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Chapter 61. About the thrones prepared for those who have kept the confession of Christ unchanged Rev.20:4. “And I saw thrones, and those who sat on them, and judgment was given to them: and the souls of them were cut in pieces for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast, nor his icon, and had not received a mark on their foreheads, or on their hands, and came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Already the holy Apostles were given teaching thrones, from which the peoples were enlightened; will be given, according to the Divine promise, in the next century for the judgment of those who rejected the Gospel preaching, as David said: there the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord, the meeting of Israel, and further: for there the thrones sat down for judgment (Psalm 122:4-5). And to the other holy martyrs who suffered for Christ and did not accept the mark of the mental beast of the devil, i.e. depictions of his retreat, judgment was given, i.e. the power to judge, with which, as we see, demons are judged even to this day, being glorified with Christ until the end of the present age, worshiped by pious kings and faithful princes, and demonstrating God-given power against every bodily illness and devilish action. And that the devil and the Antichrist and the false prophet are common to each other both in deeds and in names, this is clear from the fact that each of them is called a beast. And the serpent, i.e. Satan appears to have seven heads and ten horns with the same number of crowns, as does the beast that comes out of the sea, i.e. Antichrist appears in a similar form; The false prophet also shows the same will and action for the destruction of those who are deceived. Those freed from this destruction will, in the manner shown, reign with Christ until His second coming, and after it they will receive more Divine promises. Chapter 62. What is the first resurrection and what is the second death Rev. 20:5–6. “The rest of the dead did not come to life until a thousand years passed away; This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have a share in the first resurrection; on them the second death will not have a share, but they will be priests to God and Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” We have been taught from Scripture that there are two lives and two deaths, i.e. death. The first life, for breaking the commandment, is temporary and physical, the other, for keeping the Divine commandments of Christ, eternal life promised to the saints. And there are also two deaths: one temporary, the death of the body, the other, sent in the future as punishment for sins, eternal, or, what is the same, fiery Gehenna. We also know the difference between the dead. Some must be avoided, about which Isaiah said: they cannot see the belly of death (Is. 26:14), whose actions cause stench and death. Others are worthy of praise, putting to death in Christ the deeds of the flesh and being crucified with Christ and being put to death to the world. The obvious dead are those who were not buried in Christ and were not resurrected with Him in baptism, but remain in the deadness of sins; they will not live with Him until the thousand years are completed, that is. the full number of years that will pass from His first to His second glorious coming, as was said above, but as those born of one earth, and not of the spirit, they will return to the earth, for their death is the beginning of their future torment. And those who have participation in the first resurrection, i.e. in rebellion from the deadening thoughts of dead deeds, they are blessed, for the second death will not have power over them, i.e. endless torment, but they priesthood and reign with Christ, as we see, for thousands of years that we understand, until Satan is allowed to deceive all nations. And then, however, the kingdom will not be taken away from them, but they will acquire it even more firmly and obviously when the temporary has passed and the eternal has come. For a little time will pass after the devil’s permission until he is condemned and punished in Gehenna. So the words: there will be priests of God and Christ must be understood as former receipts, although now visible in experience, and during the course of the work, the signs and wonders of the saints were future at the time when this was revealed to the Evangelist, as has already been said. So, since there are two deaths, then we need to accept so many resurrections. So, the first death is bodily, sent as punishment for human disobedience, the second death is eternal torment. The first resurrection is quickening from dead works, the second is the transformation of the body from corruption into incorruption. Chapter 63. About Gog and Magog Rev.20:7. “And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison, and he will come out to deceive the tongues of those who are on the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, gathering them together to battle, their number like the sand of the sea.” Some, I don’t know how, considered the indicated thousand-year time to be three and a half years from the Baptism of Christ until His ascension into heaven, after which they thought the devil was allowed. Others said that after six thousand years the first resurrection from the dead would be given to the saints alone, so that on the same earth on which they had shown patience they would enjoy pleasure and glory for a thousand years, and after this there would be a general resurrection not only of the righteous, but