If you've accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, you were included in Christ.
After conversion, if you went on to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, you were sealed, anointed, and filled with the Spirit of God. In this issue, we'll look at the sealing work of the Holy Spirit.
If you’ve been baptized in the Holy Spirit, God stamped you with a seal.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a SEAL, the promised Holy Spirit. –Ephesians 1:13 NIV
Included in Christ by the Word of Truth
The "word of truth" is the Gospel of salvation:
- Jesus prayed for His disciples: "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth" (John 17:17 NIV).
- Paul wrote, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..." (Romans 1:16 NIV).
- James said, God "chose to give us birth through the word of truth" (1:18 NIV).
- Peter explains, "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God" (1 Peter 1:23 NIV).
Trusting in Christ by accepting and believing His Word (Acts 8:14; 1 Thessalonians 2:13) includes us in the Church, the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Marked with a Seal
After heart conversion, there is a second experience the Bible refers to as "the baptism in the Holy Spirit" by which we are sealed as belonging to God.
This seal is the Holy Spirit.
21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. –2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NIV
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. –Ephesians 4:30 NIV
Specifically, according to Ephesians 1:13, this seal is the “promised Holy Spirit,” which Jesus told His disciples of before His ascension:
4... “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” –Acts 1:4b–5 NIV
(See also Luke 24:49; John 14:16–17,26; 15:26; 16:7,13.)
The “gift my Father promised” is the baptism in the Holy Spirit, which is available to all believers (Acts 2:38–39). The seal of the “promised Holy Spirit,” then, is the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
A seal denotes:
- Security (Matthew 27:66; Revelation 20:3)
- Confirmation and approval (John 6:27)
- Ownership (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 4:30; Revelation 7:3-8)
After you believed, were you sealed? If you long to serve Christ with power, ask Jesus to baptize you with the Holy Spirit today.
9“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.11“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
–Luke 11:9-13 NIVNext time, we'll study more about being filled and anointed with the Holy Spirit.
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