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AKANIMO - Got a question from a jehovah witness investigator who wants to know where the final judgement will take place. she said on earth but I told her in heaven and quoted matt 19:28.But she said no unclean thing can be allowed in heaven and so those sinners will not be allowed there. How can I answer the question next time better?
JOEL - Paul the Apostle said:
"For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Eph 5: 5)
The kingdom of Christ or God refers to that realm of heaven where God dwells; the Celestial Kingdom. No unclean thing can enter the presence of God. However, many "unclean" souls will enter other kingdoms of heaven (1 Cor 15: 39 - 42).
You would have to ask the investigator her deffinition of "final judgment". There are a few different "judgments" that occur in the plan of salvation.
1. At death:
The spirits of all who die, both righteous and evil, will go to the spirit world which is divided into Paradise and spirit prison. There is this preliminary judgment to decide who goes to which realm in the spirit world where they can learn more about Christ's gospel(1 Pet 3: 18-20, 1 Pet 4: 6). So this first judgment does indeed occur in "heaven" or the Spirit World.
2. During the resurrection:
Christ's Second Coming will be a day of judgment which occurs on this earth for all those then living and for the righteous dead (and in a sense for the wicked dead also).
"When the Son of man shall come in this glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." (Matt. 25:31-46.)
To the wicked that judgment day is a "day of vengeance"; to the righteous it is a day of redemption, for they shall survive the day. (D. & C. 133:50-53.)
A judgment is made at this time as to when we are resurrected. The righteous will be resurrected at the second coming; the more wicked will be resurrected later. This judgment includes the type of body we are resurrected with, according to the degree of Glory we will obtain. (D.&C. 88:16-33.)
President Joseph Fielding Smith said:
"In every species of animals and plants, there are many resemblances in the general outlines and many specific differences characterizing the individuals of each species. So in the resurrection. There will be several classes of resurrected bodies; some celestial, some terrestrial, some telestial, and some sons of perdition. Each of these classes will differ from the others by prominent and marked distinctions; yet, in each, considered by itself, there will be found many resemblances as well as distinctions. There will be some physical peculiarity by which each individual in every class can be identified." (Doctrines of Salvation Vol. 2, p. 287)
Your scripture:
"And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matt 19: 28)
This scripture probably refers to this second time of judgment when Christ rules on the earth.
So your Jehovah witness investigator is correct in regards to this second time of judgment which will probably occur on this earth at the second coming as we are resurrected.
3. Final judgment:
By the time all have been resurrected, the Millennium is over, and we stand at the "final" judgment bar of God sitting on His great white throne (Rev. 20: 11-15), we will already pretty much know to which glory we will be assigned, according to the kind of body we have already been resurrected with, as I mentioned above. This "final" judgment will therefore simply be more of a formality and we are not specifically told where it will occur physically; except at the "Great White Throne" of God, whereever that is.
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