THAT HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE

In this chapter we have a beautiful three-stanza chorus of praise to the triune God who are all involved in our great salvation.

The Father purposed that He would bless us with all spiritual blessings, not the least of which is that all who are in Christ will stand before Him holy and without blame, and be revealed as responsible adult sons. We are accepted into this great standing because of the glory of His grace and our identification with His beloved Son.

The Son occupies the second stanza and we learn that in Him we have redemption through His blood, forgiveness of sins, and the revelation of the future victory when all things will be drawn together in Him. What a grand prospect awaits His Son and will be seen as praise to the glory of His grace.

The Spirit is the focus of the third stanza. There are two things attributed to the Spirit both of which have to do with the future, for it is the Spirit of promise who provides the security of the future to all who are purchased by the blood of the Son.

The first aspect of our security is seen in the fact of being sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. This sealing is the guarantee that we shall be delivered safe on the shores of Heaven and this seal cannot be broken. Victory is ours and the sure promise of the future is ours for we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

The second aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit with us is the reality of the guarantee of the future inheritance. The Holy Spirit is the security deposit toward all that will be ours in the glorious future spoken of in this hymn of praise. One day we who have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb will enjoy the fullness of our complete redemption. We rejoice, having been delivered from so great a death, 2 Cor. 1.10. We also rejoice in our daily deliverance because of the power of the resurrected Christ. But we look confidently toward the future deliverance because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

What a full salvation we have! It was planned by the Father, executed by the Son and secured by the ‘Holy Spirit of promise’!