Transcript

An elderly man once asked a young man, “What are you going to do with your life?” The young boy replied, “I’m going to go to college and get a business degree.”

The old man said, “Well, what then?” “Oh! Then I’m going up to New York and I’m going to work on Wall Street, become a broker, and hopefully become a millionaire.”

“And when then?” then old man asked. The young man continued, “Then I’m going to buy myself a fine house. I may try to retire early so that I can enjoy the good life.”

The old man asked, “When then?” “Well then, after that, I’m just going to golf, relax, and enjoy my grandkids.” The old man said, “Alright. What then?”

The young man replied, “I guess after all of that I’m gonna die.” The old man smiled and looked the young man in the eyes and said, “And what then?”

It’s okay to make plans for our lives. But we should not neglect to make plans for eternity. One day, all of us will be in eternity. To live only for the temporal is not wise. We need to live for the Lord and for the eternal. We will never regret doing so.

God promises eternal rewards and reigning positions for those who faithfully live for Him, serve Him, and stand for the truth of His Word. We see this in both programs of God with the nation Israel and the Church, the Body of Christ.

Geoff Gorsuch writes, “The question to ask at the end of life’s race is not so much ‘What have I accomplished?’ but ‘Whom have I loved, and how courageously?’”

We should love our families and those closest to us courageously. And the Church is called to love the Lord courageously and to live for Him. In this scene from the final act, we see a group of people who loved the Lord courageously, even unto death.

Revelation 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 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 Apostle John says, “And I saw,” four times in Revelation 20. He was an eyewitness of these future end times scenes and events.

In verses 1-3, John “saw” the angel come down from heaven and seize Satan, casting him into the bottomless pit and binding him there for 1000 years. Here in verse 4, John “saw thrones,” and those who “sat upon them.”

Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ will reign over the earth from His throne in Jerusalem during the millennial kingdom. Revelation 20:4 shows that Christ will not reign alone. The “thrones” are seats of authority, judicial and regal.

The word “thrones” is plural. There are an undefined number of them. In the vision, John sees an array of thrones, and then as he was watching, “they sat upon them.”

As you continue reading the verse you learn who the “they” is: “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.”

The “they” is the martyred believers of the second half of the Tribulation. Only in the second 3 ½ years of the Tribulation will people be required to take the mark of the beast or to worship the idol, the image of the beast set up in the Temple in Jerusalem.

These saints will refuse to do so, because they trusted Christ and the Word of God. And they will be killed for their faith.

As a result of their faithful witness and stand for Christ, being faithful even unto death, these saints are given a place of honor and authority by Christ in the millennial kingdom. They will not follow the world or its majority.

When the majority of the world will be swept up in the cultic and popular worship of the beast and his idol, willingly taking the mark of the beast on their foreheads and right hands, these followers of Jesus Christ will REFUSE to go along with the majority.

They will perceive that the Antichrist is a liar and a fake. Their faith will be in Jesus Christ as the true Messiah of Israel, and they will stand for Him and give their lives out of the conviction of their faith in Christ.

Their example is a challenge for us, the Body of Christ, how we too need to be true to Christ and God’s Word, and not follow the powerful influence and course of this world.

Those who withstand the Antichrist and refuse to receive the mark of the beast in the Tribulation will be the special objects of his indignation.

Through the power of Satan it will be “given unto him [the Antichrist] to make war with the saints, and to overcome them,” Revelation 13:7 says.

It will be law and a worldwide decree, “that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (13:15). Those who refuse to worship the beast and receive his mark will be relentlessly hunted, and if they are caught, they will be executed.

In that day, many will be “beheaded [or literally, cut off with an axe] for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God” (20:4). Unlike any other period in human history, the coming Tribulation will be characterized by beheadings too numerous to fathom.

Not long ago, America was stunned by the brutal beheadings of Christians at the hands of Muslim extremists, but this is merely a small sample of what lies ahead.

