Sealed by the Spirit, having Christ as our Righteousness, and being Submissive to God

As believers in Christ, we are sealed by the Spirit, we have Christ as our righteousness, and we’re being made submissive to God so that He can make us part of His increase in humanity.

Joseph is a type of Christ; as a fruitful bow, Joseph typifies Christ as the branch for the branching out of God through His believers as His branches; Christ’s believers as His branches spread Christ over every restriction, magnifying Him in all circumstances. Hallelujah!

While prayerfully considering the story of Joseph in the light of the New Testament revelation, God’s New Testament economy, we cannot but be amazed at this wonderful pattern that we see.

Joseph was a perfect type of Christ; he was one of the only perfect types of Christ in the Old Testament, for even though he passed through a lot of hardships and trials, he remained perfect and one with the Lord in all things.

In particular, one thing that was impressive about Joseph was his speaking.

He had two dreams, which God gave him when he was young.

These dreams governed his daily living, and he behaved in an excellent way because of the visions God gave him.

The Lord’s presence was with Joseph, and Joseph lived in the Lord’s presence.

Wherever he was, Joseph had the Lord with him, and he was much blessed by the Lord.

When he was in the house of Potiphar, where he was sold as a slave, Joseph was one with the Lord and lived a perfect human life; the Lord’s blessing was with him.

When he was in prison, where he was put unrighteously because of a lie that Potiphar’s wife said, Joseph was still one with the Lord, and the Lord’s blessing was with him.

And Joseph was not afraid to speak for the Lord. When the baker and the cupbearer had a dream, Joseph was so one with the Lord that he interpreted their dreams, and their dreams came true.

Joseph’s own dreams did not come true, but others’ dreams were fulfilled; still, Joseph remained one with the Lord.

He was like a mature young man who did not fight back against the circumstances and people around him but simply lived a life in the Lord and with the Lord.

He spoke and spoke and spoke until he spoke his way out of prison.

We believers in Christ may not be in a physical prison but we may be in the “dungeon” of our circumstances, and so many things and situations around us may be limiting us, confining us, and constraining us. In our natural man, we want to escape all these things and be released from prison.

Even more, some people around us may have a dream, a vision, and we may contribute to the fulfilment of their dream, but our own dream, our vision, may not be fulfilled.

May we be those who remain where the Lord placed them and be one spirit with the Lord in all things.

And may we not be afraid to speak the heavenly vision that the Lord has shown us, even though it may not be fulfilled yet in us; we need to speak until the Lord will deliver us and bring us to the throne.

Christ Branches out God through His Believers to Spread God and Magnify Christ

In Gen. 49:22, Jacob blessed Joseph by saying that he is a fruitful bough; this is a type of Christ as the branch (Isa. 11:1-2) for the branching out of God through His believers as His branches (John 15:1, 5).

Joseph is a type of Christ even in this matter; he was like a fruitful bough, a vine that stretches and spreads to branch out God everywhere.

Joseph was a fruitful bow by a fountain, with his branches running over the wall.

The fountain signifies God, the source of fruitfulness (Psa. 36:9; Jer. 2:13), and the branches running over the wall signify that we as Christ’s believers are His branches spreading Christ over every restriction, even magnifying Christ in all circumstances (Phil. 1:20; 4:22; Philem. 10).

God wants to spread Himself and branch out into humanity, and Christ did just that; He came as the vine, the tree of life, to spread God in man, and we as believers in Christ are His spreading, His increase, and His reaching out in and through man.

Wherever we are, we are the branches of Christ spreading Him, being His increase and enlargement, and seeking to branch out God into man.

We have Christ within us and we are the many branches in the vine, abiding in the Lord and magnifying Him.

There are restrictions and limitations, but we magnify Christ in all circumstances. Amen, may Christ be magnified in all things in our daily living!

May we abide in the Lord and live Him out for His expression among men.

May we be those who are one with Christ in all things so that, no matter whether we are in a “dungeon” or we are free, Christ would be magnified!

May Christ run over any wall through His saints to reach out to all men and bring God into man and man into God!

