Promises - Signed, Sealed, Delivered

I am happy to know that my whole family likes music from the 60’s and 70’s. We have the Dennis Family Playlists that contain a lot of classics. One of the tracks on the 70’s playlist is Stevie Wonders’ number one hit Signed, Sealed, Delivered. The track has a chorus that says,

Here I am, baby,  Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours
(You got my future in your hands)

There are very few things in this world that are sealed, forever protected and preserved.

We try to mark -stamp – sign – lock down things to indicate permanence or finality. Sadly, we have all seen things that were intended to last forever break down over time, crumble against a stronger force, or be overturned. That’s because the seal of man can only protect so long. But God promises that when He seals something – it stays sealed.

When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. (Eph 1:13 English Standard Version)

It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. (Eph 1:13 The Message)

In these two versions of the same passage, one from the ESV and the second from a more contemporary language version, God uses a word (sphragizō) that means to set His seal upon you. You have this sign or mark on your heart that shows the spiritual realm that you are His. It has a sense of keeping you and even hiding you away to keep you safe for eternity. And you and I that have put our faith in Christ are forever saved. It is not a seal that can be broken because it is the Holy Spirit’s presence in you who has both placed it and actively keeps it there.

Some may fear that they can lose their salvation from day to day or in rounds of sin and confession. I don’t see that the bible says that. The bible does say that we need to repent of sin and grow. But there is a finality or permanence to the work of Christ in you. Jesus went further to reassure His followers by saying that nothing; no man or spiritual force can take us from Him.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30 English Standard Version)

My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get them away from him. I and the Father are one heart and mind.” (John 10:27-30 The Message)

I find this very comforting. It doesn’t mean that I have this magic Get Out of HELL card. That wouldn’t be faith that leads to repentence. What it means is that I have relationship with my savior. I know and follow Him because I know Him as my shepherd, my protector, my leader. He knows me.

When we spend time with Jesus, we get to know His voice in more and more detail. We become attuned at discerning His voice from the other noises, messages, and competing voices around us. I don’t follow other shepherds or teachers because their voice isn’t the one I know. They aren’t the calls of my shepherd. And praise God that when we are not focusing on Him and start to wander off, He is quick to calls us back.

“During World War I, some soldiers tried to steal a flock of sheep from a hillside near Jerusalem. The sleeping shepherd awoke to find his flock being driven off. He couldn’t recapture them by force, so he called out to his flock with his distinctive call. The sheep listened, and returned to their rightful owner. The soldiers couldn’t stop the sheep from returning to their shepherd’s voice.”

If you have believe upon His name and follow His voice, you are His forever and “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38)