Chapter 7

What to Expect of Judges for a Thousand Years

1. What was given to those who sat on the thrones seen by John?

WHEN giving his preview of the thousand-year period soon to bring in almost unbelievable marvels, the inspired apostle John wrote: “And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of judging was given them.”​—Revelation 20:4.

2. Why does the thought of “judgment,” here introduced, tend to take away from what is otherwise a bright picture?

² “Thrones,” occupied by those to whom the power of judging was given! Is this a hopeful, consoling prospect, or does it cast a gray shadow over what would otherwise be a bright picture of the coming Millennium of millenniums? How did the apostle John himself view such a prospect? How are we today to view it? Are we not deeply disappointed in the judicial system that obtains today, even in Christendom? In our time, as at no previous time, is when the words of Psalm 82:5 have come true as a prophecy with respect to men in a judicial capacity who are like “gods” but who have proved false to their office: “They have not known, and they do not understand; in darkness they keep walking about; all the foundations of the earth are made to totter.” Or, as the Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible puts this Bible verse: “Ignorant and senseless, they carry on blindly, undermining the very basis of earthly society.”

3, 4. (a) However, after what John saw just previously, what feeling should the sight of those thrones give us? (b) Why is it proper to expect relief for misjudged mankind from those “thrones”?

³ What mankind wants today is relief! And, happily, what the apostle John saw concerning those “thrones” of judgment was something to bring us great relief of mind, not something to stir up dark misgivings. Let us recall that, in prophetic vision, John had foreseen the war between the heavenly King of kings and the “kings of the earth” with their “armies” and the worldwide political organization. There were defeat and destruction of all those kings and their earthly supporters. This left vacant the thrones or seats of power from which the political rulers rendered judgment. Immediately after this, the apostle John saw the descent of God’s angel to the vicinity of the earth and then the chaining of Satan the Devil and his demons and the hurling of them into the abyss, to be imprisoned under divine seal therein for a thousand years.​—Revelation 19:11 through 20:3.

⁴ Such a destruction of the Devil-controlled system of things certainly called for a change in judgeships over mankind. Especially now that the heavenly control over mankind had passed over into the hands of the victorious King of kings, who “is called Faithful and True, and he judges and carries on war in righteousness.” (Revelation 19:11-16) In the proper course of things, then, new thrones of judgment come into existence. Nothing else but a better body of judges could be expected to occupy those new thrones of judgment, which are set up by God’s authority in the heavens. Judicial relief could thenceforth be expected to come to misruled, misjudged mankind.

5, 6. Who will be the judges occupying those “thrones,” according to Jesus’ words to his eleven faithful apostles before his betrayal?

⁵ This new set of judges over mankind, who are they? The words of Jesus Christ to a representative group of those prospective judges indicate who are to belong to that set of heavenly judges.

⁶ On the night of his betrayal and arrest and unjust trial by the highest court of Jerusalem, Jesus said to his remaining faithful apostles: “You are the ones that have stuck with me in my trials; and I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Luke 22:28-30) Those faithful apostles were the foremost ones of the 144,000 who are taken by Jesus Christ into the covenant for the heavenly kingdom, with its thrones of judgment. (Matthew 19:27, 28) Over these 144,000 associate judges will, of course, be the Presiding Judge, Jesus Christ.

7. According to Paul’s words to the Areopagus Court of Athens, how will the inhabited earth be judged in God’s appointed time?

⁷ Here there come to mind the words of the apostle Paul, when he was haled before the Areopagus Court of Athens, about the year 51 C.E. In the course of his explanation of his case to these judges who seemed “to be more given to the fear of the deities than others are,” Paul finally said: “True, God has overlooked the times of such ignorance, yet now he is telling mankind that they should all everywhere repent. Because he has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and he has furnished a guarantee to all men in that he has resurrected him from the dead.” (Acts 17:22-31) So the judging of the inhabited earth will be “in righteousness,” and the principal one by whom God will do the judging will be his resurrected Son, Jesus Christ.

8, 9. (a) How will this appointed Judge be able to judge mankind as no human judge has done so? (b) According to Jesus’ words in John 5:27-30, how will he see to it that everyone gets judged?

⁸ Designating by name the one appointed to do the judging, the apostle Paul, when writing his final letter to his fellow missionary Timothy, said: “I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is destined to judge the living and the dead, and by his manifestation and his kingdom.” (2 Timothy 4:1) This divinely appointed Judge will act as a judicial officer in a way that no human judge on earth has ever acted or could act; he will judge more than just the living humans. He will also judge the dead humans. No mere human judge appointed by men could call back the dead in order to judge them. But this Judge of God’s appointment can do so. And these human dead will have this millennial judgment even though it requires bringing them back from the dead in order that they may have this judgment to which they as well as “the living” are entitled, through Christ’s sacrificial death. Note Jesus’ words:

⁹ “Just as the Father raises the dead up and makes them alive, so the Son also makes those alive whom he wants to. For the Father judges no one at all, but he has committed all the judging to the Son, in order that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He that does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. And he has given him authority to do judging, because Son of man he is. Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment. I cannot do a single thing of my own initiative; just as I hear [from the Father], I judge; and the judgment that I render is righteous, because I seek, not my own will, but the will of him that sent me.”​—John 5:21-23, 27-30.

10. (a) In behalf of that judgment, from what will the Judge liberate the dead? (b) What kind of act led to that liberation, and so what question arises about the purpose of the resurrection?

¹⁰ Think of it! This Judge, who was known as the Son of man on earth, will glorify his millennial judgeship by liberating all those who are dead in the memorial tombs. The millennial Judgment Day will be resurrection day for all those in the memorial tombs, for whose sakes the Son of man died as a perfect human sacrifice. This means all the redeemed mankind aside from the 144,000 associate judges who have part in the “first resurrection,” a heavenly resurrection. (Revelation 20:4-6) Are we now to think that this loving act of liberating the buried dead, this earthly resurrection, is to be used for a hurtful purpose toward the resurrected ones? Is a loving act done to lead to the hurt of one toward whom the act is performed? What we mean is this: This resurrection will be not only of those reckoned as righteous but also of those who are called “unrighteous” in comparison. “There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Acts 24:15) We have no fears for the righteous, but what of the unrighteous?

11. (a) What question arises as to the objective of the resurrecting of the “unrighteous”? (b) How does the case of the dying evildoer sympathetic to Jesus have a bearing on the matter?

¹¹ Are the “unrighteous” ones to be shown the undeserved kindness of being resurrected only to face a stern, harsh judge who will rehearse all their past unrighteousness in their ears and show them in that way just why he is now sentencing them to the punishment of utter destruction from all existence? Of what practical benefit would resurrection be to these “unrighteous” ones if that was the objective in their case? Is that the purpose of resurrecting them in the case of that one of the “evildoers” who hung on an execution stake alongside Jesus Christ at Calvary and who said to him: “Jesus, remember me when you get into your kingdom”? His saying those sympathetic words to Jesus did not convert him from an evildoer into a saint, did it? Jesus’ consoling reply to him did not mean that the evildoer was declared righteous or justified by faith, already forty-two days before the resurrected Jesus ascended to the presence of his heavenly Father to present the merit of his human sacrifice, did it? (Luke 23:39-43) The man still died as a condemned evildoer and must be counted as one of the “unrighteous” due to be raised up.

JUDGES OF PRE-CHRISTIAN TIMES

12. Why will the “righteous” as well as the “unrighteous” need more than liberation from the memorial tombs by resurrection?

¹² What will the resurrection of the dead mean for those called “unrighteous” as well as for those called “righteous”? All of them died because of inheriting sin and its penalty death from the disobedient Adam and Eve. So they all died without having any righteousness of their own. (Romans 5:12; 3:23) So when they come back in the resurrection, untransformed as to their personal characteristics, even the “righteous” ones will not be humanly perfect, or free from imperfection and sinfulness. This was true in the cases of those men and women whom the prophets Elijah and Elisha and the Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles resurrected, brought back to life on earth. (Hebrews 11:35) In view of that, the “righteous” just as well as the “unrighteous” will need more than just liberation from the memorial tombs by resurrection from the dead. The “righteous” also will need liberation from sinfulness and human imperfection. Consequently, the heavenly Judge Jesus Christ cannot pronounce them at once actually innocent, perfect, free from condemnable sinfulness and hand down the decision on their very day of resurrection that they are worthy of eternal life on earth.

13. (a) Why does God assign a thousand years for Jesus Christ to be Judge of mankind? (b) What does the book of “Judges” show regarding what to expect of God’s millennial Judge?

¹³ If the matter of carrying out the duties of a judge were limited to just pronouncing decisions on the day that the resurrected “righteous” and “unrighteous” ones appear before him, why is it that a thousand years are assigned to him to serve as judge in behalf of humankind? Such a long period is assigned for a work to be done and not merely for a pronouncing of verdicts and sentences. In the Bible the ones whom God raised up as judges for his chosen people of pre-Christian times did more than merely settle disputes between individuals or hand down and execute judicial decisions. Those “judges” from God were deliverers of his chosen people. There is a book in the Bible that is specifically named “Judges.” As a book it is a thriller! Therein we read of the courageous exploits of those men whom God, “the Judge of all the earth,” raised up for the deliverance of his oppressed people. Hail the day of judgment that began when God raised up a judge to execute judgment for his afflicted ones!

14. Briefly, what do we read of Judges Ehud and Barak?

¹⁴ We read of Ehud who began his judgeship by lone-handedly killing the unusually fat King Eglon of the Moabites in his own conference room and then escaped, organized the Israelites and then led them to victory over Moabite oppressors. We read of Barak who demonstrated his being chosen for the judgeship of his nation by defeating the mighty military forces of Jabin the king of Canaan who made his military forces fearsome by equipping them with nine hundred war chariots that had iron scythes on their wheels.

