Enow,
You'll have to clarify a bit more with regards to those saints who will be raised in the first resurrection from those who will be coming with the Lord to do battle.
Thanks...
Because I can't make out what you are saying.
You have the saints who have a part in the first resurrection, reigning with HIM...and you say these are only those who went through the tribulation...who were martyred because they held to THEIR TESTIMONY of JESUS...
And you do not include in with these particular first resurrection saints identified in Revelation 20 any other believer, (as John 3, John 5, and 1 John 5 identifies as believers)
So...while these saints are reigning with HIM during the 1000 year reign, you have HIS other saints as the rest of the dead?
Where then do you place the battle?
Before or after the 1000 year reign?
May the Lord help me....
Zechariah 14:
1Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.[SUP]
2 [/SUP]
For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.[SUP]
3 [/SUP]
Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.[SUP] 4 [/SUP]And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.[SUP]5 [/SUP]And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and
the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
Okay. Zechariah has the Lord coming to do battle, touching down on earth on the Mount of Olives with the saints.
BUT
In Revelation 20th chapter, the battle is over and Satan is in the pit BEFORE this so called "first resurrection" took place. That means Jesus is not in the air meeting those of the "first resurrection". He is not descending with a shout when He had already descended with the saints to do battle with the world's armies at Jerusalem, and then when the battle was over and Satan is in the pit, then the so called "first resurrection" happened.
Now.. when we talk about grammar, when you described a group of people and add "which" to that group of people, you are categorizing them as ALL being under that condition for why the which was attached to those people so read that in verse 4 below.
Revelation 20:1And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.[SUP] 2 [/SUP]And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,[SUP]3 [/SUP]And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.[SUP] 4 [/SUP]And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and
which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.[SUP] 5 [/SUP]But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.[SUP]6 [/SUP]Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
So those saints that are of the "so called" "first resurrection" are those that lost their lives for their witness of Jesus Christ
WHICH DID NOT worshipped the beast, neither his image, nor received his mark on their foreheads or hands.
So now read verse 5 again. The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. Then it says this is the first resurrection which is in their day another way of saying, this resurrection happened first before the rest of the dead are resurrected a thousand years later.
These saints will reign with Christ because Jesus need rulers & priests representing Him from that city of God on earth all over the world where every they are placed by Him to rule & minister from. That is why they have His name on their foreheads as representing Him for the generations that will come out of the milleniel reign of Christ. They will not be living in the city of God, but they will be allowed to visit the city of God, but their homes are somewhere else on earth.
The pre trib raptured saints have a place to live in the city of God as they will be as the angels that can never die as vessels unto honor in His House, but those coming out of the great tribulation are those saints left behind that went through the great tribulation as they will be received after the great tribulation as vessels unto dishonor in His House.
The prodigal son had given up his first inheritance for wild living, but he is still son. He can never get that first inheritance back ( being the vessel unto honor ) but a robe and ring will be put on him to serve the King of kings as a vessel unto dishonor in His House. That is why God is wiping the tears from the eyes of those left behind where they will be weeping and gnashing their teeth over the loss of their first inheritance. By performing a miracle, God is intervening in wiping the tears from their eyes to help them get past their loss.
Anyway, first resurrection does not really mean the only resurrection after Jesus's ascension when first is just being used to defer from the rest of the dead that will be resurrected a thousand years later on in verse 5.
Those who insists otherwise has to explain the conundrum of Satan being in the pit in having been defeated and THEN the first resurrection happened in Revelation 20th chapter because Jesus is not descending in the air when He had to be on earth already in defeating the world's armies and casting Satan into the pit for a thousand years.
