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Jesus sent a message through His friend John telling us that at the end of time (our day), He would send His angels to hold back the final tribulation that precedes His return until His people receive the seal of God:
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God” (Revelation 7:1–3 NIV84, emphasis mine).
This seal is not a tattoo or some other physical mark on the body, but as Paul wrote:
“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22 NIV84, emphasis mine).
“Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13 NIV84, emphasis mine).
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30 NIV84, emphasis mine).
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and love (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 4:8).
To be sealed of God means that we have received the indwelling Holy Spirit, which via the outworking of truth and love cuts away from our identity, our self, our heart and mind, everything that separates us from God and solidifies us in heart and mind into unshakable loyalty to God such that nothing can cause us to choose to betray our trust in our Savior.
A simple way to say this is that being sealed means choosing to say yes to the leading of the Holy Spirit such that we become so settled, both intellectually and spiritually, into the truth and love of God that nothing can move us from it.
Jesus described this state of being when He said,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37 NIV84).
Being sealed by God, by the work of the Spirit of truth and love, means that our identity (individuality, self, ego, personhood) is cut away from finding self, security, meaning, value, or worth in anything before Jesus.
But what does this mean practically, and how do we experience it?
The Bible teaches that when Adam sinned, he corrupted his own nature and infected himself with a spirit of fear and selfishness; ever since, every person is born infected with that same corrupting spirit of fear and selfishness (Psalm 51:5; 2 Timothy 1:7).
We come into the world fearful, insecure, needy, and dependent and immediately begin searching for and creating attachments to what provides us security, comfort, a sense of safety, identity, meaning, and purpose. Our hearts want to be free from fear and doubt, free from guilt and shame. Therefore, as children, we attach initially, and appropriately, to our parents and constantly seek to get approval, validation, love, and acceptance from them, which offsets (but does not remove or replace) the spirit of fear and insecurity with which we were born.
As we grow, we seek, find, and form attachments to other things. Some attachments are considered adaptive, like friends and family, but others less so, like food (not for nutrition but as emotional comfort), substances, money, property, position, status, fame, reputation, skills and abilities, achievements, sports teams, objects (Linus’ blanket), lucky charms, alma mater, churches, nations, and organizations like Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, gangs, cults, political parties, etc.
All these attachments to our sense of self, our identity, our heart, are formed in an attempt to make us feel safe, important, valuable, needed, secure, and worthy, to give us a sense of identity, meaning, and purpose in order to offset the spirit of fear, guilt, and shame we inherited from Adam.
Threatening any of these attachments inflames fear, anxiety, and distress, which typically results in a hostile response to defend one’s interests, whether physical, relational, or legal—we seek to eliminate the threat to our security. This is the cause of the never-ending divisions and conflicts throughout human history.
You see this in people with their sports teams. If their identity and sense of self are significantly formed around their team, they become quite distraught and angry when their team loses.
Some people attach their hearts to their nation, career, race, denomination, family, or wealth.
The Only Source
God’s plan for His people (in fact, it is a requirement for salvation because of how reality works) is to cut away from our hearts any source of security, identity, peace, sense of wellbeing other than Him. We are to recognize Him not only as our only source of life, but also as the source of our identity, purpose, meaning, and security. We are to recognize that our talents, intelligence, skills, abilities, health, wealth, everything we have, originate in Him, and that we are His stewards to carry out His purposes in the use of all He has given us. (And His purposes are always for our best good, not His need).
But we are not His slaves; He wants us to be His understanding friends (John 15:15). He wants to lead us to the point that we sever all ties of loyalty that interfere with His calling and purpose in our lives and give our hearts and minds and, ultimately, our first priority in all things to Him, that in all actions we seek to honor Him and bring glory to Him, for it is He that we love and trust above all others. Abraham demonstrated God was first in his heart at Mount Moriah when he was willing to sacrifice his own son (for a deeper dive into that event see our blog Why Did God Tell Abraham to Kill Isaac?).
Placing God supreme in our hearts does not free us from our duties in life, but rather, it strengthens and enables us to fulfill those duties. Parents who prioritize God above their children will be ever more capable, focused, energized, motivated, and enabled with wisdom and strength to fulfill their godly calling to parent their children. People who put God before their spouse in all things will be the most loving, loyal, attentive, nurturing, and healthy spouses, for they will treat their partners like Christ treats the church, and those marriages will be the place where both individuals thrive, mature, grow, and experience the deepest love and peace possible on Earth.
While we are to be in the world, we are not to be of the world; therefore, we must be ready to let go of every other support or attachment in this world rather than betray Jesus to hold onto what we have.
If called like Lot to leave or flee our home, our community, our family, our wealth—are we ready to follow that call, or would that be too threatening, too terrifying, and would we choose to die clutching onto our earthly possessions?
If called like the rich young ruler to sell all we have and give it to the poor and follow Jesus, could we do it, or would our sense of worth, our security, our meaning and identity, be overwhelmed, and it would be too terrifying and fearful to do so, so we cling to our money and lose our soul?
If we like Abraham (Hagar and Ishmael), or those in Matthew 10:34–38, are called to cut ties with family members and send them away, can we do it, or do we find such an act would hurt us too much and we would rather hold on to them rather than to Jesus?
If we are called like the apostles to leave our employment to serve the Lord, are we able to do it, or do we cling to our earthly income to feel safe and secure, only to lose eternal security?
If we are called like Moses to leave a position of power and authority, a place of societal leadership, are we able to do so, or does such a demotion, a humiliation, a loss of status terrify and frighten us, causing us so much turmoil that we refuse the calling, cling to position and power and lose salvation?
If we are called like Paul to follow Jesus at the cost of being rejected by the church of our upbringing, are we able to do so, or would the rejection by our own church be so frightening that we would refuse to follow our Savior preferring the security of denominational membership?
If we are in leadership of a church or one of its institutions and are called, like Caiaphas 2000 years ago, to make a choice between following Jesus or protecting the assets of the institution, are we able to follow Jesus, or would our sense of security be so tied to the organization that we, like Caiaphas, would say, “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish” (John 11:50 NIV84).
We are to become like Job, who, despite losing every earthly attachment, still trusted God. The only way we can do this is if we place God first in our hearts now. We must love Him above all others and form identities, our sense of self, our purpose, our reason for living, upon the truth of who He is and who we are to Him—His precious son or daughter that He loves so much He sent His one and only Son to save us. When we place God first in all things and are settled into the truth of who He is both intellectually and spiritually, mind and heart, then we are sealed of God and nothing, no temptation, no lie, no threat, no loss, will shake us from it.
And because God wants this for us, He allows events to unfold in our lives that put us in a position where we must choose what we value most, who we trust most—God or something else.
So I encourage you, when you experience anything that causes you to feel fear, insecurity, or threatened, go to Jesus and ask Him to help you identify the source. Pray like David for God to search your heart and to cut away any attachments that have formed in your life that are interfering with your connection to Him. Choose to surrender all to Jesus, to trust Him with everything, to recognize Him not only as Savior but also as our Creator (and recreator) and Sustainer, and embrace your relationship with Him as His loving, trusting, and trustworthy steward and friend. For He has promised,
“‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5, 6 NIV84).
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