Dear Amy,
How can we know for sure that all we are hoping for in eternity is real, and that it will be as promised?
I think I’m just about ready to leave this desert island, and I see a boat on the horizon (yay!), but first let’s look into Ephesians 1 for one last time.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you 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.
― Ephesians 1:13-14
There are some really significant points to note here.
- Are we in or out? We have been included. Most assuredly in! And not on our own merit, as if anyone could come along later and say, there’s been some mistake. No, we have been included in Christ. The power and the glory are his, and we are included, in him.
- We have been marked in him with a seal. When a legal contract used to be signed, both parties would sign and apply a wax seal with the impression of a signet ring, as authentication. The Holy Spirit authenticates us as children of God, the genuine article.
- The Holy Spirit is a deposit, that is part of the greater whole which is to follow, paid immediately, as a foretaste. There is more to come!
- The deposit is a guarantee of what is to come. What is to come is a certainty, and cannot be revoked.
- What is guaranteed is our inheritance. If we are children, then we are heirs⸺heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
- We are God’s possession, bought with a price, and he will never give us up. I am his and he is mine, forever. You too, Amy!
- The prize is our redemption, which is already accomplished, but not yet complete. One day it will be so, and we will shed off all that tires us out and drags us down. How I long for that day!
The Holy Spirit living in us not only proves our adoption by the Lord, but gives us power to live victoriously, a foretaste of what is certain, of what is promised and true. A deposit guaranteeing our inheritance! Now we can truly say this:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
― Ephesians 1:3
Praise him, Amy, for such blessing as this! 🙏