Revelation 20:6, commentary and pictures

Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection, for they are the righteous redeemed raised to immortal life. On them the second death has no power, that final penalty for sin ending in existence, while those with no part in it remain under its power. They shall be priests of God and of Christ and reign with Him a thousand years as kings and priests. There are two literal resurrections separated by a thousand years, the first of the just at Christ's coming in the clouds with trumpet and opened graves, and the second of the wicked after the thousand years are finished. During those thousand years the saints rest with Jesus in the holy city and reign in judgment with Him, comparing the deeds of the wicked and of Satan and his angels with the Bible and recording what each must suffer, until fire consumes the wicked, purifies the earth, and opens the new earth without death or pain.

Words and Meaning

Those who have part in the first resurrection are blessed and holy, and they are the righteous, the redeemed, those counted worthy of the resurrection of life, those who sleep in Jesus and die trusting in the Saviour. The first resurrection is the waking of the just, while the rest of the dead do not live again until the thousand years are finished. When the earth is wrapped in destroying fire they abide safely in the holy city, shut inside with Jesus.

On such the second death has no power, and they stand beyond its reach. The second death is the final penalty for sin, contrasted with everlasting life, ending in loss of existence with no hope of resurrection, and no sinner has gained immortality by eating from the tree of life. It is distinct from the death all people suffer because of Adam's sin and transgression. The righteous are raised to life, while the wicked who have not secured pardon through repentance and faith, who have no part in the first resurrection, remain under its power and receive punishment according to works that finally ends in the second death, and their destruction ends sin and its misery.

They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years in Paradise, resting in the holy city and in the city of God with Jesus. Their reign is as kings and priests, sharing in Christ's reign between the first and second resurrections. In that time they sit on thrones with Jesus in the holy city and join Him in judging the wicked dead and in judging Satan and the evil angels, comparing deeds with the Bible as the statute book and deciding each case according to what was done in the body, with the punishment due recorded against each name.

Sharing in the first resurrection brings glorious immortality when the Lifegiver breaks the tomb's hold at Christ's coming. The righteous dead rest in the grave until they awake, and the hope of that resurrection rests in Jesus, in whom eternal life is centered, with the mortal changed to immortal and the corruptible to incorruptible. Those raised in the first resurrection come forth in immortal bloom, clothed with immortal youth and beauty. Those raised later, the wicked dead raised after the thousand years are finished, still bear the marks of the curse, of disease and death.

Resurrection Order and Timing

There are two literal resurrections separated by a thousand years, the first resurrection of the righteous and just at Christ's coming and the second resurrection of the wicked who did evil after the thousand years are finished. All the righteous dead are raised at the first resurrection by the voice of the Son of God, while the wicked dead remain dead in the dust and are raised a thousand years later to be burned up and cease to exist. Those raised in the first resurrection come forth in immortal bloom to life eternal in triumph and victory, while those raised at the second still bear the marks of the curse, disease and death, rising exactly as they went down into their graves. Thomas Paine illustrates this order, for though falsely said to be already living as an exalted spirit in heaven, he is dead and reduced to dust until called forth at the second resurrection to receive his reward and suffer the second death. At the first resurrection the trump of God sounds and all in graves hear His voice, with graves opened and the righteous coming forth from every part of the earth, from rocky caverns, dungeons, caves of the earth and waters of the deep, with not one overlooked, and after the resurrection of the just there is no more death, sin or sorrow.

The thousand years are future and not already past, and they lie between the first and second resurrections. The claim that they had already occurred was error. The blessed state of the saints belongs to those thousand years, and the vision of the new earth is dated to their close after Christ's second advent. During that interval the righteous reign with Christ as kings and priests, sharing in the judgment of the wicked dead and of Satan and evil angels by comparing deeds with the Bible and recording the punishment due according to works. While they are with Christ and the holy city the earth lies as a desolate wilderness.

The thousand years do not mean a temporal millennium of worldwide conversion, peace and prosperity on earth before Christ comes. That pre-advent expectation of the earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord is false doctrine, error and deception. It must not delay present warning or longing for Jesus to come soon, end sin and take His people home to everlasting sanctification. The thousand-year reign is not a future period available for warning the world, so the work of warning must be done now before God's dealings with sinful people suddenly change and punishment falls on transgressors.

