“The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets” -the reading now generally admitted to be right -emphasizes for us the presence of the living God as what was for these the constant realization in all the shifting scenes of human history. And so it is for those whose spirit is in harmony with them. God in past history, God in the events happening under our eyes, His judgment therefore of everything while controlling everything for His own glory and for the blessing of His people -in this respect how blessed to be guided by those wondrous revelations! while the future, to be learnt from the same infallible teaching, is not only that which animates our hopes, but is necessary for the judgment of the present no less. All lines lead on to the full end, there where the full light gives the manifestation of all.
“And behold, I come quickly.” This is for the heart: future as long as we are down here, and yet to govern the present. “Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.”
Here we are warned of the mistakes that may be made by the holiest of men in the most fervent occupation with heavenly things. John falls at the angel’s feet to worship him; but the angel refuses it, claiming no higher title than to be a fellow-servant with John himself, with his brethren the prophets, and with those also who keep the words of this book. And he adds, “Worship God;” -that is, worship no creature.
Unlike Daniel’s prophecies, the words of the prophecy of this book are not to be sealed up, for the time is near. To the Christian, brought face to face with the coming of the Lord, the end is always near. What time might actually elapse, is another question. In fact, some eighteen centuries have elapsed since this was written: but while Daniel was taught to look on through a vista of many generations to the end before him, Christians, taught to be always in an attitude of expectation, have before them no such necessary interval, and are brought into the full light now, though unbelief and wrong teaching may obscure it. But nothing in this way is under a veil save the moment, whose concealment is meant to encourage expectation. How good for us and fruitful, such concealment, may be measured by the goodness and fruitfulness of the expectation itself.
The solemn words are just ready to be uttered which proclaim the close of the day of grace to those who have refused grace. It is just ready to be said, “Let him that doeth unrighteously, do unrighteously still; and let the filthy make himself filthy still; and let him that is righteous, do righteously still; and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still.” And when this applies is shown clearly in the next words, “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward with Me, to render to every one as his work shall be: I, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” The last affirmation here shows the irrevocable character of this judgment. He sums up in Himself all wisdom, all power: “None can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?”
The way of life and the way of death are now put in contrast: “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Here is the condition of blessing stated according to the character of Revelation, in terms that have been used before. Our robes must be washed in the blood of the Lamb, as those of the redeemed multitude in the vision under the seals, in order to be arrayed in the white garments that are granted to the Lamb’s wife. A very old corruption in this text is that exhibited in the common version, “Blessed are they that do His commandments;” but which is the true reading ought to be apparent at once. It is not by keeping commandments that any one can acquire a right to the tree of life. On the other hand, condemnation is for committing evil: “Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie.”
7. Again it is repeated, “I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify these things unto you in the assemblies;” and then He declares Himself in the two relations among men in which the book has spoken of Him: “I am the root and the offspring of David” -the Jewish relation, the divine, incarnate King of Israel” the bright and Morning Star” -the Object of expectation for the Christian. But immediately He is named, -or, rather, names Himself in this way, -the heart of the Bride, moved by the Spirit, awakes: “And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come!” But because it is yet the day of grace, and the Bride is still open to receive accessions, it is added, “And let him that heareth say, Come!” And if one answer, “Ah, but my heart is yet unsatisfied,” it is further said, “And let him that is athirst come; he that will, let him take the water of life freely.”
Blessed is this testimony. The precious gifts of God are not restricted in proportion to their preciousness, but the reverse. In nature, sunlight, fresh air, the water-brooks, things the most necessary, are on that account bestowed freely upon all. And in the spiritual realm there is no barrier to the reception of the best gifts save that which the soul makes for itself. Not only so, but men are urged to come -to take -to look -with no uncertainty of result for those who do so. The stream that makes glad the city of God is poured out for the satisfaction of all who thirst and will but stoop to drink of it. This is the closing testimony of the gospel in this book; and that with which it is associated adds amazingly to its solemnity.
