The King’s Signature and Seal

‘The writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may no man reverse.’—Esther viii. 8.
SUCH is the writing which by God’s great goodness is the glory of our land and the treasure of our hearts, full of exceeding great and precious promises,1 of commands not less great and not less precious,’ and of words of prophecy (which are only words of promise a little farther off) ‘ more sure’ than the testimony of an apostle’s senses to the excellent glory and the heavenly voice.3
It is written in the King’s name. The living Word of God, who came to declare, to manifest, and to glorify the Father,’ has imprinted His own name upon the same testimony as written by the Spirit, and has given it to us as the ‘ word of God.’5 It is sealed with the King’s ring. Sealing is a special work of the Holy Spirit, exercised in different ways and how clearly has He sealed this great

1 2 Pet. i. 4. 2 Ps. cxix. 97. 8 2 Pet. i. 17-19.

4 John i. I; ib. xvii. 4, 6, 26. 6 John xvii. 14. .

6 Eph. i. 13, etc. _

writing with the King’s ring, engraved with His own image and superscription, the convincing token of its being indeed from Himself, and sent forth in unchangeable authority and power !1
It is a double sealing, without and within2—first, the external and distinctly visible declaration that the writing is ‘by the Holy Ghost;,s and then the all-convincing evidence that it is so by its effectual working4 in our own hearts with a power which, we know for ourselves, cannot be less than almighty and therefore divine.1
It is thus written in the King’s name, and ‘sealed with His own signet,” not only that we may know it to be His, but that we may have the right humbly, yet confidently, to show Him, so to speak, His own name and His own signet as our claim for the fulfilment of all contained therein.7 He will never fail to acknowledge them.
This royal writing ‘ may no man reverse.’ The King Himself cannot reverse it, for He changes not;8 He ‘cannot lie,’9 ‘He cannot deny Himself: ’10 for unchangeable truth is not only an essential attribute, but the very essence of His Deity.” This one great ‘cannot’ is the security for all that He ‘can’ and will do. And if God ‘cannot,’ who can? All ‘the craft and subtilty’ of devil or man is powerless against one syllable of this royal writing. ‘The word of our God shall stand for ever,'” and the hoarse recoil of every furious

1 John xii. 48. 2 2 Sam. xxiii. 2.
* 1 Thess. ii. 13. 6 Heb. iv. 12.
7 Gen. xxxviii. 17, 18, 25, 26.
9 Titus i. 2. M> 2 Tim. ii. 1j.

12 Isa. xl. 8.
8 Mark xii. 36; 1 Pet. i. 11. c Dan. vi. 17. 8 Mai. iii. 6. 11 John xiv. 6.

wave that is shattered into foam against this everlasting rock only murmurs, ‘I cannot reverse it.’1
And is it not a most blessed and comforting thought that we ourselves cannot reverse it, though this is the quarter from which we are practically most tempted to dread its reversal? For,* ‘if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful.’ All the earthborn or devil-breathed fogs and clouds of doubt, from the fall till this hour, have not been able to touch the splendor of one star that He has set in the unassailable firmament of His eternal truth.
All the promises of God are yea and Amen8— where?—’in Him,’ the Son of God.4 He holds these stars in His right hand; He has held the great promise of eternal life for us6 since God gave it to Him for us before the world began, and every other is subincluded. And it is one of His offices ‘to confirm the promises.’6 Signed, sealed, held, and confirmed thus, should not ‘ It is written ‘ be enough for our present’ light, and gladness, and joy, and honour?”
Another clause of this beautiful verse is too striking to be passed over: ‘Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring.’8 Does not this remind us of another writing of our King: ‘If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’ He places His own name and His own signet at the disposal of His ‘abiding’ ones, and says:3

1 2 Pet. i. 4. 2 Ps. cxix. 97. 8 2 Pet. i. 17-19.

4 John i. I; ib. xvii. 4, 6, 26. 6 John xvii. 14. .

6 Eph. i. 13, etc. _

‘Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.’1 ‘Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.’ Should not this encourage us in intercession? Perhaps we are saying, like Esther,2 ‘How can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?’ Have we as yet fully availed ourselves of ‘the King’s name,’ and ‘the King’s ring?’

For He hath given us a changeless writing,
Royal decrees that light and gladness bring,

Signed with His name in glorious inditing,
Sealed on our hearts with His own signet ring.

1 Job xxii. 28. 2 Esther viii, 6.