What is the millenium ? It is a period,
figuratively or otherwise, of one thousand years which is post-Armageddon,
pre-earth-demise, where the testimony of truth is unhindered by Satan, political
power or ruffians, so that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the
glory of God as the waters cover the sea. It is expressly set down that sinners
will still exist in it (for the sinner will yet die accursed, even if at 100
years of age as in Isaiah 65:20, and a century in age will not be at all
abnormal). Moreover early loss of life in infancy will be no more. In other
words, still a mixed society, it will yet have the curse alleviated, blessing
magnified, the knowledge of God extensive, manifest, unrepressed, government by
the Messiah, Jesus Christ, in power to rebuke and annul the whole dynamic of the
devil, imprisoned during this period of the vindicated glory of God on this
every earth where Christ was killed.
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE MILLENIUM ?
Those who 'judge', the knowledgeable and the 'wise', the political, social, educational, military philosophers will be in the abeyance they have always deserved, and wisdom will be observed together with power of rule to such an extent that eruption of evil will be as toadstools before the whirl-wind, a thing of immediate ruin. The devil being in abeyance, will not be able to deceive the nations any more. Fancy ever having been so foolish as to kill millions for the sake of gaining some illusory glory, by non-existent means, as if some race or idea or eminence or specialty in some people were a ground for gain at the expense of others; or equally, as if an unholy indolence constituted grounds for sustenance in the earth!
Righteousness and truth, instead of being distant ideals, desirable oddities, embracible entities, will be potent and apparent in all things (Isaiah 11, 65, Psalm 2, 110, 96:13, 98:9,Matthew 19:28, Revelation 5:8-9, 20:1-5, Habakkuk 2:14, Micah 7:15-20, Daniel 2:35-45, Psalm 72, 67:7, Isaiah 24:21ff., Zephaniah 3:11-20, Haggai 2:6-7, Zechariah 14:5, Malachi 4:1-3, Micah 5, Joel 3:12ff., Ezekiel 37:24ff., Jeremiah 3:1-7, Isaiah 49:22ff.). The Lord is indeed "coming to judge the earth" (Psalm 96:13), and "He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth."
Vain is the belief that this is a variant of His coming NOT to judge the world but that it might be saved. That is the exact contradictory. ONCE He came NOT to judge but to save the world, a thing most grotesquely marred by the misunderstanding of Calvin*1, who in other ways was so sound, and THEN He is coming precisely IN ORDER TO JUDGE THE WORLD, a thing sadly lacking in the lore of the amillenalist*2.
WHEN He comes to judge the world the whole force of Satan and of evil is in abeyance, not a vacuum, but in vacuity of power (Revelation 19:19-20:6). WHEN they shall not hurt or destroy on all His holy mountain (Isaiah 11), and "the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den", the REASON is that the "earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea." It is apparent therefore that there is an amelioration of an extradordinary kind of the curse, and that in the rule of the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Jeremiah 23:3-5), the King Jesus Christ will rule, reigning and prospering and He will "execute judgment and righteousness in the earth," having power to quell (Psalm 2).
NOW no more is it a matter of presenting the Gospel of grace to an unyielding world, but governing in terms of that very Gospel, not so that the unbeliever is forced, any more then than now, for this is principle of God as previously shown*3, but so that its power, beauty, grace, efficacy is seen not only in the heart of the individual but in the nature of the rule, of the realm which is as stated, the earth itself. It is not heaven. It is not hell. It is not weak; it is glorious and gracious, just and efficacious, and it involves the redeeming of the needy (Psalm 72:14) "from oppression and violence." SUCH will be the rule of the seed of David, the only begotten Son of God.
It is not as now, where the needy are oppressed with violence, where even on His holy hill, there is effrontery to the faith, contempt for the Gospel, misalliance with evil, where the poor are slaughtered and the power and specious subtleties of Satan deceive not only the nations but many in the visible Church, who become worse engines of evil than the merely secular, as some find, in the very precincts of the faith.