15. Likewise, what do we read of Gideon, also Jephthah?

¹⁵ Then there was Gideon, an unassuming man, who with just three hundred men of faith in God put to rout the Midianites and Orientals who had swarmed into the land of Israel like numberless locusts. In the dead of the night, when Gideon and his three hundred almost encircled the sleeping enemy camp, they crashed unitedly their jars to the ground, held aloft their exposed torches, blew on their trumpets, and shouted, “Jehovah’s sword and Gideon’s!” The suddenly disturbed camp panicked and fled, slaughtering one another, and Gideon and his three hundred went in pursuit of the survivors. Many years afterward another crisis arose in the Promised Land, and Jehovah raised up Jephthah, an outcast man, to confront the arrogant Ammonites. Jephthah’s zeal for God’s cause was so fervent that he vowed of his own accord to sacrifice to God whatever came to meet him on his return home if he were given the victory. When, flushed with victory, he was met first by his lone child, his daughter, he showed his devotion to God by offering her for the divine service.

16, 17. (a) How did Samson serve as judge of Israel? (b) What does the inspired writer say about the judges in Hebrews 11:32-34?

¹⁶ Who, though, has not heard of Samson, the man whose birth was foretold to his parents and who proved to be the physically strongest man ever on earth! All alone he delivered his people Israel from the oppressive Philistines, but, in the day of death, as a blind prisoner of the Philistines, he caused the collapse of the temple of Dagon at Gaza, Philistia, upon more than three thousand celebrators, thereby killing more Philistines in this day of his death than he had put to death during his lifetime.

¹⁷ Including these judges among the men of triumphant faith in God, the inspired Christian writer says, in Hebrews 11:32-34: “And what more shall I say? For the time will fail me if I go on to relate about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David as well as Samuel and the other prophets, who through faith defeated kingdoms in conflict, effected righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, stayed the force of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from a weak state were made powerful, became valiant in war, routed the armies of foreigners.”

18, 19. (a) Who were responsible for the afflictions that came upon the Israelites after settling in the Promised Land? (b) Why was it necessary for a series of judges to be raised up for them?

¹⁸ Of course, the Israelites in the days of those judges were responsible for their afflictions at the hand of the enemy, because they departed from the pure worship of Jehovah as the living God. But when they returned to him in sincere repentance and worship, He showed them favor. As the record in Judges 2:16-19 says:

¹⁹ “So Jehovah would raise up judges, and they would save them out of the hand of their pillagers. And even to their judges they did not listen, but they had immoral intercourse with other gods and went bowing down to them. They quickly turned aside from the way in which their forefathers had walked by obeying the commandments of Jehovah. They did not do like that. And when Jehovah did raise up judges for them, Jehovah proved to be with the judge, and he saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for Jehovah would feel regret over their groaning because of their oppressors and those who were shoving them around. And it occurred that when the judge died they would turn around and act more ruinously than their fathers by walking after other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They did not refrain from their practices and their stubborn behavior.”

IMMORTAL HEAVENLY JUDGES

20. (a) During the millennium, why will not mankind be left to itself again and again, as during the time of Israel’s judges? (b) Why will even the “great crowd” of tribulation survivors need further deliverance?

²⁰ However, the judges whom this same Jehovah God raises up in Jesus Christ and his 144,000 judicial associates will not die off and leave the inhabitants on earth to themselves, even though Satan the Devil and his demons have been removed from the vicinity by being abyssed. Possessed of the “power of an indestructible life,” they will all serve continuously for the full judicial term of a thousand years. They will not just sit on thrones and hand down decisions and rulings, but they will act as deliverers, just as did the faithful judges who gained Jehovah’s approval in ancient times. Even “the living,” who survive the “great tribulation” under divine protection and live on after Satan and his demons are abyssed, will still need a further deliverance. Because of their righteous standing with God they are preserved alive on earth into the millennial day of judgment, but there is more in their case from which to be delivered. What is that? It is their sinfulness, imperfection, weakness and dying state with which they have been preserved clear through the destruction of this system of things and the hurling of Satan and his demons into the abyss.

21, 22. (a) Why will the human dead, when resurrected, need further deliverance? (b) For what reason will some, like Job and David, be counted “righteous” when resurrected?

²¹ Likewise, in the case of “the dead,” who need to be restored from the memorial tombs: Whether counted “righteous” or “unrighteous” on being awakened from the sleep of death, they all need to be freed from sinfulness, shortcomings, faultiness, human frailties, and proneness to death. The fact that any are counted as “righteous” does not mean that they are humanly and morally perfect in the flesh. Their being righteous in God’s eyes, however, means that they are men and women of integrity toward God, as the patient Job of the land of Uz was. (Job 2:3, 9; 27:5; James 5:11; Ezekiel 14:14, 20) Or, like King David of Jerusalem who was not afraid to be judged by his God, for in Psalm 26:1-3, 11, David said:

²² “Judge me, O Jehovah, for I myself have walked in my own integrity, and in Jehovah I have trusted, that I may not wobble. Examine me, O Jehovah, and put me to the test; refine my kidneys and my heart. For your loving-kindness is in front of my eyes, and I have walked in your truth. As for me, in my integrity I shall walk. O redeem me and show me favor.”

23, 24. (a) For the sake of what kind of resurrection did those pre-Christian men of integrity refuse to bargain with the ungodly? (b) What does Hebrews 11:35-40 have to say about such ones?

²³ Other men of pre-Christian times who died in their integrity, refusing to prove disloyal to Jehovah God by any sort of bargain or compromise with the ungodly, were the men and women named or spoken of in chapter eleven of the book written to Christianized Hebrews. They looked forward to a resurrection to life under better earthly conditions, under a better government, under which they could live forever in perfect peace and happiness and integrity to the living God. In expression of this it is written in Hebrews 11:35-40:

²⁴ “Women received their dead by resurrection; but other men were tortured because they would not accept release by some ransom, in order that they might attain a better resurrection. Yes, others received their trial by mockings and scourgings, indeed, more than that, by bonds and prisons. They were stoned, they were tried, they were sawn asunder, they died by slaughter with the sword, they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, while they were in want, in tribulation, under ill-treatment; and the world was not worthy of them. They wandered about in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. And yet all these, although they had witness borne to them through their faith, did not get the fulfillment of the promise, as God foresaw something better for us, in order that they might not be made perfect apart from us.”

25, 26. (a) Why will those “righteous” ones, when resurrected, not fear Judgment Day? (b) Why will those “unrighteous” ones, when resurrected, be under a handicap in comparison with the “righteous”?

²⁵ Dying in their integrity to God, these “righteous” ones will be raised in their integrity toward God, even though not raised in human perfection and faultlessness of conduct. They will not fear the great Judgment Day of a thousand years into which they have been ushered by resurrection. Their integrity that they developed before death and with which they will be raised up will give them an advantage over the “unrighteous” in advancing to actual human perfection in complete freedom from sinfulness. They will, as it were, have a head start over the “unrighteous” in that direction.

²⁶ To this effect it is written: “Anyone of little means who is walking in his integrity is better than the one crooked in his lips, and the one that is stupid.” Also: “The righteous is walking in his integrity. Happy are his sons after him.” (Proverbs 19:1; 20:7) On the other hand, it will go much harder for the “unrighteous” ones, who down till death cultivated sinful tendencies and bad habits and evil cravings. These will be handicaps, disadvantages, encumbrances, to work against them in the race to win everlasting life in sinless human perfection on a paradisaic earth. Also, in this life many of these “unrighteous” ones have failed to take advantage of the spiritual opportunities and provisions that were at hand, but which they ignored, disdained, despised, or resisted. They thus have an unappreciative, obstinate disposition to master. Hence, it will be woeful for them. Jesus Christ gave examples of cases of this kind, when he said to the unrepentant cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum:

27. How did Jesus illustrate the foregoing by the use of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum?

²⁷ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! because if the powerful works had taken place in Tyre and Sidon that took place in you, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. Consequently I say to you, It will be more endurable for Tyre and Sidon on Judgment Day than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you perhaps be exalted to heaven? Down to Haʹdes you will come; because if the powerful works that took place in you had taken place in Sodom, it would have remained until this very day. Consequently I say to you people, It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom on Judgment Day than for you.”​—Matthew 11:20-24.

28, 29. (a) Why will the ancient Ninevites and the queen of the south condemn the Jewish generation of Jesus’ day? (b) On Judgment Day, how will matters be counterbalanced as between the now advantaged ones and the religiously disadvantaged ones?

²⁸ Speaking to the generation of Jews who were adulterating their relationship with God by worldliness and basing their belief on visible signs, Jesus said: “Men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it; because they repented at what Jonah preached, but, look! something more than Jonah is here. The queen of the south will be raised up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it; because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, but, look! something more than Solomon is here.”​—Matthew 12:38-42.

²⁹ What surprises, then, there will be for many self-righteous religionists, self-satisfied, complacent formal religionists, who were sure in themselves that they were more righteous than those whom they called pagans or heathens! They will find that they were religious hypocrites, whereas the heathens whom they looked down upon were more sincere, more teachable, more appreciative, and less reprehensible because of their ignorance. Then the sincerity and attitude of persons less favored religiously will condemn the privileged people who neglected their opportunities indifferently or willfully. So there will be a just counterbalancing of matters as between the present-day advantaged persons and the disadvantaged ones.

