Rev 20:6, 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. 
We continue this morning with our consideration of those scriptures that are linked to this passage. We are dealing with what scripture has to tell us concerning the points that are contained within this verse. We are seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance and understanding and bringing to life these truths before us, as we do, Lord willing, with every scripture in His Word. There is no other manner in which to come into truth than to allow Him to work it livingly into our minds and hearts, and that will always be in complete accord with the rest of His Word. The best manner of coming into a deeper understanding of His Word is to ask Him to open it through the various other scriptural passages that He has inspired throughout the time of His writing of the Bible. 
	Immediately joined to this passage, and as the context for it, we read in verses 4+5, And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the 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 upon their forehead and upon 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. What is readily apparent in this context is that there are those who will serve with Christ in His place of authority over the earth. There are many interpretations as to what that service will involve and who will be part of it, but the fact is that at least a representation of the faithful ones to Christ will be part of His reign on this earth.
	In my heart, I feel that this ruling may already be in place through the intercessory prayers and the standing testimony of Christ’s Church. As He is presented through His Church and as the Church takes the concerns and the burdens upon her heart before the Lord in prayer, asking for His will to be done, Christ’s sovereignty is at work. Christ, Himself, indicates this as given to us in Matt 16:19. "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 
	As the Church prays for the Lord’s will to be done on this earth, it is accomplished. We are not talking about the Church’s will. We are certainly not discussing human ideas of righteousness and justice. We are talking about the Church seeking after what God’s will is and giving herself wholly and fully unto it in Him. That may very well be the force of this morning’s passage with regard to the reign of Christ. We join our hearts to His heart and seek only after that which is His desire and to His glory.
	After all, as we progress in our lives in Christ, we should be finding that our hearts ever more certainly become more and more attuned to what pleases Him rather than what pleases us. We should be finding that we think less and less about how we are affected in situations and circumstances. We should find ourselves more naturally concerned about His glory and His testimony and His place in our lives and in the lives of others. That trueness of heart and desire absolutely means that we do not, in any measure, worship the beast, or receive his mark upon us in this age. Rather than submit ourselves to the falsity of this world power, we find ourselves repulsed by it. We rather more earnestly offer ourselves to the Lord and beseech Him that He would guard and guide and direct our every path.  
	 We find complete solace in the words of our Lord as recorded in Rev 2:10+11, 'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.' 
There is great comfort in this tremendous promise. Yes, we have the unpleasant certainty of the trials and tribulations and testings of this realm because we belong to Jesus Christ. But we also have the sure Word of God that we are not to fear this. We are to overcome because we have the very Holy Spirit of God within us. It is through the power of Jesus Christ, Himself, that we will overcome. After all, as we also read in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." 
	As Christians, those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He came and was crucified because of our sins and then was resurrected by the power of God and even at this very instant reigns on high forever, for us there is no fear of the second death. We know, without any shadow of turning, that we have eternal life in Jesus Christ. We do not worry about what our future holds because we have the complete certainty that we will be raised up with Jesus Christ and will live with Him forever. 
When we die in these physical bodies, we know the comforting truth that eternity holds far more for us than this earthly body could ever imagine. 1 Thess 4:16-18, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. We know that we will always be with the Lord. 
	We are not subject to the second death, as defined in our reading of Rev 20:12-15, And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Our names are written in the Lamb’s book of Life, and in that we are fully blessed, as indicated in this morning’s text. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power… 
	There are those, however, who will have to face the second death for all of eternity. Rev 21:8, "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." These are all those innumerable and haughty individuals who have utterly refused to accept the free gift of God’s salvation in His Only Begotten Son. They will not be blessed and holy, but rather cursed and damned. 
They have chosen not to acknowledge their absolute need for salvation. They have dismissed the very heart of God revealed unto them. Rom 1:18-23, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. All mankind is without excuse. No one will be able to question why he or she is damned. God has made Himself plainly evident to all. Sadly, there are many who will deliberately choose not to see the truth, and who will utterly deny their need for salvation. 
	With reference to those who will choose to see the work of God in Jesus Christ, the Prophet Isaiah proclaims the following so victoriously in Isa 61:1-6a, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives, And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations, And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. And strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers. But you will be called the priests of the Lord; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. 
	This is the manner in which we are to rule with Christ in this very day. We are not appointed to judge those in sin. We are not called to make our thoughts and our ideas the guiding principles of other people’s lives. We are simply called to seek after the Lord to make known that which pleases Him. We are to obey Him in His every directive and we are to live our lives in a manner worthy of His name. We do so in His power and in His might and in His guidance and in His wisdom and in His Sovereignty.  
	As the Apostle Paul so fully encourages us in Rom 12:1-3, I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 
So many Christians today think that they need to pronounce judgment on sinners. They feel it is their duty to beat them over the head with scripture and to lambast them into the kingdom of God. That is not how we rule on this earth. We simply and earnestly live our lives in obedience to the Lord as He directs through His Word and by the power of His Holy Spirit. We present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice for the sake of those around us. Rather than judge them to hell, we allow Christ to love them into heaven. 
	This does not mean, by any measure, that we acquiesce to their sin and join them in their wicked pursuits. By no means! We hold forth the banner of the purity and the holiness and the righteousness of Christ in the lives that we live despite whatever they throw at us in their delusions of human imaginings. 
As the Apostle Peter declares in 1 Peter 2:1-5, Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We set aside all malice and guile and hypocrisy and envy and slander. We do not take it into our dealings with anyone and we do not give it any account as we live unto the Lord. We honor Him in our sincere desire that none would be lost. 
	When we see wrong and evil and maliciousness, we immediately bring it before the Lord for His ruling and overruling in the every instance. We do not participate and certainly we do not condone it in any fashion. Rather, we hold all the parties involved before the Lord and ask Him to sort out the every detail. We rely upon Him to show His governing and overruling might in whatever manner He so chooses in order to touch every heart in that situation. 
What we often fail to realize is that God is not concerned with the circumstances or the situations. Those issues are never a problem for His Omnipotent dealings. He is working on the hearts involved. He is establishing Himself as the source and the means of facing every situation and dilemma. We often get so caught up in the immediate issue that we forget the relationship which is at the heart of every instance. We are so filled with the details that we neglect the truth that God is working to establish Himself in each heart and life. He is dealing effectively to bring His blessing and His holiness to bear in full measure upon each person who will so respond to Him.
Let us never get in the way of His work and try to shortcut His efficient and eternal plan and purpose. Rather, let us always rule with Him by ever seeking to honor His will by desiring that the Holy Spirit has the absolute and complete freedom to do His will in His time. So be it!
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. Amen.

			
This morning’s benediction is Ps 134. Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord, Who serve by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, And bless the Lord. Amen.