If words mean anything, ALL that this earth has in negative power and rule and evil and iniquity and inequity and violence, and hideousness, and calumniation and slander and slaughter and empty roars and wilful ways, where fools rule over the wise and the beauty of holiness is far the greater part as if forgotten, is as it now is, and it will increase as in Matthew 24:11ff., II Peter 2:1ff., II Timothy 4:3-4, 3:13). Thus "evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived," till as in Isaiah 24 and 59, this world reels in irrational rebellion, tawdry follies and spiritual sleep, like a driver awaiting death as he snoozes at the wheel, doing 100 kph. ALL that is the contrary in glory and majesty and equity and righteousness and PUTTING right will on the other hand, in the most total of contrasts be PRECISELY what, with power and prosperity, Christ will induce and produce.
It will NOT however include the forced conversions of militant Islam*3A, or the strange vapidity of naturalistic religions and their ilk*3B; but it WILL EXHIBIT to all what is the beauty of holiness, unmolested by irrelevant power seeking to secure the earth and its satisfactions at any cost, or ANY eruption, like acne on an otherwise beautiful face, of militant power to despoil, or militant tongues to induce mischief and folly, slandering the saints and caricaturing truth for the unwary who are lost.
THIS IS THE MILLENIUM. Since Revelation is a book using many figurative devices expressly, such as the 3 and one half years, 1260 days and 42 months*4 and many other expressions of comparison and likeness, it is not possible to assess the actual, chronological length of this period, except in this, to say that it will be quite long enough to fulfil all the characteristics and features described in the many biblical passages which describe it in such manifest contrariety to the present course of this jeering, sneering, impotently self-glorifying world.
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF REVELATION 20: 4
CONCERNING THE MILLENIUM ?
In Revelation 20 we learn that, as the Berkeley translation so well translates it, there are many who will rule with Christ in this period. Thus:
"I also saw thrones that were occupied by such as received power to pass sentence.
I also saw the souls of those who had been slain for their testimony to Jesus and for God's message; also the souls of those who had not worshipped either the beast or its statue,
nor had received the mark on the forehead and on the hand."They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."
The American Revised version also does this translation well and accurately, substantially as above.
Worship is a spiritual thing, and while it may indeed (as in the case where the friends of Daniel wisely REFUSED to bow to the imperial statue of political power, the King rushing into religious self-adornment) be shown in a practical manner or test, this is not its only resource. Worship to be personal must be in the heart, and it is there that idols likewise may be set (as shown in Ezekiel 14:6-7. The Greek clearly states that those slain for the testimony of Jesus the Christ, and also those who had not worshipped the beast or received its mark, would be there. It is no select minority, no prelude, no overture to the real opera. This is an embracive reference to those who loved the appearing of the Lord, and so acted. Theirs is this rule. While the mark of the beast is a term found in Revelation 13, it has had various preludes and exhibits before this objective exemplar, and this provides no reason for making of this group some kind of elite, as will be considered further later.
But as to this rule by those so resisting the mark of the beast, what is its character ? and for this, we ask, what is the form of those who so rule ?*4A It is expressly stated in Revelation 20:4 that it is the "SOULS" of those who had so been faithful who so rule with Christ upon the earth, a fact, this last, not to be forgotten in view of Revelation 5, as above. It is not said to be their SPIRITS, nor is it statedly their bodies.
As Poole points out, it would be difficult to see those given their rest in resurrection, now labouring on the earth; yet it must be added that it would be easier to discern if those doing so were clad with impervious bodies, even resurrected ones. Nor is it their ''spirits'' which appear, in some rarefied sense. One remembers here very much to the point, the appearance of Moses and Elijah with Christ at His epochal transfiguration (noted in Luke 9:30ff.). This did not seem very much to disturb their rest. Moreover, it was not in some angelic and universalised or distant style, that they appeared, but in eminently recognisable form, presumably from the nature of their discourse and its force, as also through the interpretive power of the Holy Spirit. These could well have been in a repose of spirit which yet yielded a sense, not then of 'rule', but of participation in embracive perspective. Were it 'rule', the resurrection state would seem more readily comprehensible, adequate and indeed, as will be seen, suitable for the biblically defined terms for these times and deeds.
It would seem possible, then, for Revelation 20:6, that the reference therefore is to just such accompaniment of His majesty, in just such rest, just such assurance and co-operative joy, as shown in Luke 9, except for this, that now, it is not a Christ about to die who is the centre and cornerstone, but one who was dead and is alive forevermore, now not about to become a sacrifice as a substitute for the guilt implicit in sin, but as a Saviour who is Lord indeed. Yet with this, it seems embodiment would be yet more harmonious with rule, and the cessation of their works. This then is part of the second of the two phases which Christ identified as seen in Luke 24, the time of His present sufferings and that of His coming glory. Here is a prelude to His glory, in the millenium.
