Ephesians 1:13, commentary and pictures

After hearing the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, people trust and believe in Christ, and after believing they are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. The word of truth is the gospel of salvation, which is Bible truth and present truth. To be sealed is to receive the promised Holy Spirit, who is the earnest and pledge of the inheritance until the redemption of God's purchased possession to the praise of His glory. The seal is the mark of the living God's redemption seen in obedient, faithful keepers of all His commands, and it is God placing His own righteousness upon the receiver, put only upon righteousness and never upon sin. That sealing of God's people must be completed before the four angels loose the four winds.

Hearing Truth and Believing

The word of truth is the gospel of salvation, which is Bible truth and present truth. Hearing that word and believing the gospel brings trust in Christ, and after believing comes sealing with the promised Holy Spirit. The order of experience is fixed: people hear the word of truth and the gospel of salvation, trust and believe in Christ, and after that believing are sealed.

That word of truth is to be presented calmly and soberly in the power of the Spirit. Education separated from this truth lacks a vital religious foundation.

The verse stands in a chapter of repeated assurances of acceptance, rich encouragement, and divine promises to be claimed in their full depth and fullness. It belongs with being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before Him in love, and predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will. It belongs with being made accepted in the Beloved to the praise of the glory of His grace, redeemed through His blood with forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace abounding in all wisdom and prudence, and given to know the mystery of His will to gather together in one all things in Christ in the fulness of times. It belongs with obtaining an inheritance by His purpose to be to the praise of His glory by trusting in Christ, and with having the eyes of understanding enlightened to know the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and the exceeding greatness of His power which He wrought in Christ in raising Him from the dead and setting Him at His own right hand in heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name named both in this world and that to come.

Seal and Promised Inheritance

To be sealed is to receive the promised Holy Spirit after hearing the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and believing in Christ. The Spirit so given is the earnest or pledge of the inheritance until the redemption of God's purchased possession to the praise of His glory. This hearing, believing, and sealing with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ is to be the condition of those placed in churches and institutions who seek God with the whole heart.

The seal is the mark of the living God's redemption, readable by angels though not by human eyes. It is seen in His adopted sons and daughters, whose breaking of God's law is taken away. They wear the wedding garment and show the sign of Christ's cross by being obedient and faithful to all God's commands.

The sealing is God placing His own righteousness upon the receiver, and the seal is put only upon righteousness, never upon sin as if it were righteousness. Therefore the righteousness of God, sought by seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness, must come first as the divinely appointed preparation for receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, for to ask for the gift without such righteousness is to ask God to seal sin for righteousness. The seal is seen in God's character of love manifested in believers, by which they are distinguished from the world and covered with Christ's righteousness. This sealing makes human effort efficient in God's work according to consecrated devotion, by revealing the power of Christ's grace to transform the life.

Through faith and the Spirit's work believers enter vital connection with God, through which they gain lasting knowledge that helps form characters fit for life with the saints. Believing in Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit are bound up with understanding the saving truths of the gospel and receiving its blessings, and through this gift, which is the earnest of the inheritance and a foretaste of heaven's blessedness, believers receive power to become God's children. The earnest is received individually, and being led by the Spirit is evidence that God is truly in a person, leading into humble loving obedience toward a higher holier standard with self merged in Christ. Belief in Christ as a personal Saviour marks the beginning of a devoted life in which influence is placed at God's service and physical, mental, and moral powers continually grow more fit for His work, in obedience to all His commandments.

The purchased possession is humanity bought at infinite cost by God and His Son Jesus Christ. Christ's work for believers gives them title to the immortal inheritance, but the Spirit of God must be within them, for His presence is necessary to reach heaven. Every facility has been placed within their reach to regain first perfection and stand complete in Christ, and God expects them to do their part in that work. The final redemption restores the dominion lost through the first Adam by the second Adam, when the renewed earth freed from sin and sorrow becomes the eternal home of the redeemed.