The first resurrection occurs when Christ returns in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, when the trump of God sounds, all in graves hear His voice, graves are opened, and those who have done good come forth to life eternal. Dead believers rise first at His triumphant return, from every place in triumph and victory with none overlooked. Their bodies, though sown mortal, corruptible, weak and dishonored, are raised immortal, incorruptible, powerful and spiritual, for the Spirit of Christ who dwelt in believers is the life-giving power that binds them to Jesus and brings them from the dead as His purchased possession, known and guarded as precious unto eternal victory. Having part in it requires present readiness as minutemen and women prepared for the life to come, because calamities and sudden death may cut off life in a moment while Satan as prince of the power of the air who caused the fall of Adam and Eve works with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and power to gain control of the unprepared. Then Christ receives the dominion over creation forfeited by Adam, and the renewed creation lives in peace under His rule.

A partial resurrection already occurred when those raised after Christ's resurrection were led captive through the gates of the city to the throne. That event is distinct from the coming awakening when all in graves hear the voice of the Son of man and every saint who sleeps in Jesus awakes and leaves the prison house. It is also distinct from the general judgment at the end of the thousand years, when everyone who disowned Christ and betrayed Him in the person of His saints sees the result of his work. At that close Jesus descends from the holy city in brightness like lightning upon the Mount of Olives, which parts asunder into a very great plain prepared for the holy city containing the paradise of God, the garden of Eden restored more beautiful than when removed. In fearful majesty surrounded by the redeemed host and angels He calls forth the wicked dead from long sleep to dreadful waking, beholding Him as the crucified one they despised and rejected, from the giant-like well-proportioned race before the flood to the dwarfed feeble deformed last generation, and overwhelmed by His exceeding glory they are compelled to exclaim in anguish Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord, before their gathering around the camp of the saints and destruction by fire from God as the final execution of judgment.

Reign and Judgment Work

During the thousand years those who share in the first resurrection rest in the holy city, in the city of God with Jesus, reigning there as kings and priests of God and of Christ. Their rest there comes before Jesus descends with them to the Mount of Olives and before the city comes down from heaven to settle on the plain made ready. It also comes before the earth is purified, for the wicked dead are not raised until the thousand years end, when they gather around the city and are destroyed by fire from heaven that purifies the earth so the wicked will never defile the earth made new. Immortality now is held by faith in hope of receiving immortality when Christ appears, while the second death is an everlasting death with no hope of resurrection, and no sinner has gained immortality by eating from the tree of life.

Their reign for a thousand years is sitting with Jesus on thrones in judgment in the holy city before it descends to the earth. Having been changed to immortality and caught up together with Jesus to receive harps, robes and crowns and to enter the city, they judge the wicked dead in union with Christ. This reign as priests of God and Christ lies between the first and second resurrections, and in that time they join Christ in examining the deeds of the wicked dead by the Bible.

In that judgment the books are opened, the book of life containing the good deeds of the saints and the book of death containing the evil deeds of the wicked. Those records are compared with the statute book, the Bible, the word of God as the standard of judgment. According to that comparison the saints in unison with Jesus pass judgment upon the wicked dead, deciding every case according to deeds done in the body. They mete out to each the portion to be suffered according to works, determining the punishment each will suffer, and it is written and set off against their names in the book of death what they must receive at the execution of the judgment after the thousand years.

Satan and his angels, the evil angels, are also judged by Jesus and the saints during the thousand years. Satan's punishment is far greater than that of those he deceived, and he continues to live and suffer long after all those he deceived have perished. After the thousand years the wicked receive exactly what was decided, when fire breathed from God consumes them in the execution of that judgment. At the close of the thousand years those who reigned are gathered about Jesus in the holy city, called to inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, shut safely inside when the curse is pronounced, lifted with Jesus above the city crowned and glorified in His express image to witness that execution, and then enter their inheritance when that same fire purifies the whole earth and opens the whole earth made new before them.

Safety and Final Outcome

Those who share in the first resurrection are beyond the reach of the second death while the earth is wrapped in destroying fire, for they abide safely inside the holy city, shut in and lifted up with Jesus as fire from God consumes the wicked and then purifies the whole earth to open the earth made new before them. Gathered about Jesus in the city at the close of the thousand years and called to inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, they witness the pronouncing of the curse and the execution of judgment, crowned and glorified in His express image. Clothed with immortal youth and beauty, unlike the wicked raised later, they remain secure while vengeance falls outside.

