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This is a non-WLC article. When using resources from outside authors, we only publish the content that is 100% in harmony with the Bible and WLC current biblical beliefs. So such articles can be treated as if coming directly from WLC. We have been greatly blessed by the ministry of many servants of Yahuwah. But we do not advise our members to explore other works by these authors. Such works, we have excluded from publications because they contain errors. Sadly, we have yet to find a ministry that is error-free. If you are shocked by some non-WLC published content [articles/episodes], keep in mind Proverbs 4:18. Our understanding of His truth is evolving, as more light is shed on our pathway. We cherish truth more than life, and seek it wherever it may be found. |
The first, and usually only, thing on religion’s mind when approaching this chapter is the concept of a thousand years. This phrase appears six times in verses two through seven. However, attempting to discern the truth from that perspective has made us a confusing mess! The key element in this passage is not the thousand years but rather the first resurrection!
The key element in this passage (Revelation 20:5-6) is not the thousand years but rather the first resurrection!
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The Resurrection of the Soul
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. 25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Yahuwah: and they that hear shall live.
These are the words of the very Word of Yahuwah Himself, the Lord Yahushua Christ! He, as the Alpha and the beginning, is establishing the doctrinal truth that the sinner is dead! He asserts that the dead sinner’s need is a sovereignly enacted resurrection! This resurrection is performed by the same spiritual method used to raise Lazarus physically. It is the sovereign and therefore effectual word of Christ.
As stated in verse twenty-four above, if one can both hear and believe that word, he has already passed from death to life! He has been spiritually resurrected! The apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians about this same doctrine. In chapter two, verse one, he describes the sinner as dead in trespasses and sins. Then in verses four through six, we read: “But Yahuwah, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Yahushua.”
Therefore, we learn that regeneration is the first resurrection! For it takes Yahuwah’s effectual call into the dead heart of the sinner to give him life, to effect a spiritual resurrection!
Resurrection of the Body
Certainly, there is a physical resurrection. Our Lord also referred to this in the passage as proof that he could resurrect spiritually dead sinners to spiritual life. In verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine of the same passage from John, we read, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice; and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
You will notice that when referring to spiritual resurrection (regeneration), he states that this would begin happening “now!” That is, it would start during his ministry at that point on earth! Additionally, you’ll see that the word “now” is not used in the verses describing the physical resurrection, which would occur at the end of the age. Furthermore, graves are mentioned only in relation to the physical resurrection in verses 28 and 29. The spiritually dead are bound in sin, not in the earth!
We can also observe that the doctrine of the General Resurrection, as articulated by the fathers in the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, is supported by these verses. This Confession also cites Acts 24:15, expressing hope toward Yahuwah, which they themselves acknowledge, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. Naturally, we’ve created numerous erroneous interpretations of this since then, especially following the release of the misleading Scofield ‘Bible’!
However, we must accept and understand that our Lord speaks of only one resurrection from the grave, but he clearly refers to two aspects of that resurrection! He states that some will be raised to the resurrection of life, while others will be raised simultaneously to the resurrection of damnation.
The Rest of the Dead
Believers, like those who remain in unbelief, were once under the control of Satan’s influences before their spiritual resurrection. Then they were delivered from the power of darkness and have been translated into the kingdom of His dear Son (Col. 1:13).
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“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” Rev. 20:5
How do we understand this phrase? We understand it to mean all the unregenerate who were evangelized but remained in unbelief. That is, the rest of those remaining dead in trespasses and sin! The Apostle Paul speaks of this in the second verse of Ephesians 2. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
Believers, like those who remain in unbelief, were once under the control of Satan’s influences before their spiritual resurrection. Then they were delivered from the power of darkness and have been translated into the kingdom of His dear Son (Col. 1:13). However, unbelievers, having no regeneration or spiritual resurrection, are said to still have Satan’s spirit working death within them. Therefore, those who have been evangelized but remain in unbelief are the rest of the dead.
Blessed and Holy
Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of Yahuwah and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. The only thing that makes one blessed and holy is sovereign regeneration. For by it alone, old things pass away and all things become new. Certainly, bringing a dead body out of grace has no ability to achieve that!
1 Cor. 15:50 “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of Yahuwah; neither does corruption inherit incorruption. It is only those who have experienced regeneration who are changed to a state of holiness!”
But Yahuwah, … Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Only regeneration, or spiritual resurrection, assures that the second death has no power over those who possess it. The second death (Rev. 2:11, 20:14, 15, 21:7, 8) refers to eternal damnation. Only regeneration prevents the soul from facing eternal damnation in the lake of fire! It is clearly stated that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Reigning Priests
Those saved, regenerated in the first resurrection, are then said to be raised up together and made (to) sit together in heavenly places in Christ Yahushua: (Ephes. 2:6). They are reigning priests! They have access to the holy of holies and communion with Yahuwah Himself! Heb. 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Yahushua, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of Yahuwah; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
They need not a ‘saint,’ they need not Mary or even a pastor to get them into the glorious presence of the Father. They have Christ and his life within! Therefore they are said to sit in his heavenly places, ruling in spiritual unction throughout the church age.
This is a non-WLC article by Pastor Gene Breed (July 13, 2006).
We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team
What the article argues
The first resurrection in Revelation 20 is not a physical resurrection of dead bodies. It is spiritual regeneration — the moment a sinner becomes a Christian and passes from spiritual death to spiritual life. The thousand year reign is therefore the current church age, and Christians are already participating in the first resurrection right now through conversion.