THE ADVANTAGES OF JUDGMENT DAY

30, 31. (a) On Judgment Day, do all humans need to have their previous condition rehearsed before them to see whether they are innocent or guilty? (b) By the use of the Jews under the Law, what was demonstrated about all mankind?

³⁰ There is no denying the truthfulness of the statement, in Romans 3:22, 23: “There is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Hence, all on Judgment Day, “the living and the dead,” urgently need to be delivered, by the help of the heavenly judges whom Jehovah God raises up, from all traces of sin and moral weakness and bodily imperfection with which they are ushered into the Judgment Day. The evidence and testimony are all against mankind, as comprehensively stated in Romans 3:23 and other scriptures, and this does not need to be rehearsed before those on judgment to see whether they are innocent or guilty. By the failure of the natural Jews to keep the Law that God gave them through Moses, it was demonstrated that no part of humankind, not even the favored Jews themselves, could keep God’s law perfectly. Thus by this practical demonstration with the Jews under the Law, every human mouth was silenced from defending its user and all the world of mankind was proved guilty before God. It is just as the apostle Paul wrote long ago:

³¹ “Now we know that all the things the Law says it addresses to those under the Law, so that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become liable to God for punishment.”​—Romans 3:19.

32. (a) What should be said about humans having a “second chance” on Judgment Day? (b) On whom, then, will it depend as to whether they will live on the Paradise earth or not, and why?

³² Because of being born sinful and condemned to death, mankind never had “a chance.” It could never justify itself before the God of absolute perfection by doing perfect works of righteousness and ridding itself of sinfulness. So, Judgment Day does not offer mankind what is called “a second chance.” Rather, it affords to mankind its first real opportunity to gain eternal life in human perfection and absolute innocence in an earthly Paradise. Judgment Day affords mankind the opportunity that Christ’s perfect human sacrifice provides for them to be cleansed from sin and to be uplifted to the full “glory of God” from which they now fall short. In view of this fact it depends upon what “the living and the dead” do on Judgment Day as to whether they will possess the Paradise earth forever or not. Their past record is already made and is irreversible, with good effects or bad effects to themselves. Judgment Day will allow them to prove their sincere heart’s desire to be done, finished, through with sin forevermore. The heavenly judges will be in office to help them with instructions and guidance.

33. How, in symbolic language, is the opportunity of the Judgment Day pictured in Revelation 20:11-15?

³³ This opportunity on Judgment Day is pictured for us in Revelation 20:11-15, in this symbolic language: “And I saw a great white throne and the one seated on it. From before him the earth and the heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. But another scroll was opened; it is the scroll of life. And the dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds. And the sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Haʹdes gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds. And death and Haʹdes were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire. Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire.”

34. (a) Does the resurrection there pictured include those sharing in the “first resurrection”? (b) Of what do the “scrolls” then opened not contain a record, and why?

³⁴ This symbolic picture does not involve those who share in the “first resurrection,” and who were already spoken about in Revelation 20:4-6 as being in no danger of the “second death.” This picture refers to those who share in a resurrection to existence on earth, and who will be adjudged worthy of everlasting life only at the end of the thousand years, when they will be able to show their fully acquired righteousness in human perfection. The “scrolls” that are opened and according to the things written in which they are judged favorably or adversely are not scrolls containing the record of all their past imperfect, sinful deeds in this present life under this system of things. The heavenly judges do not need to spend a thousand years in going through the records of past human lives in order to determine the guiltiness or innocence of each individual resurrected. They are not so ignorant or ill-informed about mankind’s past. What the judges are looking to is, not mankind’s past, but mankind’s future. Mankind needs guidance for the future!

35, 36. (a) What, then, do those “scrolls” picture, and who will know the contents of them? (b) Why will there be no excuse for anyone on earth not to know?

³⁵ So those “scrolls” that are opened are the new set of instructions, directions and orders that will be given out by the judges acting for God to mankind. Thus all mankind will be informed of the contents of those opened “scrolls,” in order to know the standards by which they are to be judged and what is to be expected of them as to their future conduct and work. Mankind will not be left in ignorance, and everybody will be obliged to know what is the law according to the judgment scrolls. There will be no Satan the Devil and none of his demons around in the invisible vicinity of the earth to blind people, to mislead people, to pervert the published law and instructions. No, indeed; for those old “heavens” will have fled away from before the face of God who set the time for this Judgment Day. Accordingly, there will be no witch doctors around, no spirit mediums or clairvoyants, no astrologers with horoscopes, no sale of Ouija boards and suchlike demonistic contrivances. There will be only the “new heavens” in existence and they will drop down righteousness. As we read:

³⁶ “O you heavens, cause a dripping from above; and let the cloudy skies themselves trickle with righteousness. Let the earth open up, and let it be fruitful with salvation, and let it cause righteousness itself to spring up at the same time. I myself, Jehovah, have created it.”​—Isaiah 45:8.

EARTHLY “PRINCES”

37. (a) How will the heavenly judges communicate to mankind the contents of those “scrolls”? (b) How will mankind know when God’s laws and rulings are being executed?

³⁷ How the invisible heavenly judges will communicate the contents of the opened “scrolls” to earth’s inhabitants is not specifically stated to us in the Bible. But there will be direct representatives of the heavenly kingdom of God on the earth. Their presence among mankind will be an official evidence that a “new earth” has come into existence with its new human society. The old “earth” dominated invisibly by Satan the Devil has fled away from before God’s face and no place has been found for it except in destruction. The law courts and lawyers and attorneys and judicial system are a thing of the past; the law of God is the thing now for a person to be well versed in, to judge by and to apply. And when the Kingdom’s earthly representatives act, the people will know and distinctly understand that it is God’s law and rulings that are being executed.

38. Will the heavenly King Jesus Christ have to depend upon his earthly ancestors for illustriousness or have his own?

³⁸ Indications of this arrangement for the thousand-year Judgment Day are given us in the prophetic Scriptures. Take, for example, Psalm 45, which is a lyric concerning God’s anointed King, Jesus the Messiah or Christ. After telling prophetically about the heavenly marriage of Jesus Christ and his bridal congregation and those who are attending upon the bridal class, the psalm says: “They will enter into the palace of the king. In place of your forefathers there will come to be your sons, whom you will appoint as princes in all the earth.” (Psalm 45:15, 16) Of course, the heavenly King Jesus Christ has had illustrious ancestors, of whom the list is given in the Bible record, whether these have served on the earthly throne of King David at Jerusalem or not. But the heavenly King will not have to depend upon them for illustriousness. He will have his own, even though on earth as a perfect man Jesus Christ refused to sit upon any material throne at Jerusalem or elsewhere.

39. How will the King Jesus Christ exceed in illustriousness even King David as regards territory?

³⁹ The heavenly King Jesus Christ will surpass even David in fame, honor and illustriousness. He will extend his kingdom far beyond the boundaries of all the territory that King David conquered in his day according to God’s promise to Abraham. (Genesis 15:17-21) Yes, to where East meets West and North meets South, even all around the planet, “all the earth.” As it is written “Regarding Solomon” as a prophetic type of the King Jesus Christ: “O God, give your own judicial decisions to the king, and your righteousness to the son of the king. May he plead the cause of your people with righteousness and of your afflicted ones with judicial decision. And he will have subjects from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”​—Psalm 72: superscription, 1, 2, 8.

40. As regards princely sons, what problem seems to arise here because of Jesus’ earthly childlessness and his being Permanent Heir to King David?

⁴⁰ However, does a problem seem to arise here? This King who is greater and wiser than Solomon the son of King David did not marry when he was here on earth as a perfect man with the reproductive power in his loins to bring forth a perfect human family. How, then, can the prophecy be fulfilled that, “in place of your forefathers,” notice, “there will come to be your sons, whom you will appoint as princes in all the earth”? Moreover, the heavenly Jesus Christ is the Permanent Heir of King David, and because of his “power of an indestructible life” he will reign without successors, without the need of a son to succeed him. As the angel Gabriel said to Mary concerning her prospective Son Jesus: “Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule as king over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom.”​—Luke 1:32, 33.

41, 42. (a) Why are the 144,000 joint heirs not the “sons” to be appointed on earth? (b) How will the heavenly Jesus Christ have earthly “sons,” in fulfillment of what prophetic title?

⁴¹ We know that the 144,000 joint heirs of Jesus Christ are not his spiritual sons, but are sons of God, “heirs indeed of God, but joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17) Who, then, are these ones spoken of as “your sons, whom you will appoint as princes in all the earth”? Manifestly these are not heavenly sons of the King Jesus Christ. They must be earthly sons, who, being on earth, can be appointed princes “in all the earth.” These will be the sons of His by the resurrection of the dead, specifically of the “righteous” dead. His promised title, according to the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6, 7, namely, Eternal Father, will be no mere empty honorary title. He will really be a father to the resurrected human family. He is “the last Adam,” who became “a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45, 47) The first man Adam sold all his human offspring into sin and death, but the “second man,” who is “out of heaven,” laid down his perfect human life in order to purchase them back from such an Adamic inheritance. So we read:

⁴² “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” (1 Timothy 2:5, 6) “We behold Jesus, who has been made a little lower than angels, crowned with glory and honor for having suffered death, that he by God’s undeserved kindness might taste death for every man.”​—Hebrews 2:9.

43. (a) How will the King become the father of the “great crowd” of tribulation survivors who need no resurrection? (b) How will his fatherhood of mankind become eternal?

