Justification by faith, as nothing else can, brings eternity into immediate focus and confronts the church with the eschaton. We have said that the hidden righteousness of the justified will be disclosed at the eschaton. We have shown that the hidden righteousness of the justified prepares the believer for the eschaton. We must now see that in a very certain sense the eschaton has already broken into history and into the experience of all who are justified by faith. The eschaton is the day of judgment.
Justification is a judicial word.
It is a verdict of the Judge. Judgment day is the day when the righteous will be justified and the wicked condemned. Yet because of Christ the believer already has the verdict of acquittal and vindication of the Judge. The decision of the Court has already taken place. The believer is pronounced justified.