John had seen beheaded souls, clearly persons who were very dead. Those who die cannot begin to live again, something even more true for unheaded bodies. Yet here they do. Given Jesus’ self-identification as “I died, and behold I am alive” (Revelation 1:18) and what John had seen of the “Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6), there is no surprise in now reading that these deceased souls “came to life” (see also John 11:25–26; John 14:19). Their revitalization is vindication for their unjust suffering and death.
4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.