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Echoes of Revelation
Revelation never quotes the Old Testament outright, yet no New Testament book refers to it more. See both texts side by side, why they don’t match, and what John does with them.
Revelation 20:6, priests of God and of Christ
Those in the first resurrection will be priests and will reign, the promise of Exodus 19:6 given to those raised first, with Isaiah 61:6's end-time priests and Daniel's reigning saints.
Revelation 20:6, in every translation this tool compares.
A family motto carved over the door of a new house tells you who lives there now. At Sinai God told Israel they would be his kingdom of priests. Isaiah 61 promised that one day the whole nation would bear the name of the Lord's priests. John says those raised first will serve as priests to God and to Christ. They will also reign with him. He used the promise twice before, in 1:6 and 5:10.
Priests and reigning together, as in Exodus 19:6, where Israel is a royal priesthood. Hiereis, priests, the word of the Greek of Isaiah 61:6. The kingdom given to the holy ones in Daniel 7:27.
Exodus has one phrase, a kingdom of priests or royal priesthood; John has two verbs, they will be priests and they will reign. Isaiah names them priests of the Lord. John names both God and Christ as the ones they serve, setting Christ beside God. Exodus speaks to Israel at Sinai. John speaks to all who share the first resurrection.
The promise to Israel at Sinai now belongs to the whole church, Jew and Gentile, as in 1:6 and 5:10. Beale reads the reign as already begun for the faithful dead in heaven. It will be completed at the end.
Not a reward for martyrs only. Beale argues that the use of Exodus 19:6 and Isaiah 61:6, both about the whole people, points to all the faithful.
Beale says the promise is based on Exodus 19:6, already applied to the whole community in 1:6 and 5:9-10, and makes a partial allusion to Isaiah 61:6, where the whole nation in the end time will be called priests of the Lord. The Greek of Isaiah 61:6 reads hymeis de hiereis kyriou klethesesthe; John has esontai hiereis tou theou kai tou christou. The Greek of Exodus 19:6 has basileion hierateuma, royal priesthood. The Targum of Isaiah 61:3-6 adds that the nation will be princes wearing diadems. Beale also names Daniel 7:27, the kingdom given to the holy ones, and Zechariah 6:13, a priest on his throne. Against Elliott, who denies that 20:6 alludes to Exodus 19:6 because it speaks only of martyrs, Beale argues the promise covers the whole church. Keener and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible point back to their notes on 1:6. The grade is drawn here: priests and reign together are traceable to Exodus 19:6, as in 1:6.
In his Revelation 19 lecture Heiser lists Exodus 19:6 as the clearest case of John giving Israel's language to the church: the kingdom of priests in 1:6, 5:10 and 20:6 includes Gentiles. He uses it to argue that Revelation's people of God are not a Jewish group only.
Elliott, as Beale reports, holds that 20:6 does not allude to Exodus 19:6, since he limits the promise to martyrs and to a future reign. Beale rejects both points. The ESV Study Bible reads the priests as the victors who resist the beast and reign with Christ through the era of the binding. MacArthur reads the reign as the thousand-year kingdom on earth, shared by the redeemed of every era, and the blessing as entry into it.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 20:4 and 20:5-6, and Observations Supporting This Analysis of 20:4-6
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 20:5-6
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 20:6
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 20:6
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 20:6
- Septuagint, Exodus 19:6 and Isaiah 61:6, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 20:6
- Michael S. Heiser, Revelation 19: The Rider on the White Horse, video lecture (Naked Bible Revelation series)
- John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (ESV), notes on Revelation 20:4 and 20:6
