The Sealing of the Holy Spirit (1)

Ephesians 1:13b-14 declares the last of eight great riches we have in Christ: After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. The doctrine of “The Sealing of the Holy Spirit” is an extremely important one. It is, in fact, one of the most (if not the most) comforting and irrefutable doctrines in Scripture when it comes to the Christian Believer’s security in Christ. No other doctrine makes the Believer’s security so vivid and undeniable.

The concept of “sealing” is actually quite ancient. In fact, it can be traced back centuries before Christ. Herodotus, the first of the great Greek historians (5th and 6th centuries BC), wrote in his book, History, that ancient man possessed not only his staff but his seal.

The Greek verb for sealed (sphragizo, “to set a seal” or “to “mark with a seal”), comes from a similar word that refers to a signet ring that possess­ed a distinctive mark. There are many illustrations of a seal, both from ancient and modern times. We can see many of these by showing the four pictures sealing gives.

First, sealing pictures Acquisition. By this we mean that first and foremost, sealing paints a legal picture, the completion of a legal transaction. The Ephesian believers understood this since Ephesus was a seaport and supported a large lumber trade. A raft of logs would be brought from the Black Sea and notice sent to the various lumber firms that the raft had arrived. A lumber merchant would come, purchase his timber, and than stamp it with his seal. Usually he would leave his purchase in the harbor, sometimes for several weeks, and would send a trustworthy agent later to identify the master’s seal and take away the purchased property.

This is actually true in more modern times. Beloved pastor Harry Ironside recounted an incident in his own experience here in America around 1930: “I was standing on a high bridge at St. Cloud Minn., watching a lumber jam, and as I saw the men working I said to my friend, ‘Do all these logs belong to one firm?’ ‘Oh, no,’ he said; ‘there are representatives from many different firms working here in the Minnesota woods.’ ‘Well,’ I asked, ‘how on earth can they distinguish between the logs?’ He showed me from the bridge how they were marked, so that when they reached their destination down the river, the various firms would be able to select their own logs.”

The spiritual parallel is that we have been “bought with a price” (I Cor. 6:19‑20), and we have been redeemed by Christ (Eph. 1:7). The indwelling Holy Spirit is now proof of that finished transaction. Again, as Ironside put it, “Though you and I are still tossing about on the waters of this poor scene we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise.”

Second, Sealing pictures Absolute Ownership. The ancients would put their seal on animals and even slaves to prove ownership. In fact, the branding of animals, which we still do today, is thought to have been as early as 2000 B.C. A brand is registered with the particular state in which the owner lives and that brand shows legal ownership. The same is true today of a copyright. The words, “All rights reserved” mean that only the copyright holder is entitled to the benefits of the sale of the book.

This carries over into the spiritual parallel. The in­dwelling Holy Spirit shows that we belong to Christ. “All rights are reserved” to Him; only He is entitled to the benefits of ownership. As II Timothy 2:19 declares, “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His.” We do not belong to ourselves. Man today wants to “pull his own strings,” “be his own boss,” and “do his own thing.” But the believer belongs to the Lord, for He purchased us with His own blood.