Those who trust Christ become God's personal property and Christ's purchased possession to do His work on earth. Each keeps personal individuality and responsibility for salvation, the husband not submerged in the wife nor the wife in the husband, while laboring to help one another heavenward, and no man is to interpose between Christ and the soul. By living connection with the Source of strength they are brought into captivity to Jesus Christ, made partakers of the divine nature and clothed with His power, no longer living the common life of selfishness but having Christ living in them with His character reproduced in human nature. The root of selfishness is uprooted, giving tender sympathy for the erring and making it a delight to do all His commandments. This is the possession Christ redeemed when He came as Messiah and broke the enemy's power when Satan seemed to reign in hearts and fill the world with disease and misery, fulfilling prophecy in every detail as announced to the shepherds who found and worshiped Him.

The sealing of God's people by the Holy Spirit must be completed before the four angels loose the four winds. Jesus in pity for the still-unsealed remnant pleads His blood four times before the Father and commissions an angel to fly swiftly to command the four angels to hold until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. Satan seeks to hinder this sealing work, whose message most moves the earnest and devoted.

Sealed Life and Mission

After hearing the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and believing in Christ, believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of the inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession unto the praise of His glory, and this hearing, believing, and sealing with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ should be the condition of those placed in churches and institutions who seek God with the whole heart and to whom He will be a present help in every time of need. Workers entrusted with Christ's work are sealed when Christ gives the Holy Spirit as His own presence as Comforter to abide with them and teach them and to seal their commission to the high and holy work He gives them. What was spoken and given to the twelve disciples in this sealing belongs also to present workers called to do the same work, and only by working under the Holy Spirit's teaching can they acceptably fill their position of trust, standing on the platform of truth instead of uniting with the world.

Hearing the word of truth — the gospel of salvation — and believing in Christ are followed by being sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, and this seal is associated with receiving the light of God to be shared with others. Work done to God's honor and glory bears His seal, and Christ endorses those who do their best, so that as they continue they grow in knowledge and their work improves. Those who hear the gospel of salvation and believe are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the earnest of the inheritance until the redemption of God's purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Being sealed is God setting His seal to the truth by the deep moving of His Holy Spirit, asked for in earnest prayer, making Him a present help and strong Helper who brings much more grace and power in time of need.

The earnest of the inheritance is received individually, and being led by the Spirit of God is evidence that God is truly in a person, leading believers into humble, loving obedience and toward a higher, holier standard, with self merged in Christ. The earnest of the Spirit is a blessing that must be striven for from the very beginning of a meeting and is not gained by merely hearing preaching. It is received by opening the door of the heart to Jesus and receiving Him gladly, which requires confessing sins and depending upon Christ rather than upon the minister. Those who so labor for themselves gain a deeper religious experience, and the success of the meeting depends largely upon this personal work.

Hearing the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and trusting and believing brings salvation of body, soul, and spirit, which is the chief burden of every human being. Those who believe accumulate true riches bringing safety and consolation by laying up treasure in heaven, keeping every entrusted talent in circulation in the work of God on earth and increasing gifts by trading on them. They cannot become rich in heavenly treasure by binding up talents, few or many, in anything God has warned against, nor by hiding gifts in worldly enterprises and uncertain projects or by lavishly investing means in uncertain enterprises. By investing the Lord's money in the cause they help the Saviour to secure His purchased possession, using entrusted means for the advancement and glory of Christ's kingdom by saving the souls for whom the Saviour died.

The ministration of the Holy Spirit promised by Christ in Matthew 28 gives Christian experience, and the earnest of the Spirit of life through Christ is what every soul needs now, just now. This earnest touches the heart with the tender Spirit of God and with the nearness of the Saviour. It leaves no excuse for departing from the faith to give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, so those who follow their own sophistries do so from their own choice in the face of light and evidence. Sincere belief in Christ's personality, though unseen, is viewed by the eye of faith, and Jesus recognizes its real value.