There is now another warning, neither to add to nor take from the words of the prophecy of this book. Scripture has many similar admonitions, but here the penalty is an unutterably solemn one. To him that adds, God shall add the plagues that are written in this book. From him who takes away, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and from the holy city. Yet men are now not scrupulous at least to take away many of the words of Scripture, and of Revelation among the rest. Every word is claimed here by the Lord Himself for God; and if this is not a claim for verbal inspiration, what is it? As manifestly the closing book of the New Testament Scripture, what may we not infer as to the verbal inspiration of other parts? And what shall be the woe of those who dare presumptuously to meddle with that which is the authoritative communication of the mind of God to man? Is it not being done? and by those who own that somewhere at least -and they cannot pretend to know exactly the limit -Scripture contains the word of God?
This announcement of penalty is Christ’s own word: “He who testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.” Is it not when His Word is being thus dealt with that we may more than ever expect Himself? When the testimony of Scripture is being invalidated and denied, is it not then that we may most expect the faithful and true Witness to testify in person? and especially when this arises in the most unlooked-for places, and Church-teachers laboriously work out a theology of unbelief?
And the promise abides as the hope of the Church, although it be true that the Bridegroom has tarried and the virgins have slept! That -true or false -a cry has been raised, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!” is notorious. That many have stirred, and taken up the old attitude of expectancy, is also true. All these things should surely be significant also. But whatever one’s head may say, -whatever the doctrine we have received and hold as to the coming of our Lord and Master, -the heart of the truly faithful must surely say with the apostle here, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
It is the only response that answers to the assurance of His love on His departure to the Father: “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you: I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, ye may be also.”
The Lord’s coming -the parousia -is just the “presence” of the Lord Himself. Nothing short of this could satisfy the hearts of those who looked up after Him as He ascended with His hands spread in blessing over them, and were reassured by the angels’ voices that this same Jesus would come again. Just in proportion as we too have learnt by the Spirit the power of the love of Jesus, we too shall be satisfied with this, and with this alone. May we learn more deeply what is this cry of the Spirit and the Bride, “Amen; come, Lord Jesus!”
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
These words are conceived to set forth the glorious and happy condition of the church of Christ here on earth, during the time of Satan’s restraint; and the term of a thousand years, shows that will be the longest happy condition that ever the militant church enjoyed, for purity of ordinances, for increase of light and knowledge, for the power of godliness, for the abundance of professors, for the more open and public profession of Christianity, for outward freedom and peace, and all this for a long continuance of time; which happy state and condition is here set forth by thrones, showing the saints’ dignity and dominion over the enemies.
And whereas St. John says, he saw the souls of martyrs who had shed their blood for Christ, the meaning, say some, is, he saw them in their successors of the same faith, those pious Christians which should at that time live, and in their principles and practices are like the holy martyrs; these shall then enjoy a more quiet, happy, and comfortable state, during this time, than the servants of God enjoyed at any time before.
Yet observe farther, That this glorious condition of the church is not absolute, but comparative only, both in respect of purity, and in respect of peace; for whilst the church is on this side heaven, there will be both corruptions within, and temptations without: hypocrites there will be, and offences will come, though freedom from all these will at that time be more than usual; yet taking up the cross, and being conformed to Christ in his sufferings, will be duties belonging to saints whilst the world endures.
Observe lastly, That yet there is no ground from hence to expect Christ’s personal reign upon earth, or his corporal presence with his church here: for it is not said that he reigned with them, but that they reigned with him; denoting that this kingdom is spiritual, consisting in purity and peace, in righteousness and joy, in the Holy Ghost.
As to a personal reign of Christ then with his people here on earth, it seems not probable, because the scripture is silent of it, and joins Christ’s personal coming and the day of judgment together. Besides, were Christ personally upon earth, how should we enjoy him, and converse with him? It is impossible we should enjoy a glorified Christ until our bodies be spiritualized, which they will never be until they get to heaven.
Once more, What will become of the saints during these thousand years of Christ’s supposed presence with them? Either they will live all that thousand years, (which is not rational to suppose,) or they will die in that time; if they die, and go to heaven, they will go from Christ, and not to him, and must for a time be absent from him, instead of being for ever with him; and doubtless heaven will be a melancholy place, if Christ be out of it.
The sum then is this, “That the saints living and reigning with Christ, holds forth the flourishing condition of the church militant: the expression of sitting upon thrones, speaks an honourable condition that the church will be certainly in, after the downfall of antichrist; and the term of a thousand years, shows it will be the longest happy condition that ever the church enjoyed.”
