14 Mar 2014
Revelation 20:5-6
Revelation 20:5: “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”
As we have seen elsewhere, the Church is resurrected at the Rapture and the Tribulation saints are resurrected after the Second Coming. In this passage the resurrection of the Tribulation saints is referred to as the “first resurrection”. Only the righteous (including the Old Testament saints) are resurrected at this time; the unrighteous are not resurrected until just before the final judgment.
This means that there are a total of 3 resurrections in the Bible: there is the resurrection of the Church at the Rapture, the resurrection of the righteous dead at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom, and the resurrection of the unrighteous (and those who died during the Millennium) before the final judgment.
The reason you are blessed if you are a part of this resurrection is because it means that your faith was real and your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. The ‘second death’ that the passage mentions is being thrown into the Lake of Fire, and that will not happen to any of these people. None of those who are resurrected at this time are in danger of judgment.
Do you see how verse 6 says that “they shall be priests of God”? Earlier in Revelation we saw John say that we have been made kings and priests. Here we see both sides fulfilled – we reign with Christ, and we are priests of God.