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I. WHEN IS IT TO BE? When the Lord comes the second time. In the preceding chapter He is described as coming with the hosts of heaven for the destruction of His enemies (1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:1). He comes as the resurrection and the life; the abolisher of death, the spoiler of the grave, the raiser of His saints.

II. WHO IT IS TO CONSIST OF. This passage speaks only of the martyrs and the non-worshippers of the beast; but other passages show that all His saints are to be partakers of this reward. They have suffered with Him here, and they shall reign with Him here.

III. WHAT IT DOES FOR THOSE WHO SHARE IT. It brings to them such things as the following: —

1. Blessedness. God only knoweth how much that word implies, as spoken by Him who cannot lie, who exaggerates nothing, and whose simplest words are His greatest.

2. Holiness. They are pre-eminently "the saints of God"; set apart for Him; consecrated and purified, both outwardly and inwardly; dwelt in by Him whose name is the "Holy Ghost"; and called to special service in virtue of their consecration. Priestly-royal service is to be theirs throughout the eternal ages.

3. Preservation from the second death. They rise to an immortality which shall never be recalled. No dying again, in any sense of the word; not a fragment of mortality about them, nothing of this vile body, and nothing of that corruption or darkness or anguish which shall be the portion of those who rise at the close of the thousand years.

4. The possession of a heavenly priesthood. They are made priests unto God and Christ — both to the Father and the Son. Priestly nearness and access; priestly power and honour and service; priestly glory and dignity; — this is their recompense.

5. The possession of the kingdom.

(H. Bonar, D. D.)

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KJV: 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.

WEB: I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as didn't worship the beast nor his image, and didn't receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived, and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.