Lesson 7: Who is the Holy Spirit? (part 2)

Read: Ephesians 1:3-14 - www.bible.com/bible/59/eph.1.esv

For the Christian today, the Holy Spirit is also called our "Seal." We see this in 2 Corinthians 1:22, and in Ephesians 1:13 and 14, as well as 4:30. What is a seal? It can probably be best defined as an engagement ring. The engagement ring a young man gives to his intended bride is a seal of his love, of his intention of taking her as his wife, and of the promise of a future together with her for as long as they two shall live. Just so Christ left the Holy Spirit within us as our “engagement ring” for the coming wedding ceremony when the Church will become the Bride of Christ. He will never be taken away from us, He will be with us until Christ is ready to take us to Himself.

Let's look at some of the things the Holy Spirit does for us while we are still here. First of all He gives us hope. Romans 15:13 says "the God of hope [will] fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." God, who is the God of hope, wants to fill us with all joy and heavenly peace. And how does He do this? He does it through the power of the Holy Spirit, and never by half measures – the Holy Spirit helps us to abound in hope.


What does hope to do for us? It helps us keep going. No matter what the pain or sorrow or dissatisfaction or disappointment may be in our lives, hope lets us keep going to the end when we will meet our God.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit is our Teacher. Jesus promised His disciples in John 14:26 that the "Helper" He would send them would be able to "teach [them/us] all things and bring to [our] remembrance all that I have said to you." Obviously this was one of the things to help the disciples write the Gospels as many as 60 years after Jesus was gone. The Holy Spirit brought to their memory the exact words Jesus had spoken. For us, this promise is not so much to remember what Jesus said, as He teaches us what Jesus meant. In fact, Jesus said this very thing to the disciples just shortly after the above promise. In John 16:13 Jesus said, "when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things which are to come."

*When you open the Bible to read it, ask the Holy Spirit to teach you what you are reading.
*What has He taught you this week?