“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?

1 Peter 4:17

49. (a) Since when has the “house of God” been under judgment? (b) What determines the final verdict that is rendered?

⁴⁹ As a “house of God,” the Christian congregation had its beginning in 33 C.E. From that time onward its members have been under divine judgment. Their response to his will, and their attitude, words and actions toward the things that Jehovah God allows to befall them have much to do with what his final verdict will be. At times what Jehovah God sees fit to permit them to undergo may be very severe. But the persecution brings a form of discipline that God can cause to work out for the benefit of his people.​—Hebrews 12:4-11; see also Hebrews 4:15, 16, where it is shown that the suffering that Jesus Christ underwent equipped him to be a compassionate and sympathetic high priest.

50, 51. How do the experiences of Joseph and Paul illustrate that Jehovah can turn into a blessing the very thing that men may use in an effort to harm us?

⁵⁰ By mistreatment, men under the control of Satan may try to destroy our faith. But Jehovah can frustrate their wicked objective. Yes, while himself hating the bad, our heavenly Father can cause what is intended to harm us to work out to some good result. Take the case of Jacob’s young son Joseph. His half brothers hated him and sold him into slavery. For years, Joseph suffered much, including unjust imprisonment. Yet, afterward, Jehovah God made use of this circumstance to preserve alive the family of Jacob. Regarding this, Joseph told his half brothers:

“Now do not feel hurt and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here; because for the preservation of life God has sent me ahead of you. For this is the second year of the famine in the midst of the earth, and there are yet five years in which there will be no plowing time or harvest. Consequently God sent me ahead of you in order to place a remnant for you men in the earth and to keep you alive by a great escape. So now it was not you who sent me here, but it was the true God, that he might appoint me a father to Pharaoh and a lord for all his house and as one dominating over all the land of Egypt.”​—Genesis 45:5-8.

⁵¹ Similarly, when the apostle Paul found himself in confinement at Rome, this unfavorable circumstance served to further the cause of true worship. In his letter to the Philippians, he wrote:

“Now I want to assure you, brothers, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in furthering the preaching of the good news. Thus it is generally known throughout the Imperial Guard and elsewhere that it is for the sake of Christ that I am in prison, and so most of the Christian brothers have been exceedingly encouraged by my example to declare God’s message without any fear of the consequences.”​—Philippians 1:12-14, An American Translation, 1944 edition.