“Everyone who believes is justified” (Acts 13:39)  

Justification is a miracle of God. God instantly pardons the sins of the believer in Christ, regarding him as righteous, regardless of his past unrighteousness. “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness ... to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (Romans 3:24-4:5). 

 Just as those who stand before the throne of God in heaven are righteous, so are we. The thief upon the cross was justified the moment he turned the eye of faith to Jesus; and the Apostle Paul, after years of service to God, wasn’t more justified than the thief who lived only a few moments as a saint. We are today accepted in the Beloved, today absolved from sin, today acquitted at the bar of God. Oh! What a miracle!

 We haven’t been “caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:4). This is the Gospel we’re commanded to tell! We’re pardoned; even now our sins are put away from us; even now we stand in the sight of God accepted, as though we had never been guilty. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). So, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering” (Hebrews 10:22-23). Let this miracle continually inspire you to obey Christ’s command to tell others. 

 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone” (Revelation 21:7-8).