Reining With Christ (Rev. 20:4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

11/15/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Reining With Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 20:4

            Message of the verse:  “4  Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

            The first part of this verse speaks of thrones and the ones sitting on these thrones judging, as judgment was given to them.  Those who are sitting on these thrones are not identified and I cannot find any notes to give a clue as to who they are so I guess that I will have to keep looking to find out who they are. 

            The rest of the verse speaks of those who had died for not taking the mark of the beast, and they were now resurrected from the dead.  They came to life and the verse says that they reigned with Christ for 1000 years.  Most people that I have read on this section write about the resurrection of the dead and believe that at this time all of the “saints,” both OT and NT, along with the tribulation saints will be raised and will rule in Christ’s 1000 year kingdom on earth.  As stated previously some do not believe in an actual 1000 year kingdom of Christ here upon the earth, but I do believe that the Bible teaches this and will discuss some of the reasons as to why on my commentary of verses 5 & 6, hopefully tomorrow.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This verse is a verse of the “hope,” and the hope of all true believers in Jesus Christ is to one day have a resurrected body.  As for the Church, there resurrected body will come at the rapture of the Church as described in 1Thes. 4:13-18 and 1 Cor. 15:50-52, and also is eluted to in other places of Scripture.  This is surely my hope and in the morning when I put on the spiritual armor and get to the place where I put on the helmet of salvation I usually think about this great hope of the believer, when my salvation will be complete with a new resurrected body.

The Word of God was comforting to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to see me through these trials that he is sending me through, and when I get down over them to think about the “hope” of the believer, the rapture of the church.