How will Jehovah then determine whose names are to be written in “the scroll of life,” or “book of life”? It will be by means of a final test upon humankind. (Revelation 20:7-10, 12, 15) Those who prove faithful to God through the final test will be ‘declared righteous’ by Jehovah himself and enter into “the glorious freedom of the children of God” on earth. (Romans 8:21, 33) They will receive the divine guarantee of life everlasting, unlike Adam, who failed under test and so was debarred from access to the “tree of life” by God-sent cherubs.​—Genesis 2:9; 3:22-24.

14. In what respects will the resurrection of people on earth during the millennium be one to better opportunities?

¹⁴ Since all “the rest of the dead” that are resurrected during Christ’s 1,000-year reign will thus have the opportunity of proving themselves worthy of having their names inscribed permanently in Jehovah’s “scroll of life” and of living forever under God’s kingdom, their resurrection is one to better opportunities than that of those few people resurrected in Bible times but who died again. (1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:17-37; 13:20, 21; Matthew 9:18, 23-26; Luke 7:11-15; John 11:38-44; Acts 9:36-41; 20:7-12)

Jesus’ words in John chapter five must be understood in the light of his later revelation to John. (Revelation 1:1) Both “those who did good things” and “those who practiced vile things” will be among “those dead” who will be “judged individually according to their deeds” performed after their resurrection. (Revelation 20:13) When contrasting “resurrection of life” with “resurrection of judgment [Greek, a·naʹsta·sis kriʹseos],” Jesus was referring to the end result of such resurrections. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon defines a·naʹsta·sis kriʹseos as resurrection “followed by condemnation.” The person is not resurrected in order to be condemned automatically, but his resurrection will be followed by condemnatory judgment if he refuses to follow the “things written in the scrolls” and thus fails to have his name “written in the book of life.” He would then die “the second death,” with no future hope of a resurrection.​—Revelation 20:14, 15; 21:8.