These future martyrs will be beheaded for two reasons: (1) because of their witness and stand for Jesus Christ and God’s Word, and (2) because they refuse to worship the beast or take his mark.

Following Sunday worship services on January 8, 2006, five young men attacked and threatened to kill a Protestant church leader in Turkey’s fourth largest city.

Kamil Kiroglu, age 29, had just left his church in Adana when he was ambushed and beaten so severely that he fell unconscious twice.

“They were trying to force me to deny Jesus,” Kiroglu said. “But each time they asked me to deny Jesus and become a Muslim, I was saying, ‘Jesus is Lord.’ The more I said, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ the more they beat me.”

One of the attackers pulled out a long butcher knife and threatened to kill Kiroglu if he did not deny his Christian faith and return to Islam. Kiroglu refused.

After the incident, he said, “I am praising God—not because He saved me from death, but because He helped me not to deny Him in the shadow of death.”

The saints in the future Tribulation will also not deny the Lord in the shadow of death. But they will be beheaded for their faith in the true Christ.

As a result of their stand for Him, and willingness to die for His name, the Lord gives theses martyrs “thrones” and seats of authority in His millennial kingdom.

They were the special objects of Satan’s hatred, but forever they will be special objects of Christ’s love when they are rewarded, exalted, and blessed by Him and given positions of exaltation with Christ for 1000 years.

They died for Christ, but verse 4 shows that they live! Verse 4 says, “…and they lived with Christ a thousand years.” Their bodies will be raised and they will receive resurrected glorified bodies at the first resurrection of prophecy.

As the Lord said in John 11:25, “I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

These martyrs will die “for the witness [or testimony] of Jesus.” One chapter earlier, Revelation 19:10 adds to this statement: “the testimony [or witness, same Greek word as in Revelation 20:4] of Jesus is the spirit OF PROPHECY.”

The focus and purpose of prophecy points to the Person of Jesus Christ. These martyrs are future believers who will die for the witness of Jesus as revealed in the prophetic Scriptures, which declare that He is the Messiah and King of Israel.

According to the gospel of the kingdom, their faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the true Messiah is what will save their souls in that day, along with water baptism.

Their faith in Jesus Christ according to prophecy, that He is the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God (John 20:31), is what these martyrs will die for.

Today, the ministry of Christ is according to “the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began” (Rom. 16:25). Faith in Christ that He died for our sins and rose again, is what saves our souls today.

This is the gospel of the grace of God. For believers in the Body of Christ, 2 Timothy 2:12 tells us, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.”

There will be an exalted reigning position for those who suffer and die for Christ under grace, but their and our reigning position for all eternity is in the heavenlies.

People who die for their faith today will not be of this number in Revelation 20:4 who are given “thrones” in the millennial kingdom on earth. This is in reference to martyred believers following the Rapture of the Church.

In Revelation 1:6, John states that Christ, “hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father.” A king sits on a throne.

These martyrs sitting on their thrones will have regal authority. They will be shown the privilege of a king and have the power and supremacy of one in the kingdom.

At the same time, they will, of course, be under the authority and will willingly serve the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Also, as John saw the Tribulation martyrs sit on these thrones, verse 4 says, “judgment was given unto them.” A judge is one who makes a “judgment.” Authority to act as rulers and judges will be assigned to these martyrs.

The judges from Israel’s past were distinguished people of valor: Gideon, Samson. Likewise, these judges will be as well. The martyrs will have demonstrated their valor and honor during the Tribulation.

Revelation 20:5a: “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.”

John adds a parenthetical footnote about “the rest of the dead,” or the unbelieving dead of all ages. This Scripture shows that there is a 1000-year interval between resurrections.

“The first resurrection” of prophecy (v. 6) takes place at the beginning of the millennial kingdom, and “the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29) takes place after its completion 1000 years later at the Great White Throne.

John is the only writer of Holy Scripture who makes this fact known.

