334. Know the Lord
Ezekiel 39:22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.
The Church will know that the Lord is the Lord their God. The Church knows the Lord because they have heard the Gospel mixed with faith, as the Holy Spirit caused the heart to believe the Word when it is proclaimed or read. But in this context the Church knows the Lord from the Day of Judgment. The enemies of God’s people are judged, and when judgment happens the believers know that the Lord is the Lord God from that day forward.
Judgment happened and will happen at least four times in our history and in our life:
First, our sin was judged on the Cross of Christ when He took the judgment of our sin upon Himself. The sins of all were judged in Christ’s death, for He died for all. This is a historical and spiritual fact, but it still needs to be received personally by each person.
Second, our own personal sins are judged when in our lifetime we individually have been baptized and believed in Christ. For some, this is a one time born again experience. For others, it is dawning process that has no pinpointed moment in memorable time. But at some time, every believer has been converted by the work of the Spirit upon the receiving of the Gospel. At that moment, the Spirit has moved the person to accept the judgment of the Cross as his or her own sin’s judgment. From that time onward he knows the Lord.
Third, our sins are personally and permanently judged when we die. “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment [Hebrews 9:27].” Now the judgment is non-reversible, set in stone, and cannot be changed. In this sense it is a judgment. There are no last rites after death or purgatory judgments for sin. What’s done is done, and the Lord will not reverse the judgment of the Cross.
Fourth, our sins are eternally judged at the Final Judgment Day at the Great White Throne Judgment. Then all sin and the evil enemies will be cast out, removed from our presence, and thrown into the lake of fire forever, never to return and tempt people again.
Each of these several judgment times are all one and the same Judgment. The judgment causes us to know the Lord, and love Him. Judgment is crucial to the Salvation of God. Many “little judgments” happen during a lifetime, each one designed to bring us to God by repentance of Self and faith in His Love. And from that day forward we are not the same as we were before.