⁴³ By his self-sacrifice according to God’s will, Jesus Christ gained the right to impart life to the dying race of mankind, in this way becoming their father. He will transmit life to the “dead,” both the “righteous” and the “unrighteous,” by calling them out of their memorial tombs or watery graves and then lifting up all the willing ones to perfection of human life. As for the “living” who survive the “great tribulation” into Christ’s millennial reign, he will likewise lift these “righteous” survivors up to a level of life “in abundance,” life as human creatures in glorious perfection. (John 10:10; 2 Timothy 4:1; Acts 24:15) He will have all this accomplished by the end of the thousand years. But this abundant life of his earthly children can go on forever, and there will be those who by keeping integrity in perfection will prove deserving of eternal life. These will be his eternal children, and he will be literally their Eternal Father.

44, 45. (a) How will the King begin his reign with sufficient princes on the earth, and why will all the appointed ones rank as “princes”? (b) However, is royal lineage necessary for a chief over others to be called a prince (sar)?

⁴⁴ At the beginning of his millennial reign the illustrious King Jesus Christ will begin to take suitable ones from among his earthly children to be “princes in all the earth.” The “living” who have survived the “great tribulation” and the abyssing of Satan and his demons will furnish a number of these “princes.” The “righteous” ones of the “dead” who are resurrected from the sleep of death will furnish others, sufficiently so in order to have the appointed “princes in all the earth.” Psalm 45:16 appears to mean that such “princes” will include the “righteous” men from among his resurrected “forefathers.” Once these were his ancestors, but now they become his “sons” by resurrection. Being the sons of the heavenly King, these appointed ones will rank as “princes.”

⁴⁵ However, it is to be noted that the Hebrew word in Psalm 45:16 for “princes” is sarím. Among the ancient Israelites not everyone who was called a “sar” had royal connections. Among them a chief of a thousand, a chief of a hundred, a chief of fifty, and even a chief of ten men was called a “sar.” Even a chief of the royal butlers or chief of the royal bakers could be called a “sar.”​—Exodus 18:21, 25; Deuteronomy 1:15; 20:9; 1 Samuel 8:12; Genesis 40:2. Compare Genesis 23:5, 6.

46, 47. (a) Will all those appointed have to be royal or patriarchal ancestors of the King, and what kind of men will they have to be? (b) In whose interests will they really have to be interested, as described in Isaiah 32:1, 2?

⁴⁶ Not all those appointed to be “princes in all the earth” need to be the royal or patriarchal ancestors of Jesus Christ as a man. Basically, they need to be men of integrity, “capable men,” “men wise and experienced,” such as the prophet Moses appointed to be judges, concerning whom we read: “Moses proceeded to choose capable men out of all Israel and to give them positions as heads over the people, as chiefs [sarím] of thousands, chiefs [sarím] of hundreds, chiefs [sarím] of fifties and chiefs [sarím] of tens. And they judged the people on every proper occasion. A hard case they would bring to Moses, but every small case they themselves would handle as judges.” (Exodus 18:25, 26; Deuteronomy 1:15) The earthly princes appointed by the King Jesus Christ will really be interested in the welfare of the people and in settling difficulties peacefully and amicably. They will be courageous and protective of what is right, like the princes described in Isaiah 32:1, 2, which says:

⁴⁷ “Look! A king will reign for righteousness itself; and as respects princes [sarím], they will rule as princes for justice itself. And each one must prove to be like a hiding place from the wind and a place of concealment from the rainstorm, like streams of water in a waterless country, like the shadow of a heavy crag in an exhausted land.”

48, 49. (a) There has been an increase of crime because of what belief encouraged in criminals because of present legal processes? (b) According to Ecclesiastes 8:11-13, with whom will it go well​—with a repetitious criminal or with whom?

⁴⁸ In those days of the heavenly Prince [Sar] of Peace the dealing out of justice and of bringing offenders to account will not be a slow, dragging process, without sufficient judges and officers to try all the offenders promptly. The taking of a long time, years of time in many cases, to bring wrongdoers to trial and to right injustices and enforce justice, has encouraged criminals who are led to believe that they can get away finally unpunished. Crime has increased tremendously during the last half of this twentieth century, but already in the eleventh century before our Common Era began to count, the wise inspired writer of sharp observations wrote:

⁴⁹ “Because sentence against a bad work has not been executed speedily, that is why the heart of the sons of men has become fully set in them to do bad. Although a sinner may be doing bad a hundred times”​—think of that! But the inspired writer goes on to say: “and continuing a long time as he pleases, yet I am also aware that it will turn out well with those fearing the true God, because they were in fear of him. But it will not turn out well at all with the wicked one, neither will he prolong his days that are like a shadow, because he is not in fear of God.”​—Ecclesiastes 8:11-13.

50. (a) The present slow operation of justice is due to what on high above mankind? (b) How will the “new earth” respond to the “new heavens” as to righteousness?

⁵⁰ The present slow process of bringing the wrongdoers to justice or of never bringing them to account is because we are living in the ‘old earth’ under the ‘old heavens’ and Satan the Devil and his “wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places” are in control over human society. The destruction of the old corrupt human society and the abyssing of Satan and his demons will remove all obstruction of justice during the millennial judgeship of the Prince [Sar] of Peace with his 144,000 associate judges. As a result of the dripping and trickling down of righteousness from the “new heavens,” the human soil of the “new earth” will respond and become fruitful in a corresponding way. Jehovah has foretold this, saying: “Let the earth open up, and let it be fruitful with salvation, and let it cause righteousness itself to spring up at the same time. I myself, Jehovah, have created it.”​—Isaiah 45:8.

51. For what epoch, then, do we, along with Isaiah, long with our souls?

⁵¹ Do we not yearn for such an age of righteousness and justice as that? During that time the path of the righteous person will not be such rough going as now but will be smoothed out. In anticipation of that desirable epoch, the prophet Isaiah, who looked forward to an earthly resurrection, wrote under inspiration: “The path of the righteous one is uprightness. You being upright, you will smooth out the very course of a righteous one. Yes, for the path of your judgments, O Jehovah, we have hoped in you. For your name and for your memorial the desire of the soul has been. With my soul I have desired you in the night; yes, with my spirit within me I keep looking for you; because, when there are judgments from you for the earth, righteousness is what the inhabitants of the productive land will certainly learn. Though the wicked one should be shown favor, he simply will not learn righteousness. In the land of straightforwardness he will act unjustly and will not see the eminence of Jehovah.”​—Isaiah 26:7-10.

52, 53. (a) Even in the land of straightforwardness, under divine favor, for whom will it be difficult to learn righteousness? (b) In their case, what principle stated by the apostle Peter seems fitting?

⁵² The millennial “land of straightforwardness,” of straightforward dealing with the people and among the people, will be a place where great favor is shown to all mankind in their inborn human imperfection. Some members of the human family have gone down more deeply into sinful degradation than others and have been hardened in an unjust personality because of long failing to be brought to account. Their accustomed bent is toward injustice. It is easy to see how wicked ones of that kind would find it difficult to learn righteousness and uprightness even when all around them there is straightforwardness and divine favor is being shown to them through the King Jesus Christ. In spite of all the help proffered to them, they will be inclined to do unjustly. They will not want to recognize the eminence of Jehovah as the rightful Lawgiver nor the rightness of His standards for living. Respecting them the principle set forth by the apostle Peter seems fitting:

⁵³ “For it is the appointed time for the judgment to start with the house of God. Now if it starts first with us, what will the end be of those who are not obedient to the good news of God? ‘And if the righteous man is being saved with difficulty, where will the ungodly man and the sinner make a showing?’”​—1 Peter 4:17, 18.

54. Do those who receive the favor of God in vain, missing its purpose, need to be preserved till the end of the Judgment Day, and what is the reason?

⁵⁴ Persons who, in the “land of straightforwardness,” receive the “favor” of God in vain, missing its loving purpose, and who prove unreformable, need not necessarily be preserved to the end of the thousand years before being executed as unfit for eternal life in the Paradise restored to earth. Without any injustice to such who prove to be beyond correction, they may be executed by the one whom God has appointed to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness. These do not get their names written “in the book of life” and hence they are fit for nothing but the “second death,” as symbolized by the “lake of fire” that causes a complete destruction. (Revelation 20:14, 15) How wise and prudent it is, then, to be obedient now to the “good news of God” and to cultivate a love of righteousness in view of that coming Judgment Day!

Chapter 8

What to Expect When the Millennial Judgment Day Ends

1. Why will it be nothing extraordinary to expect that during the thousand years that Satan is abyssed earth’s inhabitants will learn righteousness?

FOR the thousand years of the imprisonment of Satan the Devil in the abyss there will be world wide the judgments from God for the earth and its inhabitants. The heavenly judges will render decisions and act for Jehovah God. The princely representatives on earth will do likewise. They will conduct themselves as judges whom King Jehoshaphat of Jerusalem stationed throughout the land to bring the people back to God. Jehoshaphat said to them: “See what you are doing, because it is not for man that you judge but it is for Jehovah; and he is with you in the matter of judgment. And now let the dread of Jehovah [not of man] come to be upon you. Be careful and act, for with Jehovah our God there is no unrighteousness or partiality or taking of a bribe.” (2 Chronicles 19:4-7) With such heavenly judges and their judicial princes on the earth it is nothing too extraordinary to expect that the inhabitants of the productive Paradise land will learn righteousness, all together for a thousand years.​—Isaiah 26:9.

2, 3. (a) Through David, Jesus was the Descendant of what Bethlehemite, and so Isaiah compares Jesus at his earthly start to what with reference to that one? (b) A spirit with what qualities will rest upon him, and how will he judge?

