4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them, and the souls of those who have been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God, and who did not bow before the beast, nor his image, and did not receive the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand, and they did live and reign with Christ the thousand years;
And Jesus said to them, `Verily I say to you, that ye who did follow me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man may sit upon a throne of his glory, shall sit -- ye also -- upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel;
and the kingdom, and the dominion, even the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens, is given to the people -- the saints of the Most High, His kingdom `is' a kingdom age-during, and all dominions do serve and obey Him.
till that the Ancient of Days hath come, and judgment is given to the saints of the Most High, and the time hath come, and the saints have strengthened the kingdom.
and receive the kingdom do the saints of the Most High, and they strengthen the kingdom unto the age, even unto the age of the ages.
have ye not known that the saints shall judge the world? and if by you the world is judged, are ye unworthy of the smaller judgments? have ye not known that we shall judge messengers? why not then the things of life?
He who is overcoming -- I will give to him to sit with me in my throne, as I also did overcome and did sit down with my Father in His throne.
that ye may eat and may drink at my table, in my kingdom, and may sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'
if we do endure together -- we shall also reign together; if we deny `him', he also shall deny us;
and all the authority of the first beast doth it do before it, and it maketh the land and those dwelling in it that they shall bow before the first beast, whose deadly stroke was healed, and it doth great signs, that fire also it may make to come down from the heaven to the earth before men, and it leadeth astray those dwelling on the land, because of the signs that were given it to do before the beast, saying to those dwelling upon the land to make an image to the beast that hath the stroke of the sword and did live, and there was given to it to give a spirit to the image of the beast, that also the image of the beast may speak, and `that' it may cause as many as shall not bow before the image of the beast, that they may be killed. And it maketh all, the small, and the great, and the rich, and the poor, and the freemen, and the servants, that it may give to them a mark upon their right hand or upon their foreheads, and that no one may be able to buy, or to sell, except he who is having the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
and night shall not be there, and they have no need of a lamp and light of a sun, because the Lord God doth give them light, and they shall reign -- to the ages of the ages.
`The beast that thou didst see: it was, and it is not; and it is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go away to destruction, and wonder shall those dwelling upon the earth, whose names have not been written upon the scroll of the life from the foundation of the world, beholding the beast that was, and is not, although it is.
and I saw as a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who do gain the victory over the beast, and his image, and his mark, `and' the number of his name, standing by the sea of the glass, having harps of God,
yet a little, and the world doth no more behold me, and ye behold me, because I live, and ye shall live;
Lo, I am sending to you Elijah the prophet, Before the coming of the day of Jehovah, The great and the fearful.
And his disciples questioned him, saying, `Why then do the scribes say that Elijah it behoveth to come first?' And Jesus answering said to them, `Elijah doth indeed come first, and shall restore all things, and I say to you -- Elijah did already come, and they did not know him, but did with him whatever they would, so also the Son of Man is about to suffer by them.' Then understood the disciples that concerning John the Baptist he spake to them.
and then shall many be stumbled, and they shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another.
And Herod having heard, said -- `He whom I did behead -- John -- this is he; he was raised out of the dead.'
And they were questioning him, saying, that the scribes say that Elijah it behoveth to come first.
and he shall go before Him, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn hearts of fathers unto children, and disobedient ones to the wisdom of righteous ones, to make ready for the Lord, a people prepared.'
And Herod the tetrarch heard of all the things being done by him, and was perplexed, because it was said by certain, that John hath been raised out of the dead; and by certain, that Elijah did appear, and by others, that a prophet, one of the ancients, was risen; and Herod said, `John I did behead, but who is this concerning whom I hear such things?' and he was seeking to see him.
`And in the days of these kings raise up doth the God of the heavens a kingdom that is not destroyed -- to the age, and its kingdom to another people is not left: it beateth small and endeth all these kingdoms, and it standeth to the age.
and if children, also heirs, heirs, indeed, of God, and heirs together of Christ -- if, indeed, we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together.
and they sing a new song, saying, `Worthy art thou to take the scroll, and to open the seals of it, because thou wast slain, and didst redeem us to God in thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and didst make us to our God kings and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth.'
and I will give to My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy days, a thousand, two hundred, sixty, arrayed with sackcloth;
And the seventh messenger did sound, and there came great voices in the heaven, saying, `The kingdoms of the world did become `those' of our Lord and of His Christ, and he shall reign to the ages of the ages!'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Revelation 20
Commentary on Revelation 20 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 20
This chapter is thought by some to be the darkest part of all this prophecy: it is very probable that the things contained in it are not yet accomplished; and therefore it is the wiser way to content ourselves with general observations, rather than to be positive and particular in our explications of it. Here we have an account,
Rev 20:1-10
We have here,
Rev 20:11-15
The utter destruction of the devil's kingdom very properly leads to an account of the day of judgment, which will determine every man's everlasting state; and we may be assured there will be a judgment when we see the prince of this world is judged, Jn. 16:11. This will be a great day, the great day, when all shall appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. The Lord help us firmly to believe this doctrine of the judgment to come. It is a doctrine that made Felix tremble. Here we have a description of it, where observe,