Who are 'the rest of the dead' in Revelation 20:5?
The rest of the dead are the lost who have not experienced resurrection. They do not live again until the thousand years are finished, which is when the great white throne comes about. The first resurrection, by contrast, includes only believers.
In Revelation 20:5 John writes that “the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished.” Les explains that this group is the lost who have not experienced resurrection. Revelation 20 is set at the end of the tribulation and during the millennial reign of Christ, after the kingdom has come and Christ rules and reigns for a thousand years. When the thousand years are finished, the great white throne comes about. Verse 6 calls the first resurrection blessed and holy, and it belongs to all believers from Adam through the end of the tribulation. The second death has no power over those in the first resurrection.
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.