AND grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Eph. 4:30.
By this text we see that there is a sealing work for every one who is a child of God; that the Holy Spirit is the agent by which this work is to be accomplished, and that there is danger of so treating this agent that the sealing work will be defeated by the loss of the presence of the power which alone can perform the work.
God can not set His seal upon sin; hence, none but the overcomer can receive the seal of the living God. We grieve the Holy Spirit when we do not, under His direction, diligently prosecute the work of cleansing our hearts and lives from sin.
“Sin is the transgression of the law.” Hence, a full and complete knowledge of the law is necessary to the work of complete overcoming, “for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
The Sealed Company Is Seen.
In Rev. 14:12, a company is brought to view of whom it is stated, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God.” A people thus perfectly obedient to God must have His seal. The sealing of this company is brought to view in Revelation 7, where the statement is made that there are sealed 144,000 out of all the tribes of the children of Israel. That this is the true, or spiritual, Israel is apparent from the fact that in the list of names given there are omitted the names of the tribes of Ephraim and Dan because they were the seats of idolatry in Israel, and God was compelled, finally, to say of at least one of them, “Let him alone,” for he “is joined to idols.”
Also it will be observed that this sealing work of Revelation 7 falls under the description of the sixth seal, which is given in the closing verses of the sixth chapter, the events of which are closely associated with the coming of our Lord. Thus this work is placed in our day.
This company having the seal of the living God in their foreheads is again brought to view in the first verses of Revelation 14, where it is stated that they have the name of the Father written in their foreheads.
God’s Name and Character.
God’s name is His character. “And Jehovah descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah. And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth; keeping loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty.” Ex. 34:5-7. The forehead is the seat of intelligence, or the mind. Thus, the members of this company have the character of God impressed upon their minds, and whatever is in the mind or heart will find expression in the life.
But has God an outward sign of this inward sealing which He requires those who are sealed to keep in full view before the world, and which will be at once both the sign of this sealing work and also of His power and authority, and, if so, where is it brought to view?
Where the Seal Is Found.
The seal of a government will always be found in connection with the laws it enacts. This seal must contain the name or distinctive title of the power, and also define the territory over which it has jurisdiction. This must also be true of God’s seal; hence, we read, “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among My disciples.” This text not only proves that the seal is found in God’s law, but it also proves that the law has been robbed of its seal among His disciples,—not robbed, in fact, for the same seal stands to-day, and always will stand where God placed it in His law; but, in the minds, and, consequently, in the practise of His people,
the true seal has been taken away, and in this text He calls for its restoration among them.
Let us now turn to His law, and see if we can find in it something which constitutes a sign of the true God which will set forth the distinguishing title of Jehovah, and which marks out the extent of His jurisdiction, and which has been lost sight of by His children.
The Seal of God’s Law.
And now, my dear reader, take that law which God spake with His own voice from the top of Mount Sinai and wrote with His own finger upon two tables of stone, and caused to be placed under the guardianship of the covering cherubim which stood on either end of the ark, which was simply an earthly representation of God’s throne in heaven, and you will find in the following words, and in them only, the descriptive title of Jehovah:
“For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
A study of God’s word will reveal the fact that whenever Bible writers have desired to point out the true God, and clearly distinguish Him from all false gods, they have used the language of the fourth commandment or something equivalent to it. Here, then, in the fourth commandment, we find the name of God (Jehovah); the extent of His territory (heaven and earth, sea, and all that in them is). Here we find the very elements which are required in a seal; to wit, the name and territory. Hence, here we have the seal of the living God, the outward sign of which is the Sabbath (the seventh day), blessed and sanctified as God’s memorial, but which has been lost sight of for generations by the people of God, but is being restored to its rightful place by the third angel’s message, under which it is said,7“Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
O, child of God, let us hasten to acquire the character of our Father; thus, we will have His name written in our foreheads, and when thus made holy we shall be able to fulfil the requirements of the fourth commandment which says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” None but a holy people can do this, but such a people there will be, hailing the Master with joy when He appears.