"And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time." - Rev 19:11-21

"Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and 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 completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years." - Rev 20:1-5

This is the -Third Coming- of the Son of Man. The Second coming of the Lord that we all as Christians long for happened in Rev 14:14 ( your point of view may be different from ours! ). We have gone into the details of our reasoning on that in previous posts, and will not be redundant here. We will mention one additional detail that is relevant to that argument - in the events described in Rev 19:11 onwards, the Apostle does NOT see the dead in Christ rise first, and then those remaining being changed in the twinkling of an eye, and being caught up to be with the Lord in the air - NONE of that is mentioned or even hinted at. We DO see Christ in the sky, coming with power, but He is coming to kill the wicked with "the breath of His mouth" - (see Isaiah 11:4, and 2 Thess 2:8). Resurrection IS mentioned just a few verses later, so the silence about any resurrection (wrath, war, and destruction are mentioned instead) in 19:11- is absolutely deafening.

The image of a Messiah on a white horse has been appropriated by other religions from Christian writings. It is no surprise that in the Muslim faith, a Mahdi on a white horse is prophesied - as the prophet Mohammed did have access to both Old and New Testaments, and the Quran has references (in addition to adding new content) to the contents of both texts. It may surprise you to learn that Hinduism too, has the mythology of a conqueror on a white horse. He is supposed to be the 10th and final incarnation (or avatar - which is where we get the term) of Vishnu, a member of the Hindu trinity. The notion of a trinitarian divinity in Hinduism dates to 600 AD, and there are some scholars in India that trace it to the christian influence of the Apostle Thomas who came to India in the 1st century AD. (Next to Peter (Rome), Mark (Venice), the Basilica of St. Thomas(Chennai/Madras) is the third location in the world where you will find the tomb of an Apostle). All this to say that the enemy cannot create, but he is adept at hijacking Gods creation to create confusion!

Christ no longer appears a meek and lowly Lamb that was slain, or a suffering servant. The Apostle John saw one view of Him - a view of One who is Lord of His Church and superintends them - now He sees Him as He is. The One who rules and has dominion over every knee in both heaven and earth! His eyes no longer are AS a flame of fire, but they ARE a flame of fire. We are given 3 Names for Him, King of King and Lord of Lords, the Word of God, and a third Name which only He knows! Please note, though He is accompanied by the armies in Heaven, He does not need their help. His mouth is sufficient to kill those arrayed against Him! They may be helping by seizing the beast, and the false prophet. Satan gets special treatment in that a (mere) solitary angel is dispatched to bind him. The entity that deceived the earth, argued with God, and was treated with respect by Michael the archangel himself (Jude 1:9) is bound by just one angel. How? The angel is just the messenger - the binding is ordained by God Almighty Himself, and Satan knows he must submit, he -has- to go peacefully. A beat cop is leading him to the paddy wagon, but the cop is backed up by an army of SWAT teams and under the watchful eye of the chief of police!

Satan goes to jail for a 1000 years, and his accomplices are thrown -alive- into the lake of fire. He will be let out again (why? - see our post on the Plan of God pinned to the top of this Facebook Page) for a short time, but after that, he joins his accomplices in that lake (along with his angels) to serve out an eternal sentence. If that seems harsh - consider that he warred against a holy and loving God, Who gave him his space and shot at God-hood over His creation for a time - in a war where the stake is the throne of God itself, eternal punishment is righteous,just and fitting.

Let us come to the resurrection. At first glance, Rev 20:1-5 seems to talk about a resurrection of the entire church, but look closer. Who are the people that "came to life"? This is a very select crowd of martyrs indeed! The text goes so far as to even say that the "rest of the dead" did not come to life till the thousand years were completed! Does that mean the rest of us? The clue is to be found in the word "souls". How does a soul "come to life" if it is immortal? We saw souls of them slain for the testimony of God crying out for justice from under the altar (Rev 6:9), we saw a great multitude that no one could number standing with palms in their hands (Rev 7:9), and we saw those that got the victory over the beast standing on a sea of glass mixed with fire(15:2). So clearly, their souls are "alive" in one sense - this is the sense that we have - where a living person feels, reacts, and evidences personality! So what could coming to life meanhere? In one very clear sense, it is connected with becoming a king/priest and reigning for a 1000 years - and friends - these people deserve that assignment! But thats not the whole story...

If you missed it, there is a reference to thrones and "they" sitting on them, and judgement given to them. In the Book of Daniel, Daniel 7:26 - we see the thrones represent a court sitting for judgement - taking away the dominion of the beast. Jesus tells His disciples that in the resurrection they will sit on thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. (Matt 19:28, Luke 22:30) The apostle Paul says that we will judge angels.(1 Corinthians 6:3) - We are asked not be judgmental, but it certainly seems that there is a whole lot of judging going on! So what is our point?....

We are going to go out on the proverbial limb here, and say that "coming to life" means getting our resurrected body. If you read further on in Chap 20, you will see a great White Throne judgment, and a second resurrection. In this second group we ALSO find people written in the Book of Life (SURPRISE!!!). Being written in the Book of Life spares them from the lake of fire - however - they are judged based on THEIR works - they do not have the righteousness of Christ. This is where they pick up their resurrection body... So we believe that we are resurrected (come to life) at the Harvest (in Rev 14:14), are united with Christ (become like Him) and are His Bride. That confirms our status and our entry into our inheritance - as children of God and co-heirs with Christ. All things are now under His feet, and by implication of His Body - ours. We are doing the judging, and are welcoming into our company the list of exalted martyrs, along with every one else! Its why the Marriage Supper is such a GREAT PARTY!!!!

Hallelujah!