The Spirit as a Pledge
1:21-22 "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge."
Today we focus on the most wonderful thing of all about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer: His role as a down-payment on our inheritance. This truth has the potential of rearranging one’s whole view of things.
We know that there is a great day coming for those in Christ Jesus. There will be a new heavens, a new earth, new bodies, the renewal of all things. There will be no more death or tears or barriers or weakness or curse or pain or sin. (See Rev.21:1–5 and 22:3–5.) We will dwell in full intimacy with Christ as His bride, beholding and enjoying His glory forever. This is our inheritance. Christ has acquired it and when it is time, we will inherit it. The hope of Christianity is not in this present world, but in the world to come. We endure this world in the joy that there is a far greater world coming (see Eph.1:18; 1Peter 1:3–5; Col.1:12; 3:24).
But there are indications in the NT that this state is not just something future that we wait for but also something present that we taste even in our lives here on earth. For instance, in Ephesians 2:6 we are told that God has even now “seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.” This advance-showing of the glories of heaven, this taste-before-it’s-time, this glimpse of heaven before its great cosmic unveiling is, in a sense, the ultimate ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers today. The Bible teaches us that through the Spirit’s work, we have already begun to participate in the reality of heaven.
The Bible tells us that this great work of God to create all things new begins not at the sound of the trumpet on the last day, but actually began at Pentecost when, by the power of His Holy Spirit, God created a new humanity, a new race of men, a new Israel, a new Jerusalem. And now at conversion, for each of us, this great work of creating all things new, this great transition into the state of final glory begins. And the Spirit’s presence and work in our lives is God’s great signal that this work of re-creation has begun in the here and now, and also God’s great guarantee that the rest of our inheritance is on its way. This is what Paul means when he refers to the Spirit as His pledge, His guarantee of what is to come.
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Eph.1:13-14 )
The Holy Spirit is more than just our Helper while we walk through this difficult life. The Holy Spirit is God’s sign of a much better life to come. The Spirit’s work in us - giving us an appetite for the things of Christ, moving us to look to God as our Daddy/Father, creating in us a distaste for sin, filling us with love for our brothers and sisters in Christ - this work is a precursor, a harbinger, a foretaste of a glorious existence that far outshines anything we could ever even imagine in this world. The work that will be done in that day whereby we are made perfect and pure, perfectly loving and completely joyful, when all of our earthly imperfections fall away and we are transformed into a glorious bride prepared for Christ, clean and fully sanctified, holy and blameless, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, this work has already begun! It’s already begun! The work of God making all things new has already begun! We have been partially resurrected! The new birth is the resurrection of our souls by the Holy Spirit’s power. And the process is continuing by the Spirit’s work in us. All this is a sign that the rest of the job will also be completed.
Dear Father, I praise You that in Your love You have lavished upon me treasure beyond imagination in Your blessed Son. And I thank You that You have already begun the work of manifesting that treasure by sending Your Spirit to live in me. I pray that the eyes of my heart may be enlightened, so that I may know what are the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints. I pray that the Spirit’s work would progress in me, making me new like my beloved Savior. And I pray for all Your beloved people, Lord, that You would do the same in them.