The Earnest

Heaven is ours by inheritance. It is not purchased by merit, nor won by strength, but obtained by birthright.

Of this inheritance we have a foretaste here below; and that foretaste is of the nature of a pledge or earnest, guaranteeing our coming to full possession.

An earnest is of the same nature as the ultimate blessing of which it is an earnest. A pledge is returned, but an earnest is retained as part of the thing promised.

Great enjoyment attends the possession of the earnest of our inheritance when rightly understood.

I. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS HIMSELF THE EARNEST OF THE HEAVENLY INHERITANCE.

He is not only the pledge but the foretaste of everlasting bliss.

1. His entrance into the soul brings with it that same life which enters Heaven, namely, the eternal life.

2. His abiding in us consecrates us to the same purpose to which we shall be devoted throughout eternity, namely, the service of the Lord our God.

3. His work in us creates that same holiness which is essential to the enjoyment of Heaven.

4. His influence over us brings us that same communion with God which we shall enjoy forever in Heaven.

5. His being ours is as much as Heaven being ours, if not more; for if we possess the God of Heaven we possess Heaven, and more.

   • The possession of the Spirit is the dawn of glory.

II. THE HOLY SPIRIT BRINGS TO US MANY THINGS WHICH ARE BLESSED FORETASTES OF THE HEAVENLY INHERITANCE.

1. Rest. This is a leading idea of Heaven, and we have rest at this moment in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4:3.

2. Delight in service. We serve the Lord with gladness even now.

3. Joy over repenting sinners. This we can now attain.

4. Communion with saints. How sweet even in this imperfect state!

5. Enlarged knowledge of God and of all divine things. Here also we know in part the same things which are known above.

6. Victory over sin, Satan, and the world.

7. Security in Christ Jesus.

8. Nearness to our Beloved.

   • By these windows we look into the things which God has prepared for them that love him. “He has revealed them unto us by his Spirit.”

III. THERE IS A VERY DARK CONTRAST TO THIS BRIGHT THEME.

There are “evident tokens of perdition,” pledges of woe.

There are also earnests and foretastes of the eternal state of misery.

Ungodly men may pretty clearly guess what sin will bring them to when it has ripened. Let them learn from—

1. The fruit of some sins in this life: shame, rags, disease, etc.

2. Their fear of death, alarm at the thought of it.

3. Their frequent unrest and foreboding. “They flee when no man pursues”; they are “tossed to and fro as the locust.”

4. Their disappointments in their companions; their mutual quarrels and hates. What will it be to be shut up with such persons forever?

5. Their distaste for good things, inability to pray, etc., all earnests of the impossibility of their joining saints and angels in Heaven.

   • Oh to be filled by the Spirit, so as to find Heaven begun below!

Striking Extracts

There is great resemblance between an earnest and the indwelling of the Spirit with the graces which he works in us. 1st. The earnest is part of the whole sum, which is on a certain account to be paid at the time appointed; so the Spirit we have, and his grace, are the beginning of that glorious being which we shall ultimately receive—the same for substance, though differing in degree. 2nd. An earnest is but little in comparison of the whole. Twenty shillings is earnest sufficient to make sure of a hundred pounds; thus, all the grace we have is but a small thing in comparison of the fullness we look for, even as the first-fruits were in comparison of the full harvest. 3rd. An earnest does assure him that receives it of the honest meaning of him with whom he contracts; so the Spirit and grace which we receive from God do assure us of his settled purpose of bringing us to eternal glory.—Paul Bayne.

Christians! God is nearer to us than our nearest friend; nearer to us than Christ himself would be, if we only felt the touch of his hand and the sweep of his vesture; for he takes up his abode within us. Plato seemed to have a glimpse of this glorious truth when he said, “God is more inward to us than we are to ourselves.” What was to him a beautiful speculation, is to us an inspiring reality; for we are the “temples of the Holy Ghost.”—Dr. Charles Stanford.

As soon as we have set out on our journey to go home, our home, by foretastes, comes to meet us. The peace of our home embraces us; the Spirit, like a dove, rests upon our hearts; the glory of our home allures us; and angel-servants from our home bear us company and help us on our road. Oh, what a sweet home ours must be, that can send us such pledges of its sweetness while we are yet a great way off!—John Pulsford.

“The earnest.” The Greek word is arrhâbôn. It is Hebrew (at least, Shemitic) by derivation; the identical Hebrew word appearing in Genesis 38. By derivation it has to do with exchange, and so first means a pledge; but usage brought it to the kindred meaning of an earnest. It was used for the bridegroom’s betrothal-gifts to the bride, a case exactly in point here. In ecclesiastical Latin it appears usually in the shortened form, arra. It survives in the French arrhes, the money paid to strike a bargain. Arrhâbôn occurs elsewhere in the New Testament: 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5. There, as here, it denotes the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the saints, as the part payment of the coming “weight of glory,” the inmost essence of which is the complete attainment (1 John 3:2) of that likeness to the Lord which the Spirit begins and develops here (2 Corinthians 3:18). A kindred expression is, “The first-fruits of the Spirit” (Romans 8:23).—“Cambridge Bible for Schools and Families.” A work which we commend to all ministers.