The Earnest of the Spirit's Possession

The Earnest of the Spirit's Possession

Paul declares that in the possession of the Spirit, we already have “the earnest of our inheritance” in Christ (Eph. 1:13-14). In another place, he calls that enduement “the first -fruits of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:23). Thus, in the measure determined for us by God, we have “tasted of the heavenly gift” and of “the powers of the world to come” (Heb. 6:4-5). That is, we, as has been well said, already are “in the dawn of the future daybreak, and irradiated by the coming glory.” In another view of the situation, it can be said—to paraphrase a piece of good theology—we who have been made “partakers of the Holy Ghost” (Heb. 6:4) now are in “the starlight age” of the coming dispensation of glory. Upon our being carried to Paradise at death, we shall enter what might be called “the moonlight age,” and at the glorious manifestation of the Lord Jesus from heaven at the last day, we shall emerge into “the sunlight” experience of that blessed era. The starlight is good, the moonlight will be better, but the sunlight—ah it is that which we ultimately desire with great fervor”, and for which we patiently wait! –Fred O. Blakely