‘They’ are us! That is to say that the ‘they’ the Apostle John spied sitting upon these thrones are all the saints of the raptured church. If you believe and have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then John saw you! As cool as that is, that is not what I wanted to write about today.
Let’s Talk Resurrection
The Bible makes mention of not one, but two resurrections and we read about the first one in our text today. “But wait a minute, ” you say, “I thought Christ’s resurrection was the first one?” That is correct, but understand that the first resurrection is not so much a single event as it is a period of time; a period of time that began with an empty tomb on Resurrection Sunday and ends here in Revelation 20:5, or more accurately, at the onset of the Millennium.
Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Revelation 20:6
That about sums it all up does it not! Think about it–if you are a part of the first resurrection, whatever horrible and rotten things that happened to you while on earth suddenly do not matter all that much. Why? Because as part of the first resurrection-wave, you are now blessed and holy! Outside of Jesus Christ, this cannot occur.
Resurrection: Part Two
Unlike the first resurrection, the second resurrection is a singular episode which occurs during a time generally referred to as the White Throne Judgment. Sadly, it is also referred to as the second death. Truthfully, John’s fist-hand account of this event [in Revelation 20:12-14] is frightening
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
The second resurrection is for those who have denied Christ Jesus; for those who have said they have no need for a Savior. These may be the same people, who make the claim, “I’m a pretty good guy…Sure, I’ve made a few mistakes in my life, but the good far out-weighs the bad.” What they fail to realize is that when the ‘book of works’ is opened, if there is only one sin recorded therein, it is one sin too many. Christians cannot be judged by this book, the reason being that their sins have all been blotted out by the blood of Jesus.
If This Blog Were a Church
And if I were a preacher (I am not), this would be a great place to encourage those who do not know Jesus Christ [as Lord and Savior] and to invite them to have their sins blotted out of the ‘book of works’ with His blood. It would also be a good place to remind them that God does not send anyone to hell. Hell was created for satan and his henchman. If people end up there, they essentially have sent themselves. In God’s economy there is no gray-area, everything is either black or white.
He Dwells -- The B'log in My Eye 