God Almighty hasten that desirable time.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The reigning of this verse is on thrones, which have been in heaven throughout this book. Jesus will actually lay down his reign after the resurrecton. ( 1Co 15:23-25 ) Those John sees in this verse have received God’s favorable judgment. John saw the souls of those beheaded for their faith in Jesus ( Rev 6:9-11 ) and those who remained faithful in life by refusing to worship the beast or bow to his authority in any way.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 20:4-6. And I saw thrones Such as were promised to the apostles, Mat 19:28; Luk 22:30; and they Namely, the saints, whom St. John saw at the same time; sat upon them, and judgment was given to them 1Co 6:2. Error and sin being restrained, the reign of righteousness succeeds, and the administration of justice and judgment is given to the saints of the Most High, Dan 7:22. And I saw the souls That is, the persons; of them that were beheaded Namely, with the axe, as the word properly signifies: one kind of death, however, which was particularly inflicted at Rome, is mentioned for all kinds thereof: for the witness, or testimony, of Jesus For testifying that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour, Lawgiver, and final Judge of the world, and especially of those who believe in him; and for the word of God In general, or for some particular and peculiarly important truth of it; or for bearing witness to the great truths of the everlasting gospel; and who had not worshipped the beast Had not made any acknowledgment of subjection to the antichristian power of the beast, nor yielded to the prevailing corruptions; nor his image The pope and his corrupt hierarchy; but had persevered in the true Christian faith against all opposition. See on Rev 13:4-8; Rev 13:11-17. Neither had received his mark in their foreheads, or on their hands Had neither made an open profession of his corrupt religion, nor had secretly complied with its idolatries or superstitions. And they lived Their souls and bodies being reunited; and reigned with Christ It is not said, on earth. Doubtless the meaning is, that they ascended and reigned with him in heaven; a thousand years Namely, before the rest of the dead, even the one thousand years during which Satan is bound, and truth and righteousness prevail over all the earth.
Although the martyrs, when thus raised from the dead, shall not continue on earth, it is highly probable that, in proof of their resurrection, they will appear to pious individuals, in the places where they were so cruelly martyred, and where they are raised: as those saints who, at Jerusalem, rose with Christ, went into the city, and appeared to many, Mat 27:52-53. And if so, it is likely this circumstance will tend greatly to confirm the faith and hope of believers respecting the resurrection of the dead, and will check vice and profaneness, and contribute much to the spread of the gospel. The martyrs and confessors of Jesus, says Bishop Newton, who are here represented as being raised from the dead, at least one thousand years before others, are not only those who were beheaded, or suffered any kind of death, under the heathen Roman emperors, but also those who refused to comply with the idolatrous worship of the beast and his image. All these have this peculiar prerogative above the rest of mankind: they all share in this first resurrection. And all of them the apostle here pronounces, Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection He is holy in all senses of the word: holy, as separated from the common lot of mankind; holy, as endowed with all virtuous qualifications; and none but such are admitted to partake of this blessed state. On such the second death has no power The second death is a Jewish phrase for the punishment of the wicked after death. The Chaldee paraphrase of Onkelos, and the other paraphrases of Jonathan Ben Uzziel, and of Jerusalem, on Deu 33:6, Let Reuben live, and not die, say, Let him not die the second death, by which the wicked die in the world to come.
