A Study of Revelation 20 and other related passages
For as, when the sun is come, darkness no longer prevails, but if any be still left anywhere it is driven away; so, now that the divine Appearing of the Word of God is come, the darkness of the idols prevails no more, and all parts of the world in every direction are illumined by His teaching.
Athanasius
It is to be understood of that power which he giveth to His saints, that they seeing the things to come, namely, that the Name and rule of Christ is to pervade posterity and possess all nations.
Augustine
Though our persons fall, our cause shall be as truly, certainly, and infallibly victorious, as that Christ sits at the right hand of God. The gospel shall be victorious. This greatly comforts and refreshes me.
John Owen
In my last post I walked through Revelation 20:4, doing my best to properly identify the antecedent of that vital pronoun, “they.” Let us look at the verse again in context and note the important interpretive issues.
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
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. But the rest of the dead did not live 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 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.
Revelation 20:1-6
I noted that identifying the antecedent of “they” has a direct impact on how we understand the “first resurrection” and the “second death.” This of course impacts how we understand the second resurrection and the first death.* The dominoes keep falling. When talking about last things, we end up talking about everything. Where should we look for that antecedent? While our attention in verse four is naturally drawn to the souls of the beheaded Christian martyrs, this description fits more with John’s pattern throughout Revelation of first seeing a larger scene and then something clarifying and specific within that scene. Rather, the most natural antecedent for the “they” and “them” that rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years is “the nations” in verse three. This interpretation is only strengthened by reflection on Jesus’ victory. All of this has been covered in previous posts.
Now it remains for us to examine related passages in Revelation which may shed light on Revelation 20:1-6. This approach is not far fetched. I assume God is the most excellent communicator and in bearing John along by His Holy Spirit to reveal Christ, the Father is bound to be rich, clear and consistent in His message to those made in His image. We ought not be lost in confusion when we read of nations reigning on thrones with Christ, even if some of them are killed by the beast. These themes have been well established previously in Revelation 5, 6, 7, 13 and 14, and will appear again in Revelation 21.
We have already established good reasons, but why else should we read the antecedent of “they” and “them” in Revelation 20:4 as the nations no longer deceived from 20:3 rather than the beheaded Christian martyrs of 20:4? Consider another context in Revelation that features Christ’s victory, many thrones, nations and martyrs, (Revelation 4-6). The identification of the principle characters and their activities and locations all help to elucidate the arrangement in Revelation 20:3-4. We may consider these latter two verses to function as metaphorical shorthand for the prior vision so richly displayed.
Thrones and those on them are introduced in chapter four. The identity of those on the thrones and their relationship to the victorious Christ are clarified in chapter five. Their relationship to Christian martyrs and the state of Christian martyrs is dealt with in chapter six. Let us begin with the thrones in chapter four:
**Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Revelation 4:2-5
John sees one throne and twenty-four thrones in his vision. Those who sit on the twenty-four have crowns of gold. They have authority, but it is clearly derived from the One Who sat on the one throne. Their glory comes from God and is unto God. They, like the four living creatures are representatives (Revelation 4:6-8). The twenty-four elders represent all the saved and the four living creatures represent all of creation. The elders and the creatures all worship their God as Creator (Revelation 4:9-11). Including this reference, John proceeds to explicitly speak of the twenty-four elders twelve time (Revelation 4:4,10; 5:5, 6, 8, 11, 14; 7:11, 13; 11:16; 14:3; 19:4). Is the reason why he does not clearly identify them as elders in Revelation 20:4 because he had already thoroughly identified them and to use the term once more detracted from the beauty of the work? I am not sure. But they are clearly enthralled with the victory of Christ and, as representatives of the nations, they give Him glory.
The victory of Jesus Christ as the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God marks Revelation 5:1-7. Jesus Christ has prevailed so as to ascend to the right hand of God, take the scroll and unseal it. How the twenty-four elders from their thrones respond to the victory of Christ tells us how we are to read Revelation 20:3-4.
Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”
Revelation 5:8-10
How do the twenty-four elders identify themselves? They say to Christ, You “have redeemed us . . . out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” So also we remember that Christ’s victory over Satan delivers the nations from his deceiving enslavement (Revelation 20:1-3). These twenty-four elders stand in for all the redeemed from all the nations and they all have thrones from which they rule and reign (Revelation 4:4). They acknowledge their authority is not their own but derived from Christ Who “made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth.”
Enthroned in heaven, their authority is exercised upon the earth. We recall the nature of Christ’s kingdom as being in this world but not of it (John 17:14-16; 18:36-37). All authority is given unto Him in Heaven and on Earth (Matthew 28:18; Hebrews 1:2; 2:8) precisely because His enthronement is from spiritual Mt. Zion in Heaven (Psalm 2:1-12). So also the authority that the saints of all the nations possess is sourced from Heaven and exercised upon the earth (Matthew 18:18-20; 19:28-30). In this way, although the saints die (even by cruel means) all the redeemed rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years (John 11:25-26; Revelation 20:4-6). As Hades will not prevail against the church Christ builds (Matthew 16:18), the church will continue to exercise and convey the authority of Christ upon the earth until He comes again (Matthew 16:19; Luke 19:11-19).
What about those martyrs, who seem to have been utterly defeated? Have they truly overcome? Can it be said that they participate in the victory of Jesus Christ? Yes, of course! This is a tough question, one that tests the faith of believers. It is, however, robustly answered.
When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
Revelation 6:9-11
Think about these martyrs. John sees their souls, much like in Revelation 20:4. They were slain for the same reason as those in Revelation 20:4. They possess the same raiment as the twenty-four elders who rule and reign with Christ (Revelation 4:4). Their desire for God’s vengeance to be completed upon their murderers is affirmed and assured within a short timeframe. This is not repeated in Revelation 20:4, but satisfying victory is assured. There is nothing that the twenty four elders have in chapters four and five that these martyrs in chapter six lack. The same assurance is offered in Revelation 20:1-6.
It is fitting to see the “they” and “them” of Revelation 20:4 as referring to the nations who rule and reign with Christ. The blessings of the first resurrection are theirs. The curse of the second death is not theirs. These promises are not exclusive to Christian martyrs, and the martyrs are not excluded from them. Christians being slaughtered for the sake of the Gospel represents the greatest challenge to the idea that we rule and reign with Christ in victory. That even these are of those who wear white robes and sit on thrones, is a blessed assurance. Next time we will consider further correlation to this interpretation with Revelation 13, 14 and 21 along with other passages in the Bible. Beyond that, we will begin our look at Revelation 20:5.
*I am answering the titular question, “One or Two Resurrections”, in one way but not in another. Of course there are two resurrections. The second is plainly known by there being a first. The critical question pertains to the nature and timing of the first resurrection and the second resurrection. Are we to understand them as related but different (i.e. being born and being born again) or as essentially the same in nature, though with different groups (i.e. the Gospel was preached to the Jew first and also to the Greek). The question of nature is illuminated by the time and sequence indicators in the text, but more on this in a later blog.
**The interpretation that Revelation 4:1 describes the secret pretribulational rapture of the church, signified by the person of John as he is brought to Heaven in a vision, is both fanciful and forced. It also, unfortunately, breaks key tenets of the Dispensationalist’s commitment to careful, literal interpretation of the Scriptures, holding to the plain meaning of the text. This reading in of the rapture must be considered an artifact of systematic theology, not a product of Bible study.
