Sealed with the Promised Holy Spirit
One of the things that I have never been able to wrap my mind around is people who look at babies and say things like, “Oh my goodness, he has your nose!” or maybe, “Wow, she has grandma’s eyes!” I just really cannot understand how people can look at the beautiful, precious “potato” of a baby in front of them and discern all of the various features that the baby has and who they came from. I think I am just not gifted in this way. I have a really hard time recognizing these characteristics and attributing them to where they come from. I love babies, and I think they are so precious, but their eyes look like eyes to me. I am incapable of recognizing that they came from someone in their ancestry.
Fortunately for us, much as a baby bears the features and marks of their parents, we, who are the Lord’s, bear the mark of our Creator and Father. The difference is that there is no question or room for confusion if you bear the Creator’s mark. Our passage for today is Ephesians 1:13, which says: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” When we belong to the Lord, we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
In the ancient world, a seal was massively important in communicating ownership or validating the authority behind something. A letter would be sealed with hot wax and then imprinted with the seal of a king or lord that had sent the letter. This was to let the receiver know from whom the letter was sent and that it had not been seen by anyone but the intended audience.
Paul is using language here that his audience at the time would be very familiar with. What is being communicated in this passage is that at the moment of salvation, a believer is sent a helper, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, being part of the Triune God, helps a servant of the Lord in many ways, but specifically today, we focus on His sealing of our salvation. By sealing us with the promised Holy Spirit, we have been stamped with the image of God. We have the Maker’s mark imprinted on our souls. We have been given the unmistakable feature of God Almighty. We belong to no one else but our Heavenly Father. Until the day of redemption, when we will receive our full inheritance, we are sealed by the Spirit, guaranteeing that we are the Lord’s and that our salvation will never be taken from us.
Today, reflect on how beautiful it is that God leaves an imprint of Himself on us. He has given us the ability to have peace because we are His. We can rest in the knowledge that no matter how chaotic and painful this world may get, we are only here for a short time. One day, we will go home to be with our Father. We are sealed. We are His. Our future is certain.