od knows that we are fearful, suspicious people.  We are far more fearful than we ever would want to admit.  We are far more suspicious than we ever really will acknowledge.  Knowing our frame, God has been absolutely extravagant in the demonstration of His love for us.  He went out of His way to gain the confidence of our fearful hearts. 

First of all, He gave a Son publicly on the cross on our behalf.  Secondly, Ephesians 1:13 and 14 state that a third member of the Trinity is involved in God’s demonstration of His love for us.  This is true of believers but it is not true of non-Christians.  The Son of God was given to deal with the sins of everyone, the entire world.  The Holy Spirit was particularly given to Christians to deal with the world of fear within their hearts.  Verse 13 says:

In whom also you yourselves, having previously heard the word of the truth, the good news of your deliverance, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise (referring to the promise of the gospel of John 14:16-17 where Jesus said He would send another comforter), who is an ‘arrabon’ of our inheritance unto a full deliverance of the permanent possession, unto the praise of His glory.

God gave the Spirit to us after we became believers, and the text says this spirit is an arrabon.  What is an arrabon?  If we went to Greece today and met an engaged lady and asked to see her arrabon, she would put out her hand with an engagement ring on it.  In modern Greek, that is what the word means.  A hundred years ago, if a woman received an engagement ring, it meant the fellow promised he would follow through on that marriage.  If he did not, the lady kept the ring. The piece of jewelry was a down payment reflecting his intentions.  If the woman was attractive and calculating, she could make a necklace out of the rings of the victims she ensnared.  The rule was, the lady kept the ring.  Arrabon is a word derived from ancient Greek.  In ancient Greece, an arrabon had to do with property.  An arrabon was a "non-returnable down payment on a piece of property that was going to be completely purchased later."  A contract was made, and because it involved property, the purchaser gave a non-returnable down payment called an arrabon.  The buyer gave it to the owner of the property.  If the buyer did not follow through with the full purchase price, the owner kept the arrabon.

Think this through: the third member of the Trinity is our arrabon.  There is no reason in the world for God to give us the third person of the Trinity as a down payment.  He knows that He’s going to follow through, but the question is: do we really believe that He will follow through on His intentions?  We are often suspicious and fearful.  God the Trinity contains three members: one is a Father, one is a Son, and the other is the Holy Spirit.  God the Trinity gave one of its members on the cross to pay for our wrongdoing.  God the Trinity gave the third member of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, as a down payment to us.  In a real sense, two members of the Trinity are involved in our assurance.  The giving of the third member of the Trinity is as significant as the gift of the second member of the Trinity.

While the Son of God suffered on the cross, He was satisfying the righteous sense of God concerning our sins.  He was in torment.  The torment of the second member of the Trinity lasted hours.  As for the third member of the Trinity, His torment may last our lifetime.  He is in us, listening to us, spending time with us.  When we sin, His pain or grief exists because He dwells in us.  Being mindful of this, the letter to the Ephesians says not to pain or grieve the Holy Spirit of God in whom we are sealed until the day of redemption.   Ephesians 4:30:

Stop putting the Holy Spirit of God into deep pain, by whom you were sealed until the day of complete redemption.

That third member of the Trinity is given to us because God wants us to know that He will follow through with His intentions.  Why is He doing this?  Because He’s going to forget?  Because He’s dishonest?  Because He has to force Himself into a corner?  None of those reasons.  He publicly displayed His Son on the cross so that we would know what we are worth to Him.  He has personally placed the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we will have confidence that He will follow through.  Theoretically, if He didn’t follow through, we would keep the third member of the Trinity.  Theoretically, if we went to Hell, He would be there with us.  I don’t know what we would do with Him in Hell, but He is our arrabon.

Two-thirds of the Trinity have been given to win our assurance.  God has not given money for us.  God has not given things for us.  He has given two persons for us.  One cannot give more than oneself.  God has given His Son as the once-and-for-all sacrifice.  He has given His Spirit as the once-and-for-all down payment.

Something else is said in Ephesians 1:13:

In whom also you yourselves, having believed the word of the truth, the good news of your deliverance, in whom also having believed, you were sealed.

In the Roman world, a seal did two things.  It declared ownership and it declared the owner’s intention to protect his property and to go after the person who attempted to break the seal.  The Romans shipped grain from Egypt by sea to Italy in order to feed themselves.  They had given up farming and now they relied on the Egyptian breadbasket to keep them going.  When the Egyptians shipped the millions of bushels to Italy, the grain was put into burlap bags, which were then sealed with a dried clay seal.  The Roman seal said two things: this belongs to Rome, and Rome will protect it.  If pirates stole it, the Roman fleet found them and destroyed them.  They protected it.  Paul used the symbol of the seal the same way.  God is not going to break the seal because the Holy Spirit is His arrabon.  If anyone else attempts to break the seal, the presence of the Spirit of God proclaims two things: this person is owned by God and this person will be protected by God.  The Holy Spirit is the arrabon.  After we believed, we were sealed by the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is an arrabon, a "non-redeemable down payment of our inheritance."

Notice the term inheritance.  Inheritance is the completion of everything we’re supposed to receive.  God gives us the Holy Spirit as proof that we’re going to receive everything He intends.  He has promised: heaven, glorification, ruling, rewards, the New Jerusalem, the presence of Jesus Christ throughout eternity, joys forevermore at His right hand, the position of exalted sonship above angels, and the recognition of our authority throughout the universe because we’ve been joined to Christ.  All of those things are our inheritance.  The proof of that future inheritance is the person of the Spirit of God.  God has given two-thirds of the Trinity to us.  One person was given on the cross, the other in the person of the Spirit of God to win our allegiance.  After doing that, in effect, He says, “Make sense out of it; make sense of how important you are.  Make sense of how loved you are.  Look at those gifts and think it through, because this is God who is giving these gifts.”  The cross defines our worth.  The person of the Spirit of God defines our security.  Two-thirds of the Trinity have been given to win our allegiance.

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