In that final fire God is to the wicked a consuming fire, but to His people He is a sun and a shield. The same presence that destroys sin is shelter and light to the righteous sheltered in the city.

The thousand years close with Christ returning to earth accompanied by the host of the redeemed of the first resurrection and attended by angels, while the wicked dead are bidden to arise to receive their doom and come forth as a mighty host numberless as the sands of the sea. Jesus descends upon the Mount of Olives from which He ascended, and it parts asunder into a very great plain prepared for the holy city. The New Jerusalem then comes down out of heaven in dazzling splendor to rest upon the place purified and made ready to receive it, and with His people and the angels Christ enters it. Within it is the paradise of God, the garden of Eden restored more beautiful than when removed, and this descent culminates the sequence of Christ's coming, the resurrection of the dead, and His glorious reign in the establishment of God's kingdom on the new earth. At the end of that period Jesus and the saints leave the city for the descent upon the great mountain before the city settles on the plain, where God's people cleansed by fire from all impurity will see what He has done for them.

The wicked rise exactly as they went down into their graves, still bearing the marks of the curse, from the giant-like well-proportioned race before the flood to the dwarfed feeble deformed last generation. Waked to a dreadful waking in fearful majesty before the redeemed host and angels, they behold Jesus as the crucified one they despised and rejected, and overwhelmed by His exceeding glory they are compelled to exclaim in anguish, Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord. Gathered around the city they are destroyed by fire from heaven, and that fire also purifies the earth so the wicked will never defile the earth made new. The saints inherit the whole earth made new after God's fire consumes the wicked and purifies the earth, entering a time with no more death, no more sin, no more sorrow, crying or pain, where the tabernacle of God is with men.

Christ then receives the dominion over creation forfeited by Adam, and the renewed creation lives in peace under His rule. As Alpha and Omega in whom Genesis and Revelation meet, and by His obedience as the second Adam in overcoming Satan's temptations, He redeems Adam's failure and reconciles Adam and God, so the two Adams meet and embrace in Paradise. The dragon, the beast, the false prophet, and all who refused the opportunities given at infinite cost and did not return to loyalty are shut out of Paradise. After the binding of the dragon for a thousand years come the resurrection of the wicked and the final destruction of Satan and the wicked, followed by Christ's final triumph and reign on earth. After the second resurrection Satan and those who joined his rebellion perish together, their cases settled with no further probation.

Who Shares the Resurrection

The first resurrection belongs to the saved, to those who fall asleep in Jesus in full, bright, triumphant hope, dying in peace with praise for His great salvation and with treasure laid up on high. They rest in the grave until they awake, for eternal life is centered in Jesus and the hope of that awakening rests in Him. Those who die in faith and those who die for the truth come forth in it to immortal life, to everlasting life in the city of God, while their persecutors are left outside. At that rising the mortal becomes immortal and the corruptible becomes incorruptible, as Christ takes the redeemed to the homes He has prepared and welcomes them into His presence. Those whose life is hidden with Christ will then appear with Him in glory, and this includes those who received the light God reflected through Enoch, walked in it, were blessed in it, and died holding it.

It is the overcomer's reward, given to those who overcome as Christ overcame and who win noble victory over appetite through His name. Even if the struggle for self-control and freedom from appetite should cost physical life, death in that good cause is not too dear a price, for everything is gained in the resurrection. Those who so conquer will share His throne and sit with Him on it, but those who do not overcome as He overcame cannot share it. Those who obey God's commandments will share in it, and over them the second death will have no power, while they rest in the grave until Christ comes. Sharers are not those who cherish sin and iniquity but those who come off conquerors, who know the truth and are not led astray by Satan's miracles, for those who remain deceived face God's wrath.

Having part in it requires a fitted character developed in this life, numbering the risen with the redeemed as those who have appreciated washing their robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb. Reaching that reign in glory requires being humble, letting God lead, learning His will and present truth, and becoming what must be for salvation. Present choices decide future destiny, so preparation to overcome sin must not be delayed, for those who die before character is prepared for Christ will not share in it. That part is decided by present spiritual condition and is forfeited by continued unfaithfulness. Those who stop growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, separate farther from the Lord, narrow until obliterated the mark separating them from the world, and show it by unrefined, loose, reckless talk and worldly company would have no part in it if now cut down as a cumberer of the ground.

