Sealed in the Spirit
Updated: 1 day ago
by Dominique Nantambu
Ephesians 1:13-14, Jeremiah 32, Revelation 7
I was in the middle of vacuuming my house some months ago when I heard a voice inside of me say, "sealed in the spirit." I stopped to make a note of it. I knew it was most likely a Bible verse or two God was stirring up in me to study. I'm pretty horrible at it. When I say "it," I mean being disciplined about reading and studying my Bible. I sit here today with no shame in saying that I am not responsible for any of my reading, knowledge, and revelation. Some time ago, I fully came to an understanding that I would never get that right. So I did the only thing I knew; and that was to bring it to the Lord in prayer. I asked that the Lord please lead me and push me to His Word. I confessed my shortcomings, and He has given me everything through His strength and power that my flesh lacked.
I am so humbled and feel so loved by this great blessing that I try my hardest to honor these little words that rise up in me. Often, I am so filled by what I'm led to read and so excited to pass on the word I was given to my friends and family. This day was a little different. Even after I made my note to go read after I was finished cleaning, I still heard that little voice speaking. It said, "you are sealed like that vacuum you are using. The Spirit that is within you is vacuum sealed. It operates in a circular relationship. It exists in a closed off and protected environment." I said to myself, "I have sure enough lost my mind this time." I finished my chores and went to my Bible, ready to go down what I thought was my own crazy rabbit hole.
I emerged an hour later, full of God's Holy Spirit. I continued studying this word over the course of the next few weeks. After those weeks of reading, praying, and writing, I felt compelled to put it all down in one cohesive thought. I must confess that I had to force myself to press through and finish on many days. I just feel compelled to be honest about how flawed I am, that you may know every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning (James 1:17).
After combing through many scriptures on the subject, nothing hit home like Ephesians 1:13-14: "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of His glory.”
I read this passage that first night and was moved to tears. I have been a believer and follower of Jesus Christ my whole life. I was born into a Christian family and went to Christian schools. I have always had a very strong relationship with God. Yet, in recent months, something had shifted into overdrive. Through a series of fasts and much prayer, I had decided to be baptized as an adult. I had recently joined a new church and can truly say that I have been on fire with the Holy Spirit ever since. When I read Ephesians 1 that night, I had no doubt that I believed. I knew that I was included in Christ and was sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. I sat with those words and took in the fact that God had put His Holy Spirit down within me as a deposit to guarantee my inheritance, that I might have salvation and live eternally with Him!
He sealed us with His Spirit until the day that He will redeem us unto Him. We who are His possession to the praise of His glory! I don't know about you, but I've been involved in many transactions involving deposits. In all of these business dealings and contracts that I have seen in this world, I know one thing for sure: there is never any real guarantee. However, if there will ever be a deposit that is secure and a guarantee that is unshakeable, it is one from our Almighty Father! I knew this Holy transaction was one I wanted to be a part of! I felt so loved! What great peace it gave me to meditate on my redemption, on what my heavenly Father had secured for me.
As beautiful and wonderful as this thought was, I knew that you and I will have to walk through this test that is our Earthly life before reaching that great inheritance. I knew that I believed and that I was marked. I knew that I had the seal of the promised Holy Spirit. What I didn't know was what exactly that meant. Before I could think too hard about it, the voice within me told me to go look up every definition of "seal." Through much reading and research, I came to five definitions:
1. A seal is a mark or stamp that is used to authenticate something or someone. It validates who or what it is and often lets you know who it belongs to or where it came from.
2. A seal is used to confirm or make definite a way of doing something. It solidifies the rules, guidelines, and structure of an agreement or relationship.
3. A seal is a tool to keep something secret. It's used in an effort to keep something private, so as not to taint the truth or make vulnerable the innocent.
4. A seal is a coating. It's used to protect an object from being soiled, eroded, or destroyed.
5. Finally, a seal is a method of shutting something or someone off from the outside world. It closes off a vessel airtight, allowing only those things inside the vessel to interact with each other.
After coming to these five set definitions, I took time to meditate on each. Stories and experiences from my own life came up to help me better understand. I also searched through Bible verses related to the definitions and how they manifest in our walk with the Spirit.
I had come to an understanding that this deposit God had made within me was indeed a guarantee of my inheritance. The Holy Spirit was guaranteeing I was marked as a child of God, born again in Christ. The Holy Spirit was guaranteeing and making clear to me the ways of God. The Holy Spirit was guaranteeing His truth was not tainted and that I was not vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. The Holy Spirit was guaranteeing I was coated and my soul would not be eroded, soiled, or destroyed. The Holy Spirit was guaranteeing I was shut off from the outside world and in a constant cycle of communication with Him. My God, what a gift! If I ever really took a dive into all that is the Holy Spirit, I would never stop writing. For these purposes, I'm going to try to keep it succinct and specific to what I was given in those weeks.
