THE TWO SEALS

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THE TWO SEALS

If ever we are to have a clear and accurate understanding of the order of last day events, we must understand the sealing work of the people of God. Not that this is a very difficult subject to understand though one would think so when we consider the widely divergent concepts of the order of last day events.

No sooner do we begin a serious and careful study of this topic than we become aware of the fact that there are two distinct and separate seals. They are totally different from each other and must not be confused with each other. Each has its place and role in the plan of God and none can enter the heavenly kingdom unless they have the both of them.

We observe too that the Bible does not say that there are two seals any more than it says that there are two comings of Christ, or two shakings, or two brides, or any of the two things which in Scripture are different and yet called by the same name.

In each case we are left to recognize the fact that there are two and to understand as to which is being spoken of in a certain place.

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Let us turn now to some references which clearly speak of a seal which up till this time no person living on the earth at present has received.

"The Lord has shown me clearly that the image of the beast will be formed before probation closes; for it is to be the great test for the people of God, by which their eternal destiny will be decided... Rev.13:11-17 quoted... This is the test that the people of God must have before they are sealed." 7 B.C. 976.

This statement makes it very certain that no one can receive the seal spoken of here, until they have passed the test imposed by the setting up of the image of the beast. The test comes first and then the seal of God follows on all those who have passed this fearful test.

Now the image of the beast, as an active effective agency has not yet at this time of writing been set up, and as certain as this is so, the test of the image is not before the people yet. Therefore there is not a soul living on the face of the earth who has passed that test yet and equally surely then, no one living has that seal upon them at this time.

The Great Controversy, p.613, makes it very clear indeed that the great final test must come, and only those who remain loyal in the face of that pressure, will receive the seal of God.

"The final test has been brought upon the world. All who have proved themselves loyal to the divine precepts have received the seal of the living God. Then Jesus ceases His intercession in the sanctuary above." Great Controversy, p.613.

There is no difficulty then in seeing that this test and this seal are still very much in the future.

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In the light of these clear facts then it is plain that it is of a different seal of which Paul and others speak, when they tell of a seal which was had by the living in the past.

Let us read of this first in Ephesians 1:12,13.

"That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise."

Here then were a people to whom he said that they were already sealed with the Holy Spirit. He did not speak of their receiving a seal in the future but as of having received it before this time. Did this mean that they had passed the great final test? No indeed. Yet they were sealed. It is evident that this must be, and indeed was, a different seal from that which is spoken of in the first two statements.

The fact that the present seal is called the seal of the living God just as the final seal is called by the same name is proved still further by this statement from Sons and Daughters of God, p.51.

"The law of God, which is perfect holiness, is the only standard of character. Love is expressed in obedience, and perfect love casteth all fear. Those who love God, have the seal of God in their foreheads, and work the works of God."

Again this seal is not spoken of as something they will have, but of something they already have at the present time!

The first seal is 1. A work which is done in us day by day. 2. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, begun by the former rain and completed by the latter rain. 3. It is a process of settling into the truth both intellectually and spiritually. 4. It prepares for the great final test.

When this sealing work is finished, there is no spot, wrinkle or any such thing left in the individual, and the devil can find nothing in him whatsoever to respond to his temptations. It is very proper and natural to ask then, if the first seal does all of that in me, then what need do I have of a second and final seal? What is there yet that I need, not already provided in this first seal? If the moral image of Jesus is completely formed within, then will I not be fit to enter Heaven?

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That is a very good question for it is very evident that if the Lord has completed the work of grace in my soul, then the Lord is not going to do any further work in my soul in the second seal. And neither does He. Let it be established in the mind that the second seal is not concerned with the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul of man; that work by that time is complete, and you cannot complete completion, or perfect perfection.

At the same time, the second seal is still the sealing of the people of God. In a way not accomplished by the first seal, this seal will give the people of God a final and eternal protection from sin. This is but to say that although "the full corn" of Christ's character is "in the ear," which is necessary for readmission into Heaven, they still cannot enter there until this further work, not accomplished by the first seal, has been done for them.

It is to say that this work is something beyond the province of the Holy Spirit, something which even He cannot do for them. He has done all that He could do in the first seal, but now another must accomplish this final service for them.

This is not to limit the power of the Holy Spirit in the least. It is not to say that He is anything less than omnipotent. He is truly all-powerful in the fullest sense of the word, but it is not a question of power but one of province. Thus we shall see that the second seal is the work of the Savior Himself and not of the Holy Spirit.

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Even so, while Jesus does the actual sealing work in this instance, the Holy Spirit plays a part in that He will be leading, guiding and helping the people of God to understand this work as it goes forward for them that they may receive the full benefit of this final seal.

What then is this final work which gives to the people of God the second and final sealing against sin?

Wherein has the first seal not provided the full and final protection? The answer is simple and clear. To understand it we must turn to the unfolding of the gospel work as revealed in the sanctuary.

The sanctuary makes it very clear that there can be no such thing as once saved, always saved. While it is true that pardon and cleansing is a very real and literal matter in the daily experience, it is also to be understood that such pardon and cleansing is conditional on our faithfulness to the end. Ezek.18:14.

Here on this earth we are on probation. Our destiny is not yet finally and eternally secure. The sins which we have confessed are safe and secure in the sanctuary until the great day of final atonement, but then, if we are found without the wedding garment, they will come back on our own heads just as if we had never been forgiven. G.C.420.

The first seal does not provide the protection needed to make us eternally secure from the return of those sins. At the end of the hours of our earthly probation we are still in a position wherein there is the open door of the possibility of those sins returning upon us again.

