We have pointed out that Eph. 1:3-14 can be divided into three sections: the well-speaking of the Father (vv. 3-6), the well-speaking of the Son (vv. 7-12), and the well-speaking of the Spirit (vv. 13-14). God the Father has purposed, God the Son has accomplished what the Father purposed, and God the Spirit is applying what the Son accomplished according to the Father’s purpose. Therefore, the Father purposed, the Son accomplished, and the Spirit applies. In these verses we have a purpose, an accomplishment, and an application. In this message we come to the application.
According to 1:13 and 14, the Spirit’s application is of two aspects: the seal and the pledge, or, as I like to say, the sealing and the pledging. The Spirit’s application is His sealing and His pledging. Actually, the Spirit Himself is both the seal and the pledge. Both the seal of the Spirit and the pledge of the Spirit involve movement within us. Therefore, the seal is actually the sealing, and the pledge, the pledging. Not only is the Spirit a seal upon us, but He is now sealing us. Not only is He a pledge guaranteeing our inheritance, but He is now pledging within us. In this message we shall consider the sealing of the Spirit, and in the next message, the pledging.
When I was young, I heard the Brethren teachers speak about the seal of the Holy Spirit. I also read about this matter. But I never heard about the sealing of the Spirit. The seal is one thing, and the sealing is another. To be sealed with the Holy Spirit means to be marked with the Holy Spirit as a living seal. We have been made God’s inheritance (v. 11). At the time we were saved, God put His Holy Spirit into us as a seal to mark us out, indicating that we belong to God. The Holy Spirit, who is God Himself entering into us, causes us to bear God’s image signified by the seal, thus making us like God. Suppose a brother puts a seal on his Bible. When he does so, his Bible bears the image of the seal. This seal indicates that the Bible belongs to him. Therefore, the seal signifies ownership. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, the Spirit of God sealed us. This signifies that God is our owner and that we belong to Him.
When I was young, I was told strongly that I belonged to God. I was also taught that no matter how much we grieved the Holy Spirit, He would never leave us. Those from the Arminian school of theology, however, disagree with this. Years ago a German mission in China published a booklet concerning the Spirit. One of the pictures in this booklet showed a dove, signifying the Holy Spirit, flying away from a believer who had grieved Him. The Brethren attacked this teaching, saying that after the Holy Spirit has come into us, He never leaves. Their teaching regarding the seal of the Holy Spirit was very strong. They said, “Once the seal has been put on you, it cannot be taken away, no matter what you do.” I agree with the teaching that the Spirit will never leave us. In this matter the Brethren were correct; however, they were too doctrinal.
Every seal has an image. If the seal is square, then the image is also square. The Spirit as the seal of God upon us bears the image of God. This implies that the seal of the Holy Spirit is the expression of God. When you bear the Holy Spirit as the seal of God upon you, you bear the image of God and the expression of God.
When I first read about this in a book by Brother Nee, I was very happy. Not only did I have the seal indicating that God was my owner, but along with this seal I had the image of God. That happiness, however, did not last very long. After a short while, I discovered that I did not actually have the image of God. Yes, the seal of the Spirit was upon me, but I did not have the image. The seal was one thing and I was another. I had the seal upon me, but I did not live a life of the seal.
Whenever we come to know a certain truth or doctrine apart from experience, we shall eventually be troubled by our lack of experience. The doctrine may be very good, but we may have very little experience of it. This causes us to be puzzled, for the Bible says one thing and our experience says another. What we are simply does not correspond with what the Bible says. The Bible says that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. This means that we bear the image, the expression, of God. However, according to our experience, it seems that we do not have the seal or the image. I do not want to be deceived. I am troubled whenever the Bible says one thing and my daily life says another. Later I found the secret in the matter of the seal in 1:13 and 14.
These verses say, “In Whom you also, hearing the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in Whom also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, Who is the pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of the acquired possession to the praise of His glory.” The word “unto” in verse 14 means a great deal. We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the redemption of the acquired possession. We are God’s acquired possession, and the redemption of the acquired possession is the redemption, the transfiguration, of our body. By this we see that the seal of the Holy Spirit is for the redemption of our body. We were sealed with the Holy Spirit with a view to this redemption. One translation says, “You were sealed with the Holy Spirit given to the redemption.” This is an even stronger expression.
The seal of the Spirit is not a once-for-all matter. Rather, the sealing is still taking place. The seal was put in us when we believed, but the sealing has been going on from that time until now. The Holy Spirit is the seal and also the sealing. He is still sealing us. We were sealed and we are still being sealed.
Many of us can testify from experience that when we believed in the Lord Jesus, we realized that we had been sealed in our spirit. However, in our mind, emotion, and will there was no sealing. At the time we believed in the Lord Jesus, the Spirit came into our spirit and sealed us there. For this reason the Bible says that we were sealed. However, not every part of our being was sealed, but just one part, our spirit. For a long time after we were saved, there continued to be no sealing in our mind, emotion, or will. But Ephesians 1 says that we were sealed unto redemption. We have pointed out that the word “unto” means “resulting in” or “with a view to.” Therefore, the sealing in our spirit is with a view to the redemption of our body. This implies that the sealing is spreading within us. It begins in our spirit and it is spreading into our mind, emotion, and will. Because the sealing is spreading into our mind, the New Testament speaks about the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2). The renewing of the mind is the spreading of the sealing of the Spirit into our mind. The sealing of the Spirit must saturate our mind.
