THE SPIRIT’S DISPENSING
IN HIS SEALING THE BELIEVERS
The dispensing of the Spirit is carried out in His sealing the believers (Eph. 1:13). If we want to seal something, we must have a seal which bears a certain image, and we must also have the sealing ink. The seal with the sealing ink can be applied to a piece of paper to seal the paper. The sealing makes the sealing ink and the paper one. The sealing ink soaks the paper, saturates the paper, anoints the paper, is mingled with the paper as one, and is even constituted together with the paper to be one constitution. We have been sealed not with ink but with the sealing Spirit, who is the saturating Spirit, the anointing Spirit, the soaking Spirit, and the sanctifying Spirit. The more He saturates us, the more He sanctifies us. We are like pieces of paper. When a piece of paper is sealed, the sealing action does not stop. The sealing still goes on to saturate the paper with the sealing ink, to soak the paper with the sealing ink, to make the paper absolutely one in constitution with the sealing ink. Eventually, the sealed paper becomes full of ink.
The Spirit by whom we are sealed, soaked, and saturated is the Lord Himself (2 Cor. 3:17). He is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the seal. This seal as the Lord Himself seals us, saturates us, and soaks us. This too is the good news of the gospel.
When a husband is about to exchange words with his wife, he should wait so that he can remain under the sealing for a while. This will cause him to forget the exchanging of words. Instead, he will be full of praises. He will rejoice because he has been soaked and saturated as a result of being under the sealing of the Lord as the life-giving Spirit. The sealing of the Spirit within us regulates us, controls us, and causes us to behave ourselves properly. Often after a church meeting or a ministry meeting we all are happy, singing, praising, and full of joy because we have been under the Spirit’s sealing.
To Saturate the Believers Continuously
unto the Redemption of Their Body
According to Ephesians 1:13-14 the Spirit’s sealing will continue unceasingly unto the redemption of our body (4:30). The Greek preposition unto does not mean "until"; it means "resulting in." The Spirit is sealing us, resulting in the redemption of our body. We need to believe that this sealing of the Spirit is still going on. As this sealing proceeds, we even have the sense that our lust, our sickness, our weakness, and our deadness are being reduced. After these things are fully reduced, we will be redeemed in our body. Our body will be transfigured and glorified. This is the consummation of the Spirit’s sanctification.
As we have seen, the sanctification of the Spirit began with the Spirit’s seeking us out, and it continues through His regenerating, His transforming, which includes His renewing and conforming, and then His sealing. Sealing implies transformation, and it also implies renewing and conformation. The Spirit’s sealing is transforming us, renewing us, and conforming us to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). This will result in the transfiguration of our body, which will be our glorification. At that time the sanctification of the Spirit will be consummated, reaching its peak.
Day by day we are under the sealing of the Spirit. This sealing is our daily salvation. The more we are soaked, saturated, and sealed by the Spirit, the more we are saved. If we do not experience such a daily salvation, we may lose our temper and become angry and argue with others. However, now the sealing is going on to save us from our temper, from our anger, and from our evil speaking and evil thinking concerning the other saints. Every day, every hour, morning and evening, this saving is going on. It is this saving that can save us to the uttermost, as mentioned in Hebrews 7:25. Through the sealing there is a continuous saving as we remain under the sealing. Ultimately, this sealing will result in the transfiguration of our bodies to bring us all into glory. At this juncture we will be fully sanctified, from our spirit, through our soul, and to our body. At that time our spirit, soul, and body will be wholly sanctified (1 Thes. 5:23).
This is the heavenly ministry of the resurrected and transcending Christ. In His transcending He is ministering the entire sanctification of the Spirit to us. On the one hand, it is the Spirit who performs the sanctification in us. On the other hand, it is Christ who ministers the sanctification to us. Christ, the heavenly One, is ministering to us a sealing, a saturating, and a soaking that saves us from our unpleasant feelings concerning our fellow believers. As we are under such a heavenly ministry, we feel quite pleasant toward the saints. We are saved by the sealing in Christ’s heavenly ministry. In this way we are sanctified, we are matured, and we have the growth in life.
Today, our Christ is not ministering on the earth. He is not ministering in Galilee and Judea. He is ministering in us, in our spirit. He is ministering in all our spirits simultaneously. While He was on the earth, at the time He ministered in Galilee, He could not minister in Judea. But today He can minister in thousands of us at the same time. I can testify that every day He ministers the heavenly ministry to me to meet my need. As a little servant of the Lord, I am caring for the churches and the saints in seventeen regions on this earth. This causes me to have a great need. Although I am limited, I have One who is never limited. He is the Lord, the Christ, the Leader, the Savior, the High Priest, the Advocate, the Intercessor, the Mediator, the surety, the Life-giver, the Comforter, and the Lamb-God. He is so much! Therefore, in all my labors I am happy and pleasant. We do have an unlimited, heavenly Christ ministering to us in the heavens and in our spirit. Through the rich supply of His heavenly ministry, our work becomes our rest and our enjoyment. Every day I work under a sealing that goes on continuously, day and night.
(The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
