The throne of iniquity is overthrown. Satan is expelled from his former sphere of rule and activity and lies chained and imprisoned in the Abyss. The winepress of the fierceness of God the Almighty has been trodden. With fire and with sword the Lord of hosts has pleaded with mankind, and the slain of Jehovah are many. "Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth" (Psalm 46:8). But the work of Jehovah is not merely negative and destructive. His judgment and vengeance has but cleared the arena for the establishment of His glorious reign. The reign foretold long ago by the prophets of Israel and reaffirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles. So long as Satan was prince of the world, while his throne was here (Revelation 2:13) and the Beast was reigning (13:7), this reign of the Lord and of His Christ could not have been inaugurated. But now every rival power is destroyed and every foe cast out by execution of divine judgment and all things are ready for a great step.

      Three verses only, but these weighted with great meaning, tell the story:

      "Then 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. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed 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." (Revelation 20:4-6.)

      "Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them." Who are these people who sit on these thrones and reign with Christ a thousand years, and to whom "judgment" is given? To whom does John refer when he says "they sat"? The context reaches back to that army of Christ that came down with Him out of the opened heaven (19:14). Those are certainly "they" to whom it was promised that they should "always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17); That they should be glorified together with Him (Romans 8:17); And should appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:4); And share His throne with Him (Revelation 3:21); Those who shall be crowned (2 Timothy 4:8), and shall reign with Him (2Timothy 2:12); Those who shall rule the nations with a rod of iron, even as He also received of His Father. (Revelation 2:26, 27.) These are "they" whom John now sees, seated on the thrones.

      But in addition he mentions specially two other classes. "And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God. Not only these but also "those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand." This two classes are specially mentioned as though super-added to the original number: They had been "beheaded"; They had refused to worship the Beast or his image or to receive his mark (Revelation 13) and, in consequence, suffered martyrdom, or perished otherwise. These are saints and martyrs who lived under the reign of the Beast and suffered the unexampled trials of the Great Tribulation. To them, also, is given part in the glorious reign. Of all this company it is said that "they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." They came to life (the same word as in Romans 14:9; Revelation 2:8). "This is the resurrection, the first one" (So the Greek). "The rest of the dead (all other dead) did not come to life until the thousand years were completed." (Revelation 20:5.)

      The language here, in its context and plain meaning, obviously depicts a selective resurrection from among the whole number of the dead, preceding the general resurrection of the dead by a thousand years. The language presents no difficulty whatever. Its meaning is perfectly obvious. But some, finding it impossible to make these statements fit into their conception of things, have taken the liberty to deny their plain meaning, along with a good deal of the rest of Revelation, and proceed to make these words yield a sense that is more in accord with their views--a very arbitrary and ruthless way of dealing with the word of God. Accordingly, they tell us, that these are "souls" that lived and not bodies at all (compare Jeremiah 2:34); that this is but a "spiritual" resurrection, a reviving of faith and high principles, and the "martyr-spirit," and in that sense the old martyrs reigned; and more of the like sort of "exegesis." Grant such principles of interpretation, and the Bible ceases to have any definite meaning of any sort. A. S. Peake, in [44] his commentary, though a modernist, scorns such exegesis as being a mere subterfuge and trifling with the text. Alford, one of the ablest and most learned commentators, emphatically protests against such dealing with the Scriptures. Here are his words on this text:

      "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 souls lived at the first, and the rest of the dead lived only at the end of a specified period after the 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 anything. 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."

      But it is not necessary to spend more time on this point. Neither need we fear that the simple and evident meaning of these words contradict other scripture-testimony. We are not called upon to help God out by nullifying or perverting any statement of His Word in order to harmonize it with another. There is no necessity.