This would give full import to the notable use of 'souls' with respect to them, and then those slain and not worshipping the beast would be conceived in an expansive rather than a restrictive. That is, then they would not only be those from that most intensive regime of horror of Revelation 13 and 17, the satanic power dealt with and deleted by the breath of God, and imprisoned, but from all ages. It would include and immediately focus those reaped by evil, but now how different the vision. Those select in all ages, who had not yielded, who had kept to the faith in the Lord, not bowed, or if bowing, who had repented, these would all be there, the latest consignment in vivid contrast to the judged world. Theirs would be in the midst of the now ruling Messiah, a spirit of rest and repose of mind mingled with a participation in the works of majesty. It might be like athletes at a presentation ceremony, except that there would be no glory for them, but as part of the body of the Lord, their placement amid the dealings of deity, wiling observers, alert with joy as fulfilment on earth at last has come.
This by no means collides with the picture provided in the words of Revelation 20:12 and 15, since then there is still meaning to the fact that BOTH the book of life and the books of works were opened, so that those NOT FOUND in the Book of Life were condemned. If then Revelation 20:4 is the general resurrection of the just, that is in this case, the justified, then what garnerings FROM and through the millenium, could be those found in the Book of Life. After all, they are ALL foreknown, and these could have come then.
This, to say no more, is quite suggestive that during the millenium there were many who were saved, which would have even this part of the extensive, expansive, cost-disregarding love of God as in John 3, an afterglow, or being born out of due time, a mopping up, a final calling.
This in turn permits that the first resurrection has not only the features of Elijah and Moses, that is, one of commission of those at rest in Christ, but the gear for rule with Him. It is not as if to go to their daily labour at the office, as it were, but to participate, like the 12 apostles on 12 thrones of Matthew 19:28. In Matthew, this occurs at a time called "in the regeneration", which assuredly is eminently linked to resurrection, that entire novelty in which all things being made new, where there is a glorious restoration of all that had been hidden, or subjected, now resplendent in a transcendent liberty and fulfilment.
It is best in principle to keep it simple, in the sense that inventive inserts are not engaged in without a strict and stringent ground; for these things are too important for there to be even an incidental and unintended intrusion of mere human thought. If so, then the first resurrection is resurrection indeed, the 'souls' reference is to emphasise that their beings are not some abstracted and less than personal or detached entities, but entirely aware and responsive to the situation, concerned with what was and what is to be.
The saints under the altar as in Revelation 6, had been very much 'soulful', and such and could serve as a type for those found in this situation of Revelation 20:6, now garnered, fresh from the marriage of the Lamb as in Revelation 19:8, and covered with immortality as in I Corinthians 15.
Further in this connection: Is it however not a vast step to use the term 'resurrection', not only when the next member of the group is that to which Paul in I Corinthians 15, with no slightest suggestion of diversification, makes clear is final, at least for the saints, but when those who deemed the resurrection to be 'past already' were guilty of a vast error, when on earth! (II Timothy 2:17-18). It might even have the appearance of playing with fire; whereas on the other hand, considering 'resurrection', especially 'the first resurrection' is moving into a terminological field that needs and suffers no ambiguity.
Admittedly it is entirely possible that the term could be mutated in this way, for those who have ears, so that those who were most active in the recent extremes in this world would continue on the Elijah-Moses type of format, without bodily resurrection, participants and witnesses of the transformation, where suffering yielded to sovereignty, and abasement to the realms of realisation, in a transformed world. Yet even at this, it would be most difficult to see how this could occur when way back to the days of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, there were those of a commonality with these in the intensity of their sufferings in the last days. Even in those ancient times, there was often a grossness of their persecutors, an inhuman glee, a diabolical fervour, a persistence that makes the brutes seem happy by comparison. Here also there was no reduction in the absolute character of their confrontation as Christians, with the powers of misrule and intimidation. It is this, perhaps most of all, which militates against the concept of anything partial, that is without universal coverage of type, in 'the first resurrection.'
