T hree times in the New Testament we read of our being sealed with the Holy Spirit (II Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; 4:30). More accurately, it is not that the Holy Spirit seals us, but that He Himself is the Seal. Harold Barker reminds us that we must be care ful not to confuse being born of the Spirit with being sealed. The two things are quite different. We are born of the Spirit in order that we may become the children of God; we are sealed with the Spirit because we are the children of God. When a calf is born on a cattle ranch, the rancher proceeds to brand the new-born creature, not that the calf may become his possession, but because it is already his. It is so with the believer. Having been bought with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christian is Christ's possession by redemptive right. And because he is Christ’s, God puts the seal or brand of Divine ownership upon him by giving him the Holy Spirit to dwell within him. The sealing takes place immedi ately upon the sinner’s acceptance of Jesus Christ. I do not believe that there is a time element involved between the saving and the sealing. When Paul wrote, “After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13), he was not speaking of chronological sequence in reference to time. The sequence is a moral one. A preferable reading would be, “having believed, ye were sealed.” The seal, then, signifies ownership. “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord know- eth them that are His . . .” (II Tim. 2:19). When the people sought Jesus for the loaves and fishes, He said, “Labour not for the meat which per- isheth, but for that meat which endureth unto ever lasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed” (John 6:27). I take it that this sealing refers back to the time of His baptism at Jordan when He received the Spirit (Matt. 3:16, 17). The Father put His approval upon His Son by sealing Him with the Holy Spirit. The seal was the testimony to His Sonship. Christ had come to present Himself as the Son of God, first to die as the Sacrifice for sin and then to become the daily Portion for the believer. Throughout the remainder of John chapter 6, He claims repeatedly that He is “the Bread of God” (vs. 51). It was because of such claims that the Jews murmured against Him (vs. 41), and from that time on He was under their strictest sur veillance. Thus He reminded them that the Father sealed Him with the Holy Spirit as their Messiah sent from Heaven, thereby endorsing Him as God's own Son. In this experience the Christian is like his Lord. We are sealed, then, because we are the children of
the SPIRIT
seals...
“ In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13).
by Lehman Strauss
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THE KING’S BUSINESS
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