² What a qualified, reliable Chief Judge all mankind will have in the “new heavens” during all that Judgment Day of ten centuries! Glowing with warmth is the prophetic description of the Judge as given by Isaiah in the eighth century before our Common Era. This foretold Judge is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messianic Descendant of King David the son of Jesse of Bethlehem. Could Jehovah God provide and appoint a better judge to straighten out human affairs and to see that the people get justice and that righteousness is forever established in the earth? Give all due attention, then, as the prophet under inspiration tells of the qualities of this future Judge who descended from the Bethlehemite Jesse through King David. Comparing this Descendant at his earthly start to a small twig that grows out of the trunk of a cut-down tree, Isaiah prophesies:

³ “And there must go forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse; and out of his roots a sprout will be fruitful. And upon him the spirit of Jehovah must settle down, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of mightiness, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah; and there will be enjoyment by him in the fear of Jehovah. And he will not judge by any mere appearance to his eyes, nor reprove simply according to the thing heard by his ears. And with righteousness he must judge the lowly ones, and with uprightness he must give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth. And he must strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the spirit of his lips he will put the wicked one to death. And righteousness must prove to be the belt of his hips, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”​—Isaiah 11:1-5.

4. (a) In the fear of whom will he judge mankind? (b) How will he become more than a mere “twig” or “sprout” out of the “stump of Jesse” and not be a disappointment or irritation?

⁴ This Chief Judge takes an actual delight, finds a real enjoyment in fearing Jehovah, so that he will without fail do his judging for Jehovah and not for man. So he is only God-fearing in making his decisions, not man-fearing. Surely he must be wise due to this wholesome fear of the one living and true God, Jehovah. He did not remain like a mere “twig” or “sprout” out of the firmly rooted “stump of Jesse,” but grew up into a stalwart “big tree” of heavenly royalty, as the Greater David the Son of the Living Jehovah. (Isaiah 61:3; compare Ezekiel 17:22-24.) Upon this exalted one in his royal majestic position the mighty spirit of Jehovah rests, endowing him with knowledge, understanding and wisdom so much needed for his responsible office. Consequently, as the King enthroned at the right hand of God he will be a credit to Jehovah; and as a divinely appointed Judge, he will not be a disappointment or an irritation to earth’s inhabitants.

5. In favor of strict justice, how will he show himself impartial and discerning, even more so than Solomon as judge?

⁵ Justice will be established in the earth. The heavenly Judge will exercise greater discernment than did his prototype King Solomon, who rendered such splendid decisions, such as in the stiff case submitted to him by the two harlots. They both disowned a dead child and laid claim to a live child. Concerning Solomon’s unique way of bringing the true mother of the live child to the fore, it is written: “And all Israel got to hear of the judicial decision that the king had handed down; and they became fearful because of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was within him to execute judicial decision.” (1 Kings 3:16-28) In like manner the Greater Solomon will not judge according to the surface appearance of things nor according to mere hearsay, but will see to it that the true facts are unearthed and that the true account is reported, to the end that a just decision may be rendered and executed. He will not favor the high ones as against the lowly ones, nor the arrogant ones as against the meek ones.

6. How will he, by his procedures in the “great tribulation,” show that his thousand years of judgeship will be righteous?

⁶ In order to show what his thousand years of judgeship promises to be, this Judge so filled with the spirit of Jehovah will show himself to be a Liberator of the lowly and meek ones in the coming “great tribulation” that culminates in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon. (Matthew 24:21; Revelation 7:14; 16:14, 16) His orders and directions to his heavenly armies will be like a “rod” out of his mouth, for, in fulfillment of what he says as Commander, the ‘old earth’ of unrighteousness will be struck and broken to pieces. The lips of his mouth will be moved by the spirit of Jehovah and will express his attitude and feeling toward the wicked ones on earth, and these will accordingly be put to death. Our whole earthly globe will be cleansed of the lofty, arrogant, wicked ones. And, of course, the unseen ruler of these, Satan, will be chained and abyssed.

7, 8. (a) For the good of mankind, how will it be as if the Judge were belted with righteousness and girded with faithfulness? (b) What effects will this have upon mankind in producing changes in them?

⁷ Of a truth, mankind has nothing to expect of the millennial judgeship of Jehovah’s appointed Judge, Jesus Christ, but righteousness and faithfulness to their interests. It will be as if this heavenly Judge is belted, sustained by righteousness, as if he girdles himself for the work of righteousness. Yes, it is as if he belts, girds himself with the quality of faithfulness, or girdles himself in support of the faithful care for the interests of the people whom he judges according to God’s standards. Oh, what peace and tranquillity this will result in for the earth! What altering there will be of attitudes of persons toward one another, what a changing of personalities for the good of others! This is delightfully pictured in the prophetic words of Isaiah, as he says:

⁸ “And righteousness must prove to be the belt of his hips, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. And the wolf will actually reside for a while with the male lamb, and with the kid the leopard itself will lie down, and the calf and the maned young lion and the well-fed animal all together; and a mere little boy will be leader over them. And the cow and the bear themselves will feed; together their young ones will lie down. And even the lion will eat straw just like the bull. And the sucking child will certainly play upon the hole of the cobra; and upon the light aperture of a poisonous snake will a weaned child actually put his own hand. They will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain; because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.”​—Isaiah 11:5-9.

PERSONALITY TRANSFORMATIONS

9. Since when, and upon whom, have such transformations of personal characteristics been brought about by God’s spirit?

⁹ Imagine the human personalities that are likened to the wolf, the leopard, the bear, the maned young lion, the cobra, the poisonous snake! There have been many people with suchlike personalities who have responded finally to the message of God’s kingdom and who have changed their personalities so that they could get along with other persons who are meek and inoffensive like the lamb, the kid, the little boy, the sucking child or the weaned child. Ever since the outpouring of God’s holy spirit through Christ upon the Christian congregation when gathered together on the Festival Day of Pentecost of 33 C.E., the spirit of God has been working to transform members of the congregation to be Christlike. As a consequence the faithful members of the congregation have been able to put up with one another and to get along together, even though formerly they could be likened in personality to those dreaded wild animals. (Acts 2:1-33) True to Isaiah’s prophecy, they have done no harm to fellow Christians nor caused any ruin to the congregation in the “holy mountain” of Jehovah’s worship.

10. (a) Upon whom else, besides the 144,000 associate judges of Christ, have such personality transformations been wrought? (b) How will this transformation result favorably toward them at the start of Christ’s millennial judgeship?

¹⁰ This personality transformation has taken place not only with those who finally make up the 144,000 associate judges of the Chief Judge Jesus Christ, but also with the numberless “great crowd” of worshipers of Jehovah who are today being gathered together from all nations, tribes, peoples and languages. These prospective inhabiters of the earthly Paradise are assured of God’s protection during the “great tribulation” and will be preserved through it into the divine new order under the millennial judgeship of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 7:9-17) Naturally they will carry their transformed personalities directly into the divine new order. This will result to them very favorably, for they will be the “living” toward whom the heavenly Judge Jesus Christ will begin expressing his millennial judgments. (2 Timothy 4:1) Under such circumstances fear of harm and ruin will be gone from the “holy mountain” of Jehovah’s worship. They already know Jehovah, and so with these survivors all around the globe the earth will indeed be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah. But this knowledge will increase.

11. What did God assure the eight deluge survivors regarding the lower earthly creatures, and how will this have a modern counterpart?

¹¹ At this juncture, we remember what was said to the eight human survivors of the deluge of Noah’s day, after they came out of the ark and offered sacrifice to God. Jehovah said to them: “And a fear of you and a terror of you will continue upon every living creature of the earth and upon every flying creature of the heavens, upon everything that goes moving on the ground, and upon all the fishes of the sea. Into your hand they are now given.” (Genesis 9:2) May this not have its modern counterpart? As the coming “great tribulation” will be directed against ungodly humans of the earth, it will not kill off the land animals, birds and fishes of the sea. It is reasonable to expect that God will put upon those lower earthly creatures any lost measure of fear and dread of human creatures, who will be commissioned to convert the ruined earth into a Paradise. Certainly since God by his spirit was able to transform beastly personalities into Christian personalities among the 144,000 and the “great crowd” of today, he will be able to do something similar in the case of the wild animals. For a fact, they will do no injury to Jehovah’s worshipers in the earth.

12, 13. (a) Back in the original Paradise, what was the attitude of man and woman toward the lower earthly creatures? (b) What kind of relationship will there be between the lower earthly creatures themselves, in more than a figurative way?

¹² In accordance with this, we can look for the charming description of animal life as set out in Isaiah 11:6-9 to have a literal fulfillment with the birds, fishes and land creatures of earth during the millennial reign of the Prince of Peace, the Son of the Greater Jesse, Jehovah God. Away back in the original Paradise of Pleasure or Garden of Eden, the woman Eve did not have any fear of the serpent, not fleeing from it when it was made to speak to her. (Genesis 3:1-4) Before this, Adam had had the wild animals and the flying creatures brought before him and he named them, manifesting no fear of them. (Genesis 2:19, 20) That Edenic condition of freedom of fear of the lower creatures of the earth and security from harm by them will be reintroduced in the restored Paradise.

¹³ Also, these land animals, flying creatures and fish will be at peace among themselves as well as with man. It would be inconsistent for God to inspire such a prophecy as that of Isaiah 11:6-9, and Ezekiel 34:25 and Hosea 2:18 to have only a figurative or spiritual meaning and not have a true copy of these things in actual life, as though the literal fulfillment were an impossible ideal.

