'To him that overcometh will I

grant to sit with Me in My throne,

even as I also overcame, and am

set down with My Father in His

throne' (Rev. 3:21).

'And I saw as it were a sea of

'And I saw thrones, and they sat

glass mingled with fire: and them

upon them, and judgment was

that had gotten the victory over

given unto them: and I saw the

the Beast, and over his Image,

souls of them that were beheaded

and over his Mark, and over the

for the witness of Jesus, and for

Number of his Name, stand on

the word of God, and which had

the sea of glass, having the harps

not worshipped the Beast,

of God' (Rev. 15:2).

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' (Rev.

The words of Revelation 20:4, 'for the witness of Jesus, and

for the

word of God', form a link with the opening statement of Revelation

when John was taken in spirit to the day of the Lord from the isle

Patmos where he shared the tribulation of these overcomers, before

their time

'for the word of God, and for the witness of Jesus'.

'The Millennial kingdom' seems to have been used by writers on prophecy

as a convenient period in which to place passages that are somewhat difficult

to fit into the overall scheme, and this has blunted the edge of the

testimony of Revelation 20, which places as a pre -eminent feature, the

reward for the overcomer, and hardly refers to any other company, people or

calling.  Regarding the statement 'This is the first resurrection', it cannot

mean the first that ever was, but the former of two.  The reference to the

beloved city brings with it the numerous passages of Old Testament prophecy

which speak in glowing terms of the restoration of Israel and Jerusalem.

Isaiah 54:6 -17 reveals a city of jewelled splendour, echoing the glories

on earth of the heavenly Jerusalem itself.  Even so, the chapter ends with a

reference to those who will gather together against Jerusalem, with the

comforting words:

'No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper' (Isa. 54:17),

even as we have read in Revelation 20:8,9.  If the inhabitants of the land

during the Millennium are those of Israel who looked upon the Lord Whom they

had pierced and repented, if the nations are those who were 'alive and

remained' at the Second Coming, we have no 'problem' about Isaiah 65:18 -25,

for there we read of the possibility of dying and being accursed, and of the

length of life being 'as the days of a tree', which, however extended, cannot

be a synonym for life eternal and certainly not of immortality.

Let us observe how these 'overcomers' of Revelation 20:4 are

intertwined with the prophetic revelation of the last days.  The rewards held

out to the overcomers in the seven churches are: