As we have seen, it is God’s will that all be saved from adamic death and given a knowledge of the truth concerning his loving provision of the ransom—all, that is, who do not receive that knowledge in this age. Jesus gives us further information concerning this, saying, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”—John 12:46-48

It is clear from this that Jesus did not limit the opportunity of accepting the truth to the present short span of life. If they do not believe me, he said, I do not pass judgment. Jesus is our Exemplar, and since he did not judge those who failed to believe his testimony, surely we should not do so. Let us, instead, maintain his attitude toward those who do not accept our message, leaving their judgment with the Lord.

Jesus said that the truth of his teachings, his word, would judge unbelievers in “the last day.” When Jesus said to Martha, “Thy brother shall rise again,” she replied, “I know he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” The “last day,” then, is the resurrection day in the great plan of God, and we have Jesus’ own words that unbelievers will then be judged, a judgment made possible by virtue of the fact that they will be raised from the dead.— John 11:23,24

This is confirmed by Jesus in his revealing message recorded in John 5:24, which we quote from the New World Translation: “Most truly I say to you, he that hears my word and believes him that sent me has everlasting life, and he does not come into judgment, but has passed over from death to life.” “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, and those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.”—John 5:28,29

Those who believe, Jesus said, pass from death to life and do not come into judgment. It will be conceded, we think, that this passing from death to life is now upon the basis of faith and that the life now received by faith becomes a reality only in the resurrection. Thus, those who now believe come forth to a resurrection of life. These are the ones who do “good things,” that is, the good works of God. “The work of God,” Jesus said, is “that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” (John 6:29) Those who do not believe could not perform works which would be good in God’s sight, but only vile works.

Jesus said that those who believe do not come into judgment, meaning that those who fail to believe do come into judgment, and in this twenty-ninth verse he explains that this will be after they come forth from the tomb; for, as he states, they come forth to “a resurrection of judgment.” Thus we see that while believers, when awakened from death, pass immediately into everlasting life with- out the necessity of further trial, or judgment, the awakening from death is not limited to these; for the unbelievers also are to “come forth,” that they may have their judgment, or trial period.

Since according to the New World Translation only those in the “memorial tombs” will come out of death, would we be warranted in concluding that this limits the resurrection to God’s friends, to those held in his memory? The Greek word translated “memorial tombs” is mnemeion, which simply means remembrance. It was used by the ancients to describe their burial places, or tombs. People were buried in these because their relatives and friends wanted to remember them. We erect tombstones today for the same reason. Tombs and tombstones are not designed to help God remember the dead.

This same Greek word is used in Matthew 27:52,53, and in Luke 11:44, and translated “graves.” Certainly in these texts the word does not apply to the memory of God. Mnemeion is similarly translated “grave” in John 11:17,31,38, and in John 12:17. In none of these instances could it possibly mean the memory of God. It is translated “sepulchre” and “tomb” in referring to Jesus’ burial place. It would hardly seem reasonable that in one instance alone this Greek word should be used to denote the memory of God.

However, even if this were true, we would not need to conclude that it limits God’s grace as it will be manifested toward the wicked dead in awakening them from death that they might have a fair opportunity to accept his provision of life through Christ. We noted earlier in this discussion that Jehovah does remember the wicked dead and that he will awaken them from death in his own due time. The proof that God remembers them is the fact that he has promised to restore them to life. He would not make promises concerning those whom he had blotted from his memory; and, as we have seen, he has made such promises on behalf of the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Elamites, the Sodomites, the Samaritans, the Israelites who crucified Jesus, and the scribes and Pharisees who persecuted him.

Jehovah’s promises and prophecies assure us that as prisoners of death all these, as well as the masses of mankind symbolized by the “sea,” are to be released from their captivity. God recognizes that throughout the ages Satan, the prince of darkness, has blinded the minds of those who have not believed, and he proposes to give them an opportunity to believe when Satan is bound and when a knowledge of his own love and glory fills the earth. That will be the “due time” and the first time when a true knowledge of the “ransom for all” will be testified to the entire human race.