5. Part in the first resurrection. “ Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years” --20: 6. There is an axiom which decrees that things equal to the same thing are equal to each other. In Revelation 2:11 it is said that overcoming the persecutions exempted them from the second death. But in Revelation 20:6 it is said that part in the first resurrection exempted them from the second death. Things equal to the same things being equal to each other-- part in the first resurrection referred to overcoming the persecutions and entering into the triumph of that victory. Again, it is the same kind of a resurrection prophesied in Isaiah 26:1-21 and Ezekiel 37:1-28. On such the second death hath no power--the implication of the context is that the first death was the martyrdom of the saints as represented by the souls of them that were slain under the altar in chapter 6:9. Receiving the guerdon of martyrdom for their overcoming faith, promised by their Lord in chapter 2:10-11, these martyred saints had exemption from the judgment of them that had received the mark of the beast in submission to the imperial edict commanding the worship of the Caesar-image. They were in a state of special dispensation, not amenable to judgment. This in contrast with those who had "worshipped the beast” and “ his image” and who had received “ his mark,” and in consequence shared the same retribution--the oblivion of eternal banishment. Priests of God and of Christ--the expressions of “ priests of God and Christ” and “ reign with” in this imagery were used synonymously, as in chapter 1:6 and 5: 10; and compares with the phrase “ kingdom of Christ and God” in Ephesians 5:5, in which all Christians reign with Christ. It symbolized the perpetual performance of heavenly functions in the presence of God and Christ in “ the kingdom of Christ and God.” In this heavenly state they shall reign with him a thousand years--that is, in complete victory and infinite reward, removed from transitory time and terrestrial place. The use of thousand years here is further proof that it had no reference or application to a literal cycle of years. They shall be priests of God and Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. This, of course, referred to the souls who lived and reigned; and here shall reign with him referred to the continuity of that reign which had begun in the expression “ lived and reigned” of verse four. It had reference to the same souls and the same reign and simply denoted its continuation,