`It will have been long ago anticipated by the readers of this commentary, that I cannot consent to distort its

words from their plain sense and chronological place in the prophecy, on account of any consideration of

difficulty, or any risk of abuses, which the doctrine of the millennium may bring with it. Those who lived next

to the Apostles, and the whole church for 300 years, understood them in the plain literal sense, and it is a strange

sight these days to see expositors who are among the first in reverence of antiquity, complacently casting aside

the most cogent instance of unanimity which primitive antiquity presents. As regards the text itself, no

legitimate treatment of it will extort what is known as the spiritual interpretation now in fashion. If, in a passage

where two resurrections are mentioned, where certain souls lived at the first, and the rest of the dead lived only

at the end of a specified period after that first, - if in such a passage the first resurrection may be understood to

mean spiritual rising with Christ, while the second means literal rising from the grave, - then there is an end to

all significance in language, and Scripture is wiped out as a definite testimony to anything. If the first

resurrection is spiritual, then so is the second, which I suppose none will be hardy enough to maintain, but if the

second is literal, then so is the first, which in common with the whole primitive church and many of its best

modern expositors, I do maintain, and receive as an article of faith and hope'. (New Testament for English

Readers on Revelation 20).

These are wise words and they apply as much to the word `thousand' as to the resurrections dealt with in this chapter

of the Revelation. When one realises that most amillennial interpretations of the doctrine of the millennium make it

start with the resurrection of Christ and apply the earthly kingdom teaching of the Word of God to the present age

with its utter spiritual darkness, sin, rebellion against God; its oppression and greed, devastating world wars

culminating in a time described by Christ Himself as the worst in all the world's history and will never be repeated

(Matt. 24:21,22), one asks whether this is not interpretation gone mad? If the present time is that which Zechariah

14:9 reveals as the time when `Jehovah shall be King over all the earth' and His reign in righteousness extends the

world over, then we might as well shut up the Bible, for it ceases to mean what it says and can have no certain

message for us in any respect whatsoever.

Some see a difficulty in accepting the reign of Christ for 1000 literal years when there are statements in Scripture

that His reign is endless. The angel reveals to Mary before His birth that`of His kingdom there shall be no end'

(Luke 1:33) and Daniel 2:44 asserts that the kingdom that God will set up will `stand for ever'. There is really no

contradiction here when one carefully considers 1 Corinthians 15:24-28. Here we are taught that the kingdom is

finally restored to the Godhead (note that it is God Who is all in all, not just the Father (verse 28). When this occurs

Christ's reign as Mediator finishes, and perfection attained, for sin and death having been abolished, there is no more

need for a Mediator. His kingdom then merges into the eternal kingdom of God and is no longer a separate entity.

Thus His rule continues for ever.

The Messianic kingdom, revealed in such glowing colours in the prophets, concerns not only the saints living at

the Lord's Second Advent but must also include many in the Old Testament dispensation who looked forward to it

by faith. They will attain it in resurrection .

`Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and

everlasting contempt' (Dan. 12:2 N.I.V.).

Among the former will evidently be David who will act as Christ's vice-regent:

`But they (Israel) shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them' (Jer.

`And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed them,

and He shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I

the LORD have spoken it' (Ezek. 34:23,24).

`And David My servant shall be king over them ... and My servant David shall be their prince for ever' (Ezek.

37:24,25 and see also Hos. 3:4,5).

Some assert that these allusions to David refer to Christ, but the fact remains that in Scripture the Lord Jesus is never

called David. He is `the Son of David' (Matt. 22:41-46 and 14 other occurrences), a Branch unto David (Jer. 23:5),

the Seed of David (John 7:42; Rom. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:8), the Root of David (Rev. 5:5), the Root and Offspring of David