The sealing of the Holy Spirit is the saturating, and the saturating is the sanctifying. Wherever the sealing saturates, there the sanctifying is. Furthermore, the sanctifying is the transforming. Thus, wherever the sealing of the Holy Spirit reaches, there is sanctification and transformation. For example, when our mind is sealed with the Spirit, it is sanctified and transformed. All the different terms—sealing, sanctifying, and transforming—denote the same thing. When our soul is thoroughly and fully sealed by the Holy Spirit, it will be sanctified and transformed. One day even our body will be sealed with the Spirit. At that time our body will also be sanctified. Our body has not yet been sanctified; that is, it has not yet been transfigured. But on the day of redemption, our body will have been thoroughly sealed with the Holy Spirit. It will be sanctified and transfigured.
Many Christians think that, as long as we are saved, we shall be raptured when the Lord Jesus comes back. This is a very superficial understanding of the Bible. Rapture denotes maturity. No farmer reaps a crop until it reaches maturity. If a crop is still green, the farmer will not reap it. We are God’s crop. Therefore, the time of reaping depends upon maturity. We have seen from 1:13 and 14 that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the redemption of the acquired possession. The sealing of the Holy Spirit in our spirit is with a view to the redemption of our body. The redemption of our body depends upon the spreading of the sealing of the Holy Spirit into our whole being. When this has taken place, a decision can be made concerning the time of the redemption of our body.
The sealing of the Spirit should not be considered something that is once for all. No, it continues to go on in us, spreading throughout our being. The Holy Spirit is moving within us, and His moving is His sealing, sanctifying, and transforming. When will our body be transfigured? This depends upon how much sealing of the Holy Spirit has been taking place within us. The sealing of the Holy Spirit has a great deal to do with the redemption of the body. This implies that the sealing of the Holy Spirit is still taking place, that it is daily saturating our mind, emotion, and will. After a child graduates from elementary school, he is not ready for college. Before he can go to college, he must go to junior high school and then to high school. Likewise, after we are sealed with the Holy Spirit in our spirit, we are not yet ready for the redemption of our body. On the contrary, we need to be sealed in our mind, emotion, and will. In so many things, we still need to be sealed by the Spirit.
We have pointed out that the sealing of the Spirit is the moving of the Spirit within us. We have a living seal in us; it is constantly moving. After the Spirit seals one part of us, He desires to seal another part and then another. He wants to seal every part of our being. Until this is completed, the spreading of the sealing will continue.
I am quite certain that you have never heard that the sealing of the Spirit is still going on. But this fact is implied by the word “unto” in 1:14. We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the redemption of the acquired possession. This sealing will continue unto the day of redemption. Do not take this merely as a doctrine, but apply it to your situation. Are you under the Spirit’s sealing today? Is it still going on within you? We need to have the assurance that the sealing of the Spirit is spreading in our being. When our whole being has been sealed, we shall be ready for the redemption of the body.