May 13

"The Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption." Ephesians 4;30

The believer will never lose the sealing of the Spirit. The impression of God's pardoning love, made upon the heart by the Holy Spirit, is never entirely effaced. We do not say that there are no moments when the "consolations of God are small" with the believer- when he shall have no severe "fightings within, and fears without," when the experience of the Church shall be his, "I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spoke: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer;"- all this he may experience, and still not lose the sealing of the Spirit. In the midst of it all, yes, in the lowest depth, there shall be the abiding conviction of an interest in God's love, which sustains, animates, and comforts. It will be seen, by reverting to the state of the Church above alluded to, that, although there was the consciousness of her beloved's withdrawment- though he was gone, and she sought him but could not find him, called him but he gave her no answer- yet not for one moment did she lose the impression that He was still her beloved. Here was the glorious triumph of faith, in the hour when all was loneliness, desolation, and joylessness. Here was the sealing of the Spirit which never left her, even though her "beloved had gone." And while not a beam of His beauty glanced upon her soul, nor a note of His voice fell upon her ear, she still could look up and exclaim, "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." Oh mighty power of faith, that can anchor the soul firm on Jesus, in the darkest and wildest tempest!

And this is but the sealing of the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit so deeply impressing on the heart a sense of pardoning love- so firmly establishing it in the faithfulness of God- the finished work of Christ- the stability of the covenant, and the soul's adoption into the one family, that in the gloomiest hour, and under the most trying dispensation, there is that which keeps the soul steady to its center- Jehovah-Jesus. And even should his sun go down behind a mist, he has the sustaining assurance that it will rise upon another world, in peerless, cloudless splendor. O yes! the sealing of the Spirit is a permanent, abiding impression. It is "unto the day of redemption,"- the day when there shall be no more conflict, no more darkness, no more sin. It is not to the day of pardon- for he cannot be more entirely pardoned than he is; it is not to the day of acceptance- for he cannot be more fully accepted than now- no, it is to the glorious "day of redemption"- the day of complete emancipation, longed for by the sons of God, and even sighed for by the "whole creation:" "and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Oh, shout for joy, you sealed of the Lord! You tried and afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted- you who find the wilderness to be but a wilderness, a valley of tears- the way rougher and rougher, narrower and narrower- lift up your heads with joy, the hour of "your redemption draws near," and the "days of your mourning shall be ended." And this is your security- a faithful, covenant-keeping God, "who has also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."