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critic try to use these asides as a red herring across the path; our basis
throughout all our ministry is only and solely, 'Thus saith the Lord'.
No.
2
The
Rest
of
the
Dead
We have seen from the testimony of Scripture itself
that the only company of the redeemed for whom the Millennial reign is
introduced into the pages of Holy Writ, is the overcomer. Revelation 20:1 -
10 is the only portion of Scripture that gives positive teaching concerning
the Millennium; other Scriptures contain passages that may or do belong to
that period, but all other companies of either saved or lost can only be
introduced into this kingdom by inference.
The companies mentioned in Revelation 20:1 -10 are the following:
(1)
The martyrs who withstood the Beast and refused his image.
They
not only 'live' but 'reign' with Christ a thousand years.
(2)
The 'rest of the dead' is another company, only mentioned in
order to make it clear that they do not live again until the
thousand years are finished.
(3)
The overcomers or martyrs are called 'priests of God and of
Christ'.
(4)
After the thousand years, 'nations' are revealed to have been
living during that reign, and some of these nations lived 'in the
four quarters of the earth'.
(5)
Inasmuch as the 'camp of the saints' and the 'Beloved City' could
be compassed by these rebellious nations, they too must have been
on the earth during the Millennium.
We consider the meaning and bearing of the martyred saints in section
17 of this series. We now round off the study by considering the remaining
four items listed above, 'the rest of the dead'. The Greek word translated
'rest' is loipos. 'Peter and the rest of the apostles' (Acts 2:37). This
implies that Peter also was an apostle.
'The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded' (Rom. 11:7).
Here the 'election' and 'the rest' both belong to Israel, as the
opening of the verse shows. We could not say 'the election' (of Israel) and
'the rest' (of the Gentiles) without adding an explanatory clause. Loipos
occurs in Revelation eight times, thus:
Rev.
2:24
'Unto the rest in Thyatira' not unto the rest of the seven
churches, or the rest of the world.
3:2
'Strengthen the things which remain'.
8:13 'By reason of the other voices'.
9:20 'The rest of the men which were not killed by these
plagues'. Plainly not the rest of mankind as a whole.
11:13 'The remnant were affrighted'.
12:17 'The remnant of her seed'.
19:21 'The remnant were slain'.