[Darris McNeely] Religious wars rage throughout the world today. We've paid little attention to them, but people are being persecuted and even killed in parts of the world because of what they believe, their faith, their belief in God. It happens every day, even in our modern world. We should understand that. Now, you and I may live in some very comfortable times and that may not be pressing upon our doorstep, but we should understand that that is not the norm in one sense for those who profess a belief. Now, the Bible talks about a blessing for those who will be enduring to the end of the age, to the time when there is a resurrection and a reward for those who are in Christ.

In Revelation 20, we should note this particular beatitude. We've been going through a series of the seven beatitudes that are mentioned in the book of Revelation and we have come now to the fifth beatitude, which is in Revelation 20:6. And here's what it says, "Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years." When the Apostle John was inspired to write those words, it was at a time of intense persecution upon the faithful, upon those who are the elect of God. The Roman Empire, under the Roman emperor, was killing people who believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Now, these words brought a great deal of comfort, encouragement, and hope to those at that particular time, and they can for you and I today. As I said, persecution for our faith may not be at our doorstep, but scriptures show that there's going to be a time when another power will arise on this earth and it will be at our doorstep. And if it does come and we are persecuted for our faith, even to the point of death, this particular blessing is one we should keep in mind that there is a blessing for those who will have a part in the first resurrection.

The first resurrection defined here in scripture is that resurrection of the just, of the elect, the faithful of God, at the second coming of Jesus Christ. They will be priests of God and of Christ and reign with Him a thousand years. There's a great deal of information in this particular beatitude, this blessing, of the first resurrection, the second death, a thousand-year reign with Christ and what it means to be a priest reigning with God. We could unpack that for many, many episodes of BT Dailies and have and probably will again, but what's important for us to recognize is that whatever might happen in our life, whether it would be a persecution or whether it would just be coming to the end of our life, of our race, and dying in the faith, dying faithful, perhaps because of a disease, maybe because of some other accident, but coming to that point of death in the faith brings the same blessing.

Blessed is he who has part in the first resurrection. If that is a new concept to you, then you do need to dig deeper into what we teach here on Beyond Today about the resurrections that are mentioned in scripture, because there's more than one. And this first resurrection carries with it a great blessing, one that helps us all in our lives today no matter where we may find ourselves.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.