1. _The Sealing of the Spirit_. We hear Jesus saying to the multitude that sought him for the loaves and fishes, "Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you, _for him hath God the Father sealed_" (John 6: 27). This sealing must evidently refer back to his reception of the Spirit at the Jordan. One of the most instructive writers on the Hebrew worship and ritual tells us that it was the custom for the priest to whom the service pertained, having selected a lamb from the flock, to inspect it with the most minute scrutiny, in order to discover if it was without physical defect, and then to seal it with the temple seal, thus certifying that it was fit for sacrifice and for food. Behold the Lamb of God presenting himself for inspection at the Jordan! Under the Father's omniscient scrutiny he is found to be "a lamb without blemish and without spot." From the opening heaven God gives witness to the fact in the words: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," and then he puts the Holy Ghost upon him, the testimony to his sonship, the seal of his separation unto sacrifice and service. The disciple is as his Lord in this experience. "In whom having also believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1: 13). As always in the statements of Scripture, this {78} transaction is represented as subsequent to faith. It is not conversion, but something done upon a converted soul, a kind of crown of consecration put upon his faith. Indeed the two events stand in marked contrast. In conversion the believer receives the testimony of God and "sets his seal to that God is true" (John 3: 33). In consecration God sets his seal upon the believer that he is true. The last is God's "Amen" to the Christian, verifying the Christian's "Amen" to God. "Now he, which establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God; _who also sealed us_ and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (2 Cor. 1: 21, 22).