Thank You, Lord, for branching out in humanity to reach us and make us part of Christ as the vine. Hallelujah, Christ branched out into us and made us branches in the vine, and we are part of God’s increase in humanity. Amen, Lord, keep us abiding in You today. We just want to abide in You and enjoy all Your riches so that You may grow in us and spread through us. May You have a way to branch out through us to those around us so that God may gain an increase in man. May we be those who magnify Christ in all things!

Sealed by the Spirit, having Christ as our Righteousness, and being Submissive to God

In his receiving glory and gifts in his enthronement, Joseph was a type of Christ, who received glory (Heb. 2:9) and gifts (Psa. 68:18; Acts 2:33) in His ascension (Gen. 41:42).

On one hand, this is a type of Christ; on the other hand, this is very experiential for us.

When Joseph was enthroned, Pharaoh gave him his signet right, to indicate that Joseph had the seal of the Pharaoh, and he also gave him fine linen as his garments and put a gold chain around his neck.

The ring, the garments, and the gold chain portray the gifts that Christ received in His ascension to the heavens, which gifts he passed on to the church.

The signet ring signifies the Holy Spirit as a seal within and upon the believers (Acts 2:33; Eph. 1:13; 4:30; cf. Luke 15:22).

We believers in Christ have been sealed by the Spirit.

A seal is like a stamp that is stamped on official documents and letters.

When a seal is applied, there’s the image of the seal that is imprinted, and the ink of the seal gets mingled with the paper.

Paul told the Corinthians that they are a letter of Christ ministered by the apostles, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God (2 Cor. 3:3).

We believers in Christ have been sealed by the Spirit; we have been inscribed with the Spirit of the living God to be living letters of Christ.

Now all men can read Christ on us, for we are living letters of Christ.

On one hand, they see Christ being imprinted on us, and we magnify Christ and express Him wherever we go; on the other hand, being sealed by the Spirit means that we belong to Christ, for He has ownership over us.

The Spirit works Himself into us as the living ink, the spiritual ink, and we belong to God, for we are sealed by the Spirit.

The Spirit is continually sealing us day by day until the day of our redemption until even our body is sealed by the Spirit.

Day by day, as we spend time with the Lord to enjoy Him in His word, we are sealed by the Spirit and the image of Christ is imprinted on us. Praise the Lord!

Daily the divine and mystical ink of the Triune God is infused into us and we’re mingled with the Spirit more and more, and all men around us can see that we belong to God and we are living letters of Christ.

The garments signify Christ as our objective righteousness for our justification before God (1 Cor. 1:30; cf. Psa. 45:9, 13; Luke 15:22) and as our subjective righteousness lived out of us that we may be qualified to participate in the marriage of the Lamb (Phil. 3:9; Psa. 45:14; Rev. 19:7-9).

On one hand, Christ covered us initially as our objective righteousness before God when we believed in Christ.

On the other hand, we are daily cooperating with the Lord to live out Christ as our subjective righteousness, our second garment, which qualifies us to enter into the wedding feast of the Lamb.

We dwell in Christ by abiding in the Lord, and we become glorious, for our garment is a woven work inwrought with gold.

There’s a weaving going on day by day, for Christ is being wrought into the fibres of our being to become our subjective, lived-out righteousness.

Stitching implies pain, suffering, and an extended process.

It may be a little painful for us to have Christ wrought into us, but we cooperate with Him and we open to Him, and He works Himself into us to be not only our objective righteousness covering us before God but even more our subjective righteousness, our lived-out righteousness before men.

And as we do this, we grow in life unto maturity, and we forget about the pain, for Christ is lived out of us.

The gold chain signifies the beauty of the Holy Spirit given for obedience expressed in submission (cf. Acts 5:32); a chained neck signifies a will that has been conquered and subdued to obey God’s commandment (Gen. 41:42; cf. S. S. 1:10; Prov. 1:8-9).

The fact that the neck is chained signifies that we are subdued and conquered to obey the Lord.

Many times in the Old Testament God referred to His people as being a stiff-necked people, a stubborn people.

We are like this many times; our neck is not chained, for we are not yet willing to be defeated and subdued by the Lord.

What the Lord wants is to put a golden chain around our neck, something that makes us beautiful before the Lord because of our submission to Him.

In regards to the matter of obedience, we may think that we HAVE to submit ourselves to God and we HAVE to obey; and this is true, we need to do this.

But it is much sweeter and deeper than this.

