This practice is common in the OT but does have a different inference. For example, Isaiah 8:13–16 says:
“But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken. Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.”
The prophet makes an important statement about the place of God in their lives and what He will do with their enemies. Then he says to seal this teaching to His people.
Later in Isaiah 29:11, he says that God has closed the minds of His disobedient people so that “The vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
This verse shows the power of God to put His stamp of approval on people, and to deal with unbelief by sealing minds so they cannot discern what He says or will do, or what He wants from them. He says in Daniel 12:9. “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.” No one can understand unless God unseals His words.
In the NT, the first use of this term is the human sealing of Jesus’ tomb — which did not stop Him from rising from the dead. In speaking of Himself, Jesus said in John 3:33, “Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.” Human effort to stop or cover up the resurrection was a failure. Those who believe it happened do know without a doubt that whatever God says and does is true. His seal verifies it!
This seal is deeply marked in the hearts of God’s people. He verifies what He has done, not with wax and a stamp but with the power of the Holy Spirit:
2 Corinthians 1:22. God “who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”
Ephesians 1:13. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”
Ephesians 4:30. “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
2 Timothy 2:19. “God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.’ ”
In the very end of days, John’s vision includes a scroll that is sealed. Only Jesus Christ is “worthy to open it” and when He does, judgments pour forth. This section in Revelation 5 to 7 is not pretty but there is hope. The God who sealed judgment and is releasing it says in Revelation 7:3, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
And that happens, just before the Lamb opens the seventh seal. Then there is silence in heaven for about half an hour and those without the mark are judged. Satan is thrown “into the pit, and (God) shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer.” Then John is told in Revelation 22:10, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.”
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Jesus told His disciples that they could bind or release — making our power in prayer a picture of God’s power to seal. His seal can bind and release, yet also marks and protects His people. To know that I am sealed or marked as His child is a vital part of living by faith. His seal is truth stamped on my heart by the Holy Spirit as He speaks to me in Scripture and in the experiences of life. To know that He can open bound hearts to see and believe truth is important when I pray for seemingly oblivious people who have little or no understanding of what Jesus Christ has done for them. God as the One who seals and deepens my faith in Him and the faith of others.
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