      It is not correct to say that the doctrine of the First Resurrection rests only upon Revelation 20:4-6--Though even one passage as explicit as this ought to be sufficient. Even from Old Testament times the people of God understood that there are distinctions in the resurrection (Hebrews 11:35; Daniel 12:2), though they may not have known that any interval of time separated them. Our Lord spoke of "the resurrection of the righteous" as the time and occasion of the saints' reward (Luke 14:14). Always, when the resurrection is a "resurrection from the dead,"--Greek, "ek,"--"out of," or "from among"--it is a selective resurrection. (See, for example, Luke 20:35, 36.) Paul, in Philippians 3:11, hopes to attain to the "out-resurrection from among the dead," which is the literal force of the Greek term employed there ("exanastasis ek ton nekron").¹

      Where both resurrections are mentioned together, that of the just is always mentioned first--as in John 5:28, 29.²

      When the Lord Jesus returns "the dead in Christ will rise first"--that is, before the living saints are changed and caught up (1 Thessalonians 4:16). The resurrection of the rest of the dead must be after that, for, though all men indeed shall rise, it will be "each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming" (1 Corinthians 15:23). If there is to be a resurrection of the "rest of the dead" it must be after the resurrection of those who are Christ's. How long after we learn only in Revelation 20:5--"The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed."

      In this "first resurrection" are included all that are raised before the Thousand Years. "Blessed 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." Truly the promise is wondrous and great. God grant us to share in it!

      Having seen now who they are that participate in this thousand years reign with Christ, we must next inquire over whom their rule and reign is exercised. There is a general tendency at this point to refuse the plain and evident sense of the inspired record. The thought of another, a Millennial, dispensation on the earth, to follow the Lord's return, is repugnant to some, and denounced by them as opposed to the teaching of other scriptures. So they think that these statements must needs be manipulated and whipped into agreement with their preconceptions on the matter.

      Accordingly, some have adopted the "post-millenarian" view, a comparatively modern invention. Others have it that in some "highly figurative" sense the millennium is going on now, or is even "past already."

      Adventism depopulates the earth entirely and has Christ and his saints "reigning" up in heaven. These and other schemes have been devised to evade the plain sense of the scripture, and the difficult questions that arise. But it is always fatal to adjust the Bible to our views instead of our views to the Bible. Although [45] men may avoid some difficulties in this manner, they raise greater ones. It is better far to take the Word simply as it stands and to leave the problems to God. To quote once more from Alford:

      "I cannot consent to distort its words [the words of this passage, Revelation 20:4-6] 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 cast aside the most cogent instance of unanimity which primitive antiquity presents." (Alford, Commentary, on Revelation 20:4-6. Bold type mine.)

      But over whom do Christ and the saints reign? The answer is not difficult. By His own statement and promise it is "the nations." (Revelation 2:26, 27.) "The saints will judge the world" (1 Corinthians 6:2), which, as generally in the scriptures, means the administrative office as well as the judicial. It is "the kingdom of the world" that passes over into Christ's hands (Revelation 11:15), the very sphere of dominion which before was held by the Beast.

      But are not all nations destroyed in the terrific judgments of the Day of the Lord? Are not the wicked slain, and all the righteous saved at Christ's coming? Will anybody on earth survive those times? From where come those nations?

      The earnest and faithful believer would not feel that it is his concern, in the first place, to determine how these "nations" come to be here, or where they come from. The one thing certain is that they will be here, and the saints shall reign over them. Equally certain it is that they are men in the flesh, not resurrected dead; because all the raised ones thus far are of the First Resurrection--the rulers themselves. The rest of the dead live not until after the Thousand Years. Regardless of whether we can figure out where those nations come from, they will be here, and the saints will reign over them, for God says so. Our inability to account for them would not affect the matter nor give us license to explain away the word of God.

      However, even if some passages taken alone in themselves would seem to teach that the earth will be swept of all men, we have additional scripture testimony that nations will survive those judgments. Israel, as a nation, will remain (Jeremiah 31:35-37) and stand exalted above all others. And many other nations, though some reduced to merest remnants, will be left. The following scriptures are quite clear.

• Psalms 46:8-10 where nations are still here after the desolations.
• Isaiah 13:6-12 where after the Day of the Lord--men are still here, although "scarcer than pure gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir." Also Isaiah 24:13; "For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, As the shaking of an olive tree, As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over. "
• Zechariah 14:16 tells us that there will be some "who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem."
• Daniel 7:22 tells us that the saints will receive the kingdom--meaning the kingdom that had been ruled by the beast.

