Revelations 20:5

The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.

This is the first resurrection.

Following the logical flow of the text, since those who first resurrect are those who refused to receive the mark of the beast, those ‘did not come to life’ are those who received it. Much is speculated about this mark. We may not at present be sure of its form, but we know its function. In biblical terms the head, especially the forehead represents the will; the hands represent the actions birthed by the will. That is why Jews put these little prayer boxes with a Scripture scroll inside of them when they pray: to remind them of what should be the focus and direction of both their thoughts and their actions. The devil will also try to control our thoughts and actions by attempting to place his mark on our foreheads and hands, and in the sight of God, that is death.

We are used to think of death as a permanent state. But in this verse the dead await resurrection in order to go to their reward, good or bad. We are obviously then talking here about more than biological death, something different than the mere corruption of the body. There are people who are alive and yet who are more dead than the dead; while there are those who are dead, but who are more alive than those still in the body (Matthew 22:32)!

What is then a life that is more substantial than this present state? And what is a death more empty and void than the mere corruption of the body? King David put it in these wonderful words:’ I shall dwell in the house of Adonai forever’ (Psalms 23: 6). In other words, presence with God is life more alive than this life, but absence from God is more mortal than mere body corruption.

As long as we are alive, the candle, however small at times, of the life of God lives in us. Its light is manifest in our hearts via the twinges of our conscience. To others, it is manifest in either strength or weakness according to our obedience of Messiah’s commandments. When we die, that candle is extinguished, but then, until the time of resurrection to judgment, we come to either more than life, what Yeshua called: the bosom of Abraham, or to less than death: the she’ol.

We must take this life more seriously. The good, the bad and the ugly of this life do follow us in the World to Come. We may then shed many tears of regret; Messiah will surely wipe them, but that doesn’t mean that we will not still have to learn the substance of the lesson from the disobedience that caused these tears.

If we are truly sealed with the mark of the Messiah, let us make sure that in each day of this life, both our will and hands are synchronized with those of our Master. Then and only then will the prayer: ‘Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven!’ be answered!