While Christ begins to reign on the earth, and while Satan is bound for a thousand years, John sees this: "I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or in their hands.They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years." (Revelation 20:4)
John doesn't tell us the identity of these judges, but I think it's fairly safe to assume they are part of the body of Christ. We, the church, have been promised that we will judge angels 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, so this panel of judges may be made up of the entire church. Or they may be the twenty-four elders of Revelation whom it is believed represent the entire church. Or they may be the twelve apostles, for the Lord promised them they would sit on thrones as judges. (Matthew 19:28, Luke 22:29)
John doesn't focus on who the judges are but is more excited to tell us that those who became believers during the Tribulation and who died for their faith are resurrected at this point. The Antichrist had them put to death, but now they are reigning with Christ in resurrected bodies just like His. Prior to the Great Tribulation, in what is known as the rapture (the "catching up") of the church, the Lord resurrected those church members who had already passed on. They rose with bodies just like His. At the same time He changed the bodies of the living members of His church so that they had bodies just like His. Now the church is back on earth with Christ, living in their eternal bodies, and He resurrects those who came to faith in Him during the Great Tribulation and who lost their lives for their faith.
During the first thousand years of Christ's reign, all who have died in Christ are reigning with Him, along with the church members who were still alive when He called the church out of the world prior to the Tribulation. They are reigning with Him in perfect, immortal bodies that are incapable of sin. Though Satan will be released for a time at the end of the one thousand years, none of these who inhabit bodies like Christ's will be tempted ever again by the deceiver.
John goes on to tell us, "(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years." (Revelation 20:5-6) John knows we are going to be asking ourselves, "What about all the rest of the dead? Where are they?" The answer appears to be that they are still in their graves. Later in Chapter 20 we will see all the remaining graves opened and all the dead called forth to receive their reward or punishment, but right now those who are reigning with Christ in resurrected bodies seem to be only those who were in Christ when they died.
Some scholars disagree with those who feel the Old Testament saints haven't been resurrected yet. They believe that the Old Testament saints are resurrected at the return of Christ. This is possible, but the text here in the first half of Chapter 20 doesn't include anything that is a clear reference to Old Testament believers, so we simply can't say for certain. They would obviously be a part of what John calls "the first resurrection", but the first resurrection itself doesn't occur all at one time. The term "first resurrection" applies to people who have been justified by faith, which is made clear by John saying that "Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them." (The second death is a reference to the judgment and the sentencing of those who rejected the Lord and everything holy while they were alive.) The church members who had already died in Christ prior to the rapture of the church were part of the first resurrection when the Lord called them out of their graves. Now, after the Great Tribulation, those who came to faith and died for their faith during that terrible time are resurrected. A period of at least seven years separates the rapture of the church from the resurrection of the Tribulation saints, but both of these groups are a part of the first resurrection because the term "first resurrection" applies only to those who are justified by faith. Old Testament saints (who lived before Christ but whose faith in God and whose faith in a coming Messiah justified them) may rise at the beginning of the millennium or they may rise in another phase of resurrection that takes place near the end of our chapter.
After Satan has been loosed for a time and after he has been judged, the Lord will call forth the remainder of the dead to the judgment. Those whose names are not found written in the book of life will be sentenced to an eternity separated from God and from His saints.
The Lord Jesus Christ spoke a great deal about judgment and about hell because He didn't want any of us to experience these things. Whatever hell is actually like, it is a real place in the same way heaven is a real place. It is as real as the earth we are living on right now. It is an actual geographical location, whether it exists inside of the universe we know or whether it exists in some other dimension. But we can be absolutely certain it is as real as anything else because Christ spoke of it as a literal place to be avoided. He would not have done so if it did not exist. He wouldn't have warned us about it if it were merely a concept or a symbol. He wouldn't have spoken of it as a place of hopelessness and torment if those who are condemned in the judgment cease to exist. Souls are eternal. We are going to exist forever somewhere. It is within our power to choose the eternal destination of our souls, which is why the Lord preached so much about hell---more, in fact, than He preached about heaven. He doesn't want us to go to hell where there is no hope of salvation, no chance of a "do over", and no way of communing in sweet fellowship with Him. The Lord Jesus Christ loves us so much that He was willing to give up everything He had to save us. He gave His life for us so that we could enjoy the light of His love for all eternity and so we could experience the fullness of joy that can only be found in Him. The choice is ours. Do we accept the love and mercy extended to us by the hands that were nailed to the cross? Or do we reject Him and condemn ourselves to an eternity that includes no love or joy or peace?
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