Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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2310 2311 authority, but rather, they will be priests of God and of the Anointed King, and they will reign 2309 (...continued) kingdom forever. John's language implies, we think, that there is the possibility of following the Little Lamb faithfully, and sharing in His life that is unending (the "first resurrection"). For those who choose this possibility, when physical death comes (the "first death"), that life goes on uninterrupted, and death can never again threaten them. But for those who do not choose to share in that immortal life, who reject the divine invitation to come and drink of the water of eternal life, physical death (the "first death") is followed by eternal death, the "second death." So, at least, John's language seems to imply, and can be understood. But these are concerns of the commentators on John's writing, while John himself simply mentions these matters, without going into any detail concerning them. 2310 Many of the promises of Jesus, given throughout His earthly ministry, have to do with the conquering of death and its power over their lives. Especially do we see this in the Gospel of John, in such passages as the following: 3:15-18, “In this way God loved the world [of humanity]--that He gave the unique Son, so that every one who has confidence in Him might not perish, but rather might have longlasting life. For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge the world, but rather in order that the world might be made whole through him. The one who has confidence in Him is not being judged...” 3:36, “The one who has confidence in the Son has long-lasting life; but the one who disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.” 4:14, “Whoever shall drink from the water which I, I will give to him, it will become in him a spring of water, bubbling up into long-lasting life!” 5:24, “Truly, truly I say to you people, that the one who hears my Word, and places confidence in the One sending Me, has long-lasting life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed over from death into life!” We ask, is that not a “resurrection”? 6:40; “For this is the will of My Father, that every one who sees the Son and places confidence in Him, might have long-lasting life, and I will raise him up, I Myself in the last day! (see verses 47, 48 and 54) We ask, in the light of 5:24, is this not a “second resurrection”? 10:28, “And I, I give to them long-lasting life, and they will not perish for the long-lasting age... “ 11:25-26, “I, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who places confidence in Me, even if he dies, shall live; and every one who lives and places confidence in Me will not die into the long-lasting age!” 17:3, “This is the long-lasting life--that they should know You, the only true God, and the One Whom You sent, Jesus Christ.” 20:31, “But these things have been written, so that you may have confidence that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that having confidence, you may have life in His name.“ We must ask in the light of these texts whether John should be understood in Revelation as affirming that only a select group of followers of the Little Lamb share in this longlasting life that overcomes death. The obvious reply must be that for Johannine thought, 1022 (continued...)
2312 2313 2314 with him [the] thousand years! 2310 (...continued) long-lasting life imparted by Jesus is something in which every person of faith shares--not just some small, select group! 2311 See the following passages in Revelation that describe the followers of Christ as "priests": 1:6, "He made us [into] a kingdom, priests for God..." It is to be emphasized that this becoming "priests for God" is something that has already happened in the life of the people of God; they play the role assigned to Israel of old as described in Exodus 19:4-6. It is not just something that belongs to a distant future group of martyrs in a “millennial kingdom,” but rather, it is the role of every follower of Jesus Christ! 5:10, "...You were slaughtered, and You purchased for God with Your blood, [people] out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation! And You made them for our God a kingdom, and priests, and they shall reign over the earth!" Again, it must be emphasized that in John's view, this is something that has been accomplished through the death of Jesus, the Little Lamb of God. God's people have been purchased for God; they have been made into a kingdom of priests--who reign together with their King, and who act as His priestly people in human history. Their "reign" and "priesthood" are "over the earth,” and that reigning will continue into the future. Walvoord acknowledges that "There is a sense, of course, in which saints participate in the present spiritual kingdom of God. This explanation is quite inadequate to support the teaching that we are now reigning with Christ in any real sense [!]. The order is rather that we suffer now and reign in the future (2 Timothy 2:12 [‘If we endure, we will also reign with Him.’])." (P. 297) We believe that Walvoord is both right and wrong. The followers of Christ are clearly depicted in the New Testament as being already, today, here and now, "kings and priests" in the kingdom of God; we reign and we act as God's priestly people here and now, in human history, in “a real sense.” But Christian believers are also depicted in the New Testament as being like their great King, a suffering people, whose reign is characterized by martyrdom and sacrifice, and who will not know the great fulness of "reign" in store for them until the coming of the blessed future which God has planned and promised. Here again, as we have done on many occasions before, we must emphasize that God is God of the past, the present, and the future--and none of these "tenses of the kingdom" should be overlooked–either God’s kingdom, or our’s! 2312 The phrase ìåô áôï, met’ autou, “with Him,” is changed to read meta. tau/ta, meta tauta, “after these things,” by Minuscule 2329 (see) and the “Majority Text” (K). This variant reading slightly changes the meaning of Revelation, changing its statement concerning their “reigning with Him,” i.e., with the risen Lord Jesus, to a statement concerning the time 1023 (continued...)
Page 1 and 2: THE THOUSAND YEAR VICTORY OVER EVIL
Page 3 and 4: 2259 2260 2261 2262 2263 key of the
Page 5 and 6: 2264 2265 2266 2267 2268 2269 drago
Page 7 and 8: 2265 (...continued) serpent, places
Page 9 and 10: 2270 2271 2272 2273 / satan and he
Page 11 and 12: 2271 (...continued) Isaiah 24:21-23
Page 13 and 14: 2271 (...continued) “In that sens
Page 15 and 16: 2271 (...continued) Tobit 8:2-3, Th
Page 17 and 18: 2272 (...continued) 1 Chronicles 16
Page 19 and 20: 2274 2275 2276 2277 2278 and locked
Page 21 and 22: 2279 The verb plana,w, planao, "to
Page 23 and 24: 2284 (...continued) him to be loose
Page 25 and 26: 2289 2290 2291 2292 them; and the i
Page 27 and 28: 2289 (...continued) ed Neo-Babylon,
Page 29 and 30: 2289 (...continued) ed over to him
Page 31 and 32: 2294 2295 2296 2297 nor his image,
Page 33 and 34: 2299 (...continued) There is a conf
Page 35 and 36: 2304 2305 20.5 The rest of the dead
Page 37 and 38: 2307 (...continued) rection...Antit
Page 39: 2309 (...continued) ‘soul,’ on
Page 43 and 44: 2317 2318 2319 released from his pr
Page 45 and 46: 2320 2321 2322 2323 2324 2325 four
Page 47 and 48: 2326 2327 2328 war -of whom their n
Page 49 and 50: 2329 2330 2331 2332 width of the ea
Page 51 and 52: 2333 (...continued) beloved city,
Page 53 and 54: day and night into the ages of the
Page 55 and 56: 2345 2346 2347 the face of Whom the
Page 57 and 58: 2348 2349 20.12 And I saw the dead
Page 59 and 60: 2354 2355 2356 according to their w
Page 61 and 62: 2354 (...continued) Newport well st
Page 63 and 64: 2363 2364 2365 2366 underworld were
Page 65: 2369 (...continued) earth. All thes

Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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