also of sinners. Since the Church did not accept any of this, it is unnecessary to say. We, heeding the Lord, who told the Sadducees that the righteous will be like the Angels of God in heaven (Matthew 22:31), and the Apostle, who said that the kingdom of God is without meat and drink (Rom. 14:17), take it to be a millennium - the time of the Gospel preaching. For, as has already been written, there is no need to count a thousand years as a number, as well as in what was said in the Songs of Songs: a man will bring for his fruit a thousand pieces of silver (Song. 8:11) and again: a thousand for Solomon and two hundred for those who cut his fruit (Song. 8:12), it is not this number that is indicated, but in general the multitude and perfection of fruitfulness, just as here the most perfect fruitfulness of faith. After this the son of perdition, the man of lawlessness, will come, so that all who have not believed the truth, but who have taken pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:12), will receive judgment, according to the Apostle, and according to the word of the Master, who said, “I came in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me: if anyone comes in his own name, you will receive him (John 5:43). Then, as it is said, Satan, being released from his prison, will deceive all nations, and Gog and Magog will stir up war to devastate the universe. Some people think that Gog and Magog are the Scythian midnight peoples, whom we call the Huns, the most numerous, as we see, and the most warlike of all earthly kingdoms and peoples; and only by the Divine hand, until the devil is freed, are they kept from taking possession of the entire universe. Some interpret from the Hebrew language that Gog means the gatherer or assembly, and Magog means the exalted, so that the names signify either the gathering of peoples, or their exaltation. You need to know that Ezekiel also prophesied about these nations that in the last days they would come with great power to fall on the land of Israel, and the weapons themselves, because of their multitude, would burn with fire for seven years (Ezek. 39:2-9). Some of the interpreters took this for the defeat of the Assyrians and Sennacherib under Hezekiah, but this happened many years before the prophecy of Ezekiel. Others refer to the destruction of the pagans who attacked the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who intended to build walls again after the captivity of Babylon, when this was commanded by the Assyrian commander, first by Cyrus of Persia, and after him by Darius. Others refer to the troops of Antiochus defeated by the Maccabees. But that their coming most of all corresponds to the last times, this is clear, firstly, because it is not written anywhere that the Scythian peoples would then wage war with the Jews, but only the surrounding ones - out of envy of their unexpected prosperity, secondly, because it is written about Gog that he will be prepared from ancient times, and will come in the last times, thirdly, that in this revelation, prophesying the future, it is said that Gog and Magog will come at the end of this age. Rev. 20:8–10. “And he ascended into the breadth of the earth, and went through the holy camps and the beloved city. And fire came down from God from heaven and devoured me: and the flattering devil will be cast into the lake of fire and horror, where the beast and the lying prophet are: and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Like wild beasts from the gorges, so they said, led by the devil and his demons, they will spread from their places throughout the earth to destroy the camp of the saints, i.e. The Church of Christ, established at the four ends of the universe, not knowing that not only the Angel, but many are encamped around those who fear God, according to the word of Psalm (Psalm 33:8). In addition, they will want to take the new Jerusalem, the beloved city, from which the Divine law flowed through the Apostles into the entire universe. Here the Antichrist, it is said, will sit in the church of God, or in Judea, formerly Divine, destroyed for the daring of the Jews against Christ, but restored by the Antichrist, so the God-fighting Jews expect this; or, in fact, in the Divine Church, the Universal Church, appropriating for themselves what is alien and showing themselves that God exists, as the Apostle said (2 Thess. 2:4). But not for long. The fire that came down from heaven will burn them and the indicated nations, whether it will be visible, as in the time of Elijah - the two Pentecostals, or the glorious coming of Christ by the spirit of His mouth will destroy them, and will deliver their leader the devil with the Antichrist and the false prophet into the lake of fire, to be tormented in it forever and ever. We, taught by Christ to pray not to be subject to temptation, will diligently pray for this, realizing our own powerlessness to free ourselves from the test of what was predicted, and so that we will not see the coming of the Antichrist, nor the uprising of these peoples, nor the mortal danger forcing us to apostatize from the saving faith. But keeping, as far as possible, the testimony of conscience intact, and showing by good deeds the flame of love for Christ, who redeemed us with His honest blood, let us hope for the enjoyment of eternal blessings, strengthened in this by the rich bounties of God, which may we receive in our Savior and Redeemer Christ Himself, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy and Life-giving Spirit, be glory, power, honor and worship now and ever, and forever and ever. Amen.