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The Daily Word of Righteousness
A Destructive Concept of Divine Grace, continued
But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. (Revelation 19:20—NIV)
I think only the Beast and the False Prophet will be cast in their bodies into the Lake of Fire at the return of the Lord. There is no reason to wait until the end of the Kingdom Age to judge them. They already are known to be the very personification of Satan. Into the Lake of Fire they go while still in their bodies.
Now we come to another departure from Evangelical teaching. It is our point of view that the first resurrection, the resurrection that will take place when Jesus returns, is reserved for the victorious saints.
I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4-6—NIV)
Everything about this resurrection suggests an elite, a firstfruits. This is not a resurrection to salvation but to rulership.
A study of the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation leaves at least two impressions. First, those who overcome are a minority of the church members. It is always to "him" who overcomes, not "them" who overcome.
Second, the rewards to the overcomers are not those of basic salvation, or residence in Paradise, but have to do with crowns, thrones, closeness to God. It is our opinion that the rewards presented in these two chapters are steps toward the first resurrection from the dead.
As we look about us in Christendom we can see there are few truly self-denying, cross-carrying, victorious saints. The rest are churchgoers, good people but they simply are not disciples. In fact, the demands of discipleship are frightening to them.
The fact is, however, immature as they may be they are God's elect, His family.
Now, since Revelation 20:5 states "the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended," we are forced to the conclusion that the great majority of God's elect will be raised from the dead at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
Since we have written extensively concerning the division of the one Church into a firstfruits, and then the balance of the Church, and have discussed the several major supporting types such as the separation of the Ark of the Covenant from the remainder of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, we will not rehearse that topic here.
To be continued.