      In the very earth where so long man's rebellion has prevailed, where but lately the lawless One held his God-defying sway, Christ and His saints shall now have the power and government. Not up in heaven but "under the whole heaven," is the sphere of their sovereignty. (Daniel 7:27.)

      What sort of reign will that be, and what will be the nature of those times?

1. It will be an era of righteous government, such as the world has never seen. The "rod of iron" stands for strict administration of inflexible justice. The Great King, whose reign is prophetically celebrated in Psalm 72 and sketched in Isaiah 11, breaks in pieces the oppressor and procures right and justice for the weak and needy. Righteousness will be the girdle of his loins. And the work of righteousness shall be peace. "There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace."(Isaiah 9:7.) "Behold, a king will reign righteously, And princes will rule justly." (Isaiah 32:1.) The world has never yet known the real meaning of the word "government," nor has it ever seen righteous law righteously enforced. But when the kingdom of this world passes into the hands of Christ (Revelation 11:15), men will learn righteousness and experience the blessings of peace.
2. It will be a time of world-conversion. However, Government, the maintenance of law and order, is not salvation or conversion. The hearts of men are not reached by outward rule. That must come through the Word, which will then go out from restored Israel to all the world. (Psalms 67.) The knowledge of [46] Jehovah shall cover the earth as waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9.) Satan, who now veils the minds of the unbelieving that they may not perceive the glory of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4) and who for ages had been systematically deceiving men (Revelation 12:9), will then be bound and imprisoned. To the light of the Truth, then shining unobstructedly, men shall come by multitudes, in willing surrender.
3. It will be the "the period of restoration of all things" as promised by the prophets of old (Acts 3:19-21). It will be the day of the "revealing of the sons of God" for which all creation is eagerly waiting, as for its day of deliverance (Romans 8:18-24). Then the earth's curse will be lifted: thorns and thistles shall disappear; swamps and deserts with them. Wild beasts shall lose their ferocity. The enmity and bitter struggles for life and supremacy manifest in Nature will cease. Although death shall not be banished until the millennial age gives place to the eternal state (1 Corinthians 15:26; Revelation 20:14), yet the longevity of men will be restored as in the primal days: "as the lifetime of a tree" (Isaiah 65:20-25). The glowing pictures of Isaiah 11 and 35 and many Psalms, whatever preliminary application they may have, refer to that golden age to come.

      This era of the glorious reign covers a thousand years, therefore, it is called the "Millennium."³ During this time no dead are raised. Whether this is a literal time-measure or not would not matter; for in any case it stands for a long period. But there is no good reason why it should not be just what it says, a thousand years."⁴

      The Millennium is not the final state, nor does it mark the completion of God's perfect design. At the end of the thousand years the earth is teeming with a population who have long and amply enjoyed the clear light of truth, and all the goodness of God. But these must be tested. So from his prison-pit Satan is loosed--only "for a short time" however. Immediately he sets about once more to deceive the nations, and meets with a success far too great. Alas for poor, weak humanity! In their rebellion the hordes of Gog and Magog rise against the righteous dominion of Christ, come sweeping across the breadth of the earth, and surround the camp of the saints and the beloved City. But there is no war nor conflict: suddenly, in a moment, they are consumed by fire from on high, and the Devil who deceived them is cast into the Lake of fire.

      But now man has been fully tested, and all probation is done. There appears a great white throne; and before the face of the One Who sits on that throne, the heaven and earth vanish away, and there is no place found for them.

      Now come forth the dead of all ages and climes--all the "rest of the dead" who were not in the first resurrection--and they must appear before that Throne in the searching light of God's holiness.

      Books are opened--and another book, which is the Book of Life. The dead are judged by the things written in the books, according to their works; and whosoever is not found written in the Book of Life is cast into the Lake of Fire.