In that case, this is indeed the resurrection of the just, and their ruling with the Lamb for what has been noted as an indeterminate because demonstrably symbolic period, becomes a rest in realisation IN this world before there is a removal OF this world, itself so long in the tooth in history. In this millenial splendour, that world is now so yielded and shielded, sovereignly embraced and pacified that what MIGHT have been, had sin not come, the fall never occurred, is seen and savoured in its majesty and wonder. After all, it has been a magnificent thing, the creation, and the marring of it and the persecutions resultant from the work of the devil and of human sin combined, once removed, reveal a wonder indeed, fit for the redeemed in the state of glory, to behold and wonder at, with worship of the Lamb. It is then He who has brought them out of the fire and into this aspect of the regeneration of all things (Matthew 19:28), before its finale in a NEW heaven and a new earth, as in Revelation 20:11 and 21:1.
If this be so, that is, that the first resurrection, and blessed He says, are those found in it: if this indeed refers to the basic meaning of the term, and is not an extension which leaving out the body, in the context of succeeding the days of trial, then nothing moves against this. It would indeed be something not apparently metaphorical by any normal index of due scope and intimation, and thus in no danger of confusion: it would mean THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST, quite simply and securely, without anything exotic or scrambled, inscrutable or scrambled, and since the word of God is not twisted, this seems most eminently the desirable interpretation in its own terms (Proverbs 8:8).
Thus, if this be so, it must be emphasised that the use of the term 'souls' is not the same as 'without bodies'. It merely allowing for this as one possibility: indeed that term in Greek could mean as in English, simply 'people', a meaning Thayer in his New Testament Greek dictionary notes; and the reference would indicate at least two things. Firstly, it would signify that their personalities were actual, not remote, removed and fundamentally distrained from realisation. Hence, these being now in their spiritually mature status, there would be a bringing in more of a sense of participation in the vindication of the victory of the Lamb, and exposure in their very presence, of the blatancy of the ruin which sin imposed and the devil sought to hide in his hideous escapades of seduction. Secondly, it would show that their labour, but not their witness, was finished.
As to the question whether, in this millenium, some of those who had been convinced of the wonder of the Saviour's rule, and learned to lean upon Him in trust, would be converted, or whether this was simply a demonstration-millenium, it is impossible thoroughly to determine this, though in favour of the positive possibility is this: that this would then come as part of the total impact of every conceivable way to show and expose the multiple mercies of divine foreknowledge in which as in Matthew 23:37, God yearns and moves to the uttermost to gain some. That in turn is reflected in spirit in the parable at Matthew 22:9ff..
What then ? It is this. Just as the HOW OFTEN would Christ have gathered them as a hen her chicks, signifies the unbending resolve of love to seek in every way, so this would expose that same principle further. It would be so even in a purged and prepared site, amidst His more manifest majesty. It is however not necessary to resolve such a question, since the word of God does not state it, nor with any utterly certain notation, indicate the answer. Indeed, whether some of those who were left on this earth at the millenium, those not slain with bodies to be eaten by the flocks of birds, or buried, had not meaningfully heard the Gospel before His coming, having been , hidden in totalitarian enclaves, ignorance or suppression, is not known. It is entirely possible, and at present might seem highly probable. In that case, now heard at last what had been kept from them, distorted, squashed, squeezed, lied about, would come in its pristine glory.
Whether such a situation would have been passed before He came, we do not know. It is sound to note, however, the simple possibility. Further, the very acme of suppression and lies for which these last days, in the Biblical depiction, are notorious increases sharply the probability that this might be so. Miasmic mysteries are so instilled that it is a miracle indeed that any escape (as in Hebrews 6:19), and if God in His divine love extends the sitting to this extent, that is in His power.
What then ? IN that case, those who had mirrored such a situation, as in John 15:22ff., where guilt beyond redemption was not yet accredited (or discredited!), would be examples. If HE had not COME and SPOKEN and DONE, what He had, then said He, they would not have sin (in the context of ultimate destiny and nature). The principle undoubtedly applies, and that most stringently: it is an offshoot of love, and the very epitome of grace.
Thus any who had not seen and heard what the Messiah did and said, are in possible prospect of conversion, even in the millenium. It is bridesmaids who KNEW and even had lamps, who were without excuse, in the parable. If love never fails, then those who love will not fail to seek others to secure their salvation and to deliver them from the deceits, violence to truth and eminent dangers which impend constantly, knowing that whatever way it comes, the sooner the better, and the sooner these are made sure, like mainsails in an approaching wind for those in the doldrums, the better.
