Hebrews Chapter One, Sealed By The Holy Spirit

Herein let us pause a brief moment to reflect on the profound difference between the Old Testament’s filling of the Holy Spirit and the New Testament’s sealing of the Holy Spirit. In numerous instances through the Old Testament we read of the saints being filled with the Holy Spirit in readiness for ministry of various types. But we also read David’s very real fear, expressed in Psalm 51:11, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” Can a believer be cast away? On the surface this verse appears to suggest that. But it is extremely unwise to build doctrine off of a single verse of Scripture. 

We know the Holy Spirit could be taken from the saints prior to the Day of Pentecost and the genesis of Christ’s church. Even our Lord makes the differentiation between epochs when he says, “for He (the Holy Spirit) dwells (present tense) with you and will be in you (future continuous tense),” John 14:17. Jesus referred to a specific future time when the Holy Spirit would no longer dwell “with” them, but “in” them. The future continuous tense indicates that this “being in them” will be a permanent duration for the believer in Christ. Such an assertion is confirmed in John 14:16, when our Lord states that the Holy Spirit will (future tense) abide with believers forever. Such is the believer’s security in this dispensation. Demonic possession, of course, is an impossibility for true believers today because God the Holy Spirit is in us, and we are sealed with Him as a guarantee, Ephesians 1:13, 14, 4:30.

 

But did that mean that such people were cast away in the sense that they suffered the punishment of eternal fire? Saul’s life ended tragically on the field of battle, being chastened unto death for his continual faithlessness to the Lord. He even entreated a woman practicing witchcraft to summon Samuel’s spirit when God would not furnish an answer for him any longer. When Samuel was permitted to appear before Saul, even then the deceased prophet spoke God’s truth to the king. He would die soon, but Samuel did assure him that both he and the sons that followed him, including Jonathan, would join him. “Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me,” 1 Samuel 28:19. Samuel was not in some state of “soul sleep” as is erroneously taught by some, but in conscious peace in Paradise, waiting for Messiah. Saul, Jonathan and the rest would join him through death in Paradise. If, however, this argument is insufficient then consider 1 Samuel 10:6, where it is written, “Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.” The gift of prophecy was a token of God’s presence with Saul, meant to confirm to everyone that God had chosen him as king over Israel, 1 Corinthians 14:22. And as we learn from the New Testament: “The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable,” Romans 11:29.

 

Back to Saul, we find him struck by the evil spirit and driven to apparently murderous fits. He tries to kill not only David, but his own son when Jonathan attempts to defend him, depriving himself of the comfort of David’s harp and the only escape the king had from the spirit sent from God to vex him. Note that this demon was sent “from God.” It was a punishment for disobedience. But even then Saul waxed worse and worse, envying, hating, and fearing an innocent man who had only performed good in the king’s name. Finally, though Saul was once more filled with the Holy Spirit, this time the Spirit humbled him before the group of prophets led by Samuel, driving him to strip himself nude and lie on the earth prophesying a day and a night, 1 Samuel 19:24. It would seem from the narrative that after this point the distressing spirit did not return, being driven out by God, Luke 11:22. Perhaps it was the point of no return for the king and God let him go on to further rebellion and finally death.

 

All angels serve God’s purposes, even those at cross-purposes with Him. Though Satan and his demons struggle to overcome God’s kingdom it is a futile gesture and it will be seen that in the end all of their effort has proved to be for naught. The holy angels, however, serve the saints as fellow ministers since when we are in Heaven we shall at least in one sense, be like them. “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven…nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection,” Matthew 22:30, Luke 20:36. Matthew defines here the sexless nature of angels and how marriage is a temporal, human institution. Romantic love, marriage and sex were intended, among other things, to fill the earth and subdue it according to God’s command. In the resurrection the saints will no longer marry, like the holy angels. The latter portion of Matthew’s quote may suggest a reference to the sons of God in Genesis 6:2. It is not completely implausible that Jesus specifies the angels of God in Heaven in contrast to the fallen angels that rebelled with Lucifer, and their subsequent actions of chasing after strange flesh, Jude 6, 7. The saints are equal to angels according to Luke’s account because, as children of the resurrection we are born by God’s power (John 1:12, 13), and whatever is begotten of Him is His child. The angels, referred to as sons of God, were created by His direct agency as opposed to human procreation. Luke’s verse treats on the deathless nature of angels, as opposed to human finiteness on this planet. Whereas humanity grows old and suffers death, holy angels, being spirits, do not experience this aspect of sin’s curse.

 

Further insight strongly suggests that the holy angels, as differentiated from the demons, by volition retained their fidelity in God while Satan and his followers fell from their position, the impending doom of the Lake of Fire their final destination and ever present fear, Matthew 8:29, Luke 8:31, Matthew 25:41. How could this be? This is speculation on my part alone: I suggest that since the angelic order is not a part of the space/time/matter universe infected with sin (being spirits), they did not fall with Adam, being condemned with the material creation. A little later the writer of Hebrews agrees with this assessment, stating, “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham,” Hebrews 2:16, KJV. Literally rendered, Christ, “did not take hold of,” angels. Christ and angels are not the same nature, as was the point the author had been stressing since verse 4.

 

Touching once more upon human death, we read in Luke that the angels, when a saint dies, greet them in death, Luke 16:22. Lazarus was “carried by the angels,” to his repose in Abraham’s bosom while awaiting the coming Messiah. Remember verse 14 teaches that the angels are ministers to the saints in life, even to the passing of death into an eternity shared with our Savior. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents,” Luke 15:10. Speaking of believers and the temptation the unsaved offer to them, Jesus says, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven,” Matthew 18:10. The angels rejoice that we are saved and God’s gospel is believed. They stand before His throne, attendant to His will. Matthew’s verse implies that every saint has an angel specifically designated for him (or her). The cliché “guardian angel” possibly isn’t so far off from being Biblical.