      That Lake of Fire is the same one into which the Beast and False Prophet had been thrown a thousand years earlier--and where they still are, though a thousand years have passed. This fate constitutes that "Second Death"--as much more terrible than the first, as hell is more terrible than dying. Death itself is destroyed, for all that belong to the domain of that king of terrors go into the Lake of Fire, where Satan has already been cast. And none that enter that place do ever return from it. Thus ends all the old order with its long story of sin and judgment, to make room for a New Heaven and New Earth that shall abide eternally.

      What did the first Christians believe in the days of the Apostles and for the first 300 years of the church? [47]

1. "The most striking point in the eschatology of the Ante-Nicene age (i. e., before the council of Nice. A. D. 325) is the prominent Chiliasm or Millenarianism--that is, the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth for a thousand years before the general resurrection and judgment." Schaff, Church History. Vol. 2, p. 614.⁵
2. "The ancient and popular doctrine of the Millennium is intimately connected with the second coming of Christ . . . and that Christ with the triumphant band of saints and the elect who had escaped death or who had been miraculously revived would reign upon the earth until the time appointed for the last and general resurrection . . . The assurance of such a millennium was carefully inculcated by a succession of fathers from Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, who conversed with the immediate disciples of the apostles, down to Lactantius, who was a preceptor to the son of Constantine. Though it might not be universally received, it appears to have been the reigning sentiment of orthodox believers; and it seems so well adapted to the desires and apprehensions of mankind that it must have contributed in a very considerable degree to the progress of the Christian faith. But when the edifice of the church was almost completed, the temporary support was laid aside. The doctrine of Christ's reign upon the earth was at first treated as profound allegory, was considered by degrees as a doubtful and useless opinion, was at length rejected as the absurd invention of heresy and fanaticism." Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Volume V, pp 34, 35, 36.

      (It is still considered by some as either "allegorical," "useless opinionism," or rank heresy and fanaticism, but from the beginning it was not so.--By "the edifice of the church was almost completed," Gibbon means that the Roman Catholic Church had taken shape.)

3. The prevailing opinion that Christ was to come and reign a thousand years among men before the final dissolution of the world, had met with no opposition until the time of Origen. Mosheim, Church History, Vol. 1, p. 89 Ed. of 1840.

1. The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. Found in 1873 by Byrennios, an Eastern Prelate. Whole chapters are quoted by Barnabas in his epistle. It contains a prayer which was said after the communion ending with 'Maranatha'--"The Lord Cometh."

      "Watch for your life's sake. Let not your lamps be quenched nor your loins unloosed; but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour when your Lord cometh . . . When lawlessness increaseth they shall hate and betray and persecute one another and then shall appear the world deceiver [the anti-christ] as son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands and he shall do iniquitous things which have never yet come to pass from the beginning. Then shall the creation of men come into the fire of trial and many shall be made to stumble but they that endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself."

      "And then shall appear the sign of truth: first, the outspreading of the heaven; then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and third, the resurrection of the dead; yet not of all, but as it is said, 'The Lord shall come and all his saints with him.' Then the world shall see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven." Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7, 382. The date of "the Didache" is assigned by some to be earlier than the year 100 A. D., others as no later than 150 A. D.

2. Clement of Rome, mentioned in Philippians 4:3 as a fellow-laborer with Paul, whose name is in the book of life. He wrote about 95 A. D. From his first epistle to Corinth the following lines are taken:

      "Of a truth soon and suddenly shall His will be accomplished, as the scriptures bear witness, saying, 'Speedily shall he come and will not tarry,' and 'the Lord will suddenly come to his holy Temple, even the Holy One for whom ye look.' Let us be followers of 'those who went about in sheepskins and goatskins,' preaching the coming of Christ."

      In his second epistle we have the following: "Let us every hour expect the kingdom of God, in love and righteousness, because we know not the day of God's appearing."

3. Polycarp, disciple of John. Irenaeus mentions him as teaching that the earth will be marvelously fertile and fruitful during the millennium, and that he was told by John, who heard it from the Lord.
4. Papias, companion of Polycarp. Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2, 18. "There will be a millennium after the resurrection from the dead, when the personal reign of Christ shall be established on the earth."
5. Ignatius of Antioch, disciple of John. "Be every day better than another, consider the times and expect Him who is above all time." Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2, 94. [48]

[TR4R 44-48]