The sons of the resurrection, therefore, shall not die again, but shall live in eternal bliss, and be priests of God and Christ, and reign with him a thousand years Before any others. For the Lord Jesus will not suffer any of his disciples to be, in the end, losers for their fidelity to him and his cause. These loved not their lives unto death, but voluntarily sacrificed them out of love to him; and he thus amply recompenses them. He gives each of them an infinitely better life than that given up for his sake and this a thousand years before the other pious dead receive theirs. Nothing is more evident, says Bishop Newton, than that this prophecy of the millennium, and of the first resurrection, hath not yet been fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken in a figurative sense. For reckon the thousand years from the time of Christ, or reckon them from the time of Constantine, yet neither of these periods, nor indeed any other, will answer the description and character of the millennium, the purity and peace, the holiness and happiness of that blessed state. Before Constantine, indeed, the church was in greater purity; but was groaning under the persecutions of the heathen emperors. After Constantine, the church was in greater prosperity, but was soon shaken and disturbed by heresies and schisms, by the incursions and devastations of the northern nations, by the conquering arms and prevailing imposture of the Saracens, and afterward of the Turks; by the corruption, idolatry, and wickedness the usurpation, tyranny, and cruelty, of the Church of Rome. If Satan was then bound, when can he be said to be loosed? Or how could the saints and the beast, Christ and antichrist, reign at the same period? This prophecy therefore remains to be fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken only for an allegory, which yet the text cannot admit without the greatest torture and violence. For with what propriety can it be said, that some of the dead, who were beheaded, lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished, unless the dying and living again be the same in both places, a proper death and resurrection? Indeed the death and resurrection of the witnesses before mentioned, chap. 11., appears, from the concurrent circumstances of the vision, to be figurative; but the death and resurrection here mentioned must, for the very same reasons, be concluded to be real. If the martyrs rise only in a spiritual sense, then the rest of the dead rise only in a spiritual sense; but if the rest of the dead really rise, the martyrs rise in the same manner. There is no difference between them: and we should be cautious and tender of making the first resurrection an allegory, lest others should reduce the second into an allegory too, like those whom St. Paul mentions 2Ti 2:17-18.
In the general, that there shall be such a happy period is the plain and express doctrine of Dan 7:27; Psa 2:8; Isa 11:9; Rom 11:25-26, and of all the prophets, as well as of St. John; and we daily pray for the accomplishment of it in saying, Thy kingdom come. But, of all the prophets, St. John is the only one who hath declared particularly, and in express terms, that the martyrs shall rise at the commencement of it, though, as has been observed, probably not to remain on earth, but to ascend and be with Christ in heaven; and that this happy state of the church shall continue for one thousand years. And the Jewish Church before him, and the Christian Church after him, have further believed and taught, that these thousand years will be the seventh millenary of the world. A pompous heap of quotations might be produced to this purpose, both from Jewish and Christian writers; but to enumerate only a few of both sorts: among the Jewish writers are, Rabbi Ketina, and the house of Elias; among the Christian writers are, St. Barnabas in the first century, Justin Martyr in the second century, Tertullian in the beginning of the third, and Lactantius in the beginning of the fourth century. In short, the doctrine of the millennium was generally believed in the first three and purest ages of the church: and this belief was one principal cause of the fortitude of the primitive Christians: they even coveted martyrdom, in hopes of being partakers of the privileges and glories of the martyrs in the first resurrection. Afterward, this doctrine grew into disrepute, for various reasons. Some, both Jewish and Christian writers, have debased it with a mixture of fables. It hath suffered by the misrepresentations of its enemies, as well as by the indiscretions of its friends; it hath been abused to the worst purposes: it hath been made an engine of faction. Besides, wherever the influence and authority of the Church of Rome have extended, she hath endeavoured by all means to discredit this doctrine; and, indeed, not without sufficient reason, this kingdom of Christ being founded on the ruins of antichrist. No wonder, therefore, that this doctrine lay depressed for many ages; but it sprang up again at the Reformation, and will flourish together with the study of the Revelation. All the danger is, on the one side, of pruning and lopping it too short; and, on the other, of suffering it to grow too wild and luxuriant. Great caution and judgment are required to keep in the middle way. We should neither, with some, interpret into an allegory; nor, with others, indulge an extravagant fancy, nor explain too curiously the manner and circumstances of this future state.
We must not imagine, as Fleming observes, that the appearance of Christ, to introduce this glorious state of the church, will be a personal one, any more than his appearance to destroy Jerusalem, and punish the Jewish nation by Titus, was such; for the heavens must retain him until the time of the restitution of all things. Nor are we to imagine that, in this prosperous state of the church, it shall be free from all mixture of hypocrisy, error, and sin, seeing that the sudden and general apostacy which will follow that period shows that all were not Israel that feigned themselves to be of it; otherwise it is not likely that God, in his equity and goodness, would suffer the enemies of his people so dreadfully to assault them as they are here represented to do. It is safest and best faithfully to adhere to the words of Scripture, and to rest contented with the general account, till time shall accomplish and eclaircise all the particulars.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 4
Beheaded for the witness of Jesus; for the witness which they bore. And they lived; were restored to life. This language has been commonly understood to mean that the martyrs thus raised were to appear upon the earth again; but the place which was to be the scene of their new existence, does not seem to be indicated.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
20:4 {6} And I saw {a} thrones, and they sat upon them, and {7} judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were {8} beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which {9} had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
(6) A description of the common state of the Church of Christ in earth in that space of a thousand years, during which the devil was in bonds; in which first the authority, life, and common honour of the godly, is declared, Rev 20:4 . Secondly, newness of life is preached to others by the gospel after that time; Rev 20:5 . Finally, he concludes with promises, Rev 20:6 .