Those who cling to sin and reject God's Spirit will not rise in it, will not see Christ in His beauty, and are lost. Keeping a strong, hard spirit without falling upon the Rock and being broken leaves souls to miss it and to come up in the second resurrection, left outside the city of God among dogs and sorcerers and adulterers and those who love and make a lie. Those who die as sinners rise in the second resurrection, while the first belongs to the blessed and holy, so that one dying in a present sinful condition would rise with the wicked where each sinner receives the place truly theirs.

Thomas Paine illustrates this contrast, for though dead and reduced to dust and falsely represented as already exalted in heaven as a spirit, he will be called forth at the end of the thousand years in the second resurrection to receive his reward and suffer the second death. The same order exposes any teaching that puts the most holy apostles and the vilest infidel together in heaven now, for the wicked remain mouldered to dust and a difference is made between the precious and the vile across two resurrections separated by a thousand years. Wicked slave-masters likewise first suffer the seven last plagues, then rise in the second resurrection to suffer the second death, a most awful death that appeases the wrath of God. They must answer for the soul of the slave kept in ignorance and degradation, and all the sins of that slave will be visited upon the master. The slave himself, kept in ignorance knowing nothing of God or the Bible and fearing nothing but the master's lash, is not taken to heaven, but a compassionate God mercifully lets him be as though he had not been.

Hope and Present Warning

The promise of having part in the first resurrection is the blessed hope that sustains the faithful in death, for those who share in it are blessed and holy and the second death has no power over them. Those who fall asleep in Jesus in full, bright, triumphant hope die in peace with praise for His great salvation and with treasure laid up on high, while the sinner has no such cheering assurance but faces death in fearful uncertainty. That hope looks to reunion on the resurrection morning, when the mortal becomes immortal and the corruptible becomes incorruptible and Christ takes the redeemed to the homes He has prepared and welcomes them into His presence. Whether one would rise in that resurrection of the saved to blessedness, holiness and eternal life depends on being saved at death, so a life can be examined for evidence and the whole household from eldest to youngest needs conversion now in order to share in it and sing praise together.

The dead lie unconscious in the grave, and to them the interval seems only a moment, as though entrance to heaven were immediate, which gives hope of rising with the saints in the first resurrection. The prospect of that waking of the just, while the rest of the dead do not live again until the thousand years are finished, calls the living to seek firm hope and to examine its grounds. It calls for personal choice to live with Christ and to walk the path of the redeemed. Readiness must be present and minute-man readiness, because calamities and sudden death may cut off life in a moment, and because Satan as prince of the power of the air, who caused the fall of Adam and Eve, works with all deceivableness of unrighteousness to gain control of men and women and to take those who have made no preparation, while Christ gave His life for the world because He loves us.

The thousand-year reign is not a temporal millennium in which to warn the world, nor a future period available for that work. The work of warning must be done now, before God's dealings with sinful people suddenly change and punishment falls on transgressors. Searching the truths of Revelation matters because they show sharers in the first resurrection blessed and holy beyond the second death as priests of God and of Christ reigning with Him a thousand years in Paradise, where Christ as Alpha and Omega and second Adam overcomes Satan's temptations, redeems Adam's failure, reconciles Adam and God, and brings the two Adams to meet and embrace, while the dragon, the beast, the false prophet and all who refused opportunities given at infinite cost and did not return to loyalty are shut out. Conversion of the soul from error to truth decides immortality, for the redeemed will live in Christ's presence and the overcomer will receive a royal diadem from Him, in contrast to misuse of millennial doctrine to lull sinners who do not want to give up sin into spiritual sleep and false security. There are two resurrections separated by a thousand years with a difference made between the precious and the vile, the wicked remaining mouldered to dust and not exalted in heaven, so any teaching that puts the most holy apostles and the vilest infidel together in heaven now teaching the same thing denies this order.

The world is represented in apostate churches that trample upon the Word of God and transgress His holy law, discarding the law of Jehovah for the inventions of man. Deceived, deluded and blind, not knowing what spirit they are of nor the end of the dark tunnel they are passing through, they hasten forward to the first and second death, since those with no part in the first resurrection remain under the power of the second death. The vast tide of human will and human passion carries them to oppression and suffering of human beings they did not dream of, because they have exalted phantoms and eternal realities are nothing to them.