Revelation Chapter 20 Verses 5-6

5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years.

Who are the rest of the dead in verse 5? This group must be those who died in service to the beast. It is the same group we saw in 19:21. Those in this group also come back to life, but they do not come back to life until after the 1000 years are over. That is, they have no part in the complete victory of the saints.

Verse 6 is the fifth of the seven beatitudes in this book. What is the first resurrection? At the end of verse 4 and in verse 5 we read: “They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.” To which of those two resurrections does “this” refer? Verse 6 gives us the answer. Those who are raised in the first resurrection are blessed and holy. They are the ones who reign with Christ 1000 years. Thus, the first resurrection is the resurrection mentioned at the end of verse 4.

If there is a first resurrection, then is there a second resurrection? Yes. The second resurrection is the one mentioned at the beginning of verse 5. Those in the second resurrection are the group that comes to life after the 1000 reign with Christ, and we will learn more about that group in verse 13.

What is the second death in verse 6? The second death is mentioned in contrast to the first death that resulted in the two groups of dead people we see in verses 4 and 5. The first death affected both those who were on the side of Christ and those who were on the side of the beast. One of those two groups, however, would not die again! The martyrs who came to life would not face the second death. The second death will affect only those who served the beast.

Is the second death the eternal death that awaits them at the end of time? Not necessarily. First, we have been discussing figurative resurrections and so we should not be surprised to also find figurative deaths. Second, although for some the first death was quite literal, for most of the Romans it was not. We have already discussed the figurative meaning of the seals, trumpets, and bowls that lead to their first death. Third, we must never lose sight of the time frame of the book, which we will see at least twice again before this book ends — it reveals things that are shortly to come to pass. And fourth, just as we see earlier that Heaven immediately awaits a faithful Christian after death, so too eternal torment immediately awaits the faithless after death. That latter fate was true even before the cross. (Luke 16:23) Thus, even if we were to conclude that this second death is the literal and eternal death that awaits the faithless, we would not have to conclude that it is a yet future event.

Some might ask why there will be a final judgment day if the faithful and the faithless already go to their respective destinations prior to that day. But don’t we do the very same thing today in our criminal courts when we separate the guilt phase from the sentencing phase? A person’s eternal fate is sealed on the day of that person’s death, but the sentence will be proclaimed on a later day. And on that day the wicked will also be given the opportunity to do something they never did in this life — bend the knee to Jesus Christ and confess that he is Lord of all. Nero will one day be on his knees before the Lord Jesus Christ, as will we all.

Those who experience the first resurrection will not experience the second death. Instead, they will be priests and will reign with Christ for 1000 years. Was this something new for them? What this a status that these Christians had not previously enjoyed? Not at all! The church is a royal priesthood! (1 Peter 2:9) Revelation 1:5-6 tells us that we became part of a kingdom of priests when we were freed from our sins by the blood of Christ. These verses in Chapter 20 are simply a public reaffirmation of a status that the martyrs enjoyed even before their death. They reigned with Christ in life, as do we! They were royal priests in life, as are we!  

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