While still here on earth, Jesus told his disciples: “Truly I say to you, In the re-creation, when the Son of man sits down upon his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also yourselves sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28) The “little flock” of Jesus’ tried and proved disciples​—144,000 of them—​are thus invited to share with Jesus in his Kingdom and “sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.”​—Luke 12:32; 22:28-30; Revelation 14:1-5.

11. What two aspects of Jesus’ sacrifice were pictured on Atonement Day, and how?

¹¹ Who, then, are these “twelve tribes”? The arrangement that Jehovah made for the Atonement Day in ancient Israel provides a clue. Each year, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the high priest was required to sacrifice a bull as a sin-offering “in behalf of himself and his house.” This pictured Jesus’ sacrifice as applied to “his house” of underpriests. But what of other Israelites? The high priest next drew lots over two goats. One of these he slaughtered as “the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people.” After confessing the people’s sins over the second goat, he sent it away into the wilderness. The disposal of these two goats thus pictured Jesus’ pouring out his lifeblood in sacrifice and his completely carrying away the sins of all mankind other than those of his priestly house.​—Leviticus 16:6-10, 15.

12. How does one dictionary elaborate on the meaning of “the re-creation”?

¹² “The twelve tribes of Israel” have the same significance at Matthew 19:28. Here the application broadens out beyond Jesus’ spirit-begotten underpriests to include all others of mankind. An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, by W. E. Vine, defines the Greek word here used for “re-creation,” pa·lin·ge·ne·siʹa, as “new birth . . . spiritual regeneration,” and adds: “In Matt[hew] 19:28 the word is used, in the Lord’s discourse, in the wider sense, of the ‘restoration of all things’ (Acts 3:21, R.V.), when, as a result of the Second Advent of Christ, Jehovah ‘sets His King upon His holy hill of Zion’ (Ps. 2:6) . . . Thereby will be accomplished the deliverance of the world from the power and deception of Satan and from the despotic and antichristian rulers of the nations.”

13. (a) What do various Bible versions indicate as to the meaning of pa·lin·ge·ne·siʹa? (b) So, what is to happen “under the sun”?

¹³ In line with this, Bible translations here render pa·lin·ge·ne·siʹa variously as: regeneration, new world, new birth, world born anew, world that is to be, New Creation, new order of life, new age. Do you get the sense of that? “The twelve tribes of Israel,” representing all the peoples of mankind, are to be judged by Christ and his loyal underpriests. This is to be in connection with a regeneration, a grand renewal of all that Jehovah has purposed for this earth, down here “under the sun.”

At this present time the enthroned King, Jesus Christ, is separating people one from another, “just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” “The sheep” are those who show themselves righteously disposed toward the King and his spirit-begotten brothers of the “new creation.” These “sheep” are therefore invited to inherit everlasting life in the earthly realm of Jehovah’s Kingdom. Already, they enjoy the spiritual paradise restored here on earth.​—Matthew 25:31-34, 46; Isaiah 11:6-9.

16. (a) What judging is now proceeding? (b) What further judging takes place after Armageddon?

¹⁶ The judging of the nations and of “the sheep” at this time is as to worthiness for survival during the “great tribulation.” (Matthew 24:21, 22) However, is this the judging referred to in Matthew 19:28? No, for further judging is to be carried out by Christ and his underpriests after that tribulation. It is the judging of the figurative “twelve tribes of Israel,” peoples other than the royal priesthood. The number “twelve” indicates a completeness of those of mankind that will be judged. This includes the survivors of “the great tribulation,” any offspring they may yet have, and the billions of mankind that will be brought forth on earth in the resurrection.

17. Who are then judged, and according to what “deeds”?

¹⁷ Concerning this, Paul states at Acts 17:31 that God “has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man [Christ Jesus] whom he has appointed, and he has furnished a guarantee to all men in that he has resurrected him from the dead.” The post-Armageddon “inhabited earth,” made up of all mankind then on earth, will not be judged according to past sins committed during the present system of things. Rather, they will be “judged individually according to their deeds” performed in the new earth as they avail themselves of Christ’s ransom provision.​—Revelation 20:13; Matthew 20:28; 1 John 2:2.