16, 17. (a) With regard to resurrection, how about those of pre-Christian times who merely looked forward to the coming of the “seed” of God’s “woman”? (b) By what words did Jesus assure us of their resurrection?

¹⁶ Not only will those who have put faith in Jesus Christ since his first coming have part in the resurrection arrangements but those of pre-Christian times who, with faith in Jehovah God, looked forward to the coming of the “seed” of his symbolic “woman,” as foretold by him in Genesis 3:15, will also. That “seed” proved to be the same as what was later called ‘the seed of Abraham.’ (Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3:16) Such ones who looked ahead to the coming of this “seed” of the Greater Abraham, Jehovah God, included, of course, the patriarch Abraham and his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, or Israel. Confirming the certainty of their resurrection, Jesus Christ, the Seed of Abraham, said:

¹⁷ “As regards the resurrection of the dead, did you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? He is the God, not of the dead, but of the living.” (Matthew 22:31, 32) “But concerning the dead, that they are raised up, did you not read in the book of Moses, in the account about the thornbush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham and God of Isaac and God of Jacob’? He is a God, not of the dead, but of the living.” (Mark 12:26, 27) “For they are all living to him.” (Luke 20:37, 38) In that indirect way Jehovah God assured us of the resurrection of dead humanity.

20. At the end of the judgment day of a thousand years, what will happen to humans whose names get inscribed in the book of life and to those whose names do not?

²⁰ During the thousand-year-long “day,” which God has “set” and in which “he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed,” the resurrected human dead will have to avail themselves of all the divine provisions made for their eternal salvation. (Acts 17:31) In this sense they will have to “bless themselves.” By passing the final test of their integrity perfectly, they will gain the reward of eternal life in a global Paradise.