Revelation 20:4 - 6
ESV - 4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.
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These are the souls of those who had been executed during the Tribulation because they refused the mark of the Beast and stood for Christ. Tribulation believers, along with redeemed believers from the OT and NT, will reign with Christ during His 1000-year kingdom. I Cor 6:2; 2 Tim 2:12
The people Jesus is reigning over in Rev 20 are the church: all those who are born again. Revelation 20 is all about the millennium; that long and indeterminate time between the first coming of Christ and his second coming. During that time people hear the gospel, come to faith and are born again into the kingdom of God. Being born again is the first resurrection, as John calls it here. Those who are born again come to life and reign with Christ during the whole of the church age - the millennium. Only after the church age is over, and the millennium is concluded, will Christ return and then the rest of the dead will come to life - the second resurrection. As someone once summarized it: Those who are born twice, you will die once. Those who are born once will die twice. Regards Philip
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