October 15: Doubly Sealed

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 10
Listen from:
ST 8:8{Such is the writing which by God's great goodness is the glory of our land and the treasure of our hearts, full of exceeding great and precious promises, of commands not less great and not less precious, and of words of prophecy (which are only words of promise a little farther off) "more sure" than the testimony of an apostle's senses to the excellent glory and the heavenly voice. It is written in the King's name. The living Word of God, who came to declare, to manifest, and to glorify the Father, has imprinted His own name upon the same testimony as written by the Spirit, and has given it to us as the "Word of God." It is sealed with the King's ring. Sealing is a special work of the Holy Spirit, exercised in different ways; and how clearly has He sealed this great writing with the King's ring, engraved with His own image and superscription, the convincing token of its being indeed from Himself, and sent forth in unchangeable authority and power! It is a double sealing, without and within—first, the external and distinctly visible declaration that the writing is "by the Holy Ghost"; and then the all-convincing evidence that it is so by its effectual working in our own hearts with a power which, we know for ourselves, cannot be less than almighty and therefore divine.
Oh, this is more than poem, and more than the highest song;
A witness with our spirit, though hidden, full and strong.
'Tis no new revelation vouchsafed to saint or sage,
But light from God cast bright and broad upon the sacred page.