Encouragement

Let's not miss this conversation from John 18 below:

John 18
33 Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?”
35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is

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Well, perhaps it is time finally to explain what I mean when I indicate that Rev. 20:4-6 are VISION verses:

Rev. 20
4And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ

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It seems that without the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, our faith is vain.

Yep.

And it seems also that the Christian faith is absolutely dependent upon it.

And so, let's have Paul tell it:

1 Cor.15
12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?

Now, this verse indicates that Christ was preached that He rose ...

One of the critical aspects of the "millennium" has to do with the beast in this verse:

Rev. 20
4Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with

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Let's look closely at what the souls of martyrs are really asking for in Rev. 6:

Rev. 6
9When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;
10and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging . . .

Stop right there.

The souls are asking about when ...