I can not agree with Stan. He has me on his ignore list, but others need to understand the whole story.
1.
"Ones" who will rule and reign with Christ are NOT just the myrters of the Tribulation period.
Rev 20:4-6
"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.5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 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."
Two groups of saints will enter the kingdom:
1) those that God resurrected
before the Tribulation and Tribulation martyrs and
2) those that come out of the Tribulation physically
alive.
And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.
John sees certain people sitting on thrones have the privilege to judge in a vision. He does not give their identity. Other Scriptures tell us that
saints will judge the world.
1 Corth. 6:1
“Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that
the saints will judge the world? And if
the world will be judged by you, are
you unworthy to
judge the smallest matters?”
Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.
A second group who will reign is the
martyrs of the Tribulation. The word “beheaded” means
smitten with an axe. The guillotine was just one form of Roman punishment. They probably detached Paul’s head from his body.
The word “
for” in “for their witness to Jesus” and “
for the word of God” means
for the sake of, on account of, because of. The reason they were beheaded was for the sake of the
gospel.
And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
The martyred dead of the Tribulation will come back to life and
reign with Christ for a thousand years on earth. During this time, the wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like an ox. There will be world peace and no more war. Nations will beat their swords into ploughs and spears into pruning hooks.
The earth will know no curse as it does now. The ground will produce its crop abundantly. People one hundred years old will be very young (Isaiah 65:20). Isaiah goes on to say that some will sin and that will affect their life span. Jesus will rule with a rod of iron to control injustices due to sin. That is how righteousness
prevails in the Millennium. Justice will triumph.
2.
Stan says......"Again Jesus reigns, NOT God".
"WOW"!!!
Shall we read once again the Word of God as it says in Rev. 20:6
"Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years“.
Dr.J. Gill explains that.........
" they shall be delivered from wrath to come; and as their bodies will die no more, their souls will not be subject to any sense of wrath, or to any sort of punishment: and they will be "holy";
they will have no sin in them: but they will be priests of God and of Christ; of God the Father, and of his Son Jesus Christ, being made so to the former by the latter,
Revelation 1:6 or of God, even of Christ, that is, of God, who is Christ, since it follows: and shall reign with him; they will be wholly devoted to and employed in the service of God and of Christ, and will be continually offering up the sacrifices of praise, or singing the song of the Lamb, adoring the grace and goodness of God and Christ unto them, shown them both in providence and in grace".
Not only will the Christians reign on this earth with Jesus for 1000 years, but we will live for all eternity in heaven with Jesus, because we have eaten of the Tree of Life which is Jesus Christ our Lord.