We have had before us the endowment of the Spirit in fact and the form in which He was pleased to descend and abide on the Lord Jesus, and on those who had received the remission of sins through faith in His death and resurrection. We also observed certain marked surroundings of the great fact itself, and the contrast presented in the effect produced by the divine presence in the Old Testament (1 Kings 8:22And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. (1 Kings 8:2)) and on the day of Pentecost, when God in His infinite grace was pleased to make the redeemed His habitation. Let us now, as the Lord may be pleased to help us, meditate upon three things which the believer is said to have as the result of the heavenly gift.
First, it is said we are sealed. (See Eph. 1:1313In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (Ephesians 1:13); 2 Cor. 1:21, 2221Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. (2 Corinthians 1:21‑22).) Now it is very clear that persons were and are born of the Spirit, but the Holy Ghost Himself coming down and dwelling in those who had already believed on Jesus, putting them consciously in the place in which He was with God, is quite another thing; it was the immediate result of the perfection of Christ’s work and glory, where there was faith in it, and observe it was no question of experience or a work within, it was the seal of faith, and this sealing gives the intelligence and consciousness of the new position the believer is in before God in virtue of redemption. It has been well put thus—“The sealing of the believer with the Holy Ghost on the ground of his faith in the Person and work of Christ, who has accomplished the work of redemption and sits on the right hand of God, so that he knows the efficacy of that work and his place before God, as a son and in Christ, is a truth as clearly stated in scripture as can possibly be, and constitutes Christianity and the Christian as a present state of things: certainly as to guilt removed, present sonship in divine favor, and joy in hope of the glory of God.”
There is another truth brought before us in the sealing with the Spirit, namely, God taking possession of us as His own, it is the mark of His ownership of us; He puts his signature on what is His. How blessed thus to be His, and to sing—
“Since Thou hast borne sin’s heavy load
My guilty fear is o’er;
Made Thine by virtue of Thy blood,
I’m seal’d for evermore.”
Next let us consider as to anointing, which is also in connection with the Spirit. (See 2 Cor. 1:21, 22.) I would first say that sealing and anointing are, I believe, coincident in a sense, sealing being more personal, and anointing having a more general bearing. It is well said that “Sealing is the act of giving the Spirit. I put a seal on a document, and that is the same idea. The anointing was putting oil on a man’s head, and it is the general fact that the oil is put there; but the sealing is the effect on the individual. If I say at a coronation,
‘The Queen is anointed,’ it is a simple fact; but that fact secures her there as Queen. The anointing is a great deal more than the sealing.” There is another very precious feature of the anointing or unction, and shows how the blessed Lord Jesus Christ has associated us with Himself, for it is His own anointing which is the testimony to our being baptized by the Holy Ghost, “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God” (John 1:33, 3433And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. 34And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. (John 1:33‑34)). It is very blessed to recall our own precious Master’s words, after His baptism and temptation, in the synagogue of Nazareth: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor.” (Luke 4:1818The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18)) Further, we find the word used in reference to the blessed One twice in the Acts, namely, “Thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint” (Acts 4:2727For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, (Acts 4:27)). Again, “Jesus of Nazareth, how that God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power” (Acts 10:3838How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38)).
Oh that our hearts may enter into the blessedness of all this, as it is said: “But ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:2020But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. (1 John 2:20)); and “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:2727But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:27)).
Condensed Notes of an Address, No. 4.