Our Inheritance is Secure & Sure (Part Two)

From the heart of Dr. R. L. Taylor, Th.D., Bible teacher & expositor. Paul writes, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14). Let’s understand that this isn’t saying that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance “until we acquire possession of it.” The original Greek language is, literally, the Holy Spirit is the guarantee “until the redemption of the walk-around” (redemption of God’s own possession). This is a reference to the custom of buying a piece of ground and then going out and walking around it. When you walked around it, you made it yours. That was the sign to everybody else that you had paid the down payment and that this was now your piece of property. That is what Paul says that God has done with us. It is not we who are acquiring possession; it is God. It is He who has walked around us, has marked us out, and given us the down payment, the earnest, the pledge, that He’s going to come again and claim His purchased possession! That possession is our resurrected, glorified body! So Paul is referring here to the resurrection of the body, and in that day, he says, God completes the transaction. He comes to claim the whole thing, all for Himself. What He has begun, He will accomplish. And the guarantee is the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life and mine! The “redemption of God's own possession” refers to the act of God purchasing believers out of the bondage of sin and death through the sacrifice of Jesus, making them His own possession. This redemption is not just a one-time event but a continuous process culminating in the believer's complete redemption from the very presence of sin at the resurrection! Be encouraged!