P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

SIGNED, SEALED, AND DELIVERED

A sealed agreement is locked in; it can’t be broken. A sealed court record can’t be invaded either. If God reaches down and seals you as His, that’s a pretty good deal, considering how strong and unassailable He is. The book of Ephesians promises us exactly that.

Have you ever felt like, in your own spiritual life, you were on a ravaged battlefield? Perhaps like in Afghanistan right at the conclusion of the main hostilities? Everywhere you look: bomb craters. Ruined buildings. No leadership. No infrastructure. No phones, no food, no beds to sleep in. And in your own walk with the Lord you sense the same kind of helplessness. You feel hungry spiritually, but it seems like your local church has been hit by those laser-guided smart bombs. People are disagreeing with the pastor and with each other. Eight factions are all fighting for control (speaking of Afghanistan.) And you want to cry out to the United Nations of heaven: “God, this is bad! I need some help — and quick! Send some care packages!”

Here in 2004, you’ve got to feel sympathy for Mr. Hamid Karzai. This 44-year-old tribal leader from Afghanistan was selected in Bonn, Germany, to be the country’s interim leader. Now, he’s a bright, articulate gentlemen, but I imagine that his first response was: “Lead what?” What is left in that scarred nation except fallen buildings, ruined cities, and crumpling hopes?

I bring up Mr. Karzai and his desperate optimism for two reasons, really. First of all, that little infant body of believers in Ephesus had to be in pretty much the same difficult straits. The church was brand new; confusion was rampant. False leaders were staking out their own turf and trying to rig the elections. And I’m sure those who had so recently joined the Body of Christ wanted to look up to heaven and cry out: “Help! God, we need some of Your angelic armies to come and give us a hand down here!”

Well, friend, let me tell you: this is exactly what Paul — writing under inspiration — promises to the church of Ephesus . . . and by extension to the church of 2004.

Ever since the events of September 11, 2001, it’s been on the headlines daily. How can we win this war . . . and yet HELP Afghanistan? Hamid Karzai has been very open and forthright about his country’s needs: it’s going to take multiplied billions of humanitarian dollars, coming from the U.S., from Europe, from Asian partners, from next-door Pakistan, from generous people in Iran, from the United Nations . . . and the list goes on. Money, computers, communications gear, food, rebuilt roads, hospitals — it’s a long and expensive Christmas list.

Now, could the world community immediately, with a snap of the fingers, put 50 billion dollars into Karzai’s bank account? Could the UN wave a magic wand and have hospitals and freeways and uncensored television stations in place? Of course not. But how gratifying it must have been for desperate Afghan citizens to see the first planes come in, the first MREs — “meals ready to eat” — arrive by truck, the first piles of blankets for the children. These were deposits, so to speak, with a guarantee of much more.

And now, friend, with grateful hearts, let’s go to the Word of God and read here in Ephesians how God promises the same for us. Yesterday we marveled at how the great expression “IN CHRIST” is repeated several times in this passage. And beginning in verse 13, here it is again:

“And you also were included IN CHRIST, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him WITH A SEAL, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of His glory.”

In the King James, we discover that the Holy Spirit, this “seal,” is called an earnest. Have you ever given a real estate officer “earnest money”? I have, and it’s a tense little moment, because you’re pledging yourself to come up with the rest of the cash later! But you’re buying that house; you’re going for it! And here in this heartwarming passage, God promises His people a very special seal, or protection. Actually, it’s a ProtectOR, a real Person called the Holy Spirit. And His specific function is to guarantee our inheritance as God’s adopted sons and daughters.

The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries for Ephesians, authored so beautifully by Francis Foulkes, uses the same word earnest to describe this heavenly gift of the Holy Spirit.

“The Spirit is the ‘seal’ and ‘earnest’ given them [Christian believers] by God.” He then adds: “In a bargain between two parties the earnest (arrabon — a word that came into Greek from Phoenician traders) was the payment of part, which carried the assurance of full payment being made. The Greek word is used three times in the [Septuagint] of Genesis 38 for a pledge, and significantly the same word is used in modern Greek for an engagement ring.” Isn’t that interesting? And I love his concluding thought: “The Christian’s experience of the Spirit NOW is a foretaste and pledge of what will be his when he fully possesses his God-given inheritance.”

Now friend, try not to allow a certain Motown tune to invade your brain as we read this same pertinent Bible passage, Ephesians 1:13, 14, the way Dr. Eugene Peterson has it in his paraphrase, The Message:

“It’s IN CHRIST” — he’s got it too, notice — “that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourself home free — signed, SEALED, and delivered BY the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.”

We recently spent several weeks studying the Christian message of adoption, and the Bible teaches that it’s the Holy Spirit’s role to take our fragile faith, our uncertainty in this new community of heaven, and solidify or seal us as full-fledged family members. Also to make us sure of our salvation: “A deposit guaranteeing our inheritance,” as we read here in verse 14.

Other texts also point to this clear teaching that the Holy Spirit is the seal of our salvation. Notice II Corinthians 1:22:

“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His SEAL of ownership on us, and put His SPIRIT in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

And just three chapters later, right here in Ephesians, Paul makes the same powerful link again:

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were SEALED for the day of redemption.”

Let me go back to those loaded planes bringing aid into Afghanistan. They bring cheer and hope in two ways, don’t they? First of all, they remind those desperate citizens that the world community is there for them NOW, at this moment. Even more, though, these first gifts, these deposits, are our way of saying: “We’re standing with you LONG-TERM! Your united allies aren’t going to rest until the Taliban forces that nearly destroyed you are completely obliterated. However long it takes. Whatever measures it requires. We’re going to be with you until the victory is total . . . and these first bits of cash, these first crates of sheets and pillows and peanut butter are an expression of that guarantee.”

And it’s the same here. Romans 8:23 talks about how we have “the firstfruits of the Spirit,” and the New International Version text notes for that verse say this:

“The Christian’s possession of the Holy Spirit is not only evidence of his present salvation, but is also a pledge of his future inheritance — and not only a pledge but also the down payment ON that inheritance.”

All through the Bible, a seal is something which locks in assurance. It doesn’t just say, “You are Mine” — it says “You are Mine FOREVER. Count on it. Rejoice in it. Relax in it. Celebrate and proclaim it. Share it everywhere you can.” The book of Revelation, in its mysterious apocalyptic language, talks about God’s faithful saints who are sealed, and theologian Leon Morris, author of the Revelation portion of this Tyndale commentary set, writes:

“The perfect esphragismenon may mean ‘sealed permanently’; God does not go back on His choice.”

Friend, I believe with all my heart that in the closing moments of earth’s history the men and women of God will just be completely locked in to Him. Their confidence in Christ will be supreme, their loyalty unshakeable. God will have taken that spiritual wax, that seal, and clearly marked His followers as being destined for the kingdom. “Sealed in the forehead,” because our belief in Christ, our Redeemer, has been fortified by the Holy Spirit. Here’s a thrilling final observation by Dr. Foulkes in his study of Ephesians:

“In New Testament times certain religious cults followed the practice of having their devotees tattooed with the emblem of the cult, and the initiates were then said to have been sealed. . . . The Jews thought of circumcision as a seal. The Holy Spirit is the Christian’s seal. The experience of the Holy Spirit in his life is the final proof to him, and indeed a demonstration to others, of the genuineness of what he has believed, and provides the inward assurance that he belongs to God as a son.”

And as we’ve been saying, once God accepts you as His son, once He makes a deposit with the adoption agency, He comes back with the family moving van, and He takes you home. You can count on it.