This question of the possible conversion of some during the millenium, then, is left an open and unanswered possibility. The rejection of the Gospel remains fatal, and the light that has come to the world remains judge of those who prefer darkness; moreover, in His divine foreknowledge, God is limited to no one type of test of these things: but as He is light, so it may well be that He would prefer to test to the uttermost right up to the onset of judgment, following the millenium, as in Revelation 20:11ff.. Love is like that: it never gives up, shows itself where least expected, is inventive, does not rest in mere forms, but insists on giving to the uttermost.
ALL are open to receive what they have done in the body, as in II Corinthians 5:10, and the Gospel short-circuits the endorsement of the resultant judgment, so that despite this POTENTIAL CONDEMNATION, due to all, for the redeemed it is diverted to Christ, whether here or there, in this or that situation, or that, till it comes and is done! This aspect of the matter, therefore, has no decisive bearing on the issue.
What is left ? The millenium is a positive demonstration of glory not to be concealed or congealed, conquered or suppressed, and the most obvious sense would be that this would be for ALL the saints, for ALL time, since the mystery Babylon was something stretching way back, and in itself, is something signifying the rampant works of the devil, susceptible to typing.
Thus the threefold reference to the abundance of His saints to be found in His coming, as in I Thessalonians 3:13, Jude 13-14 and Zechariah 14:5 would be given an application. Even in Jude, where instead of 'all' it merely states that it is a matter of ten thousands of His saints who come to this earth with the Lord, so far from there being any sense of a part only, there is a sense of utter contrast in kinds, and of judgment itself impending: it is executed
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"on all, to convict all who are
ungodly among them |
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and of all the harsh things |
This fourfold reference to the UNGODLY, found in Jude, in the end of the world overthrow and judicial impact on ALL a further fourfold reference), has just the same sense of finality and completeness for the category of the saints and their testimonial presence, as the reference to "all" the saints in the other two cases, of Zechariah and I Thessalonians 3. Indeed, the use of 'all' in Jude is so extremely intensive, both from the nature of his judicial sounding language and of the repetition both of ungodly and of 'all', that it forms an intensification and not a mitigation of the conclusion. ALL are involved. The Lord comes with ALL His saints.
As then the hinges of the door turn to admit to heaven ALL the saints, as in I Thessalonians 4, the dead in Christ arising first, from a very active and at that time, yet unjudged earth, so His coming with all the saints as in I Thessalonians 3, is not to be considered merely partial. This matter is in the end, conspicuous in clarity; as as so often, it merely needed necessary consideration, meditation and comparison with other scriptures.
Just as Zechariah 14 shows Him coming with ALL His saints, when He returns very definitely to earth with them, so Revelation 19 has that very bride, that prepared body of believers in the Lamb as Saviour and Lord, first dressed at the 'wedding', and then seen in that very dress coming with Him, in order to judge.
This ? it is PRIOR to the millenium. Further, this very door of entry is matched with the spectacle of this very interim, when the Lord comes with all His saints, being matched with that which incorporates the saints universally from all time, the dead in Christ, arising first. They do not go to heaven without arising, and it is from there that they come; and those depicted as so going, they are all!
Just as it follows this reference of the marriage of the Lamb, in Revelation 19:8 and their issuance with Him, who were there, so it precedes the millenium.
All these things, in sum, move one to the sense of universalisation, not of some separation of powers of an extraordinary and seemingly strangely specialist character: that is, as if just some who were in the last throes of devilish horror in the world, and these only, were to be included in the review, on earth, in the millenium.
Indeed, as Christ's body is one, so one would expect it to be one, which comes with Him, and not a part; just as the marriage of the Lamb, for that matter, would be of those who constituted the body as in Romans 11, the entirety of the arboreal assemblage, to use the figure of that passage, and so to include the entire scope of Jew and Gentile believers, especially that major contingent noted in Romans 11:25.
It should be noted here also that the reference in Romans 11 to the restoration of Israel, or enough of it to characterise it, in terms of 'life from the dead', does not actually USE the term 'resurrection', let alone in a categorical arena of judgment and termination and exposure at last of the full divine majesty. It provides no justification whatever for the metaphorical, let alone in such a decisive, terminal situation as this, as real as the cross, as the bodily resurrection of Christ, which Paul in I Corinthians 15, declares to be the first-fruits, in its enormous and sustained parallel of His resurrection and our own, in the terminal setting.
