In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1.13-14
Some years ago now, I received a legal document which made over to me some inheritance from a distant relation on my father’s side. I had no idea what this would be except that it would be money, but I had no idea how much because of the complexities of the relationships. In the event, I received nothing, for there was nothing to pass on! I lived in hope when I thought of it but it came to nothing and the legal document was meaningless if there was nothing to inherit.
Our passage today speaks powerfully about certainty, something which is often illusive in our lives. We often trust in things that are anything but certain, although promises often give us some sense of security. For example, something expensive you buy comes with a guarantee so you know that everything should be fine until you find that it breaks or goes wrong just after the guarantee runs out!
How different things are in the spiritual realm and particularly in gospel and salvation terms.
Here we are promised, and it is a promise from God and therefore cannot be reneged upon and cannot run out, an absolutely cast iron guarantee namely the gift of the Holy Spirit.
As a believer, you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believing in Christ, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
What a guarantee! A guarantee that makes your inheritance sure and doubly sure.
And yet….
There are many things that life throws at us while we wait to acquire possession of it which have the potential to blow us off course. What do we do in such trials? There is surely only one sure way of standing firm and that is to come back to the guarantee, totally trustworthy, totally secure for it is none other than the Holy Spirit.
When we do this, then we shall be living to the praise of his (Christ’s) glory which is the purpose for which we have been called out of darkness into his marvellous light. 1 Peter 2.9
May God give each of us the power to live like that today.