Devotional 30 April 2025

April 30, 2025 • Steve Torres

Revelation 5:4-5.jpg

“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. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4–6, ESV)

In this striking vision, John sees thrones and those seated upon them—saints reigning with Christ. This image doesn’t stand alone; it echoes promises and realities already laid out in the New Testament. Paul declares in Ephesians 2:6 that we have been “raised with [Christ] and seated with him in the heavenly places.” This is not just a future hope, but a present spiritual reality. The “first resurrection,” then, is best understood as the spiritual resurrection believers experience when they are born again—raised from death in sin to new life in Christ (Romans 6:4–5, Colossians 2:12–13).

Jesus is “the firstborn from the dead” (Revelation 1:5, Colossians 1:18), and all who are in Him share in that resurrection life. John 5:24–25 confirms this: “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life… has passed from death to life.” This is not merely a future event but a present identity: we are the living among the dead.

These saints reign with Christ for “a thousand years”—a symbolic fullness of time representing Christ’s ongoing reign through His Church. We are His royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), reigning not with the weapons of the world, but through the Word, prayer, and Gospel proclamation. As Romans 5:17 proclaims, “those who receive the abundance of grace… reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

Revelation contrasts this first resurrection with the “second death,” which Revelation 20:14 defines as the lake of fire—the final judgment. Yet believers have no fear of this fate. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Jesus’ own words in John 11:25–26 promise, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

Even the martyrs—those who lost their lives for Christ—are seen alive and reigning, proving that death has no final claim. This echoes Hebrews 11, where the faithful longed for a better country, a heavenly one, and Hebrews 12:1–2, where we are surrounded by “a great cloud of witnesses,” encouraging us on as we run our race.

Christ’s Kingdom is not in retreat. He has already bound the strong man (Matthew 12:28–29) and is plundering his house. His Church advances, fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20), knowing that the gates of hell cannot prevail against her (Matthew 16:18).

Those who share in this first resurrection—the born-again saints—are called “blessed and holy.” For them, there is no fear of the second death. As 1 Corinthians 15:55 triumphantly asks, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” We live now in resurrection life, and we reign now with the risen Christ.