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Bible Dictionaries
Earnest of the Spirit: the Pledge of Heaven
Spurgeon's Illustration Collection
or
In the early times when land was sold, the owner cut a turf from the greensward and cast it into the cap of the purchase as a token that it was his; or he tore off the branch of a tree and put it into the new owner's hand to show that he was entitled to all the products of the soil; and when the purchaser of a house received seizing or possession, the key of the door or a bundle of thatch plucked from the roof; signified that the building was yielded up to him. The God of all grace has given to his people all the perfections of heaven to be their heritage for ever, and the earnest of his Spirit is to them the blessed token that all things are theirs. The Spirit's work of comfort and sanctification is a part of heaven's covenant blessings, a turf from the soil of Canaan, a twig from the tree of life, the key to mansions in the skies. Possessing the earnest of the Spirit we have received seizing of heaven.
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Spurgeon, Charles. Entry for 'Earnest of the Spirit: the Pledge of Heaven'. Spurgeon's Illustration Collection. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fff/e/earnest-of-the-spirit-the-pledge-of-heaven.html. 1870.
