[No date given.]
The object of attaching a seal to any thing is,
- To authenticate it, as when a man signs and seals a deed. Thus, John 6:27, our Lord was sealed, sealed or proved to be the Son of God. 2. To preserve either from inspection, as when a letter or book is sealed, or from violation or injury. The sepulchre was sealed to preserve it from violation. Any person or thing is in the Scriptures said to be sealed when preserved from destruction. 3. To indicate ownership, 2 Tim. 2:19; “having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his,” etc.
So in Revelation the people of God are said to be sealed or marked as belonging to him. See Ezekiel 9:4.
When therefore it is said that God hath sealed us, one or more, or all the above ideas are intended. In some passages one, and in others another, of these ideas is rendered the most prominent. All, however, are included. Those whom God seals, on whom he impresses his seal, he authenticates as his people, he secures from destruction, and he makes them as his own. They are known by that seal to be his. Any man therefore who has the seal of God impressed upon him is thereby proved to be one of his children; he is secure from destruction and is marked as belonging to God, claimed by him as his own.
II. What is the seal of God?
It is the Holy Spirit. His presence in the soul authenticates it as born of God, secures it from apostacy, and marks it as the property of God, the purchase of the Redeemer’s blood. Hence the two expressions, “hath sealed us” and “hath given to us the earnest of the Spirit,” are explanatory, the one of the other.
Any one, therefore, in whom the Holy Ghost dwells, knows thereby and is thereby known by others to be a genuine child of God.
Because the spirituality or holiness induced by the presence of the Spirit is, in its nature, affinity with God; or sonship, in one of the principal senses of that term.
Again he is assured of ultimate salvation. Not that he has no doubts or fears on that point. But he has the grounds of assurance and confidence, greater or less. The Holy Ghost secures the salvation of those in whom he dwells, because he is the purchase of the Redeemer’s death. His continued indwelling is secured by the covenant of grace. And he conveys to the soul, in whom he dwells, this sense of security, because the Scriptures teach that those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells can never perish; because the feelings of which he is the author involve hope, joy, confidence, assurance of the love of God; and because he witnesses with our spirits, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs. That is, by his communion with our spirits he awakens confidence in the fidelity of God just as he awakens the feeling of humility and penitence.
Again, as the different orders of knighthood or nobility among men are indicated by certain badges, so the believer by the indwelling Spirit is marked as belonging to the order of the sons of God. As such they are reverenced and waited on by angels, and as such they know and rejoice in each other as members of the same royal family.
Such being the doctrine on this subject, it follows:—
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That the more distinct the impress of the seal of God is on the soul, the more will it experience of the benefits and blessedness which flow from being thus sealed. Ancient seals sometimes, as now, had figures and sometimes sentences engraved upon them, 2 Tim. 2:19. The figure may be so slightly cut, or so incrusted by foreign substances as to be scarcely distinguishable. The figure, so to speak, on the seal of God is the likeness of Christ. If that image is enstamped on the soul clearly, then all recognize it; but if it be feeble and indistinct, then the soul itself is forced to study it out carefully, and often is at a loss to determine whether it is the seal of God or not; and others are in the same state of suspense. Hence if we would experience the benefits of being sealed, we must grow in grace and in conformity to Christ. There is no peace to the wicked nor to those who live so near to the confines of sin that they cannot tell to which kingdom they belong.
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The whole tendency of this doctrine is to humble, to elevate, to wean from the world, to render us content with our lot, and to induce us to live as becomes the children of God. No matter how poor, how despised or how afflicted a man may be, if he bears on his forehead the seal of God, he is a king and a priest.
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