Can anyone explain this to me?: The rest of the dead did not come to life UNTIL the 1,000 years were ENDED.

[DeeDee]

Can anyone explain this to me?: Rev. 20:5 -- “(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were ended.)…”?

 

I thought that our loved ones will be resurrected DURING the 1,000 years…

Does it maybe mean that they do not come to “everlasting life” until the 1,000 years are ended?

 

Full Scripture for Reference: (Revelation 20:4, 5) And I saw thrones, and those who sat on them were given authority to judge. Yes, I saw the souls of those executed for the witness they gave about Jesus and for speaking about God, and those who had not worshipped the wild beast or its image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand. And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for 1,000 years. ⁵ (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.

[John Houston]

Hello, DeeDee, think about what this verse is speaking about. It is not as hard as one think. Who partake of the 'first' resurrection? Those of the heavenly hope, and when they are given life, they are immortal, death has no hold there is no last test for them, correct? But those brought back to life during the reign of Christ, what happens when Satan is let loosed upon the earth? We all must past this final test, because if any fail they will end up where? So after this test death will be no more, all who pass has nothing but life in front of them, no testing of where their sovereignty lies, they have proved it. So the writer could put this what he saw in the future in those very words. Everyone else, the dead, would not come to life without death, until the 1000 yrs had ended.

[DeeDee]

Thank you, John! That's what I thought it MUST mean... I was just concerned that if I use this scripture in teaching my Bible Student, that they would only see it for what it actually says. Yes, the REAL life won't be experienced until after we prove our loyalty and get through that final test! Thanks, again!

[Melinda Mills]

*** re chap. 40 p. 290 Crushing the Serpent’s Head ***
The Rest of the Dead
14 Whom, though, will these kings judge if, as the apostle John here inserts, “(the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended)”? (Revelation 20:5a) Again, the expression “come to life” has to be understood according to context. This expression can have varying meanings in varying circumstances. For example, Paul said of his anointed fellow Christians: “It is you God made alive though you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) Yes, spirit-anointed Christians were “made alive,” even in the first century, being declared righteous on the basis of their faith in Jesus’ sacrifice.—Romans 3:23, 24.
15 Similarly, pre-Christian witnesses of Jehovah were declared righteous as to friendship with God; and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were spoken of as “living” even though they were physically dead. (Matthew 22:31, 32; James 2:21, 23) However, they and all others who are resurrected, as well as the great crowd of faithful other sheep who survive Armageddon and any children that may be born to these in the new world, must yet be raised to human perfection. This will be accomplished by Christ and his associate kings and priests during the thousand-year Judgment Day, on the basis of Jesus’ ransom sacrifice. By the end of that Day, “the rest of the dead” will have “come to life” in the sense that they will be perfect humans. As we shall see, they must then pass a final test, but they will face that test as perfected humans. When they pass the test, God will declare them worthy of living forever, righteous in the fullest sense. They will experience the complete fulfillment of the promise: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.” (Psalm 37:29) What a delightful future is in store for obedient mankind!

Get the Watchtower Library installed on your computer, so you can do your own research. You can use the online library as well.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

" Can anyone explain this to me?: The rest of the dead did not come to life UNTIL the 1,000 years were ENDED."

How could it be any simpler than what is stated?

On 12/21/2017 at 3:57 PM, DeeDee said:

And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for 1,000 years. ⁵ (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.

Idea No. 1.) 

"And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for 1,000 years. ⁵ ....  This is the first resurrection."

Idea No. 2  

(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were ended.) ...

There.... that make more sense?

What could be simpler?

 

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

If it takes a LOT of words to explain scripture, SOMEONE is trying to protect their cushy job.

[Shiwiii]

wait a minute. So after this 1000 years, who's left? Just jw's right? its only those who have associated with the organization, well according to the publications. Right? 

[Evacuated]

18 minutes ago, Shiwiii said:

Just jw's right

Who are they?

[Shiwiii]

42 minutes ago, Gone Away said:

Who are they?

no, I was asking if the only ones left are jw's. Well actually not asking, but rather confirming what jws believe. 

[JW Insider]

9 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

What could be simpler?

The way we understand it is a way that makes "simple" sense when we have already accepted the entire context of all that we aleady teach about the end-times. By end-times we can start from the the Russell-related messenger of the late 1800's preparing the way, and up to 1914 when Jesus is crowned king, along with a 1914 battle where Satan and his demons are released for a short time to wreak havoc on the earth and persecute God's people, along with a "first resurrection" that we say might have begun around 1918 or at least probably somewhere between 1914 and 1935.

So it is due in large part to accepting these beliefs about the "recent" past, that we believe the next things that will happen must include the following, in this order:

1. Great Tribulation
2. Gog of Magog surround God's people to attack (before the 1,000 year reign)
3. Armageddon
   • Destruction of Gog of Magog (before the thousand year reign)
   • Binding of Satan and his demons
4. The 1,000 Year Reign
5. Release of Satan (at the end of the 1000 years)
6. Gog and Magog surround God's people to attack (at the end of the 1,000 years)
7. Destruction of Gog and Magog (at the end of the 1,000 years)
8. Satan and demons thrown into lake of fire

This is spelled out in text and in "charts"  here:

• *** w15 5/15 p. 29 Questions From Readers ***
• https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20150515/gog-of-magog/

So from the viewpoint of someone who has already accepted a different solution to the order of these events, our "simple" solution, might seem rather confusing.

I'm not suggesting that we have it completely wrong, or that we should adopt a completely different solution. But I know that many persons might be confused as to why we (or the Bible) speak of Gog/Magog poised to attack God's people twice, and even more confusingly, why Gog/Magog is destroyed twice.  One of the alternate solutions even seems to remove the need to add parentheses to a portion of the verse in Revelation 20:5, as if it's an interruption to the order of events. Those parentheses are not in any of the original manuscripts of the Bible, so someone might wonder if it can make sense without seeing them as an interruption.

I don't think most of these other solutions are any more convincing than our own. Ours has a couple flaws, but so do some of the other solutions in my opinion. I'd be interested in Shiwiii's opinion on this whole end-times scenario to see if it can be made to fit any better.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

When I was younger, I would struggle with all these sorts of things .... and argue them.

Having experienced  "New Light" so many times I feel like an epileptic subjected to a  flashing strobe light ....

The famous phrase from "Gone With The Wind" movie comes to mind ...

"Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn !"

If I (or anybody) REALLY ever knows, it will be in the New System.

All else is speculation by people who PRETEND to know.

ESPECIALLY in "Revelation" which was to the Apostle John.

I suspect a LOT got lost in various "translations".

What could be simpler?

No muss, no fuss, no conflict.

 

[Shiwiii]

3 hours ago, JW Insider said:

• Great Tribulation
• Gog of Magog surround God's people to attack (before the 1,000 year reign)
• Armageddon
  • Destruction of Gog of Magog (before the thousand year reign)
  • Binding of Satan and his demons
• The 1,000 Year Reign
• Release of Satan (at the end of the 1000 years)
• Gog and Magog surround God's people to attack (at the end of the 1,000 years)
• Destruction of Gog and Magog (at the end of the 1,000 years)
• Satan and demons thrown into lake of fire

Isn't it believed by jw's that between your #3 sub points and your #4 is when God will sweep clean and destroy all who are not jw's at that time? Setting aside those who have died previously, we're only dealing with those alive during this period.