Sealed
“So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard” (Matthew 27:66).
My driver’s license wasn’t yet due to renew, but I received a notice that I needed to renew it early. There is a new Federal ID Act requiring a gold star which makes your license compliant for federal identification purposes, like flying. The last time I flew was in 2019, and the year 2020 didn’t turn out to be conducive to getting a new one or flying. The decision I had to make was to wait until my license expired that summer or do it immediately? Did I really need that gold seal of approval?
Many documents require seals: birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates. The seal marks the document as official. When Jesus died on the cross, the chief priests and Pharisees were aware of His claim to rise again after three days. They didn’t believe Him, but to prevent rumors, they asked Pilate to secure the tomb so no one could steal the body. Pilate provided a guard and told them to make it as secure as they knew how. Matthew says they sealed the stone and set the guard. The chief priest most likely had his seal of authority set on the stone. He was declaring Jesus officially dead. Who would dare to question the authority it represented?
The same thing happened when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den. They laid a stone over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet.
God sent angels to save Daniel within a den marked with a man’s seal. God again sent angels to make null and void a man’s seal declaring Jesus dead. The angels rolled the stone away from the tomb where Jesus lay, and He walked out. It’s in this nullified seal of man that Christ’s resurrection gives us our seal.
To seal is to set a mark on. When we are sealed, God sets His mark on us via the Holy Spirit. The authority of man, even a chief priest or a king, can be broken; but the authority of God cannot.
Ephesians 1:13 says we are “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
Ephesians 4:30 says we are “sealed unto the day of redemption.”
Ranchers brand their cattle to mark those that belong to them, and God marks us, seals us, showing we belong to Him. We are sealed unto the day of redemption. Our redemption will be our resurrection when Jesus breaks man’s seal of death.
Don’t wait until your life’s expiration date. Be sure you are trusting Christ and His resurrection for the Holy Spirit’s seal now.
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Donna shares the treasured truths she has discovered through her words.
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I love thst the authority of God cannot be broken! I’m sealed by Him and for Him because He saud so and nobody can break that seal. Thanks for the good word.