The Grand Business of Salvation

"For Him hath God the Father sealed." -John 6:27 [KJV]

My soul, hast thou ever remarked the peculiar glory of those scriptures, which comprise within a small compass all the persons of the Godhead, as concurring and co-operating in the grand business of salvation? No doubt, all scripture is blessed, being given by inspiration of God; but there is a peculiar blessedness in these sweet portions, which at one view, represent the Holy Three in One, unitedly engaged in the sinner's redemption.  

My soul, ponder over this divine passage, in thy Saviour's discourse, as thus: who is the Him here spoken of, but the Lord Jesus? And whom but God the Father could seal Christ? And with whom was Christ sealed and anointed, but by God the Holy Ghost? Would any one have thought, at first view, that in seven words, such a blessed testimony should be given to the glorious foundation-truth of the whole bible? "For Him hath God the Father sealed." Precious Jesus! enable me to behold Thy divine authority as the warrant of faith in this gracious act of Thy Father. And while I view Thee as infinitely suited for my poor soul, in every state and under every circumstance, let my soul find confidence in the conviction that the validity of all Thy gracious acts of salvation is founded in the seal of the Spirit.  

Yes, Thou dear Lord, it was indeed the Spirit of Jehovah that was upon Thee, when Thou wast anointed to "preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to give deliverance to the captive, and the restoring of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And art Thou, dearest Lord, thus held forth, and thus recommended by the grand seal of heaven, to every poor sinner who feels a conscious want of salvation?  

Oh then help, Lord, by Thy blessed Spirit, all and every one of this description, so to receive a sealed Saviour, as to rest in nothing short of being sealed by Him; and while every act of love, and every tendency of grace proclaims Thee, blessed Jesus, as "Him whom God the Father hath sealed," so let every act of faith, and every tendency of the soul, in the goings forth after Thee, be expressive of the same earnest longings as the church, of being sealed and owned by Thee, when she cried out, "Set me as a seal upon Thy heart, as a seal upon Thine arm; for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave; the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." 

-Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.)