The Down Payment

Those of us who have purchased a home know the thrill of buying your own home. We have saved and dreamed of this moment, and it has finally come. Most of us did this by putting down a down payment. When God redeemed us from sin and saved us from our own destruction, he put a down payment on our redemption. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph 1:13). This happened when we believed when we placed our faith in Jesus as our savior.

The seal not only assures us that we are his but also assures us of his protection. Our Lord owns us, and we are protected until the great day of redemption. Along with his mark, the Holy Spirit serves as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. This down payment announces that more of the same will be coming—this is the first installment. God redeems us and promises to bring us to full redemption with our bodies, minds, and spirits and as citizens of heaven where there is no more sin, sorrow, and death.

When my family and I left for Argentina as missionaries for the first time, we took crates marked in giant letters, “Boyd Brooks, Buenos Aires.” I later built cabinets for our house out of the plywood of these crates. That was always a reminder of our destination. Those crates left Oakland, California, bound for Buenos Aires; it was stamped on every crate. God did that for us when we believed and trusted Jesus for salvation.

The best we have ever experienced in coming to know Christ is a foretaste of what is to come. The day we experienced freedom from shame and guilt and knew our sins were forgiven was just the beginning. This seal of the Holy Spirit guarantees that God will give us the rest of our inheritance and keep his promises.

We are “God’s possession.” This message inspired Israel as a young nation: “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession” (Deut 14:2). We too are reminded that we are God’s possession and have his mark of ownership and destination in our lives.