Where the article has surface plausibility
It correctly notes that John 5:24-25 uses resurrection language to describe spiritual regeneration — passing from death to life through belief. Paul in Ephesians 2 does describe sinners as dead in trespasses and God raising them spiritually. These are real passages with real content.
But acknowledging that the New Testament uses resurrection as a metaphor for conversion doesn’t mean every resurrection reference is metaphorical. That’s a logical leap the article never justifies.
Problem 1 — The plain language of Revelation 20 is unambiguously physical
Revelation 20:4 describes souls beheaded for their witness to Jesus. These are dead people — physically executed martyrs. They come to life and reign with Christ for a thousand years. This is the first resurrection.
The article wants to read this as spiritual regeneration of living believers. But the text explicitly identifies these people as those who had been killed. You cannot spiritually regenerate a person who is already physically dead. The entire context is about martyred dead people coming back to life — not living sinners converting.
The article never addresses this fundamental textual problem.
Problem 2 — Redefining “the rest of the dead” destroys the text’s coherence
Revelation 20:5 says the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished.
The article redefines this to mean unregenerate people who heard the gospel but remained in unbelief — the spiritually dead who weren’t converted.
But this creates an absurd reading. If the first resurrection is spiritual conversion of believers — then the rest of the dead not living again until the thousand years are finished would mean unbelievers cannot be converted during the millennium. That’s the opposite of what any Christian theology teaches about the church age. Evangelism of unbelievers is supposed to be the primary activity of the church right now.
The article’s own interpretive framework collapses when applied consistently to the very next verse.
Problem 3 — Selective spiritualizing with no consistent principle
The article spiritualizes the first resurrection as conversion. But it doesn’t spiritualize everything equally. It acknowledges a future physical resurrection of bodies in John 5:28-29. So physical resurrection is real — just not in Revelation 20 specifically.
But what justifies treating Revelation 20’s resurrection differently from John 5’s resurrection? The article provides no consistent hermeneutical principle. It just decides one is metaphorical and the other is literal because the theology requires it. This is exactly what we’ve seen in every worldslastchance article — conclusions first, justifications afterward.
Problem 4 — The thousand year reign becomes meaningless
If the first resurrection is just conversion and the millennium is just the church age — then what exactly does it mean for converted believers to reign with Christ for a thousand years?
Are all Christians currently reigning? Over what? Over whom? The article says believers are priests of God reigning with Christ — but the observable reality of the church for two thousand years includes persecution, marginalization, poverty, suffering and death of believers on an enormous scale. This doesn’t look like reigning.
The article empties the millennium of any concrete meaning while claiming to make it more meaningful. It becomes a theological abstraction with no observable content.
Problem 5 — This reading was invented to solve a theological problem
The spiritual regeneration interpretation of the first resurrection didn’t emerge from neutral reading of the text. It emerged as a solution to the embarrassing problem that the premillennial reading expects a literal physical resurrection that hasn’t happened — and the church age has now lasted two thousand years with no sign of ending.
Amillennialists needed an interpretation that made the millennium already present and the first resurrection already accomplished. Redefining resurrection as conversion solved both problems simultaneously. But solving theological problems isn’t the same as correctly reading texts.
Problem 6 — It contradicts the clear meaning of resurrection everywhere else
The word resurrection — anastasis in Greek — is used throughout the New Testament to mean physical rising from the dead. Jesus’s resurrection. The resurrection of Lazarus. The general resurrection of the dead at the last day. In every other instance the word refers to physical bodies being raised.
The article wants Revelation 20’s resurrection to mean something completely different from every other use of the word — without the text itself signaling any such shift in meaning.
When a word consistently means one thing throughout an entire corpus and you suddenly want it to mean something different in one passage — the burden of proof is enormous. The article provides nothing to meet that burden.
Problem 7 — The Scofield dismissal is lazy
The article mockingly dismisses premillennial interpretations by blaming the Scofield Reference Bible for misleading people. But premillennialism — the belief in a future literal millennium — was the dominant view of the earliest church fathers. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Papias all held premillennial views. The view that Jesus would literally reign on earth for a thousand years predates Scofield by nearly two thousand years.
Blaming a nineteenth century study Bible for an ancient interpretive tradition is historically illiterate.
The deeper problem this article shares with all the others
Every worldslastchance article follows the same pattern. It takes a genuine interpretive difficulty in the biblical text, proposes a creative solution that fits the site’s theological commitments, and presents that solution as if it were the obvious correct reading that everyone else has missed.
What none of these articles ever do is step back and ask the prior question — is this text reliable in the first place? Is Revelation a document that should be mined for theological propositions about spiritual regeneration, or is it a first century crisis document written in apocalyptic code for a community facing Roman persecution, whose expectations of imminent cosmic intervention were never realized?
The entire debate between premillennialism, amillennialism, and the spiritual regeneration view of the first resurrection is a debate happening inside a framework that assumes the text is divinely inspired and theologically authoritative. Nobody in this debate is asking whether the framework itself is warranted.
That’s the question none of these articles can afford to ask — because the answer would end the conversation entirely.
Dear WLC Team!
What does the phrase, “small and great”, in revelation chapter20 verse 12 mean?
Sorry for making my sentence too short. Problem english is not my language and I never learn it from school.
Thanks!