“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
-Ephesians 1:13–14
These two verses at the end of a section in Ephesians 1, verse three through 14, is just a blessing, praising God for his salvation in our lives.
Ephesians 1:13–14 Reminds Us Our Faith is in Christ
But why I want to hone in on verse 13 and 14 is because this is one of those clear places in the Bible where we’re reminded that for all who have put your faith in Jesus, in the gospel for your salvation, that’s the language here in the beginning of verse 13, “in him,” and him is talking about Jesus. In Jesus, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you heard the gospel of how you can be saved by grace alone, not through your works, through faith alone in Jesus.
When you heard that and you believed in him, you put your trust in Jesus. At that moment, you were sealed. The language here, just get the language here, sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. What an awesome truth! When you believe the gospel, you weren’t just forgiven of your sin. Yes, that! Praise God for that! But not just forgiven of your sin, in that moment, you were filled with his Holy Spirit, or maybe not even to use the word filled here, you were sealed with his Holy Spirit, who is in you right now and is the guarantee of your inheritance.
Ephesians 1:13–14 Reminds Us of Our Inheritance in Heaven
I’m talking about heaven. I’m talking about eternal life. The Holy Spirit in is a guarantee of your inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. What this means is followers of Jesus, people who’ve placed their faith in Jesus, don’t have to wander around wondering whether or not they’re going to have, or whether or not God will take his spirit away from them, whether or not their inheritance is sure or maybe they won’t receive it. No. You’ve been sealed, Christian, with the promised Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13–14 Reminds Us the Holy Spirit Dwells Inside Us
He dwells inside of you, and he is the guarantee, he’s the deposit of your inheritance to come. And obviously that doesn’t mean, okay, we just go out and live however we want. That’s not the kind of life the spirit leads us to live. The spirit leads us to live however he wants. We have a whole new life. We have transformed desires and thoughts and a transformed will. Everything about us is different and we’re growing more and more and more into the image of Jesus because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
But be encouraged today. I don’t know what you’re walking through that maybe challenging. I want to encourage you, for all who have believed in Jesus. When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of God, and you have an inheritance waiting for you for sure, guaranteed, until the day you acquire possession of it, all to the praise of his glory. God, we praise you for Ephesians 1:13-14. We praise you for the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation.
Ephesians 1:13–14 Praises God for Drawing Us to Faith
We praise you for drawing us to faith in Jesus, for forgiving us of all our sin against you, past, present, and future, for forgiving us of all our sin against you, and for sealing us with your Holy Spirit. Yes to the praise of your glory. All glory be to your name for putting your Holy Spirit inside of us. And for the guarantee we have of eternal life with you, not just now, but forever. That when we die, we will experience an inheritance.
One day we have a resurrected body and a new heaven and a new earth, that we will experience a full inheritance that is beyond what we can imagine in our wildest dreams, all because of your grace in our lives. Yes, God, all to the praise of your glory through our lives. Thank you for the assurance of salvation we have by your promised Holy Spirit in us. In Jesus’ name, we pray, who makes all this possible, in his name we pray, according to Ephesians 1:13–14, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
