(4) 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.
The Lord Jesus promised his people by John, that they should set with him upon his throne, Revelation 3:21. And here is the accomplishment. His people are said to be made kings and priests, to God and the Father. And agreeably to this, we find them in their regal and priestly office. Various have been the opinions of the Lord's people on this reign of Christ. Some have considered it spiritually. Others have supposed it is to be taken literally; and that Christ will reign, with his saints upon earth, otherwise say they, wherefore is Satan bound up. He needed not a chain to keep him, out of heaven, Revelation 5:10. But the Holy Ghost hath left an obscurity upon it, and therefore I shall offer no observations of mine upon it.
But whether this reign with Christ be a spiritual reign, or whether it is to be literally on the earth, what is said of the rest of the dead, even the dead sinners, twice dead as Jude calls them, dead in and in the original Adam-fall-apostasy, and dead in body, gone down to the chambers of the grave, all of this description lived not during the thousand years of Christ's reign with his saints, and the thousand years imprisonment of Satan! They will remain, as they were found at death, until the general judgment.
In relation to the first resurrection, it should seem to be intended, precisely as the words are. For, as many of the bodies of the saints arose, to celebrate Christ's resurrection, so it may be supposed, Many also shall arise to celebrate his reign with his saints at his descension. And very blessed it is, to consider the subject in this view. For when God's children have passed the present time-state of the Church, and their spirits have joined the society of the spirits of just Men made perfect, they are then brought into clear apprehensions of the Lord's dealings in the great administration of all things, And wherefore may they not be supposed as raised up in their bodies during this thousand years of Christ as well as Enoch and Elijah, who never died at all. God hath immense discoveries to make, through a never-ending eternity of himself, in his threefold character of Persons, in, and through Christ, to his Church and people. And, there doth not seem a single cause of objection to his raising such, and such of his redeemed ones as he shall please, to begin in the union of soul and body, to enter into the joy of their Lord.
When it is added, that he is blessed and holy that hath part in the first resurrection, if it be considered as referring to a resurrection in grace, no doubt, as all the other parts of scripture declare, the second death can have no power upon them, for they are no longer subject to a spiritual death, being made partakers of the divine nature, 2 Peter 1:4-5. But I confess that I am more inclined to believe, that the blessedness and holiness here spoken of, hath respect to the first resurrection just before taken notice of, and is in my view a confirmation, that at this thousand years reign of Christ, there shall be a resurrection of such, as the Lord hath appointed to meet the Lord at his government. The thought is pleasing, and I see no abjection to it. But here, as in every other instance of doubt, I beg to be considered as never speaking at all decidedly.