{"id":1090,"date":"2018-07-03T08:22:41","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T16:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1090"},"modified":"2018-07-03T08:22:41","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T16:22:41","slug":"devotion-revelation-204-6-faithfulness-rewarded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1090","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Revelation 20:4-6 Faithfulness Rewarded"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revelation 20:4-6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/b><\/span>\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>I saw thrones\u00a0on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.\u00a0And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus\u00a0and because of the word of God. They\u00a0had not worshiped the beast\u00a0or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.\u00a0They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.\u00a05\u00a0(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.\u00a0 6\u00a0Blessed\u00a0and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death\u00a0has no power over them, but they will be priests\u00a0of God and of Christ and will reign with him\u00a0for a thousand years.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI saw thrones\u00a0on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 First John sees the thrones.\u00a0 Where the thrones are is not expressed.\u00a0 Some think they are in heaven, others think they are on earth.\u00a0 Of those who believe the thrones are in heaven they point to the fact that, except for when speaking of the throne of Satan (Revelation 2:13<\/b>) and of the throne of the Antichrist (Revelation 13:2, 16:10<\/b>), that all the other thrones mentioned appear to be heaven.\u00a0 So, they believe these thrones are in heaven.\u00a0 Those who believe they are on earth cite that the thrones are for the ones who have been given authority to judge the inhabitants of the earth.\u00a0 Since they will be ruling with Christ on earth, it seems likely the thrones would be on earth.<\/p>\n

Here there is no mention of how many thrones there will be.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus\u00a0and because of the word of God. They\u00a0had not worshiped the beast\u00a0or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 In\u00a0Revelation 6:9<\/b>\u00a0those who had been martyred in Christ and had maintained their testimony of faith in Jesus, were told to wait for the full number of martyrs to happen and then they would be avenged.\u00a0 Now their blood is avenged and they are receiving the reward God will give them for being faithful.\u00a0 These did not compromise, they did not back down, but held to their love of Jesus and were not ashamed before the world to call Him Savior and Lord.\u00a0 They did not back apologize or back down from their allegiance to the Word of God or from their allegiance to the God who gave the Word to man.\u00a0 In the face of their death, and the death of their family, they did not compromise, they did not back down, but they loved Jesus more than their own lives, and more than the lives of their family.\u00a0 Family, those who express this kind of love for Jesus express the only kind of love that Jesus expects (Matthew 10:-39<\/b>).\u00a0 Jesus must come before all else, whether self or any person, place or thing.\u00a0 God must be number one in our lives and He must have no rivals in our hearts or minds.\u00a0 Idols of any kind are unacceptable.\u00a0 We worship God, we cling to God and we worship God and we cling to no others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.\u00a05\u00a0(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 Here the Word seems to specifically state that it is the martyrs of Christ who will reign with Christ for the thousand years.\u00a0 This verse appears to say that only the martyrs will reign with Christ for a thousand years.\u00a0 Based on this verse, there is some disagreement about whether the rest of the saints, those who did not die a martyr\u2019s death, will also rule and reign with Jesus during the millennium.\u00a0 One may note that in these verses it does not say that only the martyrs will rule and reign with Him during the millennium.\u00a0\u00a0Revelation 2:26\u00a0<\/b>states\u00a0\u201cTo the one who is victorious\u00a0and does my will to the end,\u00a0I will give authority over the nations.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 So the promise to rule with Jesus was given to all who do the will of God.\u00a0 In\u00a0Revelation 3:21<\/b>\u00a0Jesus promises that the one who is victorious (through Him) will be given the right to sit with Him on His throne, meaning we will reign under and with Him.\u00a0 It would seem that those who stand strong in the Lord during the Great Tribulation will be added to the rest of the saints who have faithfully lived in Christ.<\/p>\n

The first resurrection is not one resurrection, but several, at times determined by God.\u00a0 The first resurrection is the raising up of Jesus.\u00a01 Corinthians 15:20\u00a0<\/b>\u201cBut Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 Our resurrection to eternal life is possible only because Jesus rose from the dead.\u00a0\u00a0V23\u00a0<\/b>\u201cBut each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him,\u201d<\/i>\u00a0reveals that after Christ, we are resurrected in Him.\u00a0\u00a01 Thessalonians 4:15-17<\/b>\u00a0clearly states the dead in Christ will rise before those who are alive at His return (this verse referring to the \u201crapture.)\u00a0 So we see that the dead are translated before those who are alive at that time.\u00a0 Then we read that the martyrs are raised before the thousand year reign on earth.\u00a0 These are all part of the \u201cfirst resurrection.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 There is a second resurrection which the people of God are not a part of.\u00a0 It is the resurrection of all who have died outside the grace of God.\u00a0 They are resurrected to face the judgment of God and to be sentenced to eternal torment in the Lake of Fire.<\/p>\n

Family, the prophecies of the End Times are, as we have seen, very terrifying to those who perish.\u00a0 But to all who love God, it is great time of admiration of the Lord and of praising Him.\u00a0 It is the children of God coming into their inheritance.\u00a0 It is us coming into our inheritance.\u00a0 Nothing compares with it (Romans 8:18<\/b>). \u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revelation 20:4-6\u00a0–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I saw thrones\u00a0on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.\u00a0And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus\u00a0and because of the word of God. They\u00a0had not worshiped the beast\u00a0or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[129,101,94,17,711,10,757],"class_list":["post-1090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-corinthians","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-psalm","tag-revelation","tag-romans","tag-thessalonians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1091,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090\/revisions\/1091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}