The Spirit As Guarantee

Text

"Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." — 2 Corinthians 5:5

Bible Reading

2 CORINTHIANS 5:1-5

Devotional

The Spirit here is called a "deposit." In everyday language we would call it a down payment. By making a down payment, we mean to say that we are going to complete the transaction. So when we put money down on, say, a house, we are telling the seller that we are a serious buyer. The down payment is a kind of guarantee that we'll live up to all future obligations.

The Holy Spirit is God's initial fulfillment of all his promises. God is going to give us a new and better life in a new and better body on a new and better earth. That's the extent of his promise. Most of it is still in the future. But one installment has already been paid: the Holy Spirit has come. This down payment is God's guarantee that all the rest is coming.

The Holy Spirit is the connection between this life and the life to come. It is the one gift in the present world that has come from the future world. That's why the Spirit cannot possibly feel at home in the present world. He is "otherworldly." He is constantly at war with the present lords and the present powers. Restlessly the Spirit strives to bring all thoughts and words and actions under the dominion of the Lord of lords, the King of kings.

By the Spirit we have the beginning of the future, and through the Spirit God prepares us for the future. When we finally come to God's new world, it will be a new kind of existence, an existence quite different from what we have now. But whatever we have already received from the Spirit of God goes with us.

For the present we have the treasure of the Spirit in an earthen vessel. That is to say, our whole environment and our whole persons have not yet adopted the tone and color of the kingdom. In fact, sometimes we almost despair of seeing the kingdom become real. But the Spirit himself is the guarantee. God does not stop with the first installment.

REFLECTIONS

How is the Spirit preparing you for the future, when you finally come to God's new world?

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Knowing that the Spirit is my guarantee is amazing. I know that life can become intense at times, I know that it can feel sometimes when it rains it pours, with regards to trials in our lives. But we have a hope that the unbelieving world does not. The hope of Jesus Christ's triumphant return and the hope that He will bring us home to Heaven where we can eternally live glorifying the Lord of lords and King of kings. Have you ever found yourself longing for a quick return of the Lord, desiring that He come because life is just so difficult that you'd rather just be in Heaven with Him? I know I have been there. I know that I've prayed that God would just take me home as I feel at times that my burdens are heavy, that my trial is to hard - but I need to remember what the scriptures say. "He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. " - 2 Corinthians 5:5.

We have the Holy Spirit to get us through the rest of our life as we long and press forward to our eternal goal. The Spirit is our comfort, our guide and our friend. To have that is to be apart of Christ's body, to be apart of the Church, to have communion with the saints, both alive and already departed. Wow! We have been given a down payment! Economically - down payments are kind of a scary thing. It holds so much stock with what you're purchasing and is a physical promise that you will continue to make payments until paid in full. Christ's blood on the cross was shed and our souls are already paid in full. But the down payment of the Holy Spirit is the promise of Heaven. The Holy Spirit will help us to live life as we wait for that promised day!

How is the Spirit preparing me? Well - I can see in my day to day life that the things I'm doing now will eventually lead me on to life of ministry in another country. I'm seeing that the more I study His word and lean on the guidance of the Spirit, the struggles of every day will come and go but I have the hope that its not the end of the road. I am in Christ and my future is with Him. I pray the Holy Spirit will help me to live life in brotherly love with my fellow church family and that when the day comes where I'm called to be with Him in heaven for eternity, I can see my life as a life poured out like a drink offering, a life that brought glory and honor to His name.