It is a door which we need to have sealed forever, so that the sin can never ever come back upon us. It must be very apparent that the provision of the sealing off of any possibility of the sin returning upon us from the sanctuary, is a very different work from the work of overcoming.

Yet both, in the truest sense, are a sealing against sin into righteousness. The first seal is preliminary to the second, for if we did not have the first seal then there would be no sin in the sanctuary from the return of which we would need to be protected.

Yet while the first is preliminary to the second, it cannot be complete in itself and without the second all that was accomplished under the first would be of no avail whatsoever. This is a fact which needs to be made quite clear.

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WHAT THEN?

Think of the situation as follows:

A believer has faithfully put away every sin which has ever been shown to him; he has received all the benefit of the former and the latter rain, thus having had the full measure of the character of Christ developed within him; he has faced and passed the great final test and thus has all the inward fitness to enter Heaven; but this does not seal him against the return of the sins which were sent beforehand to judgment. That is a very different work.

It is the other seal and it can be effected by One Person and one alone and that is Jesus the High Priest, who by virtue of the merits of His spilt blood can and will, having entered the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary, sprinkle His blood upon the mercy seat and thus make atonement for our confessed and forsaken sins.

As this point everything depends upon Him. Just as Queen Esther was the one person in existence who could go in before the king and plead for Israel of old, so Jesus will be the One in existence who can go in and plead before the Father for His people.

But He does not have to do it. His is not a service of compulsion other than that of the divine compulsion of an indwelling and unquenchable love. His ever has been and ever will be a willing sacrifice. Cost Him what it may, we know that He will go through with the final atonement without the least hesitation. On this we can rely with the greatest of certainty and assurance.

But there is a danger that we underestimate the full implications of what this means to us. Therefore, in an effort both to bring home to us how vitally important it is that Jesus does make the final atonement, and to show the nature and work of the second seal, let us suppose that Jesus in the end refused to go through with His work.

That is to say, we are supposing for the moment that when the time comes for Him to step to the mercy seat and sprinkle His blood for the final atonement for our sins by virtue of which He is able to take all the sins of the true people of God and place them upon the scapegoat, He would refuse to do this.

What then?

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What would this mean to the man here upon this earth at that time who, while living, had received the full benefit of the daily sealing, the full impression of the Spirit of God in the character of Christ in his life, the moral fitness for re-entrance into Heaven and in whose heart throbbed the hope of translation?

We need consider no other individual than such for the rest of the living at that time could not receive the benefit of the final atonement anyway.

It could mean that his sins could not and would not go onto the scapegoat. But neither could they remain any longer in the sanctuary from which they must be promptly removed. The limit of time during which they can remain there is expired.

The judgment has come demanding the removal of them from the sanctuary and it will have what it demands. Therefore the sin must be taken out and it must be sent somewhere. Inasmuch as it cannot under such circumstances be placed upon the scapegoat, then it must be returned to the individual himself.

There is no other alternative and such would mean that there would be no salvation for us at all but only the darkness of an eternal night. And this would still be so even though the individual had received all the benefits of the first seal.

In the light of these clear facts, no one should have the least difficulty in seeing that the first seal does not provide us with the protection from the possibility of the return of all our confessed sins.

At the same time it must not be forgotten that the first seal must be had in order to receive the second. It is preliminary but it is not final. Wonderful and perfect as it is, if it was the only seal received, we could not have salvation.

Thus it is that the first seal takes us so far but leaves us unsealed against the awful possibility of the return of all of our sins in the great day of Judgment, but when Jesus steps to the mercy seat and sprinkles His blood as He most certainly will do for every truly repentant child of God who has received all the benefits of the Holy Spirit's work in the first seal, then the sin is placed upon the scapegoat and we are eternally secure against the return of sin in any shape or form.

That final work of Jesus in the sanctuary sets a seal of protection upon us by shutting off forever any possibility of sin regaining its dominion over the people of God. This is the second seal and final seal which is different in every respect from the first seal.

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CONCLUSION

As we summarised the facts of the first seal, let us now summarize the facts of the second so as to show the difference clearly and distinctly.

1. Whereas the first seal is a work done in us, the second is a work done in the sanctuary. 2. Whereas the first seal is a work done by the Holy Spirit, the second seal is accomplished by our High Priest. 3. The first is done during a certain period of time, the second is done in a moment. 4. The first prepares us for the final test, the second is only given on passing the great final test. 5. The first completes the work in the soul, the second does nothing in the soul. 6. The first is completed before the judgment, the second is given only after passing the judgment.

When the Jews of old were not able to understand the difference between the two comings of Christ, it cost them their eternal life, for they were led to expect Him to arrive at His frist coming as He was due to arrive at the second.

When He did not thus come they rejected Him and lost their eternal salvation in consequence. It was as serious as that.

So will the wrong understanding of the seals lead us to take a position which will cost us our eternal life.

Let us see how this could be.

The difficulty with the Jew of old was that he saw one coming where he should have seen that there were two. Likewise, the average professed child of God today sees but the one seal where he should see two.

If only the Jews in the days of Christ had understood the difference between two things which were called by the same name and yet were different, they would not have lost their eternal life.

And today, if only we can understand the difference between the two seals which are called by the same name and yet are different, then we too shall be saved from the consequences of thus being confused.

Today, we must be in an attitude to receive both the former and the latter rain by "trusting wholly in the all-sufficient merits of a crucified and risen Saviour" that our hearts may be marked or cleansed by the atoning blood. As the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is being written upon the fleshly tablets of our hearts, we shall have the preparation to receive the great final seal when that time comes. May each one make his calling and election sure. Amen!