This grand ruling era, then, as shown in Revelation 20:6, is nothing exotic and alone in the word of God, some strange spiritual format, an oddity preceding the general resurrection of I Corinthians 15. The body of Christ is not so separated after its vast unification of Romans 11:30ff., on which Paul dwells with such a finality of consummation. Those who are Christ's, are inseparable, coming with Him in a tour of triumph, through an arch, not of architecture, as in Paris, but of personal power and glory on the part of Christ, which enshrouds His saints, very much after the style of Isaiah 60. The head has been executed once, and so separated from His body: no more!
What then of their 'ruling' with Him ? There is no question of it being a restless labour of blood, sweat and tears, but perhaps a presence in power and wisdom, to see this glory, attest this wonder, participate in joy in this exhibition of what the earth had so devilishly lacked for so long with such horror and abandon, with its mission of dis-praise and diversion! Then there is no problem about the case of being resurrected and yet unformatted; for now rather is the case that of those who once saw such things as they would not, and now see the very opposite. They see it in the beauties of holiness, in the dress of the wedding, clad in the temple eternal in the heavens, of which Paul spoke in II Corinthians. Quite simply, they are resurrected, and over them the second death therefore has no power!
ALL have suffered persecution, and who can say what pangs under Romanist or Roman persecutions of the past, or even distant past, would fail to qualify! It would seem decisively invidious for such an elevation of the merely recent, without their counterparts as shown at length in Hebrews 11, alike possessed of saving faith amid vast sufferings and inexorable testimony to truth, even that of the Lord, even in obedience, even to the death.
It is, then, termed "the first resurrection" (Revelation 20:6), with all the simplicity of the early sun. There is no other. We do not need to consider whether it be Venus in disguise. The sun of righteousness indeed it is,w ho has risen with healing in His wings, and restoration, so that the epoch of the 12 thrones of the apostles on earth, is INDEED in the era of "the regeneration" as after all, Christ DECLARED it to be. It is not in pre-regeneration of all things times.
Thus, this presence well deserves the use of so culminating a term as 'resurrection' in an arena so consummative. It is beneficial, blessed, a matter of coherence of those, ultimately tested, who have stood, and having stood, continued to stand, now at rest with relish. It means that the resurrection as in I Thessalonians 4 being total of the saints, is a simple prelude to their investiture in the final resolution on earth, before the residual resurrection. In that case, the reference to those who had not been found in the Book of Life would be a notation to strengthen the sense of hopelessness when the end came, but it might well refer to the point that SOME might have been won to the Lord during that millenium.
The Lord is now vindicated in His claims, the cloud of false witnesses, in fact very earthy, many in the visible church being demons, mixing like weeds with the wheat, though many should have been cleared out by labour against the weed-type: this is now a thing of the past. What IS His body is now seen to be acting as one, sustained in glory, free now of test and evil, while the now imprisoned prince of lies, given his outage, cannot meddle, frustrated, immolated, just as he saw to it that many would be imprisoned in the day of his malign power and imprint. Now are the realities seen in all their basic simplicity and wonder, and seen so by all concerned, for the Lord is no respecter of persons.
The earth will expose her dead (Isaiah 26:19), and not merely some of them, in this glorious regeneration. The follies and the evils, these lie distraught, while the beauties of justice, equity, mercy, kindness and care rule in their delightsome dynamic as in Psalm 72, Isaiah 11. Now, rule they do in their majesty: for now NOTHING can be covered up, NOTHING can be distorted. WHATEVER is in need of address will be founded in truth and exhibited in justice (as in Psalm 72 emphasis).
Hence it seems best to consider the first resurrection as CORRELATIVE to the residual one, that which precedes eternal judgment. The grain is FIRST then brought as in Matthew 24 and I Thessalonians 4, to the Lord, to meet Him undeniably separately, and after congregation in heaven, the metaphor now turning to that of bride, again selective as was the wheat from the chaff, and it is only then, when the due action has been taken, including Christ's COMING with ALL the saints and then ruling with them, that the chaff has its final judgment to be such, as in a farm where the chief thing is to garner the harvest, and the clean-up can come later.
