The Strand Study Bible

REVELATION

2174

Written From the Island of Patmos

There are 19 verses that prophesy about the Resurrection of OT Saints : * 10 verses are from the OT - Job 14:14-15 & 19:26-27, Psa 17:15 & 49:15, Isa 25:8 & 26:19 and Dan 12:2,13 * 9 verses are from the NT - I Cor 15:22-23,38,42-44,49, Acts 24:15 and Heb 11:35 According to Daniel 12:2,13, CHRIST will resurrect all OT saints at the beginning of His Kingdom, and with the resurrection ( they lived ) comes rewards. There are 7 verses that prophesy about the Rewards that OT saints will receive from CHRIST at the SECOND COMING : * 4 verses are from the OT - Isa 40:10 & 62:11, Dan 12:3 and Mal 3:18 * 3 verses are from the NT - Mt 16:27, Lk 19:15 and Rev 11:18 20:4b The right of saints to rule and “ reign ” with CHRIST during the Millennium (Kingdom) will be determined by their faithfulness to Him while they were here on earth (Mt 19:27-29, II Tim 2:11-12, Rev 2:26 and II Cor 5:10-11 ). There are 28 verses that prophesy about a joint-reign with CHRIST : * 8 verses are from the OT - Psa 37:11,18,29 & 49:14, Obad 21 and Dan 7:18,22,27 * 20 verses are from the NT - Mt 19:29 & 24:47 & 25:21,23-34, Mk 10:30, Lk 12:42-44 & 18:30 & 19:17,19 & 22:30, I Cor 6:2-3, Rom 5:17, II Tim 2:12 and Rev 2:26 & 3:21 & 5:10 20:4 c This term " with Christ ” speaks of His own personal reign. There are 322 verses that prophesy about the MILLENNIAL REIGN OF CHRIST : * 253 verses are from the OT - Gen 17:6,16 & 35:11, Exo 15:18, Num 24:7-8,17-20,22-24, I Sam 2:35 & 13:13, II Sam 7:12-13,16, Psa 2:6,8-9 & 9:7-8 & 14:7 & 22:27-31 & 45:6,8,17 & 46:8-10 & 47:2-9 & 53:6 & 67:4 & 72:2-17,19 & 82:8 & 89:4,27,29,36-37 & 93:1-2 & 96:10,13 & 97:1-6 & 98:9 & 99:1-5 & 103:19 & 110:1-4 & 132:11,13-17 & 145:11-13 & 146:10, I Ki 9:5, I Chro 5:2 & 17:11-12,14, II Chro 7:18, Joel 3:17,21, Hosea 6:3 & 10:12, Isa 2:2-4 & 4:2-6 & 9:6-7 & 11:4-16 & 12:1-6 & 16:5 & 19:20 & 22:22- 25 & 24:23 & 25:3-12 & 26:1-3,9,11-12,15 & 32:1 & 40:11 & 45:23-25 & 49:7,10-13 & 52:7,13 & 53:12 & 54:5 & 59:19, Mic 2:13 & 4:1-8 & 5:2,4-6, Jere 3:17,19 & 23:5-6 & 30:9,21 & 33:15-18, Zeph 2:11 & 3:15-17, Hab 2:14, Dan 2:35,44 & 4:3,34 & 6:26 & 7:14,27 & 9:24, Ezk 17:22-24 & 34:23-24,29 & 37:22,24-25,27 & 43:7, Obad 21, Hag 2:9,23, Zech 2:10-11 & 6:12-13,15 & 9:10 & 13:1-6 & 14:8-11,16-21 and Mal 1:11 & 3:3-5 * 69 are from the NT - Mt 2:6 & 5:3-10 & 8:11 & 13:41,43 & 19:28 & 20:21 & 22:44 & 25:34,40 & 26:29, Mk 10:37 & 11:10 & 12:36 & 14:25, Lk 1:32-33 & 2:14 & 6:20-21 & 11:2 & 12:32 & 17:20 & 19:15 & 20:43 & 21:31 & 22:16,18,29-30 & 23:42, Jn 18:36, Acts 2:30,35 & 3:19,21, Rom 14:11-12 & 15:12, I Cor 15:25, Heb 1:8,13, & 2:5 & 10:13 & 12:27-28, Colo 1:13, Eph 1:10, Phil 2:10-11, II Tim 2:12 & 4:1,18, II Pet 1:11 and Rev 2:27 & 3:21 & 7:17 & 11:15 & 12:5,10 & 15:4 & 19:15 According to Daniel 7:14, the SON OF MAN will rule and reign for 1000 years. NOTE – There are three schools of thought concerning the Millennium. The first school of thought, called Amillennialism , the alpha (the English letter a ) negating a word in the Greek language (as in “theist” and “atheist”), doesn’t believe there will be a Millennium (Kingdom). A-millennialists typically think that Jesus will return to earth personally but will not inaugurate a thousand-year reign on earth; that the thousand years are figurative and may refer to the reign of Christ and the resurrected saints in the spiritual world. William E. Anderson in Rapture? Sure… but when? notes: The second school of thought, called Postmillennialism , believes the Church will succeed in making the world better and better, and then Jesus will come back. There are not many postmillennists today, for almost everyone is painfully aware that the world just isn’t getting better and better. Louis Paul Lehman in Questions I Had to Settle notes: Post-millennialism is not popularly accepted nor acceptable due to the realistic facts that the world is not getting better and Christianization of the nations is not progressing, but failing. 2 Billy Graham in StormWarning adds: This view remains popular in some circles. It originated with Augustine in the fourth century when he allegorized passages dealing with a supposed future reign of Christ on earth. It was, in fact, the dominant view for about a thousand years. 1

It is true that believers bear fruit in every good work upon the earth, but believers cannot change the world into the kingdom. Only the return of the King to rule upon the earth can result in His will being done upon earth as it is in heaven. 3

Robert Farrar Capon in The Parables of Judgment agrees. He notes:

Worst of all, when the church speaks to the world, it perpetuates the same false system of salvation. It is clearly heard as saying that the world can be saved only by getting its act together. But besides being false, that is an utterly unrealistic apologetic. For everyone knows perfectly well that the world never has gotten its act together and never will–that disaster has been the hallmark of its history–and that if there is no one who can save it in its disasters, there is no one who can save it. And therefore when the church comes to the world mouthing the hot air that the future is amenable to reform–that the kingdom can be built here by plausible devices, by something other than the mystery of the passion–the church convinces no one... the world is going down the drain; only a Savior who is willing to work at the bottom of the drain can redeem it. 4

Henry Jacobsen in The War We Can’t Lose also agrees. He notes:

God’s program is not one of gradual improvement of this earth. Man’s efforts are not going to “bring in the Kingdom.” The City of God is not being planned or built by men; it will come down out of heaven. 5 The third school of thought, called Premillennialism , takes Revelation 20 literally and believes that Jesus will return via the