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A Judgment That Balances Justice with MercyThe Watchtower—1974 | May 1
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Of the one appointed as Head Judge, the apostle John wrote: “He was full of undeserved kindness and truth.” (John 1:14) And at the time of judgment he will have with him as associate judges 144,000 heavenly persons, of whom the Bible says: “No falsehood was found in their mouths; they are without blemish.”—Rev. 14:1, 5.
Furthermore, the Judgment Day the Bible describes is not one twenty-four-hour day, in which all the billions of humanity are paraded before the throne to have their past sins rehearsed and to receive a final, irrevocable judgment then and there. The judgment day during which Christ and his 144,000 associates serve as judges occupies a full thousand years.—Rev. 20:6, 12, 13.
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A Judgment That Balances Justice with MercyThe Watchtower—1974 | May 1
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MANKIND’S JUDGMENT DAY
The apostle Paul told an audience in Athens: “[God] 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 17:31) That “man” is the Lord Jesus Christ. His resurrection is a guarantee of the resurrection of the dead, as Paul wrote to his fellow minister Timothy: “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 Tim. 4:1; 1 Cor. 15:12-19.
Jesus Christ can judge all mankind, including the resurrected dead, because of purchasing the human race by his ransom sacrifice. He said: “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.
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