"Oh -- 'the real Last Day' -- by far..."
So you see the Last Day when the main resurrection occurs as being the Day Christ returns?? You think Christ brings all the dead believers back with Him and together they live and reign 1,000 years?? That is the popular belief. But as we know, the popular belief isn't always the correct one.
This thinking totally and completely violates Rev 20:4-6. That is why I am looking for another explanation. Nothing in that passage hints to me that it is to be spiritualized away or translated in a way different from its plain reading. The passage is far too specific. Not only does it tells us who comes back with Christ, it tells us when they died and how they died i.e. beheaded. Then it tells us that the rest of the dead live not again until the 1,000 years are finished. This sentence creates major problems for the notion that everyone comes back with Christ.
Let's assume for a moment that John was talking about all Believers but intended to highlight the martyrs in the group. That would be a little confusing but okay, let's assume it for a second. Therefore "the rest of the dead" would have to be unbelievers, right? Oops, that creates a conflict with
Daniel 12:2.
2
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
and John
12:48:
48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.
Daniel has the righteous and unbeliever rising together and John (and many other places) has the judgment at the Last Day. See what I mean??? Who then is the group not rising for 1,000 years then? Nobody that I know of teaches that the wicked rise on the Day Christ returns with 1,000 years to go.
Therefore, the only thing that makes sense is to take Rev 20:4-6 literally, Christ returns with a select group (or ELECT). Christ is only seen with a select group (144K) in Rev 14:1. They are the ones who live and reign for 1,000 years. After this time the rest of the dead in heaven and the wicked in Hades resurrect when the 1,000 years are over on the
real LAST DAY. I'm not crazy about the theory but until I hear a better one that works...
Read Isa 65-66 and Ezek 40-48, and Zech 13-14. There are some crazy things happening during the Millennium.