Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

2299
(...continued)
There is a confident hope expressed in some of these passages that God "gives life,"
even to the dead, to those who have gone down to the grave, to the world of the dead. John
sees that long-term hope of Israel fulfilled in Jesus and His followers, who, in spite of dying for
their faith, "live" and "reign" with the Christ!
Here again, students of Revelation who take its enigmatic symbolism literally, seek to
base their views on statements such as this, æçóáí, “they lived,” or possibly “they came to
life.” As Gregg explains, “The meaning of the expression ‘they lived’ (verse 4) is hotly debated.
Premillennialsts prefer to translate the expression ‘they came to life,’ meaning ‘they
lived (again),’ and identify it with the ‘first resurrection’ of verses 5 and 6. This is the resurection
of the saints to reign on earth...during the millennium...The amillennialist and the postmillennialist
do not consider this ‘first resurrection’ to be physical.” (P. 466)
The fact is, the verb is ambiguous, and can be translated in both senses. Post-millennialists
think that the phrase means the future victory of Christianity after its earlier history of
persecution, which is nothing less than a re-birth of the cause for which the martyrs died, or a
revival of the martyr spirit (Gregg, pp. 465, 67).
We insist that such ambiguous phrases should not be made the basis for doctrine, and
that the conflicts over these matters form a sad page in the history of Christian doctrine.
When the Bible states clearly in both Tanakh and New Testament that the prophetic vision is
enigmatic, filled with riddles, like someone “seeing through a mirror darkly,” it is foolish to
make prophetic visions the basis for specific doctrines such as is being done here!
2300
For occurrences of the verb basileu,ein, basileuein, “to reign” in Revelation, see:
5:10, "You made them [the people the Little Lamb purchased with His blood] for our God a
kingdom, and priests, and they will reign (âáóéëåýóïõóéí, basileusousin) over the
earth!";
11:15, "The kingdom of the universe has become [the kingdom] of our Lord, and of his Christ;
and He will reign (âáóéëåýóåé, basileusei) into the ages of the ages!";
11:17, "...You took Your great strength, and You reigned (âáóßëåõóáò, ebasileusas)!";
19:6, "...[The] Lord reigned (âáóßëåõóåí, ebasileusen), [our] God, the Almighty!";
20:4, "And they lived, and they reigned (âáóßëåõóáí, ebasileusan) with the Christ a
thousand years!";
20:6, "They will be priests of God and of the Christ, and they will reign âáóéëåýóïõóéí,
basileusousin) with Him a thousand years!"; and
22:5, "...And they will reign (âáóéëåýóïõóéí, basileusousin) into the ages of the ages!"
Already the set-apart people of God have been formed into a "kingdom"; and their "rule"
is without end. Over against the short, limited time of their suffering, is the long, seemingly
endless time of their present and future reign! Such is the basic content of John’s vision,
though the specifics are cloudy and leave many questions for the interpreter.
1015