Where are the Dead? Death is the First Resurrection! (Revelation 20)
Wineskins Contributor・09/19/19
Revelation 20 is uncertain and potentially dangerous groundupon which to walk. To comment on it assumes so much. It assumes a particularway of reading the whole apocalyptic drama. It assumes a particular structureto the book. Consequently, there are many ambiguities, varied understandings,and even some nasty polemical controversies associated with this text.
Nevertheless, I will venture into these choppy waters inorder to make a very specific pointbased upon my understanding of this text. And I do so only toshare a pastoralmeditation that I find quite meaningful.
In Revelation 20:1-3, Satan is bound. Whatever that means,it means he is not destroyed but only limited. Simultaneously, in Revelation20:4-6, the martyred saints (those beheaded) and others who have overcome (theydid not worship the beast) reign with Christ on thrones. Those who overcome arepromised earlier in Revelation that they will sit down with Christ on histhrone–it is a co-regency (cf. Rev. 3:21). They share in the glory of thekingdom of God. These thrones, as are all thrones in Revelation, participate inheavenly glory–they exist in the throne room of God, in the heavenly sanctuary,the heavenly dwelling place of God.
These saints (“souls”) participate in the “firstresurrection.” This resurrection is described at the end of verse 4 as: “theycame to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” I believe this anaffirmation, similar to the picture in Revelation 7 or Revelation 14:13, thatthose who have passed from earth to heaven, those who have died in the Lordactually come to life when they pass through the portals of death. When the saints of God die, they come tolife. They enter the presence of God and reign with Christ on his throne.They are seated on thrones surrounding God’s own throne. They share theheavenly glory of Christ himself.
The “rest of the dead” –apparently those who do not share inthat glory–do not “come to life” until the judgment day when everyoneexperiences the “second resurrection” (or the resurrection from the dead wherebodies are raised to meet God). I tend to think that the righteous dead,according to this text, live with Christ, but the unrighteous dead (the rest ofthe dead) are not conscious of their state until the “second resurrection”(that is, the general resurrection of the dead when all will be raised withbodies once again). However, I am more confident about my conclusion regardingthose who died in the Lord than those who did not.
Those who participate in the “first resurrection” will notparticipate in the “second death.” The “first” and “second” imply a contrastwith missing components. What is the “first” death and the “second”resurrection? I believe the first death is physical death. The souls enthronedwith Christ experienced the first death but as participants in the “firstresurrection” they will not experience the “second death.” These “souls,”however, await the newness of creation–the time when creation will be renewed,including their own bodies in a (second) resurrection. The “new heavens and newearth” will appear along with a “new Jerusalem.” This newness is the (second)resurrection of the cosmos–a renewed creation with renewed, transformed bodiesin which the saints participate.
Where are the saints who have died in the Lord? They haveexperienced the first resurrection. They came alive in their death. They livein the presence of God, reigning with Christ as they await the final consummation;as they await the renewed heaven and earth. They are not dead, but alive. Butthey are not yet complete, not yet all that God intends them to be. They arewaiting for the new heavens and new earth just as those living upon the earthdo. Even though they died, yet do theystill live!
Thanks be to God!
Don't miss the first three parts of this series
Part 1 - Where are the Dead? Before the Throne!
Part 2 - Where are the Dead? The Church Bears Witness Before the Empire
Part 3 -