The Friday after the Festival of the Ascension of our Lord
Posted on May 30, 2025 by under
Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14 (NKJV)
1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Devotion
“…the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession…”
As we celebrated Christ’s ascension into heaven yesterday, we now begin to look forward to the Feast of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit that it commemorates. In our text, St. Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as “the guarantee of our inheritance.” The idea is somewhat similar to a down-payment on a house: how does the bank know you will make your house payments? You made a down-payment, and you will lose all that money if you do not make your payments and they have to foreclose.
There need be no concern that our Lord will not keep His promises; of course He will. But the Holy Spirit is given to us as a guarantee that we will receive every bit of the promised inheritance of heavenly glory. This guarantee is given to us for our comfort, that we may be all the more confident that the good work He has begun in us will be brought to completion on the coming day of our Lord Jesus Christ. That day we receive the eternal possession purchased for us by Christ Jesus Himself.
Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to have ascended into the heavens; so may we also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with Him continually dwell; Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