14. However, what is more important than the taming of the lower earthly creatures, and why?

¹⁴ However, the taming of the animal, bird and fish creation is not the main objective. Such earthly creatures existed long before mankind did. It is mankind’s continued existence on earth that is in question or at stake. All descendants from Adam and Eve were born sinners and so have fallen “short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) In many cases humans have taken on, not godly qualities, but qualities of now ferocious wild beasts. So mankind needs to be brought back to that “glory of God,” so as to prove worthy of everlasting life to the praise of God the Creator. The members of the human family need to be brought together into peaceful, harmless relations with one another, doing justice and righteousness perfectly. This is what the thousand-year judgeship of Jesus Christ will bring about.

15. How will the heavenly judges over mankind bring about that the rate of wrongdoing goes down as the rate of population goes up?

¹⁵ At present, the crime rate of men is increasing at a rate faster than that of the growth of earth’s population. In strong contrast with this, during the millennium earth’s population will regularly increase because of the resurrection of the dead, of the “righteous” and the “unrighteous.” And yet the rate of wrongdoing will decrease till at last it reaches the vanishing point. Why so? Because the heavenly judges over mankind will be absolutely righteous and will teach all mankind true righteousness according to God’s standards. As an aid in this direction, “the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.” (Isaiah 11:9) Only the worship of Him will be permitted in this theocratic millennium. Mankind will be brought to the earthly courtyards of Jehovah’s “true tent,” his spiritual temple. There they will be made to know the truth of what Jesus said in prayer to his heavenly Father: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.”​—John 17:3; Hebrews 8:2.

16. (a) In view of what results will Christ’s millennial judgeship not fail of its purpose? (b) Why will Christ not bestow eternal life in Paradise upon restored mankind?

¹⁶ The millennial Judgment Day will not fail of its purpose. By the time of its end all the willing and obedient will have been trained in true justice and righteousness to perfection. Their physical and mental infirmities inherited from Adam and Eve will be done away with. They are now capable in all respects to measure up to God’s absolute standards of righteousness, in themselves. Does Jesus Christ as the Chief Judge now bestow upon them the right to eternal life in a peaceful earth all glorious in paradisaic beauty? No! In this regard he does not act for God, for he knows that it is written: “God is the One who declares them righteous.” (Romans 8:33) What, then, does God’s Judge do?

Chapter 9

The Post-Millennial Test of All Mankind

1. At the end of the millennial Judgment Day, what is the final requirement for restored mankind, and so what will the Deputy Judge Jesus Christ do with them?

AT THE end of the thousand-year-long Judgment Day the righteously judged human family stands perfect before its Judge and Liberator, Jesus Christ. But not yet are they adjudged worthy of eternal life on the Paradisaic earth. They must yet face the Supreme Court of the universe, that of the Most High God, Jehovah the Sovereign Lord. In harmony with this final requirement the Deputy Judge Jesus Christ must hand the human race, now capable of perfect righteousness, over to his God and Father for Him to render his decision toward all those who, under test, will prove worthy or unworthy of the priceless gift of eternal life in peace and happiness. Despite their perfection they are yet mortal.

2. By then what will have happened to Adamic death, and hence what will Jehovah determine regarding individuals of mankind?

² The dying condition that had attached to mankind because of the sin of their first human father Adam in Eden has now been undone, destroyed, just as if hurled into the “lake of fire” to its own death. (Revelation 20:14, 15) However, will mankind, now liberated from Adamic death and imperfection, do anything of its own accord, willfully, to deserve eternal death under Jehovah’s judgment? Which individuals will prove worthy of “second death”? This is what the Supreme Judge Jehovah must determine as Final Arbiter.

3. According to 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, what transfer of things takes place?

³ Now applies what the apostle Paul foretold in 1 Corinthians 15:24-28: “Next, the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has brought to nothing all government and all authority and power. For he must rule as king until God has put all enemies under his feet. As the last enemy, death is to be brought to nothing. For God ‘subjected all things under his feet.’ But when he says that ‘all things have been subjected,’ it is evident that it is with the exception of the one [Jehovah God] who subjected all things to him. But when all things will have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to everyone.”​—NW; Ro.

4. What questions must the Sovereign Lord Jehovah now determine toward perfected mankind, and by what means will he do so?

⁴ As a result of the Son’s handing over the kingdom to his God and Father, the kingdom becomes the property of Jehovah God. There thus remains no subsidiary kingdom between the Sovereign Lord Jehovah and mankind. How, now, will mankind react to God’s direct Kingship over them? Will they all declare themselves his loyal subjects to all eternity? Will they all determine personally that He is their choice as God forever? This declaring of a person righteous on his own account and conferring upon him the right to everlasting life is a serious thing, that calls for unswerving loyalty on the part of the recipient of such a precious right. How will God determine whose name should stand on the “book of life”? It will be by a test of heart allegiance and integrity, as in the case of the patriarch Job of the land of Uz.

5. How will the test then made of perfected mankind correspond with that of Job, and for the purpose of proving what?

⁵ For a thousand years now under the kingdom of the Son of God mankind has enjoyed the undeserved kindness of God and they find themselves in a beauteous planetary paradise. As in the case of Job, the question is, Do they love and worship God only for all the good that he has done for them or because of what He is in himself, the one living and true God and the Rightful Sovereign of the universe? In the case of Job, his integrity toward Jehovah God was tested by permitting the Devil Satan to harass him short of taking his life away. So now, by permitting Satan the Devil to put restored mankind to the test to the extent that God Almighty permits, perfected mankind can be tested and proved as to individual integrity to God in a perfect sense. Such a test would call for Satan and his demons to be loosed from their thousand years of imprisonment in the abyss. This is what will take place.

6. How does Revelation 20:7-10 describe what will happen at the end of the millennial reign of Christ?

⁶ What takes place after the end of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ and his 144,000 royal associates, Revelation 20:7-10 tells us, in these words: “Now as soon as the thousand years have been ended, Satan will be let loose out of his prison, and he will go out to mislead those nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war. The number of these is as the sand of the sea. And they advanced over the breadth of the earth and encircled the camp of the holy ones and the beloved city. But fire came down out of heaven and devoured them. And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet already were; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

7. When loosed, why will Satan and his demons be confident respecting perfected mankind, and what will again be the point in dispute?

⁷ The loosing of Satan and his demons from the abyss means letting them come again into the vicinity of the earth where they can exercise an invisible control over those of mankind who succumb to them. Satan the Devil will be confident of himself, in spite of the mental, moral, spiritual, physical perfection of mankind. True, he did fail in the case of the patriarch Job, but he did succeed more than twenty-four centuries earlier in the case of Adam and Eve in spite of their human perfection in Eden. In both cases, however, the point in dispute was the same, namely, the rightful sovereignty of Jehovah God, which requires absolute obedience of human creatures to God’s laws and prohibitions.

8. (a) How is it here shown that the issue forced upon all mankind is that of universal sovereignty? (b) Who are the “holy ones,” and what is the “beloved city”?

⁸ That the same issue is forced upon all mankind after the end of the thousand years is shown by the fact that those who are now misled by Satan and his demons advance over the earth and encircle the “camp of the holy ones and the beloved city.” Yes, there will be “holy ones” on the earth then. These are encircled by Satan and his earthly hordes because they refuse to be misled by Satan and his demons. Such “holy ones” are those of restored mankind who keep their integrity to God under this all-deciding test. They are like in a war camp under attack by enemy warriors. The “holy ones” are put as separate from “the beloved city.” They are not in it but are in the “camp.” Evidently, then, this “city” is not any city constructed on earth as a global capital. This must be the city that is spoken of by the glorified Jesus Christ to his followers, in Revelation 3:12, and that he calls “the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which descends out of heaven from my God.”

9. To whom is the city “beloved,” and how does it descend out of heaven from God?

⁹ This “city” is one “beloved” by God and also by the “holy ones.” The 144,000 joint heirs of Jesus Christ have written upon them the name of this “new Jerusalem.” It is not on earth like some material city, but is a heavenly city that descends by extending its influence and authority to the inhabitants of the earth.

10. Is the unloosed Satan able to get at the “beloved city” direct, and so what is the purpose of his attack upon it?

¹⁰ This “city” is not disorganized and demolished at the end of the thousand years of its rule over mankind, but its good, righteous effects still remain on earth with the “holy ones.” By making war upon this “beloved city” Satan the Devil aims at undoing all this good that the New Jerusalem has wrought. He does not want these benefits to remain with mankind forever. Being restrained to the earth’s vicinity, with no place for him any longer up in heaven out of which he and his demons have been cast, he cannot get directly at the “beloved city” up there. So he wars against it to the extent of trying to bring to nothing all the righteousness that it has established on the earth.

11. (a) How will the “war” then be carried on? (b) How is, not God’s almightiness, but the rightness of his universal sovereignty, shown to be the issue?

¹¹ It is hardly to be expected that this “war” will be carried on with the scientific weapons such as the nuclear bombs and other implements of warfare of this twentieth century. The inhabitants of the earth during the millennium will not have stockpiled such weapons or have learned such war anymore. (Isaiah 2:2-4) It will not be a warfare of military might of that sort. Deceit, misleading propaganda, appeals to selfishness in disloyalty to the Universal Sovereign could be mighty weapons with which to overcome people. That the issue will be over the rightfulness of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty rather than God’s almightiness is shown in that Satan’s being imprisoned a thousand years in the abyss and now being released proves God’s superior might in comparison with the power of Satan the Devil. Still a rebel himself against Jehovah’s sovereignty, he is intent on making mankind rebels likewise.