The words “Lived not again” refers to the body and its resurrection. The resurrection of unbelievers’ bodies to judgment is described further in this chapter in verses 11-15.

The phrase “rest of the dead” is made in light of the martyrs of the Tribulation.

The beheaded martyrs are raised and will live and reign with Christ a thousand years, “BUT,” in distinction from them, “the rest of the dead,” won’t be raised until the thousand-year kingdom is finished.

The martyrs will be raised from the dead prior to the kingdom, and for the kingdom, and because of their great faith in Christ and God’s Word, they will be honored within it with “thrones” and authority and glory. They will live and reign!

In stark contrast to this, sadly, because they did not believe and trust God’s provision of salvation for them, “the rest of the dead” must continue to sit in hades in torment for 1000 years. They will NEVER live and reign with Christ.

They will be raised after those 1000 years only to be fitted with bodies to endure the torments of the lake of fire, forever separated from the presence of Christ.

The rest of Revelation 20, verse 5, and the first part of verse 6 reads: “This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.”

Job asked the age-old question, “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14). The answer is: Yes!! God has given us His Word on the matter.

Job 19:25-26 tells us, “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”

The Greek word anastasis, translated as “resurrection,” means to “stand up.” Someday these old bodies that are lying in their resting place will stand up at God’s command. Some will be raised to everlasting life and others to everlasting condemnation.

A guy was sitting at home when he heard a knock at the door. He opened the door and saw a snail on the porch. He picked up the snail and threw it as far as he could.

Three years later, there’s a knock on his door again. The guy opened it and saw the same snail. The snail looked at him and said, “What is the world was that all about?”

John refers here to the “FIRST resurrection.” But there will have been a resurrection already 7 years earlier at the Rapture. So you might wonder, “What is the world is that all about?” Rightly dividing the Word makes everything fall into place.

We must be careful not to confuse the “secret resurrection” with the “first resurrection,” as is often done. The secret resurrection at the Rapture is the hope of the Church, the Body of Christ. This is uniquely a Pauline truth.

If you would lift Paul’s epistles, the special revelation committed to the Apostle Paul, out of the Word of God, all other references to the future resurrections pertain to the prophetic order.

When verses 5 and 6 speak of the “first resurrection,” it must be understood as the first resurrection OF PROPHECY.

Seven years prior to this resurrection, the resurrection of the Body of Christ will have taken place at the Rapture prior to the Tribulation period.

Speaking of the Rapture, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:51: “Behold, I shew you a MYSTERY.” The resurrection of the Body of Christ was a “mystery,” meaning that it was a secret never revealed before the Apostle Paul and is not found anywhere within prophecy.

John is speaking of the resurrection in terms of prophecy, and in the timeline of the events of prophecy for Israel, and that is what makes it the “FIRST resurrection.”

Israel was promised resurrection in the last day prior to the kingdom, as Ezekiel 37 reads:

“Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, 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, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD” (Ezek. 37:12-14).

John reveals in Revelation 20:4-6 that there will be 1000 years that separate the first and second resurrections of prophecy. The first resurrection takes place prior to the millennial kingdom and the second resurrection takes place following it.

ONLY the prophetic saints will be raised in the first resurrection and be ushered into the blessings of the kingdom. At the Rapture, ONLY members of the Body of Christ within the dispensation of grace are raised at that glorious day and ushered to heaven.

The “first resurrection” is the resurrection of all prophetic saints before this dispensation of grace, and the resurrection of all the martyred tribulation saints after the dispensation of grace. These prophetic saints will all be raised from the dead by the Lord after His Second Coming to Israel and prior to the Millennial Kingdom.

The souls of these saints will have come back to the earth with Christ at His Second Coming. Jude 14 reads, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints.”

After Christ’s return to Israel at His Second Coming, the bodies of all these saints will be raised and glorified and joined to their spirits and souls.

