BROADCASTS.com

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you 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\u2019s possession\u2014to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:13-14)

We continue our reflections on the Holy Spirit rooted in these words from Ephesians 1 relaying that the Holy Spirit is a seal and \u2018a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God\u2019s possession.\u2019

You might have noticed in the text, Paul says, \u2018the promised Holy Spirit.\u2019 He is indicating that before Jesus came God made a promise that the Spirit would come. There is something important to consider regarding this. Before Jesus came, the Holy Spirit only descended upon certain people and rarely remain on them. He was kind of flighty if you will.

The clearest illustration of this is in Numbers 11, in which Moses complains about his difficult and lonely job of leading Israel. God responds by taking some of the \u201cSpirit\u201d that is on him and giving it to 70 elders. When they received the Spirit, \u201cthey prophesied, but did not do so again\u201d (25). It appears to be a temporary filling of the Spirit.

But there is more, two of the appointed elders had not come to the appointed place where this was to take place. They still received the Spirit. Joshua, Israel\u2019s leader in training, tells Moses to rebuke them. In reply, Moses says, \u201cI wish that all the Lord\u2019s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!\u201d (29).

As we journey with Israel through the rest of the Old Testament, we find that this \u2018wish\u2019 of Moses catches hold until finally through Ezekiel God says to all Israel, \u201cAnd I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws\u201d (36:27); and through Joel, \u201cAnd afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days\u201d (2:28-29).

It seems to me that the church has emphasized the words of Joel over the words of Ezekiel. But I think that they need to be held together. We like the spectacular, its flashy. But as Eugene Peterson has reminded the church, the Christian life is \u201ca long obedience in the same direction\u201d. The Corinthian church was splintering at the seems because the Christians were all obsessed with the flashy and spectacular gifts of the Spirit. In response Paul writes, \u201cNow eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way\u201d (12:31).

What is this most excellent way? It is the way of love as explored in the great love chapter. Again, its unfortunate that this chapter is often only heard at weddings. It is great there. But its intention is for the church. We are to live it among ourselves and beyond. It is the way of the Spirit. The Spirit is our director in the \u2018long obedience in the same direction\u2019 of love.

In the confessions of our church, we are taught that, \u201cTo be washed with Christ's blood means that God, by grace, has forgiven my sins because of Christ's blood poured out for me in his sacrifice on the cross. To be washed with Christ's Spirit means that the Holy Spirit has renewed me and set me apart to be a member of Christ so that more and more I become dead to sin and increasingly live a holy and blameless life\u201d (Heidelberg Catechism 70).

This is echoed here, \u201cWe believe that this true faith, produced in us by the hearing of God's Word and by the work of the Holy Spirit, regenerates us and makes us new creatures, causing us to live a new life and freeing us from the slavery of sin\u201d (Belgic Confession 24).

Moses\u2019 wish became reality at Pentecost and remains the way of things today. The Spirit has no intention of being flashy, but rather, as Ezekiel said, \u2018to move us to follow God\u2019s decrees and be careful to keep his laws.\u2019

To this end we are sealed with the Spirit. Despite regular setbacks, the Spirit will prevail. We hope not in ourselves but in the Holy Spirit.