Whenever we hear about a seal being placed, I think the immediate vision is that of a stamp, a mark, or a sticker of authentication. Some of us are experts in luxury goods. We do not want anything fake. We want to know it came directly from that fashion house, and we can tell by the way their seal is sewn on whether or not it's the real thing. There are people whose whole job is authenticating luxury goods. They study for years to be able to tell a fake. They can spot if certain characteristics are present or missing. I guess when you boil it all down, they just have a feeling. It's their proximity to and time with what is the real real that truly allows them to spot a fake.
The Holy Spirit works to both authenticate who we are to others and help us to authenticate others for ourselves. The more time we spend in the presence of God (the realest real), the better we will know a fake. The better we will spot a fake in ourselves and in the world. Without the Holy Spirit within us, neither of these things could be done. In Acts 10:44-48, it speaks of a time when Peter was asked to speak to a group of gentiles that he thought he should not be ministering to. However, God spoke to him in a vision and instructed him to go and preach to them. He obeyed God. He preached the gospel to them, and he witnessed them be overcome by the Holy Spirit, and he knew then that he had been wrong and that he could not deny them baptism. Imagine if we tried to go it alone. Even a great man of God is nothing without the Holy Spirit who authenticates!
In our second definition, we see the Holy Spirit confirming His way. He makes certain God's guidelines and structures to this life in Christ. In this world, before we enter into and seal a contract, the rules and regulations have to be agreed upon. Once that contract is sealed, we know those rules and regulations are cemented. There is no going back. In fact, if you do not comply with what is confirmed in a contract, you can be sued or made to pay lots of money. People hire expensive lawyers to pore over every line of a contract for that reason. How merciful is our God to give us His Holy Spirit to confirm for us what no law or commandment ever could for us humans. In Ezekiel 36:27, God says, "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments and do them." We are unable in our own strength to know and follow God's law. It is through The Holy Spirit that we are informed.
That's a term I love that's used so much these days. People often ask, "So what informed your decision?" The Holy Spirit, that's who! God is so loving and merciful He even gave us a checklist, if you will. God says you want to check yourself or your neighbor? Here is a list of fruit you should be producing if you are full of My Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-23 God says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." It is only the Holy Spirit who can confirm!
I look at the third definition of seal and I am moved to tears at the protection of the Holy Spirit. That He would want to keep us secret and untainted. If you are like me and love to watch crime shows (I could probably recite every episode of Law & Order: SVU), then you know that sometimes they have to seal some records. If the victim is a minor or is somehow made vulnerable by others finding out their truth, their file is sealed. Sometimes evidence is sealed in an effort not to taint it. If the truth will prevail, there can be no outside contaminants, whether they be lies or fingerprints. Just like these court cases, God regards our souls. He deposited the Holy Spirit inside of us that we may be protected. If we are full of the Spirit, God's truths cannot be tainted. In God's truth, we build our faith. It is Satan's lies that try to break our faith. However, when our souls are sealed with The Holy Spirit, no truth can be touched by he who seeks to kill, steal, and destroy!
It is when we are tired and overcome by trials that we are most vulnerable to this attack. In Psalm 27:5 it says, "For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in his dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent." In Psalm 31:20 it says, "In the shelter of your presence you hide them from all human intrigues; you keep them safe in your dwelling from accusing tongues." Only the Holy Spirit can keep you in secret!
Being that I am a daughter, granddaughter, and niece of carpenters on both sides of my family, knowing the Holy Spirit as a coating is a familiar definition. I can easily imagine a lacquer of Holy Spirit being poured over my soul. It's funny that I mention that I have all of this carpentry knowledge, and yet when my husband and I were building our first home, I made one of the stupidest decisions ever. I was really, really into all things natural at this point in my life. Anything with chemicals in it I did not want. So when it came time to choose how I wanted to coat my hardwood floors, I told the builders I wanted none at all. You can imagine how they were looking at me. I protested on, adamant that my family of almost five would live our life on these natural wood floors and we would be just fine!
Fast forward about six years later, and these poor floors were done for! They had more nicks and stains than I could count. Parts of the floors were literally eroding away. Thank God we had tile in the bathrooms and kitchen. At that point, I couldn't find a can of polyurethane fast enough. I am so grateful that God thought to coat us in His Holy Spirit, that we may be kept until the day of our redemption.
