February 7

And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory. — Eph 1:13-14 BSB

Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Its inhabitants are holy, its work is holy, and its enjoyments are holy. Unless we experience something of the teaching, work, and witness of the Holy Spirit here on earth, and are made partakers of a new, holy, spiritual, and heavenly nature, we have no pledge of our interest in the inheritance of the saints in glory. A carnal, unholy, and unrenewed heart is completely incapable of understanding, longing for, or loving an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled. But every holy desire, heavenly affection, spiritual longing, and gracious enjoyment—every act of believing, hoping, and loving, cleaving to the Lord of life and glory by the power of the Holy Spirit—are all pledges of a saving interest in the glorious inheritance of the saints in light.

The love, joy, peace, calm tranquility, and holy surrender to the will of God; the transforming views of the glory of Christ that change the soul from glory to glory; the delight in Him, and the full surrender of the heart to the Lord as the chief among ten thousand and altogether lovely—these are all pledges of the inheritance above, as glimpses of heaven begin here below.