binding of Satan was for the
purpose to bind him from deceiving the nations any more. That is, all of God's elect out
of every nation and kindred, tribe and tongue that God had
everlastingly loved, Satan was bound as to his ability to be
able to deceive them. And the Lord cast him, Scripture
says, into the bottomless pit, shut him up, sealed him, that
he should deceive these nations no more. A symbolic binding,
a hindering of Satan. After the thousand years, Satan
must be loosed, Scripture says, for a little season, that he
might according to God's good pleasure and purpose, deceived
the nations again with great deception, that is, religious
deception. Well, as of verse 4, the time
of John's writing, obviously Satan had not been loosed yet. John saw thrones, that is, seats
of authority, true preachers of the gospel. and judgment,
the Scripture says. That is, the proclamation of
God's judgment upon the Redeemer, first of all for the elect's
sake, and judgment of wrath upon all the wicked, those that God
had left to themselves. Judgment to proclaim the gospel
of free grace was given unto them. Well, during the thousand
years those who are called out by God's power and grace, those
that the Scripture refers to as being beheaded for the witness
of Jesus. They are witnesses. That beheading
we looked at last week doesn't necessarily mean, though it could
be, that many have been actually physically martyred. The word
actually means those that are witnesses. those that are martyrs,
those that have been made to die to self, die as to their
love for rebellion against God. They are dead to sin. They lived,
the Scripture says, spiritually, and they reigned as kings and
priests in their Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, whether
they are physically alive, whether they are spiritually alive. That's what the word live means,
a lived. John 11, 26, it says, Whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. That word die there. They'll never die. That word
actually means separated from God. They'll never be separated
from God. And the Lord says, Believest
thou this? You that believe. you're united with the Lord Jesus
Christ. God Himself has given you a new
heart, alive in Christ. And you'll never die. You'll
never be separated from the Lord. All believers who have died in
the faith are said to be present with the Lord. 2 Corinthians
5a, Paul says, we're confident, I say, and willing rather to
be absent from the body You are present with the Lord. You are
present with Him now. Alive in Him. United with Him. And believers who die in the
faith are said to sleep in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians
4.14. For if we believe, Paul says,
that Jesus died. Now, this word died here actually
is a word that means physical death. It means physical death. And actually, that word died
right there means physical death that is associated with the penalty
of sin as being born in Adam. It's a physical death. Now the
reason that everyone physically dies is because of sin. Now you know that. Sin is the
penalty. Death is the penalty for sin,
rebellion against Almighty God. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ
was made sin, that word, I looked it up, that word means produced,
created, made to become. Christ was made sin and rose
again if we believe that Christ died as a man. as the substitute, being made
sin, he physically died. He died. He died. If we believe
that he died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus. A believer is always referred
to as sleeping. They died in the faith. They
slept in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who appear to be non-existent,
You look at someone, you know, it's hard to tell. Someone is
asleep in a dead sleep. They're just sleeping soundly.
I mean, you have to look. Have you ever had those of you
that are parents? I mean, you know, I've had kids that slept
a little bit later than I thought they should. I actually came
up there and, you know, listened. I just want to hear. Are you
moving? You know, it's hard to tell. Someone that's sleeping, someone
that's dead. Believers are said to sleep.
in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Scripture says now in
verse 5, But the rest of the dead lived not again until the
thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. The rest of the dead, the remnant
of mankind left to themselves without Christ, without hope,
the Scripture says, In verse 4, we saw where John saw thrones. He saw these seats of authority. He saw pastors. They that sat
upon them, judgment was given unto them. They preached the
gospel, and something happened. Those that God had everlastingly
loved, the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness
of Jesus, those that God called out of darkness, dead to self,
dead to sin by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for the
Word of God, they didn't worship the beast. They didn't. God gave
them a new heart to worship Christ. Neither His image had received
the mark in their foreheads. They had the mind of Christ,
not the mind of Satan, not the mind of rebellion. They didn't
have it in their hands. That hand is the action of. They walked after Christ. They
lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, all that the
Lord had everlastingly loved. But the rest of the dead, they
lived not again until the thousand years were finished. So that
verse 5 is talking about all that God has left to themselves.