The Holy Spirit convicts us in our wrongdoing. Every offense we commit slowly erodes and defiles our soul. We must continue to confess our sins in the Spirit daily. We must continue to ask for the power of the Holy Spirit to order our steps that we may not operate outside of His coating, that we may not damage our souls.
Ephesians 4:20-24 says: "That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Verse 30 goes on to say, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." It is only through the Holy Spirit that it is possible for us not to erode our souls.
Through my study, this final definition came to be my favorite. I love imagining being sealed up with the Holy Spirit in a jar! Just the Holy Spirit and me airtight; sealed off from the world. We've all at some point come in contact with something we purchased in a vacuum-sealed bag. We've all at some point used a vacuum and understand that the opening used to dispense the waste has to be airtight for the vacuum to work. The best vacuum seal that I bet most people didn't even realize was one is in breastfeeding. I have spent 15 years of my life breastfeeding my five children, and I can tell you they are sealed tight on that thing. In fact, any breastfeeding mother can tell you that in order to get a suckling baby off of your breast, you have to stick your index finger into the corner of their mouth to allow air in, which breaks the seal so that they will release your breast.
Though it can be painful at times, it is beautiful! Through that vacuum that is created between the baby's mouth and the mother's breast, a circular exchange begins. As the mother's milk flows into the baby's mouth from her milk ducts, the baby's saliva flows back into the mother's milk ducts and some internal tests are performed, so to speak. The mother's body reads the baby's saliva and finds out the needs of the baby. With no audible or physical communication, the mother's body finds out all it needs to know to make the next batch of milk for the baby. It will have the vitamins the baby is deficient in, a higher fat count if needed; it will even have the mother's antibodies in it if it found a virus or bacteria in the baby's saliva. Isn't God the greatest? His designs are perfect. Just as this sealed relationship between the mother and baby is, so is our sealed relationship with the Holy Spirit. Without a word, the Holy Spirit reads our soul.
Sometimes we are in denial about our feelings and heart postures toward a situation, but the Holy Spirit is not! Just like that milk, He will give us exactly what we need to correct it! The Spirit knows everything we need. In Romans 8:26 it says: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans." How great is our God? I am so grateful to be closed off and sealed up in the Holy Spirit.
I came away from all of my study and all of God's goodness still questioning my sanity. Am I crazy to be spending all of my time on this? Is this God really speaking to me? Does God even have all of these definitions for seal, or is it just me? I prayed one night about it and got up the next morning and began to make coffee and unload the dishwasher. I was listening to a sermon on my phone that led me to read Jeremiah. As I read for a whole other reason, on a whole other topic, I was confronted with exactly what I had asked God for.
In Jeremiah 32, the prophet Jeremiah gets a word from God that he is to give to the king of Judah, Zedekiah. The problem was that Jeremiah was already in prison for the last word he had given the king. Even though these words were from God and were true, they had not gone so favorably for the king. Thus, Jeremiah found himself in prison. This was during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah had prophesied the capture of Jerusalem to King Zedekiah. As Jeremiah sat in prison, the Babylonians were in fact besieging the city.
However, God had a new word, and Jeremiah delivered it to the King. The King was to have a family member come to him and ask him to buy His field. It was King Zedekiah's inherited right, as he was next of kin. God instructed the king to go and buy the land, even in the middle of being overtaken by the Babylonians. God gave very specific instructions for King Zedekiah to purchase the field, to sign and seal the deed of purchase, have it authenticated, confirm the terms and conditions of the agreement, have it witnessed, and then put the deed into a clay jar and seal the jar so that it would last a long time.
I read this story and broke into tears. These were God's words defining seal in all the ways that my study had led me to. I thought that that was enough, but it got better. I went on to read that God was having Zedekiah do this as a promise. God was saying that even though you are literally being taken from your land into the hands of the Babylonians, I promise you will one day return to your land. Though they were in the throes of punishment and trial, God took the time to deposit a promise of their return.
In verses 37-41, God says, "I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul."
After I finished this reading, it all became clear that this is an Old Testament foreshadowing of a New Testament promise. Just like that deed of land, so is the Holy Spirit sealed in our earthen vessels. It is our guarantee of our inheritance! This time we did not have to pay the cost. It was bought at a price we had no means of which to pay. God Himself made flesh gave His life and shed His blood so that we may be redeemed! He has guaranteed our inheritance with a deposit of the sealed Holy Spirit. Oh Lord, I pray that we not grieve Him, but have eternal life through Him.
For in Revelation 7, it speaks of a time when those servants of God with the seal on their forehead will be counted. In verses 9-17 it says:
"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
'Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.'
All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:
'Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!'
Then one of the elders asked me, 'These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?'
I answered, 'Sir, you know.'
And he said, 'These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore,
they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'"
Dominique Nantambu
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