It is a stress on context to make one term in a series, be of a wholly diverse character to the second member of that series, here implied. There is a place for metaphor, for metathesis, for figure, and it is well to use these devices, and so to enter into the spirit of a discourse where as often, it is as plain as the nose on the face what is what. However, when the TOPIC is end and resurrection and judgment, and a SERIES of resurrections is in view, using the same concept, it is exceedingly hard to see how with clear words (as in Proverbs 8:8), metaphor and matrix are in turn, in view.
Hence it appears that just as in Revelation 19:8ff., it is the saints of God who have come en bloc to the marriage of the Lamb, and who in their distinctive and salvation-signifying dress then accompany Him as He comes to smash the evil and accomplish the good in government on this earth, saints resurrected as in Revelation 11, those in heaven following the prelude as bridesmaids on earth (Matthew 25), so here, we see them as HAVING COME. This is what they do next, after the so strongly proclaimed COMING WITH HIM. After all, if they come with Him, so might they well be with Him, with the journey already accomplished! I Thessalonians 3:13 likewise refers to this coming, as of course does Jude 14-15. Revelation 20:3 simply fills in how long.
Blending rest with association with His majesty grace and pastoral kindness (as in Psalm 72), their presence is NOT statedly in body, so that it is not necessary to conclude such a thing. Why then is the term 'souls' used ? It would seem therefore not to indicate a work-place recourse, as if you turn up for labour, but a presence to exhibit His glory and surround His meekness in majesty with the recipients of His spiritual gift, so that with applause and delight, they might attest or witness the restoration and the registration of good on this earth. In this, however, for the reasons above given, it is deemed for so long a period, and as part of a determinate sequence of events, and coherence of thought, to be in resurrection format, as befits the notation.
To be clear, there would be much to remove in such a setting, the meaning of 'resurrection' from its sense of site of finale, but there is no exclusion in the use of the term 'soul' in Revelation 20:4, nor indeed would it even be strange for such a term, at the extreme, to mean persons.
There is not even a need for this however, in view of the points above concerning other reasons for the use of this term 'souls'; and this leaves us with what appears a directive resultant to take 'resurrection' with the implicit series notation implied with 'first' to mean precisely what this as a term for the time of ultimates and restoration, to mean what is in the eye and mind of all the saints, as the time of exultant victory and triumph for the Lamb in His so vast enterprise, who here comes with a majesty and power ultimate and manifest, in the very heart of the 'restoration of all things'. Thus as in Isaiah 11 and Psalm 72, Micah 4, this time is utterly regenerative and of the very ilk of the terminal.
While then, it is not necessary to adjudicate in this matter, even if it were not 'resurrection' in what appears a most clear indication of this element of restoration for a restored earth, yet the saints will participate in His rule, that of Him who earned the place in meekness, where majesty abides, and whose eternal deity is no more divested of its apparent wonder and grandeur. Just as this is not merely meretricious or factitious, but grand in the sense of the ultimate aristocracy, one not grabbed or given for singularity of someone or other, but natural and eternal for Him, and is now vindicated after a tour of service of a character physically grotesque, and on the part of His betrayers (cf. Psalm 69, 109), spiritually hideous, the very acme of laying down one's life for one's friends, so it appears clear is the resurrection, the first resurrection, that of the body, precisely as in I Corinthians 15, as in II Corinthians 5:1ff., of the body eternal in the heavens as Paul proclaims there, and not some fastidiously figurative indication.
In this, then, is taken as the force of the passage, though it has been difficult, for after all, WHEN He comes for His saints as in Matthew 24 and I Thessalonians 4, there is no question of their not being resurrected in full and defined array, as in Isaiah 26:19, those in the dust now brought back to life, where mortality puts on immortality, where Christ is the first-fruits, so that there is no innovative doctrine here to be imported, yes, and no additive to be brought in, when after all, the entire sequence is given over and over again, without any doubt whatsoever.
But what of this, that it is His friends who now share, Himself resurrected just as He is, in the glory of His rule on this earth, before this vast and imperially made globe, one yet so smitten, is with finality dismissed!
And who ARE HIS friends ? YOU are His friends, He indicates, if you do whatsoever He commands you. That includes repentance when you slip into some sin, for there is no man who does not sin, though the redeemed are NOT under its sovereignty, whether or not they, like David, slip here or there in grievous fall; and those who think otherwise, the apostle John is used to remind us in I John 1, merely deceive themselves.
