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I. GOD HATH SEALED US BY HIS SPIRIT. Seals are employed —

1. To authenticate a document or confirm it as genuine (1 Kings 21:8; Esther 3:12). So by the Spirit the believer has the assurance that he is a genuine disciple of Christ (Romans 8:16). The Christian knows that the Holy Ghost has been exerting His agency within him when he perceives that the fruit of the Spirit has begun to make its appearance in him.

2. As a mark to distinguish property. We have something like it in the trade marks of the manufacturer, and in the broad arrow, which indicates that the thing so stamped is the property of the Government. In ancient times the servants, cattle, and goods of a rich man were distinguished by his seal. In like manner believers are recognised as the property of God by the seal of the Spirit. And, as sometimes a seal has an obverse and reverse side, so is it in the case of believers. On the hidden side, visible only to Jehovah, is — "The Lord knoweth them that are His"; on the other side, where all men may read it, there is — "Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." When the coinage of a country has worn thin and light, so that no one can See the image or superscription, it is called in, reminted, and sent forth anew, with a distinct impression from the original die. And so, when our Christian characters are rubbed down by the abrasion of the world to such an extent that the image of the Lord in us has been well-nigh effaced, there is need to submit to the reminting of the Holy Spirit, that we may come forth anew and bear unmistakable witness to Christ's property in us.

3. As a means of security. Thus the stone laid at the mouth of the den into which Daniel was thrust was sealed with the king's signet, etc.; and when Jesus was laid in the grave the Jews made the sepulchre sure, "sealing the stone and setting a watch." In like manner believers are kept secure in the world by the seal of the Spirit. The reference here is not to God's almighty protection, nor to the ordering of His all-wise providence, but to the characteristics and habits which are acquired by the believer through the grace of the Holy Ghost. The Christian's graces are his armour also. Our security is perfect, and yet it is not without our own exertions, for" it is effected by the constant manifestation by us of the qualities which are formed and fostered in us by the Holy Ghost.

II. GOD HATH GIVEN US THE EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT. The term is borrowed from a custom in connection with the transfer of property, when the buyer received a small instalment at once as a sample of it, and as a pledge of full delivery. So, when the Spirit in our hearts is styled an earnest, we have implied —

1. That the fruit of the Spirit which we here enjoy is the same in kind with the blessedness of heaven.

2. That the fruit of the Spirit is a pledge that the full inheritance of heaven shall yet be ours. "He who hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." This is not quite the same as the security suggested by the seal. That was the pledge that we should be kept for heaven; this is an assurance that heaven shall be ours. Conclusion: I come to-day as the spies came to Kadesh-barnea, with the Eshcol cluster of grapes as a sample of the products of the goodly land which they had been to see. Beware how ye receive our report. Remember what happened to the tribes when they refused to go up and possess the land, and "take heed lest ye fall after the same example of unbelief."

(W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

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KJV: Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

WEB: who also sealed us, and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.