◄ Signed and Sealed ►

In Christ you also, when you HEARD the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and BELIEVED in Jesus, were SEALED with the promised Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13

God has also SEALED us and given us the Spirit as a DOWN-PAYMENT in our hearts.
2Corinthians 1:22

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by Whom you were SEALED for the day of redemption.
Ephesians 4:30

Seal of God

The seal of God whereby we were sealed of the Holy Spirit is the gracious act of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, at the point of saving grace.. whereby God Himself marked (or sealed) every believer with the indwelling Holy Spirit, by giving every Christian the permanently, indwelling Spirit of God, as the pre-payed earnest of our inheritance in Christ – which confirms us as His own purchased possession – bought with the price of the blood of Christ.

Three-Fold Seal

God The Son promised that we would be sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise. God The Father sealed us and gave us the Holy Spirit as an assured down-payment. God, the Holy Spirit, sealed us until the glorious day of full and final redemption. We are sealed, once and forever, with the three-fold seal of the eternal Godhead. Scripture alone provides the truth of the when, where, why, and how of our 'sealing'. 'In Christ you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Jesus, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.' Ephesians 1:13

Down Payment

We are placed into the body of Christ the moment we first trust Jesus as Saviour. First, we had to hear the gospel of truth, for faith comes by hearing the word of God. Then we had to believe the gospel of truth and all who believe in Christ are saved – and through believing in His name we were given the right to become His children. Because we heard and believed we were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. We read in second Corinthians that: 'God the Father has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment in our hearts.' 2 Corinthians 1:22

God’s Grace

It was by God’s grace we are saved and by God’s grace we are sealed. It was God the Father that saved us and the Father that sealed us – through Christ. The Father sealed us and gave us the Spirit to guarantee His finished work in us. He sought us and saved us and sealed us by grace – through faith in Christ. It all comes back to grace.  It all comes back to Christ – for in Him is all grace.

New Creation

But the Spirit is also deeply and wonderfully involved in all aspects of salvation. The moment you believed, the Holy Spirit did a series of works in your life. You were regenerated by the Spirit – born from above and made a new creation in Christ. You were baptised by the Holy Spirit.. i.e. placed into the body of Jesus Christ. You were permanently in-dwelt by the Spirit and you were sealed by Him too.

Day of Redemption

The Spirit was active in the work He did in you and you were completely passive. Every aspect of His work was done at a moment in time by the Spirit – you did nothing. But His work is also non-experiential and has nothing to do with emotion or feeling. And nothing can break His seal or interfere with His sealing work in you.. 'by Whom you were sealed for the day of redemption'. Ephesians 4:30 Oh, that seal is fixed up to the rapture of the Church – our day of full and final redemption.

Guaranteed Pledge

The indwelling Spirit Himself is a pledge; an earnest; a guaranteed pre-payment from God. He is our guarantee that God will finish the work in us – to that day of redemption. He is the down-payment of our inheritance, which is given by God to guarantee our full salvation.

Purchase Price

The purchase price of the life of every believer was the perfect life of the Lord Jesus. He bought us with His blood for He was the only purchase price for you and for me. We were bought with a price and we are now His precious, purchase possession. And God’s indwelling Spirit is our guarantee that His promise will transpire – and the final delivery of God’s purchased possession is at the rapture or at the resurrection of the dead.

Purchase Possession

You and I and all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are His purchased possession. We are those who accept Christ as their only hope for deliverance from sin and death. The Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance – to the praise and the glory of God. This supernatural sealing by the Spirit is a categorical Scriptural truth. This special sealing is found in Ephesians 1:3-14; Ephesians 4:30; and 2 Corinthians 1:32

FIRST

God the Father is the warrant that seals the believer, the moment he believes, and He has placed an unbreakable seal upon our lives and given up the indwelling Holy Spirit as the promissory down-payment that His purchase possession is secure in Christ, until the Lord returns to take us to be with Himself.

SECOND

You are securely sealed by God, and with God, from the moment you believe. Some erroneously think that being sealed is an emotional feeling, some physical event or spiritual 'experience', without which they remain second class Christians and which is often 'experienced' through unscriptural, self-induced, auto-suggestion. But this is a man-made deception, and spiritual abuse, which places believers under bondage. But like the baptism of the Spirit, it is a completed work of the Spirit at the moment of rebirth.

THIRD

The Holy Spirit Himself is the seal for every believer, not just a few. Oh, we can grieve the Holy Spirit when we live a life that is not pleasing to God – and Paul calls it quenching the Spirit in our lives and he chastises the Corinthians Christians for living carnal lives which quench the work of the Spirit within us. The carnal believers at Corinth were rebuked and had to be reminded that they were sealed by the Spirit, Who lives in them, while those in Ephesus were reminded not to quench the Spirit 'by Whom ye were sealed'.

Guaranteed Security

The primary purpose of the sealing is the guaranteed security of the believer. God gives the seal. The believer is sealed. The Holy Spirit is the seal. God’s seal is an expression of the certainty and genuineness of God’s Word. God’s seal is an expression of our certain deliverance from the Law. God’s seal is an expression of our certain deliverance from sin and death.

Seal of Certainty

God’s seal is an expression of the certainty of our protection from evil. God’s seal is an expression of the certainty of our promised inheritance. God’s seal is an expression of the certainty of His ownership of our lives, for we are His purchased possession – bought with the blood of Jesus Christ – Who bought us with His own blood... Who bore our sins in His own body and Who redeemed us from the curse of the law and became our purchase price.

Blood of Christ

The seal of God, whereby we were sealed of the Holy Spirit, is the gracious act of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, at the point of saving grace whereby God Himself marked or sealed every believer with the indwelling Holy Spirit, by giving every Christian the permanently, indwelling Spirit of God as the pre-payed earnest of our inheritance in Christ – and which confirms us as His own purchased possession – bought with the price of the blood of Christ.