God's gracious justification of the believer does not take place by stages or degrees. However, justification is not simply a bare declaration that pronounces the sinner not guilty before the bar of God's justice or constitutes him as righteous before God's scrutinizing eyes.
Justification produces a cessation of all hostilities.
It paves the way to full reconciliation. It results in a state of peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. In justification the believer enjoys full pardon of his sins, full acceptance with God, the privilege of fellowship with God, the opportunity of service to God, and the inalienable title to eternal life. This evokes a deep joy that anticipates the full revelation of the glory of God, an abiding joy that remains undaunted in the midst of troubling circumstances, indeed an ultimate joy in God Himself as the fountainhead of the grace of reconciliation. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.