Ephesians: Tear Down These WallsSample

Have you ever noticed how some people tend to leave the sticker on their New Era snap-back caps? 

It’s not so much that the sticker looks cool, it’s a sign of authenticity. This hat is no fake. It’s the real deal. 

We bought our kids some caps recently and wrote their names on the inside so that everyone knew who they belonged to. They had a sign of authenticity and a sign of ownership on them!

In a similar way, the Holy Spirit is given to us as a sign or seal of authenticity and ownership.

We learn two profound things about the Holy Spirit in these verses.

First, the Spirit is God’s seal (1:13). God has given us his Spirit as an identifying marker that we belong to him. 

The image here is either that of a wax seal or a branding fork. 

The wax seal was an identifying mark pressed into wax to verify the ownership and authenticity of a letter. 

The branding fork was used to mark cattle or slaves to identify them and prevent theft. 

Of course, these seals were external. Ours is internal. God’s gift of the Spirit is his way of saying, “You belong to me!” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, Romans 8:9). 

Second, the Spirit is God’s guarantee or deposit (1:14). The Holy Spirit is God’s first instalment or down-payment on future glory. 

In the same way that we pay a deposit on a house purchase to guarantee we will pay the rest, Gods’ gift of the Spirit is his guarantee that he will bring us to glory. But the gift of the Spirit is also a foretaste of the future. He is the down-payment of the presence of God that we taste now, but will fully enjoy then!

You have both present significance and future hope. Your significance is that you belong to God. Your hope is that you have a rich inheritance awaiting you.