The Reign of the Saints of Revelation 20

I. The Reign of the Saints is in Revelation 20:4-6 as follows:

A. Revelation 20:4-6 says, “Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. “5The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were complete. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.”

1. The first resurrection is the saints' resurrection and includes the following aspects:

a. God's elect being born again during the 1000-year Church Age is the 1st aspect of the first resurrection (John 5:24).

b. The second aspect of the first resurrection is Saints and martyrs coming to life in Heaven without resurrection bodies after dying in the 1000-year Church Age.  “Absent from the body is present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Paul desires to depart and be with the Lord in Heaven (Philippians 1:23). "And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld" (Revelation 6:9; Revelation 3:21; 2:13).

c. The third aspect of the 1st resurrection is in two phases:

1) When our Lord returns, He will bring the souls of the martyrs and saints with Him and raise our bodies to be spiritual bodies like His at that time (Revelation 20:4;  1 Thessalonians 4:13f; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53).

2)Our Lord will change the bodies of living saints into spiritual bodies and catch us up in the air to be with Him when He comes. Our bodies will be like His glorious body. So, all the assembly of the resurrected saints will be with the Lord forever.

2. The Second Resurrection is the resurrection of the unsaved. It will be when the Lord raises the unsaved dead with -resurrection unto condemnation- bodies. Note that the first and second resurrections appear together in John 5:28-29.                                                

TABULAR VIEW OF THE FIRST AND SECOND RESURRECTIONS                       

THREE ASPECTS OF THE FIRST RESURRECTION
Aspect #1 of the first resurrection	God's elect being born again during the 1000-year Church Age is the 1st aspect of the first resurrection. John 5:24 says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
Aspect #2 of the first resurrection	The second aspect of the first resurrection is Saints and martyrs coming to life in Heaven without a resurrection body after we die in the 1000-year Church Age. “Absent from the body is present with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8). Paul desires “to depart and be with the Lord in Heaven” (Phil 1:23). "And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld" (Rev. 6:9; cf. Rev 3:21; 2:13). Revelation 20:4 says, “Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Read Revelation 3:21 and 2:13.
Aspect #3 of the first resurrection	The third aspect of the 1st resurrection is in two phases: a. The Lord, when He returns will bring the souls of the martyrs and saints with Him and raise our bodies to be spiritual bodies like His at that time (Rev 20:4; 1 Th. 4:13f; 1 Cor 15:51f). b. The Lord will change the bodies of living saints into spiritual bodies and catch us up to be with Him when He comes. Our bodies will be like His glorious body. So, all the assembly of the resurrected saints will be with the Lord forever. Revelation 3:21 says, “To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
THE SECOND RESURRECTION	The Second Resurrection will be when the Lord raises the unsaved dead with -resurrection unto condemnation- bodies. Note that the 1st and 2nd resurrections are coupled together in John 5:28-29, which says, “Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice 29and come out—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Both John 5:28 and 29 occur at the second coming of Christ.

B. Revelation 20:4 says, “Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”  Introduction to the reign of the saints from Revelation 20:4-6 and John 5:24-29.

1. The occupants of the thrones were Christians who died during the 1000-year Church Age.

2. Revelation 2:26-27 says, “And to the one who overcomes and continues in my work until the end, I will give authority over the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery —just as I have received authority from My Father.” Notice the timing: Our Lord receives all authority in Heaven and on earth from His Father. He gives this authority to Christians. And His disciples rule with an iron scepter.

3. Commenting on Revelation 2:26, Dr. John Gill, in his Baptist Commentary explains Christian authority over the nations as follows, “this power over them may be understood in a spiritual sense, through the preaching of the Gospel, which being attended with the power of God, is the means of converting sinners, and so of weakening the kingdom of Satan …”

4. The rod of iron is the authority of our Lord Messiah who is ruling and judging now. Satan can do nothing that the Lord does not allow him to do. God depicts His authority over the devil as a rod of iron. Satan can only do what God permits him to do. When Christians use the means of grace, God limits the devil with this rod.

5. 1 Corinthians 6:2 says, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?” Notice that saints use some of the competency of the sinless state while we live in this world.

6. Matthew 19:28 says, “Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

7. Daniel 7:27 says, “Then the sovereignty, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey Him”

8. Revelation 3:21 says, “To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Notice that Revelation 3:21 gives the time of the Christian rule with Christ as during the Church Age. Jesus sits on His throne after He overcomes the world. Christians sit with Him on His throne immediately after overcoming and dying.

9. Psalm 2:8-12 says, “Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession. 9You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery” 10Therefore be wise, O kings; be admonished, O judges of the earth. 11Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. 12Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in your rebellion, when His wrath ignites in an instant. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” Note that the Lord Jesus, from His present throne can and does cause the destruction of kings. And Christians rule with Him in Heaven and exercise this authority also.

