Thumbnail image

Last Updated on : Saturday, November 22, 2014

 


sp

DOWNLOAD EUREKA volumes in PDF: Eureka downloads page

Eureka vol. 1 TOC | Eureka vol. 2 TOC | Eureka vol 3 TOC

Previous section | Next section

 

Eureka

AN EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE
Sixth Edition, 1915
By Dr. John Thomas (first edition written 1861)

 

 

Chapter 20

 4. “The Rest of the Dead”


 
spacer

 

“But THE REST OF THE DEAD ONES lived not again until the thousand years had been finished”.

The Apocalypse was showed to John, not alone for the benefit of the servants of the Deity in the Times of the Gentiles; but also for the same class among the subjects of the Millennial Kingdom. Eighteen hundred years ago, John wrote of the dead of the First Resurrection, multitudes of whom had not then been born; yet, he says concerning them, “I saw the dead small and great stand before the Deity”. Upon the same principle he speaks of “the Rest of the Dead,” who had not come into existence either in, or before, the time he wrote, or in the Times of the Gentiles, or before the resurrection of the Firstfruits. The “rest” is the remainder of a whole number of certain dead ones, to whom eternal life is to be imparted by the Son. The Firstfruits are only the earnest of the harvest to be gathered in. The Millennial Generations will have the, happy assurance that, though the resurrection of a Firstfruits had passed, there would be a resurrection of a remainder to complete the whole number originally given by the Father to the Son.

This whole number of the dead is the subject of great solicitude and affection to Christ, who speaks of it in the following Scriptures in this wise: “Thou, 0 Father, hast given the Son power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him”. “I pray not for the world; but for them whom Thou hast given me; for they are Thine. Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me” (John 17:2,8,24). “All that the Father giveth to me, shall come to me. And this is the will of the Father who sent me, that everything which He hath given to me, I should lose nothing of it, but raise it again in the last day” (John 6:37-40). He styles this whole number given to him by the Father, the sheep of whom he is the Good Shepherd, and says, “I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this (Mosaic) fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd. Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall not perish in the Aion, eis ton aiona; neither shall any one pluck them out of my hand. My Father who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John10).

In these testimonies we see, that the whole number is a gift bestowed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he must bring, and upon whom he is to bestow eternal life; so that, when they die before the Aion, they may have part in the resurrection of Firstfruits; and if they die in the Aion, they may not perish in the Aion; but live again when the thousand years are past. Hence the whole number of the dead is a collection of persons taken out from mankind from the time of Abel to the end of the thousand years. Seven thousand years inhabitation of the earth by flesh and blood subject to death, is the Aion of Mortality: through all of which progresses the work of taking out a people from the race, who shall attain to incorruptibility and life upon the principle of a loving and faithful obedience to the Truth. These are given to the Son for Brethren by the Father; who bestows upon them the earth, in a finished and paradisaic perfection, as their inheritance and abode for ever. The manifestation of this whole number “redeemed from among men,” is assigned to two notable and extraordinary epochs; the first, the beginning of the thousand years: the second, the end thereof. The first epoch precedes the Millennium, and is illustrated by the Resurrection of the Firstfruits; the second epoch after the Millennium is passed, is celebrated by the manifestation in life of “THE REST OF THE DEAD” given by the Father to the Son to complete the fold — “One fold and one Shepherd” — “the Deity the all things in all”.

 

 


spacer
spacer
spacer

Eureka Diary -- reading plan for Eureka

spacer