(a) For judgment was committed to them, as to members joined to the head: not that Christ’s office was given over to them.
(7) This was a type of the authority of the good and faithful servants of God in the Church, taken from the manner of men.
(8) Of the martyrs, who suffered in those first times.
(9) Of the martyrs who suffered after both the beasts were now risen up, chapter 15. For there, these things are expounded.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. The resurrection of tribulation martyrs 20:4-6
". . . it is not difficult to see why the early church understood John to be teaching a millennium in Revelation 20. Three arguments support this interpretation: (1) the teaching of two resurrections, (2) the binding of Satan, and (3) the ruling of the saints with Christ." [Note: Robert L. Saucy, The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism, p. 274. See also Ford, Revelation, p. 350; and David J. MacLeod, "The Fourth ’Last Thing’: The Millennial Kingdom of Christ (Revelation 20:4-6)," Bibliotheca Sacra 157:625 (January-March 2000):44-67.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
John saw a new scene. The purpose of the thrones that John saw was twofold: ruling and judging (cf. Dan 7:9-10; Dan 7:22; Mat 19:28). Those sitting on them are probably the faithful saints who have returned with Christ to the earth (Rev 19:7-8; Rev 19:14; Rev 19:19; cf. Rev 2:26-28; Rev 3:12; Rev 3:21). [Note: Seiss, pp. 457-58; Thomas, Revelation 8-22, p. 414.] Other views are that they are the 24 elders viewed as representatives of the church, [Note: Smith, A Revelation . . ., p. 270; Walvoord, The Revelation . . ., p. 296.] Tribulation saints, [Note: Charles, 2:182-83; Caird, p. 252.] or the apostles and perhaps some other saints. [Note: Swete, p. 261; Beasley-Murray, p. 293; Beale, p. 991.] They receive authority from God to take charge of the earth, the beast’s domain, under Christ’s rule.
John also saw the souls of some people not yet resurrected. These are quite clearly Tribulation martyrs who died because they held steadfastly to the testimony that Jesus bore and the word of God (cf. Rev 6:9; Rev 12:17; Rev 18:24; Rev 19:2). [Note: Ladd, p. 263; Herman Hoeksema, "The Reign of the Saints," The Researcher 20:4 (Winter 1990):20-21.] They refused to take the mark of the beast or to worship his image and had died for their faith (Rev 13:15). John saw them come back to life; that is, they experienced bodily resurrection (cf. Rev 20:5; Rev 1:18; Rev 2:8; Rev 13:14; Joh 11:25; Act 1:3; Act 9:41). [Note: See Richard S. Yates, "The Resurrection of the Tribulation Saints," Bibliotheca Sacra 163:652 (October-December 2006):453-66.] Moreover these martyrs will reign with Christ on earth during the Millennium (cf. Rev 5:10). The name "Christ" (Anointed One) looks back to Psa 2:2 here, as it does wherever it occurs in Revelation (Rev 11:15; Rev 12:10; Rev 20:6), tying this reign to Old Testament expectations of God’s kingdom on earth.
"They who were once judged by earth’s courts to be worthy of death are now the judges of the earth under Christ." [Note: Johnson, p. 582.]
Many amillennialists believe this reign of Christ refers to His spiritual reign over the hearts of His people or the triumph of the martyrs in a symbolic sense. There are four good reasons why Jesus Christ’s reign will be a physical, earthly reign rather than a spiritual, heavenly one. First, Christ will be on earth after He returns (Rev 19:11-16). Second, at the end of His reign the saints, who reign with Him, will still be on the earth (Rev 20:9). Third, God promised the saints an earthly reign (Rev 5:10). Fourth, the Old Testament Messianic prophecies anticipated an earthly kingdom (e.g., 2Sa 7:10-16; Psa 2:8; Isa 65:17 to Isa 66:24; Dan 7:27; et al.).