We return to Revelation 20:4, and we are looking at the content given to us in this book on the Kingdom Age that is to come. We know that it is a thousand years because it says it is a thousand years six different times. We have seen already that the saints that have come out of the Tribulation Period are being judged. Now we are going to look at the resurrections. There is some interesting information here about the resurrections.
It says here in Revelation 20:4, speaking of the Tribulation saints, “and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” So, we are looking at this resurrection at the end of the Tribulation Period. As we look at that, we find as the Millennium begins, the Tribulation saints have been resurrected and they have come to life. It says, “Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection.” He is speaking now the first resurrection of this period. There was a prior resurrection if you recall seven years before this. 1 Thessalonians 4 talks about that, when the church age saints are resurrected from the dead, given new and glorified bodies and go to be with Him in heaven forever, it says. In Revelation 20, we are not in heaven, we are on earth and the saints have been resurrected to be on the earth at this point and that is where they are being judged. This is the first resurrection. Those that partake of the second resurrection of this period will do so a thousand years later, and those we will see be subject to the second death, or the lake of fire. It is an awful thing to consider.
Right now, we are looking at a very positive thing. We are looking at the resurrection of the saints that come out of the Tribulation Period. Go back with me to Daniel 12. There is a piece here that we need to explore. In Daniel 12 we find one of the very few passages in all the Old Testament that deals with the eternal destiny of the Old Testament saints. There are two or three places that mention it, and this is the clearest by far.