There is this glorious harmony of purpose and fulfilment: on earth, we find Christ IN US as in Colossians 1:27, when He calls His people, His elect, it is Christ FOR US, to gather us one and all who are His from all time past; and when He comes with all His saints, it is Christ WITH US, ruler with those who are His friends, vindicated now with those whom He has vindicated vicariously, His own people, the people of His flock, resurrected to be like Him, as He is, realising in Him now that propinquity which was spiritual, in ways most manifest, in things regenerative, before the gates being closed, the books are opened. How great to realise that concerning those who have so been with Him in the millenium, in that most blessed first resurrection, there is a code and not a mere codicil: on them the second death has no power (Revelation 20:6). Their works are indeed finished and this participation in His glory has no sense that is destructive of rest, being a very quintessence of it, before all is finally despatched.
WHY IS THERE A MILLENIUM ?
With Him who comes to rule the nations, however, divesting the devil in that time of his proverbial deceptive power over the forces of their arms and the misconceptions of their heads, there is no deception. What a glorious congregation to witness and attest does He have, as history is finally wound up in a grace and glory, with meekness and equity, with marked concern with those not well placed and accessibility to prayer of the most manifest character, so that the last word is not of evil marring all as it seeks always to do, but of its utter, sustained vanquishment. On the other hand, it is not allowed to SEEM good either, for not all hearts by any means are willing to surrender even in this glorious epoch; for as Isaiah 26:10 declares it,
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"Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. |
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In the land of uprightness, he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord." |
Accordingly, at the end of this period of peace, like someone who has dieted but now wallows once more in fat, there is an uprising. Perhaps meekness with majesty is not according to lust enough for the errant heart! Satan is released (showing us once more that his power is never autonomous, but limited as expressly seen in the case of Job - and this is a vast encouragement to the saints) to perform his last division, and in that, there is some value, for it attests the REALITY of the diversity of heart and mind and spirit among men. It does this EVEN when there is abundance and peace and equity, showing finally and once for all that it is NOT, emphatically not the circumstances which are the cause of evil, but rather evil which is a contributory cause of the circumstances. For this reason, some fall when the test is minor, and some stand when it is colossal.
Enticing, this evil spirit seeks, unrepentant in the near approach to eternity itself, to arouse a rebellion and being crushed, goes off to his place. Soon we see in Revelation 20, that this has nothing to do any more with this earth, for there is NO MORE PLACE found for the heavens and the earth on which man has been placed. They are dispersed, and as II Peter 3 shows, this with great heat and power, for after all, vast was the energy in matter, merely to name one component.
A new heavens and a new earth now appear, and what a glory, if this one is without the curse, and without even those still being tested, and the artist is once more the Lord Himself, so that no more is their a commitment to vanity in the earth, the creation suffering, groaning with the curse. The curse now has already ONCE been borne for ALL who are in this new dominion, and there is no more of it at all. Suffering and tears are things of the past (Revelation 21:4). It is not a simple blessedness, as of those who having always had all, are merely indulged; but all have been tested, and all principles in liberty have had their time and been shown fraudulent, but those of the Lord.
Eternity follows a prolonged laboratory session on this earth, in which the Lord has shown His love and patience and forbearance and grace and desire (as in II Peter 3:9, I Timothy 2, Colossians 1:19ff., John 3:15ff.), and those who are His have received it freely, as in His own knowledge, who works all things after the counsel of His own will, is notably the case.
Glory then be to the Lord of glory who having come to purchase His own, with absolute and utter sincerity offering to all, now with His purchase continues in that eternal blessedness which is always His, having in love gained many more to share it with Him, whose it is.
What a possession is this, the glory of God covering the earth as the waters cover the sea, yes the KNOWLEDGE of that glory so covering it, and His mercy and grace, as that of a Shepherd with His sheep, having a scope and a style so majestic, so effectual, so peaceable after so much war, with such grace! Moreover, this is merely a prelude of vindication of the Lord, attestation, confirmation, exhibition of the realities of life so many have beclouded and ignored. AFTER this is far more and far better still, with the devil no longer in mere abeyance, as he will be for the millenium, but displaced for ever; and the Lord in His eternal fatherhood, Christ in His brotherhood, the Lamb in His glory, is as the very temple (Revelation 21:22).