EXTENT OF THE POST-MILLENNIAL REBELLION

12. What is indicated by the fact that those whom Satan misleads are said to be “as the sand of the sea”?

¹² The number of those whom Satan and his demons succeed in misleading on the prime issue is said to be “as the sand of the sea,” that is to say, appearing to be numberless. (Revelation 20:8) This by no means signifies the vast majority of mankind. For instance, the combined armies that warred against Judge Joshua were said to be as numerous as the grains of sand of the seashore. (Joshua 11:4) The camels of the enemies who invaded the land of Israel in the days of Gideon the son of Joash were said to be “without number, as numerous as the grains of sand that are on the seashore.” (Judges 7:12) So, too, those who will be misled by Satan are an indefinite number, how many of them not being foretold, but enough of them to make an impression as of a large crowd. So Satan the Devil has only limited success.

13. Is the appearing on the Paradise earth of “those nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog,” by a resurrection?

¹³ Those whom Satan succeeds in misleading are spoken of as “those nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog.” Their appearing on the Paradise earth is not by a resurrection of the dead including the “unrighteous” ones, but is as a result of Satan’s misleading an unpredicted number of restored mankind.

14. In what sense, then, can they be called “nations,” and in what way can they be said to be “in the four corners of the earth”?

¹⁴ During the millennial Judgment Day there have been no national divisions of mankind, nor has the judgment of the people been influenced by any national extractions. The fact that these who are misled by the loosed Satan are called “nations” indicates that, like Satan, they refuse to recognize Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and that they choose to establish an earthly sovereignty of their own, like a national sovereignty. They may not have a united sovereignty over them, but, because of division among themselves, they may have group sovereignties. However that may be, they are all united in being against Jehovah’s sovereignty. Their being called “those nations in the four corners of the earth” suggests that they are far away from the “beloved city.” Hence, in their attitude toward sovereignty, the misled ones have moved far away from sovereignty by Jehovah God. Jehovah God does not become “all things to everyone” in their case.

15, 16. (a) In what ways are those misled nationalistic ones like “Gog and Magog” as respects timing of matters and the object of attack? (b) How are those misled ones also like Gog in being maneuvered by Jehovah into making their attack?

¹⁵ These misled nationalistic ones are called “Gog and Magog” quite appropriately. In the case of the original “Gog of the land of Magog,” as foretold in Ezekiel’s prophecy, he made a final attack upon the worshipers of Jehovah God. He did so after these worshipers had been restored to their proper earthly estate and their land had become like the “garden of Eden.” (Ezekiel 36:35) They were dwelling as in “open rural country” and “having no disturbance, dwelling in security, all of them dwelling without wall” and not having “even bar and doors.” (Ezekiel 38:11) Also, the people of the “land of Magog” backed their head chieftain in making this attack upon the seemingly defenseless worshipers of Jehovah. But Gog comes to the attack from far off really because, as Jehovah says: “I shall certainly turn you around and put hooks in your jaws and bring you forth with all your military force, . . . In the final part of the years you will come to the land of people brought back.”​—Ezekiel 38:4-8.

¹⁶ Those misled by Satan the Devil after the millennial Judgment Day is over will follow this invisible chieftain who has just been released by Jehovah God from the abyss for the very purpose of letting him make an attack upon restored mankind. In being let loose from the abyss Satan the Devil and his demons are allowed to invade the vicinity of the earth again and be in close contact with mankind on the Paradise earth now like the Garden of Eden. So in making his attack, the released Satan the Devil is as if being led along by hooks in his jaws under the maneuvering of Jehovah. And the ones on earth who are now misled by Satan the Devil are, like him, led along as by hooks in their jaws to make this attack upon the “camp of the holy ones and the beloved city.” (Revelation 20:7-9) So the names of Gog and Magog can fittingly be appropriated and applied to these misled nationalistic ones of mankind who assail and try to despoil those who loyally adhere to the universal sovereignty of Jehovah God.

17, 18. (a) Do these misled ones have ability to attack the “beloved city” directly, and how are they obliged to make the attack? (b) At the end of Christ’s millennial reign, what action are his princely sons on earth obliged to take, and with what purpose in view?

¹⁷ These misled ones of mankind, being mere humans on the earth, can no more directly assault the heavenly New Jerusalem than their invisible leader, Satan the Devil, can do so. But they can get into contact with those on earth who have faithfully represented the heavenly Messianic government, namely, the “princes in all the earth.” These being appointed to be such princes by the King of the New Jerusalem, the Eternal Father Jesus Christ, they have served as the visible princely representatives of the “beloved city.” And when, at the end of his millennial reign, the kingly Son of God “hands over the kingdom to his God and Father,” these princely sons on earth must take corresponding action. They must imitate the Son of God who will “subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him,” the heavenly Father.

¹⁸ Hence these princely “sons” of the Eternal Father Jesus Christ rightly imitate him and subject themselves to his God and Father as the rightful Exerciser of universal sovereignty. Instead of proudly rebelling against what their changed situation calls for, they act Christlike and subject themselves to Jehovah’s universal sovereignty. The ones misled by Satan the Devil attack them with arguments and pressures to dissuade the visible earthly representatives of the “beloved city,” but these decidedly refuse to do so. They maintain their integrity to the Most High God and loyally cleave to his rightful sovereignty over all the earth and all the universe. They unhesitatingly choose to let Jehovah God be “all things to everyone” in their own case.​—1 Corinthians 15:24-28.

DISPOSAL OF “GOG AND MAGOG” AND THEIR MISLEADER

19. Under attack by the misled ones, how do the loyal ones display, not only faith in God, but also integrity toward his universal sovereignty?

¹⁹ In this “war” for which Satan the Devil has gathered his misled ones on earth together, the “camp of the holy ones” and the earthly representatives of the “beloved city” do not fight back with fleshly weapons. They, of course, cannot kill off Satan the Devil and his demon angels, whom they cannot see or reach. But even though they can see on earth the misled ones who make up “Gog and Magog,” the loyal choosers of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty do not kill off the misled ones, in such a way acting as executioners of the misled ones. Choosing the side of Jehovah God, they let him make expression of his universal sovereignty and prove it to the misled disloyal ones. They let the battle be Jehovah’s and so do not assume to act as His executional forces and fight with lethal weapons. This displays, not only faith on their part, but also perfect integrity toward Jehovah God and his universal sovereignty. Let Him himself save them and destroy the disloyal ones! Trustfully they stand still and see the “salvation of Jehovah” in their behalf.​—2 Chronicles 20:15-17.

20. (a) Under divine protection, what will the loyal ones be privileged to see? (b) What does this divine action signify for the disloyal ones?

²⁰ Lodging “under the very shadow of the Almighty One,” those who keep allegiance to Jehovah’s universal sovereignty will, only with their eyes, “look on and see the retribution itself of the wicked ones.” (Psalm 91:1, 8) They will behold the fulfillment of what was foretold in Revelation 20:9 regarding the post-millennial “Gog and Magog”: “And they advanced over the breadth of the earth and encircled the camp of the holy ones and the beloved city. But fire came down out of heaven and devoured them.” These disloyal ones of mankind get a baptism of fire, which means their everlasting destruction. God does not justify them or declare them righteous and enter their names on the “book of life.” (Romans 8:33) This is no abuse of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty but is a rightful expression of it toward his enemies.

21. (a) How long was Satan to be loosed from the abyss, and has its purpose now been served? (b) What would returning him to the abyss mean?

²¹ However, the eternal destruction of these lawless haters of what is good does not remove Satan the Devil and his demon angels from the vicinity of the earth. He has now been let loose from the abyss long enough. God’s purpose in letting him loose has been served in full; there is no further reason for letting him and his demons on the loose any longer. We remember that it is written respecting his being hurled into the abyss for a thousand years: “After these things he must be let loose for a little while.” (Revelation 20:3) The “little while,” in which Satan the Devil has tried to mislead as many of restored mankind as he can into thinking that Jehovah is exercising his sovereignty over the earth in a wrongful, arrogant way, is now up. What now? Are Satan and his demons hurled back into the abyss? To do so would imply that they were to be let loose again, just as Jesus Christ himself was let loose from the abyss, and the “wild beast” upon which Babylon the Great rides ascended out of the abyss.​—Romans 10:7; Revelation 9:1-3; 17:8; compare Revelation 11:7.

22, 23. (a) How has Satan’s accusation with reference to man been answered, and in whose favor has the long controversy been settled? (b) What now befalls Satan and his demons?

²² The chaining and imprisoning of Satan the Devil and his demons in the abyss was a temporary torment for them. Is the torment of restraint again to be temporary for them, or for all time? What happens to them after they have seen the ones whom they have misled on earth punished with fiery destruction? The Devil has now had answered the accusation that he has all along made, that men on earth serve Jehovah God merely for what they can get out of him, and that no man will remain loyal to Jehovah out of pure love for him, even under wicked temptation by Satan the Devil. Those men and women of integrity who remain alive on earth after the fiery annihilation of the disloyal ones stand as a living answer to the Devil, proving his accusation to be false and that he is a liar. The controversy of seven millenniums of time has ended in favor of the God of truth, and so there is no reason for letting Satan the Devil and his demons live on any longer. God’s patience toward them is now at its end. For these reasons he does not return these rebel angels to the abyss. So what befalls them?

²³ “And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet already were; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”​—Revelation 20:10.

24, 25. (a) Being hurled into the lake of fire symbolizes what for Satan and his demons? (b) Why is this another kind of death?

²⁴ The torment of Satan the Devil in the lake of fire and sulphur signifies the same for him and his demons as it does for the symbolic wild beast and the false prophet. And what is that? Destruction forever and ever. (Revelation 19:20) Satan the Devil and his demons will no more live again than that symbolic wild beast and false prophet will live again. Their names are not written on any divine “book of life.” Life is life, whether spent in pleasure or in suffering pain. So their being plunged into the symbolic “lake of fire and sulphur” does not mean their being preserved in life in order to suffer conscious torment in their bodies and minds.