Not many Christians have seen that the sealing is still going on, that it is not once for all. No doubt, the Spirit comes into us once for all, but the sealing of the Spirit is a continuing process. In this matter we should care not merely for doctrine, but also for experience. Check to see whether your experience corresponds with the doctrine.
At the time of regeneration, the seal of the Spirit was put into our spirit, and the sealing began within us, with a view to the redemption of our body. This indicates that one day even our body will be sealed with the Spirit. Our body will be saturated with the Holy Spirit.
We have seen that the seal of the Spirit bears the image of God. When we repent, confess, and pray in our spirit, we bear the image of God. At such times others can see God’s image upon us. But if we begin to argue with others over teachings, it will become apparent that our mind does not bear the image of God. When we pray in the spirit, we bear the image, but when we argue in the mind, we do not. At that time our mind does not bear anything of the Spirit. Furthermore, in arguing over doctrine you may become angry, but there is nothing of the image of God in your emotion. This indicates that the sealing of the Spirit has not yet spread into your emotion. Eventually, you may become so angry with a brother over doctrine that you decide to no longer fellowship with him. You cut him off because, in your opinion, the doctrine he teaches is wrong. You exercise your strong will to terminate the fellowship with this brother. But in your will there is no evidence of the sealing of the Spirit. Therefore, in your whole soul — mind, emotion, and will — there is no trace of God’s image. Although you have the sealing of the Spirit in your spirit, you do not have the sealing in your soul.
It is difficult for the sealing of the Holy Spirit to spread into our troublesome mind. It is even more difficult for it to spread into our stubborn will. With many believers, the struggle of the sealing of the Spirit to get into the mind, emotion, and will lasts a long time. If you consider your experience, you will see that for years there has been a struggle over this matter. The sealing of the Holy Spirit has been struggling to get into your mind, emotion, and will. Even today we must admit that probably our soul still has not been thoroughly saturated. Even if our soul has been saturated, our body has not yet been sealed, for on it there is no sign of God’s appearance, nor any expression of His image. Nevertheless, the sealing of the Holy Spirit is still going on and it will continue to go on until the redemption of our body.
The sealing of the Holy Spirit is the saturating, and the saturating is the sanctifying. Wherever the sealing saturates, there the sanctifying is. Furthermore, the sanctifying is the transforming. Thus, wherever the sealing of the Holy Spirit reaches, there is sanctification and transformation. For example, when our mind is sealed with the Spirit, it is sanctified and transformed. All the different terms — sealing, sanctifying, and transforming — denote the same thing. When our soul is thoroughly and fully sealed by the Holy Spirit, it will be sanctified and transformed. One day even our body will be sealed with the Spirit. At that time our body will also be sanctified. Our body has not yet been sanctified; that is, it has not yet been transfigured. But on the day of redemption, our body will have been thoroughly sealed with the Holy Spirit. It will be sanctified and transfigured.
Many Christians think that, as long as we are saved, we shall be raptured when the Lord Jesus comes back. This is a very superficial understanding of the Bible. Rapture denotes maturity. No farmer reaps a crop until it reaches maturity. If a crop is still green, the farmer will not reap it. We are God’s crop. Therefore, the time of reaping depends upon maturity. We have seen from 1:13 and 14 that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the redemption of the acquired possession. The sealing of the Holy Spirit in our spirit is with a view to the redemption of our body. The redemption of our body depends upon the spreading of the sealing of the Holy Spirit into our whole being. When this has taken place, a decision can be made concerning the time of the redemption of our body.
The sealing of the Spirit should not be considered something that is once for all. No, it continues to go on in us, spreading throughout our being. The Holy Spirit is moving within us, and His moving is His sealing, sanctifying, and transforming. When will our body be transfigured? This depends upon how much sealing of the Holy Spirit has been taking place within us. The sealing of the Holy Spirit has a great deal to do with the redemption of the body. This implies that the sealing of the Holy Spirit is still taking place, that it is daily saturating our mind, emotion, and will. After a child graduates from elementary school, he is not ready for college. Before he can go to college, he must go to junior high school and then to high school. Likewise, after we are sealed with the Holy Spirit in our spirit, we are not yet ready for the redemption of our body. On the contrary, we need to be sealed in our mind, emotion, and will. In so many things, we still need to be sealed by the Spirit.
We have pointed out that the sealing of the Spirit is the moving of the Spirit within us. We have a living seal in us; it is constantly moving. After the Spirit seals one part of us, He desires to seal another part and then another. He wants to seal every part of our being. Until this is completed, the spreading of the sealing will continue.
I am quite certain that you have never heard that the sealing of the Spirit is still going on. But this fact is implied by the word “unto” in 1:14. We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the redemption of the acquired possession. This sealing will continue unto the day of redemption. Do not take this merely as a doctrine, but apply it to your situation. Are you under the Spirit’s sealing today? Is it still going on within you? We need to have the assurance that the sealing of the Spirit is spreading in our being. When our whole being has been sealed, we shall be ready for the redemption of the body.