The remnant of mankind left without Christ. They lived not again. That means there was no recovery
of spiritual darkness, there was no recovery of life, that's
what I meant to say, there was no recovery of spiritual life,
no awareness of Christ, no rebirth until the thousand years were
finished. Now, the key to that statement
is in the word until. It's very easy to understand
talking about the dead. Verse 4, at the end of it, is
talking about those that God called out of darkness. Verse
5, it says, the rest of the dead live not again. Obviously, it's
someone other than the believers. The rest of the dead, they live
not again. That's easy to understand. It
means rebirth. They didn't live again. They
weren't called out of darkness until the thousand years were
finished. Now, the word until there does
not mean like till the finished period of time was done. If I
would tell you, listen, I'm not going to come pick you up until
9 o'clock. Well, you pretty well understand
that. Don't look for me till 9 o'clock gets there. I'm not
going to be there at 8, 8.15. I won't be there. The word until
does not mean till the finished period of time. The word until
here means while, w-h-i-l-e. The word means while the thousand
years were finished, were being completed, were being accomplished,
while the thousand years were expiring. Verse 4 says that during
the entire thousand years of our Lord's reign in binding of
Satan, all of the elect from every kindred, from every tribe,
from every tongue that God had purposed to call out of darkness,
heard the witness of those that had been given the seats of authority
to preach the gospel, while Satan was bound from deceiving all
that God had everlastingly loved. Those called out of darkness,
God called Himself, but the remainder of men, women, The rest of verse
5, they lived not again. They were not living again while
the thousand years were finished. And what is exactly the difference? How do you know the difference
between these two? Now, we're obviously living in
this thousand-year period. We're somewhere between the coming
of our Lord into this world to bind Satan and the judgment,
the final judgment of Almighty God. So we're in here. How do
you know the difference of those that lived and reigned with Christ
and those that lived not again? This last statement in verse
5. This is the first resurrection. The first. The word first here
means foremost. in time foremost, in order foremost,
in honor first." Resurrection means the standing up, the recovery,
the recovery of truth. The resurrection. Now, turn over
to John 11. Now, I know how we all think. I do the same thing. We think
of the resurrection as an event. John 11, 21 to 25 says this, ìThen said Martha
unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not
died. But I know that even now whatsoever
thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto
her, Thy brother shall rise again.î Martha saith unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day.
And Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live." So the word resurrection is not
an event, though I know we think of it as an event. The Lord expressed to Martha
the truth that resurrection is a person. Look at Romans 6. Romans 6, verse 3. Romans 6, verse 3. Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?
Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that
like as Jesus was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." If
we've been planted together in the likeness of His death, we
shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. We are baptized,
placed into, covered over with, into Christ by God's grace. Baptism itself saves no one. Baptism is an outward confession
of what we believe God has done for us by the grace of God. So the first resurrection, this
first resurrection is actually the raising up of life experienced
in regeneration. There's your first resurrection.
God has raised us up, raised up because we've been resurrected
with Christ who is our representative. Now, this is the new birth, the
importation of a new heart, a living heart, a quickening heart. Ephesians
2 says, "...and you have He quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins." So the first resurrection is not something that a man can
produce. John 1. Look at this. I'll try to make this point so
we can come to a good understanding of this first resurrection, the
foremost resurrection. John 1.11. He came unto his own,
and his own received him not, but as many as received him.
To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to him
that believed on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor
the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." This
first resurrection, it's not something that's optional. The
Lord said in John 3, 3, "...barely, barely, I say unto thee, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The first resurrection by faith
is the evidence of God's eternal purpose to show mercy to a people
that He has everlastingly loved. 1 Peter 2.9 says, But ye are
a chosen generation. I'm going to deal with this scripture,
Lord willing, a little bit in the second message. You're a
chosen generation. a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of Him
who called you out of darkness, called you up, resurrected you
spiritually into His marvelous light. The Scripture sets forth,
back in Revelation 20, verse 5, the rest of the dead live
not again until the thousand years We're finished. What's
the difference, John? How do you know the difference
of those that were called out of darkness? Well, this is the
first resurrection. God called them out of darkness
into His marvelous light. Last verse. Look at Ephesians
2. Ephesians 2, verse 4 to 6. Ephesians 2, verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace,
you are saved. And look at this next verse.
And Hath, this is something He's done, and Hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. What is this first resurrection?
It's the regeneration of God's people out of the death of darkness,
dead in trespasses and sins, dead. Dead. No hope. No life. No perception. And God raised them up. Raised
them up. Gave them a new heart. Gave them
a new mind. A new law was written on their
heart. And they looked to Him and they
lived. They lived. When Ezekiel, the Lord called
Ezekiel, took him to the Valley of Dry Bones. He looked around. He said, what do you see, Ezekiel? He said, I see a valley of dry
bones. He said, they're very dry. He
said, I want you to preach to them these thrones of authority,
seats of authority, these thrones. Set forth the judgment of Almighty
God. Set forth the Word of God. Set forth God's Word. And he
says, and I'll cause them to live. I'll raise them up. I'll
send life. I'll send sinews. I'll send flesh. I'll send breath, and it will
come from the four corners." And Ezekiel said, and I preached
to him, and God raised him up. You that believe, God has raised
you up in spiritual resurrection. In the next verse that we'll
deal with, it says those that found place in this first resurrection,
the second death, had no power over them. The first resurrection,
what is it? It's God Almighty. regenerating
His people out of darkness into His marvelous light.