Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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20.5 The rest of the dead people did not live until the thousand years should be
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completed. This is the resurrection–the first one! 20.6 How blessed and set-apart the one
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(...continued)
Newport comments that "Christ is now reigning as Lord and King, but His reign is veiled,
unseen, and unrecognized by the world...So as far as the world is concerned, Christ's
reign is only potential and unrealized [or, we might add, a fantastic illusion]...The millennial
kingdom will be the age of the manifestation of Christ's glory. It will be the time when the
sovereignty--which He now possesses but does not openly manifest and which He will turn
over to the Father in the age to come--will be displayed to the world." (Pp. 296-97)
But such a view does violence to the ardent conviction of the author of Revelation that
here and now, in this world, the Little Lamb is "King of kings and Lord of lords," the One Who
is riding on His white horse, trampling out the vintage of the grapes of wrath! It also does violence
to the view of Revelation that the Little Lamb is none other than the "Lord of history"
Who "comes with the clouds," in deliverance and judgment upon peoples and nations throughout
history. This is a reign which is seen and recognized by the believing Christian world.
That there is a glorious future reign promised by Revelation is not to be denied; but
neither is its depiction of the present Kingdom and the present reigning of His “priests and
kings”! What do you think? How will you interpret this material?
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Before the definite article ï, hoi, “the,” the conjunction kai, kai, “and,” is interpolated
into the text by Uncial Manuscripts 046, 051, Minuscules 1006, 1841, 1854, 2050, the
“Majority Text” (A), the Old Latin Manuscript a, some manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate, the
Syriac tradition, and the Bohairic Coptic tradition. The definite article a`,, ha, which is either
nominative or accusative plural neuter, is interpolated into the text by Minuscule 2329. The
witnesses without any interpolated word are: Alexandrinus, Minuscule 1611, a few other
Greek manuscripts, the Latin Vulgate, and some of the Old Latin witnesses. We think the
reading a`,, ha is simply a mistake on the part of this copyist, as it make no sense in the sentence.
Whether the conjunction is read or not makes no difference for the meaning of Revelation.
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Again Aune translates by “did not come to life” (p. 1071).
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This sentence, ï ëïéðï ôí íåêñí ïê æçóáí ÷ñé ôåëåóè ô ÷ßëéá ôç, hoi
loipoi ton nekron ouk ezesan achri telesthe ta chilia ete, “the remainder of the dead
people did not live until it should be finished, the thousand years,” is omitted by Sinaiticus,
Minuscules 2030, 2053, 2062, 2377, the “Majority Text” (K), the Philoxenian Syriac, and
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Beatus of Liebana (8 century A.D.). This omission does change the meaning of Revelation,
leaving out the statement concerning the dead believers not coming to life until after the
thousand years. We think this omission is another case of the copyist’s eye skipping from the
word ôç, ete, “years,” at the close of verse four to the same word at the end of this sentence,
and leaving out the intervening words as a result–simply a mistake of sight.
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(continued...)