And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:13-14 NIV).
Age causes the I-remember-when syndrome to strike most of us. For example, I remember when merchants sold items of value with lifetime guarantees no strings attached. The first time a sales clerk asked if I wanted to buy a guarantee for a mere $30 extra sent a jolt to my personal economic system.
“Why is it necessary to purchase a guarantee if the item is sound and worth my hard earned dollars?” I lamented. “Don’t manufacturers stand by their products anymore?”
Obviously not. And it has gotten much worse—a $30 lifetime guarantee has sky-rocketed to $30 or more per year depending on the value of the purchase and the extent of coverage desired. Although we pay outlandish prices for warranties these days, signed contracts provide very little protection, as those writing them include enough legalese to insure plenty of loopholes to jump through when the need arises.
People once said and believed a man was only as good as his word. That day seems long gone. In our society, lying and cheating are the expected and accepted norm. Nevertheless, the old adage rings true. People are only as good as their word no matter how many legal and binding contracts they sign.
In biblical times, a man made an oath and signed it by giving his shoe to the purchaser in front of witnesses. (Ruth 4:1-9). Even in Abraham’s day, men used symbolism to verify their word. In Genesis chapter 24, Abraham insisted that his servant place his hand under Abraham’s right thigh as a sign of their arrangement. I don’t know what penalty may have been involved in these cases had the person making the vow broken his word. One thing is certain, he would have been looked down upon by his friends and townsmen. Integrity meant something back then.
In Joshua 2:11-13, the prostitute, Rahab, believed the Hebrew God was going to destroy the city and helped Joshua’s spies. For the favor, they promised to spare her life and the lives of anyone who was in her house at the time of their invasion. Chapter six shows that these men were true to their word. Not only had they told Joshua about Rahab and their promise to her, Joshua, himself, saw to it that the promise was kept.
If you studied the book of Genesis with me, you’ll remember that the theme of the study was “Portraits of Christ” in Genesis. The Old Testament is full of such “portraits,” and the event concerning Rahab is a beautiful example.
Look closer at the simile of the Gentile believer and/or the church that Rahab represents. The men promised her deliverance if she complied with tying a scarlet rope from her window. (Many scholars consider Jesus’ blood, shed on the cross for our sins, the scarlet thread that binds the Old and New Testament, and conclude that Rahab’s scarlet rope is symbolic of this.) Rahab’s commission was to tell others that entering her house was their only means of escape from the upcoming and certain destruction (Joshua 2:11-19).
As Christians, Jesus has commissioned us to tell of His offer of redemption—the only hope of escape from the certain destruction of the world.
Jesus said, I am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out [freely], and will find pasture (John 10:9 AMP). . . . I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me (John 14:6 AMP). This is what we are commissioned to tell the world in Matthew 28:18-20. Similar to Rahab’s plea, Paul preached and so must we: So, come out from among [unbelievers], and separate (sever) yourselves from them, says the Lord, and touch not [any] unclean thing; then I will receive you kindly and treat you with favor, And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty (2 Corinthians 6:16-18 AMP).
As the walls surrounding Jericho crumbled, Joshua sent the two spies into Rahab’s house to bring out the woman and all that was there with her (Joshua 6:22-23). Miraculously, the prostitute’s house had not collapsed with the rest of the wall (remember her house built into the city wall). God honored the promise the spies had made in His name. Only Rahab and her family escaped with their lives and their belongings because they trusted the word they had received.
Jesus has promised to return for those who believe and trust in Him according to the Bible’s account of Him. He will appear and claim us, when the Father gives the word. And only those who are found in the “house” of the LORD will be saved. And it shall be that whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord [invoking, adoring, and worshiping the Lord--Christ] shall be saved (Acts 2:21 AMP).
God has giving His word, His guarantee to us regarding our salvation. He has even placed His Holy Spirit in us, as a deposit to seal the agreement.
When I think of a seal, I think of a Notary Public embossment on a legal document. Try as you may, you will never remove that seal, short of completely destroying the document. Likewise, nothing or no one can remove the seal of the Holy Spirit from the believer. Jesus assured us that, And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages. [To all eternity they shall never by any means be destroyed.] And no one is able to snatch them out of My hand. My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater and mightier than all [else]; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father's hand (John 10:28-29 AMP).
God’s guarantees are meant to last for eternity, and cannot be broken, lest He be a liar. God cannot lie or go against His own nature. Knowing this, Paul proclaimed that someday every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is LORD to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:11). In the following verse, Paul continues to exhort his readers to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. Carefully study the implications mentioned in the Amplified Bible: work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).
The guarantee we possess through the blood of Jesus Christ is flawless and contains no statutes of limitations clauses. However as with any great asset, it raises our standards to the point that we want to conduct our lives in a manner worthy of our inheritance. Therefore, let us join Paul in—
Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God's holy people) in the Light. [The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins (Colossians 1:12-14 AMP).