Revelation 20 and the Persecuted Church

This Sunday at Church in the Boro we are holding a special service to honor and pray for the persecuted church. I think this gives us a special opportunity to reflect on what many believers throughout the world face when they decide to follow Jesus. It may also help to prepare believers in North America for what may be around the corner for them.

I think it also affords a unique opportunity to "rescue" a certain biblical text from the point being missed in the middle of important questions about eschatology. I think that Revelation 20:1-6 should be read primarily as a text which teaches the blessings Christ will give to the persecuted, and especially the martyred Church. In fact, I think that most, if not all of New Testament eschatology is focused on hope for those persecuted in Christ's name. Revelation 20:1-6 reads like this in the English Standard Version:

1Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
4Then 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. 5The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 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.

Although hidden in plain sight, I believe that it is primarily the martyrs throughout the Church's history who are the focus of Christ's millennial reign (though it also points to a those who are given authority to judge, which may refer to other faithful Christians), and I would further suggest help to provide valuable insight into its interpretation. Curiously, there is no mention at all in Revelation 20 of anything like a rebuilt Jerusalem temple complete with bloody animal sacrifices or anything resembling "reconstruction". It would seem that such theories distract from the real emphasis of the passage which is the vindication and reign of the martyrs of Jesus throughout the world and Church history.

It is also worth noting that Christ and those resurrected will rule over the very nations who were responsible for putting them to death in the first place. Verses 1-3 emphasize that the devil (who gave power and authority to the Beast to wage war against the Lamb and His saints) is consigned to the abyss for the purpose of not deceiving the nations any longer. This would indicate to me that those who suffer and die for the Gospel's sake in world missions will one day reign over the nations alongside Christ as proof of His love for them (Revelation 3:9).

Such promises, along with those of future glory in the New Heavens and New Earth provide a powerful motivation for bringing the Gospel to the nations and suffering for Christ's sake. This is the real message of New Testament eschatology. Let us pray for those suffering to advance the Gospel of Christ and let us take comfort and motivation from Jesus' promise that we will one day reign with Him not only in the millennium, but after God has renewed and restored the universe (Revelation 21:1-22:5).

As an aside, I think that these points favor the Historic Premillennial interpretation, although they could possibly be worked into an Amillennial framework.