²⁵ That symbolic “lake” does not symbolize what is called “a living death.” It symbolizes another kind of death, different from that suffered by all mankind through birth inheritance from the sinful Adam and Eve and which apparently was the first form of death to enter the realm of creation, among creatures in God’s image. Such inherited death proved to be temporary, it being turned into a ‘sleep of death’ by the resurrection that results from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.​—1 Corinthians 15:20-22.

26. Why is this different kind of death fittingly called “the second death,” and the humans that suffer it do not have their names written where?

²⁶ The death symbolized by the “lake of fire and sulphur” is different from the death inherited by mankind from Adam in that it is not like a sleep terminated by an awakening but is a total destruction, an endless death. Death received from Adam as an inheritance was the ‘first death.’ This different kind of death as symbolized by the “lake of fire and sulphur” is therefore fittingly called “the second death.” This is what it stands for in the case of those humans on earth who enter into the thousand-year Judgment Day and who later do not get their names written in God’s “book of life.” The inspired Scriptures give the significance of the “lake of fire” for such ones unworthy of everlasting life, saying: “And death and Haʹdes were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire. Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire.”​—Revelation 20:14, 15.

27, 28. (a) Why is it possible for Satan and his demons to suffer the “second” death? (b) What, then, does their being tormented in the lake of fire forever mean?

²⁷ This divine explanation of what the “lake of fire” symbolizes is borne witness to a second time, a few verses later, where we read: “Anyone conquering will inherit these things, and I shall be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowards and those without faith and those who are disgusting in their filth and murderers and fornicators and those practicing spiritism and idolaters and all the liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This means the second death.” (Revelation 21:7, 8) All such references to the “lake of fire” being so close together, in the same context in Revelation, chapters 19-21, then what the “lake of fire” means for those humans not found written on the “book of life” it means also for Satan the Devil and his demons. It means “the second death.” It does not mean necessarily dying a second time, but dying the second kind of death that the Bible speaks about, and that is an endless death.

²⁸ Accordingly, Satan and his demons can die this kind of death, even though they have never died before. There was not a bit of life in the first kind of death that came in by the sin of the first man. Likewise there is not even a spark of life in the “second death” that is the everlasting punishment for those who willfully disobey God, even ruining their perfection in order to do so. By all Scriptural rules, then, the torment of Satan and his demons in the lake of fire and sulphur forever and ever means their being brought to nothing, their being made nonexistent, their being blotted out of spirit life forever. As a result, God will have a demon-free universe, with demons never being allowed to appear again.

COMING TO LIFE AFTER THE MILLENNIUM ENDS

29. God’s permitting the camp of the holy ones and also the princely representatives of the beloved city to survive signifies that he has taken what action toward them?

²⁹ What a glorious eternity, therefore, awaits mankind! Look! Jehovah God permits the “camp of the holy ones” and the princely representatives on earth of the “beloved city” to survive the destruction of “Gog and Magog” and of Satan the Devil and his demons! What does this mean but that God has written their names on the “book of life” or has let their names stand written on the “book of life”? This means that He has declared them righteous, justified them, because of their maintaining their integrity to him, thus joining in with the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and the 144,000 joint heirs in vindicating the universal sovereignty of the Most High God, the Creator of all things good. Their being declared righteous by Jehovah God signifies that he has bestowed upon them the right to everlasting life in their Paradise home.

30. (a) To whom will these who successfully pass the final test be ever indebted, and where will they stand forever? (b) When will they really “live”?

³⁰ It was the heavenly King, Priest and Judge, Jesus Christ, who, by his loving dealings with mankind during the thousand years, brought the willing and obedient ones up to this perfect righteousness in the flesh. If he had not done so by the end of the thousand years, then he would have been hesitant to turn them over to the final test by the Supreme Judge, Jehovah God. Why? Because he would have known that, lacking perfect righteousness, they could never undergo the divine test with success and gain eternal life. So, in complete righteousness and sinlessness in the flesh they stand in the earthly courtyards of Jehovah’s “true tent” or temple as his worshipers. There they keep standing forever by passing the divine test with irreproachable integrity and unswerving allegiance to the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. Forever they remain indebted to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who lovingly lifted them up to this perfect righteousness as evidence of the completed work of their Ransomer and Savior, the Lord Jesus. So at that time they really live!

31. Thus by the end of the thousand years of Christ’s reign, to what do the “rest of the dead” attain, and what happens to the Adamic death?

³¹ In the light of that fact we can appreciate the correctness of that parenthetical statement in Revelation 20:5: “(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.)” If they had not had the preliminary work of the thousand years performed upon them by Jesus Christ and his 144,000 joint heirs who participated in the “first resurrection,” this state of perfect life would not have been the portion of the “rest of the dead” at the close of the thousand years. It is really by then that ‘death (as inherited from Adam) gave up the dead that were in it and that death was hurled into the lake of fire so as to suffer “second death” or extinction.’ (Revelation 20:13, 14) Then it becomes true, as foretold in 1 Corinthians 15:25, 26: “He must rule as king until God has put all enemies under his feet. As the last enemy, death is to be brought to nothing.”

32. How will Revelation 21:3, 4 then be fully true?

³² Then, with reference to the death inherited from the sinful Adam, it will be fully true: “And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”​—Revelation 21:3, 4.

33. (a) How will those attaining to that abundance of life prove worthy of having their lives prolonged forever? (b) How will they then appreciate in themselves the truth of Romans 6:23?

³³ Will all those who have come to life in this perfect sense by the end of the thousand years choose to prolong that abundant life forever? They can do so by proving themselves worthy to receive the right to everlasting life from the Great Source of all life, Jehovah God. For passing the thoroughgoing test of their whole-souled integrity to Him, the faithful and loyal ones are rewarded with that precious right to have their lives protected and prolonged to all eternity in happiness. Thus they will realize in their own selves that “the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) If it had not been for God’s use of his beloved only-begotten Son, this would not have been possible for the human family.

34, 35. (a) What is our hope concerning the “great crowd” who already before the “great tribulation” were serving white-robed in Jehovah’s spiritual temple? (b) What feelings of the sons of Korah toward Jehovah’s courtyards will even the “unrighteous” resurrected ones be enabled to develop?

³⁴ How soul-satisfying it will then be to worship and serve the God whose name is Jehovah in the earthly courtyards of his spiritual temple! Already at the beginning of the glorious millennium it was true of the “great crowd” of survivors of the “great tribulation” that “they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they are before the throne of God; and they are rendering him sacred service day and night in his temple.” (Revelation 7:9, 14, 15) It is hoped that the members of this clean-robed “great crowd” will abide in those courtyards of God’s spiritual temple clear through the thousand years and the test of absolute integrity to the Sovereign Lord Jehovah after the millennium is ended. Those who are raised from their graves during the millennium will be brought to the earthly courtyards of Jehovah’s spiritual temple to take up his worship and service there. By entering with proper appreciation into Jehovah’s service there, even the resurrected “unrighteous” ones will feel as did the sons of the Levite Korah:

³⁵ “For a day in your courtyards is better than a thousand elsewhere. I have chosen to stand at the threshold in the house of my God rather than to move around in the tents of wickedness. For Jehovah God is a sun and a shield; favor and glory are what he gives. Jehovah himself will not hold back anything good from those walking in faultlessness.”​—Psalm 84: superscription, 10, 11.

36. What appreciation of God’s temple as expressed by David will those who are determined to keep integrity cultivate?

³⁶ The ones who are determined to maintain wholehearted integrity to the one living and true God will cultivate the appreciation of spiritual things that David expressed, when he said: “One thing I have asked from Jehovah​—it is what I shall look for, that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the pleasantness of Jehovah and to look with appreciation upon his temple.”​—Psalm 27: superscription, 4.

37, 38. (a) To what natural state will Jehovah’s “footstool” eventually be brought? (b) Will inhabitants of his “footstool” enjoy only a natural paradise, and in what way will they respond to the call of the last of the Psalms?

³⁷ All the earth will then be a place of worship of its wondrous Creator. It is his “footstool,” whereas the heavens are his “throne.” (Isaiah 66:1) His heavenly throne is glorious; his earthly footstool will be made glorious as a suitable place for his feet. Everywhere on earth it will be paradisaic, like the Garden of Eden, like the Garden of Jehovah. (Genesis 2:8; 13:10) It will be a place of delight and joy, for it will be a place of life in unmixed happiness for all his worshipers who no longer “fall short of the glory of God.” They will have all the godly qualities in beauteous bloom and enjoy the fullness of sweet relationship with God, so that they will find themselves in a spiritual Paradise as well as an earthly Paradise. What a soul-stirring cause all this for praising the Grand Creator and Provider of all this unspeakable goodness! With melodious voices and all their musical skills that they have developed they will gratefully praise Him. They will forever join the heavenly throngs in responding to the enthusiastic call of the last one of the inspired Psalms:

³⁸ “Praise Jah, you people! Praise God in his holy place. Praise him in the expanse of his strength. Praise him for his works of mightiness. Praise him according to the abundance of his greatness. Praise him with the blowing of the horn. Praise him with the stringed instrument and the harp. Praise him with the tambourine and the circle dance. Praise him with strings and the pipe. Praise him with the cymbals of melodious sound. Praise him with the clashing cymbals. Every breathing thing​—let it praise Jah. Praise Jah, you people!”​—Psalm 150:1-6.