Assurance

"[A]fter that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption" - Ephesians 1:13b-14a

Anyone in business knows of earnest money. It is something tangible paid to the seller for assurance.

The buyer is assured full payment is coming, the seller is assured the product won't be sold to someone else.

Businessmen have used this system for years, even in bible times. Ephesian believers were told God, too, uses this method of assurance.

How could they, personally, know God's would give them salvation in the future? He would give them the Holy Spirit now.

This tells us at least two (2) things:

1) God wants us to be assured we have a place in heaven - that we won't be left behind when Jesus comes back;

2) Having the Holy Spirit is something which can be known. After all, what businessman would accept earnest money he could not know if he had or not.

- fritz