Peter, James, John, David, Solomon, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Esther, Mordecai, Ruth and all the prophetic saints, their bodies will be raised from the dead and gloriously changed, and in their new glorified, resurrected bodies they will then walk right into the earthly kingdom reign of Christ.

The Lord taught in His earthly ministry “That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 8:11).

The resurrected bodies of these saints will be like Christ’s resurrected body. 1 John 3:2 speaks of this when he wrote, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, we know that, when He shall appear [that is, at the Second Coming], we shall be like Him.”

The prophetic saints who are raised at the first resurrection will never die again. Daniel 12:2 says their bodies will “awake, to everlasting life.”

John further wrote here in verse 6, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.”

Those who take part in the first resurrection truly are “blessed” and have a wonderful hope to reign with Christ on earth a thousand years and for eternity.

And the people who are raised at the first resurrection are “blessed” because on them “the second death hath no power.” Revelation 21:8 defines the second death as “the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Those who take part in the first resurrection have the eternal comfort of never being separated from God and never facing the wrath of God. The second death of the lake of fire has “no power” on those raised by Christ to enter His kingdom.

They will live forever. They will enjoy the eternal presence of God on the EARTH.

The same is true for the Church, the Body of Christ. The second death has no power on us who are raised by Christ at the Rapture. However, for us, we will enjoy the eternal presence of God in HEAVEN.

The last half of Revelation 20:6 reads, “but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”

We have looked at the “thrones” and positions of authority within the divine government of the kingdom. Israel being “priests of God” reminds us of their spiritual responsibilities in the kingdom as well.

Those who are partakers of the first resurrection, are promised to rule and reign with Christ as kings and priests of God.

In their resurrected bodies, the prophetic saints will be “holy” (v. 6) or set part from sin, set apart unto God to serve Him as “priests of God and of Christ” within the kingdom.

Verse 6 speaks of Israel being both “holy” and “priests.” And these terms take us back the corridor of time to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai and the giving of the law.

There Moses was instructed by the Lord to tell Israel: “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of PRIESTS, and an HOLY nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel” (Ex. 19:6).

Within the kingdom on earth, this promise will be fully realized, and Israel will be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests.

Isaiah reminded his countrymen, Israel, of their calling as priests within the kingdom as well: “But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves” (Isa. 61:6).

Peter did as well: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:9).

The Body of Christ though is never called priests or a priesthood. We should be careful to never confuse the two programs of God in doing so. That term is reserved for Israel. Israel will do the job of a priest within the millennial kingdom throughout the world.

In being a kingdom of priests, Israel will lead the nations in the worship of God throughout all the earth according to the new covenant and the law (Mal. 1:11).

Israel as God’s priests in the kingdom will teach the law and be messengers of His truth around the world: “For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at His mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” (Mal. 2:7).

Israel will be intercessors between God and the nations, being a light for the Lord and leading people to Him:

“Thus saith the LORD; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you” (Zech. 8:23).

Revelation 20:6 spells out Israel’s hope so clearly: a bodily resurrection, everlasting life, to reign with Christ 1000 years on the earth, and to be priests of God. All this is the great hope of Israel.

The epistles of Paul spell out our great hope: we too have a hope of a bodily resurrection, everlasting life, but we will reign with Christ not on the earth, but in the heavenlies, and we serve him, not as priests of God, but as ambassadors for Christ.

An ambassador represents his government in all of its character and all of its dignity. An ambassador is a minister of state, representing his own country in a foreign land.

As ambassadors, this teaches us that this world is a foreign land, and that our home is heaven. As ambassadors, we are spokesmen for Christ; we are His mouthpiece.

And as God’s ambassadors, we do what 2 Corinthians 5:20 tells us, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

We beg people to be reconciled to God in light of what will happen if they are not reconciled to God: the second death, eternity in torment in the lake of fire, separated from the presence of God forever. May we be faithful to our calling as ambassadors for Christ.