10. Luke 10:17 says, “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.”

11. Luke 10:18 says, “So He told them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” The Lord is saying, ‘Yes, I saw Satan fall…. from Heaven.” It was such a revival of demon evictions that divine imagery represents it as Satan falling from Heaven. This was a special binding of the devil so that the disciples could easily cast out many demons.

12. Conclusion: Those seated on the thrones in Revelation 20:4, are those to whom God gave authority to rule. Christ overcame and God gave Him all power in Heaven and on earth. So, His people who overcome, receive the same authority as Christ. As our Lord Jesus can do nothing independently of His Father, so, we can do nothing God does not authorize.  John 5:19 says, “So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” As the Lord Jesus Christ always defers to the will of His Father, we follow Him in the same deference.

13. In Revelation 20:4, they do not rule on earth but rule in Heaven. They rule the earth, but they rule it from Heaven. After they died, they came to life in Heaven. They are not yet in their glorified bodies. All Revelation 20:4 says about them is the following: “Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge.”

14. The best interpreter of the Book of Revelation is the Book of Revelation.

15. Revelation 3:21 says, “To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” So, our Lord is in Heaven now ruling. He overcame. So, He grants to Christians, when we die, to come to life and rule on His throne with Him. This is the natural interpretation of the Book of Revelation.

16. Our Lord rules the earth today from Heaven. He shares that rule with overcoming Christians.

17. In Revelation 20:4 martyrs occupy thrones. These were those beheaded for the witness of Christ. Revelation 20:4 also says, “And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

18. Revelation 20:4 is especially about the martyrs. It is also, by extension, about martyrs throughout the Church Age. Martyrs form a large theme in the Book of Revelation.

19. Revelation 2:13 says, ““I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held fast to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” This was our Lord Jesus speaking to the Church at Pergamos. A member of the Church at Pergamos had recently died for his faith. This makes him a martyr. A martyr is one who witnesses by giving his life instead of denying the faith.

20. Revelation 6:9-11 says, “And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld. 10And they cried out in a loud voice, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?’ 11Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.”

b. Notice that this vision is about souls, not bodies. So, we see martyrs here in their intermediate state in Heaven.

c. Their intermediate state depicts departed saints after their deaths while they are with the Lord Jesus in Heaven and before the Lord brings them with Him when He returns. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 says, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.”

d. Paul said, “absent from the body is present with the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 5:8). But this is not present with the Lord in the body but in the soul only.

e. The Churches were terribly upset about the murdering of the martyrs by the Roman Empire. So, in the Book of Revelation God shows the Churches what their present state is. God is taking diligent care of His precious martyrs.

1) Philippians 1:21-24 says, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So, what shall I choose? I do not know. 23I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed. 24But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”

2) The Apostle Paul was a martyr in Rome, as was Simon Peter.

3) Revelation 2:13 says, “I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held fast to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” This was our Lord Jesus speaking to the Church at Pergamos. A member of that Church had recently been killed for his faith. This makes him a martyr. A martyr is one who witnesses by giving his life instead of denying the faith.

4) There was much evil in Sardis. Our Lord said the throne of Satan was in Sardis. There was also a local church there.

5) The evil people of Sardis, instigated by the devil, had killed Antipas for his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps they beheaded Antipas.

6) After Antipas died, he came to life and was reigning with the Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven.

7) Antipas had not worshipped the beast or its image. He had not received the mark of the beast on his forehead or hands.

8) Revelation 22:5 says, “There will be no more night in the city, and they will have no need for the light of a lamp or of the sun. For the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.”

9) Christians who die during the 1000-year Church Age also come to life during the 1000 years as soon as they die.

10) The Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:18, “And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

a) So, Christians come to life and rule with Christ with no delay. We arrive in Heaven and begin to judge and rule with Christ.

b) We rule in His Heavenly Kingdom. We are kings with Him who is King.

c) Matthew 19:28 says, “Truly I say to you that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit down upon His throne of glory, you, having followed Me, also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

11) Also reigning during the 1000-year Church Age is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christians come to life and reign along with the Lord (Revelation 20:4).

12) Scripture does not say that our Lord Jesus Christ will reign for only 1000 years. It says He will reign forever.

a) Revelation 11:15 says, “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever”

b) Scripture does say that the saints will reign with Christ for 1000-years.

c) Explanation: I worked at a coal processing plant for one summer and the following Christmas holidays. It was at the coal mine where my father worked. He did not work there for only one summer and the Christmas holidays. He was superintendent there for many years. Just so, Scripture does not say that our Lord reigns for only one thousand years. His reign is forever.

d) Colossians 1:6 says, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood the grace of God.”