IN THE BEGINNING…THE WORD
DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR TODAY, AUGUST 10, 2011
THE PROMISED SEAL
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also after that ye believed, YOU WERE SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE, who is the earnest (guarantee) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians1:13,14).
I Promise. That is what God must have told Jesus. I Promise. For Jesus told his disciples to go and wait for “the promise of his Father.” We see Jesus instructing his disciples before he was taken up out of their sight: “And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem , but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:4, 5). This promised gift of the Holy Ghost was just what the disciples needed. For even though our Lord and Savior departed the earth, we are comforted by the Comforter , He bearing witness that He is with us always, “even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus said, “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” ( see Acts 1:8). Jesus must have felt comforted by knowing that His Father promised to provide the Holy Spirit for His Church, His Bride. Yes, the Holy Spirit is our Comforter, our Power to Witness. But we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory because the Holy Spirit is our Seal-- for we are sealed, “having an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you”(I Peter 1:4). “We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”( I Peter 1:5). We are sealed IN CHRIST--no man can pluck us out of His Hand. Jesus testified (John 10:27,28) before his crucifixion, burial, resurrection and ascension, saying: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." God Promised!
Today, let us rejoice over the Promise of the Father!