We do not obey simply because we have to; we have a life of obedience in us.

Christ came into us as our subjective life of obedience, and when we contact Him, love Him, enjoy Him, and live Him, His life of submission is lived out in us, becoming our life of obedience and submission.

And this is something beautiful before God.

According to the sequence of our spiritual experience, we first receive the sealing of the Spirit for our salvation, then we receive the garment of righteousness to begin to live Christ (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:20-21), and for us to live Christ, we need to have our will conquered and subdued by the Holy Spirit.

This is so rich and applicable to our daily Christian experience. We need to bring all these matters to the Lord in prayer and ask Him,

Lord Jesus, thank You for sealing us with the Spirit unto the day of our redemption. We open to Your sealing, Your infusing, for You to work Yourself into us more and more. Write Yourself upon us and infuse us with the Spirit of the living God so that we may be living letters of Christ read and known by all men. Amen, Lord, work Yourself into us a little more today so that You may be lived out of us and be expressed through us. Hallelujah, Christ is our righteousness before God for our justification, and Christ is being lived out of us as our subjective righteousness! Amen, Lord, live in us today. May Christ be the One lived out of us in our daily living as our subjective righteousness so that we may be prepared as the bride of Christ. Lord, we want to cooperate with You for the weaving of our wedding garments by having Christ lived out in us as our subjective righteousness. We love You, Lord Jesus! Conquer our will. Subdue our will by Yourself as the reality of the Holy Spirit. Subdue us, Lord, and make our will so pliable and flexible for You to work in us. May our neck be chained with a gold chain, that is, may our will be conquered and subdued to obey God’s commandment. Have Your way in us. Lord, be lived out in us!

God Helps us Forget all our Troubles and Makes us Fruitful in the Land of Affliction

After being released from prison and ushered to the throne, Joseph married Asenath and had two sons whom he called Manasseh and Ephraim (Gen. 41:45-52).

Joseph was a type of Christ even in this matter.

Joseph was rejected by his brothers and had to take a wife who was from the Gentiles. Christ was rejected by His brothers and married a wife from the Gentiles, the church as the spiritual people of God.

As Christ stayed with the Gentiles and was preached among the nations, He obtained a wife from among them.

-Asenath is a type of the church taken out of the Gentile world by Christ during His rejection by the children of Israel.

After being resurrected from the prison of death and ushered into the position of ascension, Joseph married Asenath and had two sons.

He called the name of his firstborn Manasseh, which means making to forget, and the name of the second one Ephraim, meaning twice fruitful.

Joseph declared that God made him forget all the trouble and all his father’s house, and God made him twice fruitful in the land of his affliction.

He went through so many troubles, trials, and sufferings, but God made him forget.

Similarly Christ, after going through so many persecutions, trials, and even death, was made to forget His troubles and became fruitful in the land of His affliction.

Today it is the same with us.

We need the Lord to make us forget so many of our trials, sufferings, and troubles; He does this as we come to Him.

We have many troubles in our Father’s house; the saints in the church life are indeed excellent, but we all are in the process of being transformed, and many things happen to either offend us or upset us.

We are like a bush full of thorns and prickly; though the divine fire burns within the bush, we still have thorns, and it is easy to offend others and be offended.

The church is a corporate thornbush, and each one of us is a little thornbush burning with the divine fire of the Triune God.

As we do this and that, as we enjoy the Lord and meet with the saints, we are still prone to being offended and to offend others.

The Triune God is in us, He redeemed us, but we’re still thorny.

Even a wrong look from someone may cause us to be upset, and sometimes we’re so touchy when it comes to being with the saints. Oh, Lord Jesus!

We need to come to the Lord and ask Him to make us forget all our sufferings and troubles in our Father’s house.

We need to learn to forget the things which are behind and stretch forward to gain more of Christ.

And also we need to learn to ask for forgiveness from others when we offend them, and learn to forgive them when they have offended us (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13).

On one hand, God makes us forget the troubles we had because of our Father’s house, and on the other, He makes us fruitful.

When we preach the gospel and produce fruit, Christ is happy, for there’s no more affliction but rather, there’s much fruit.

We are the branches in the vine as the spread and increase of Christ, and we spread Christ and cause Him to increase in man by preaching the gospel and helping others get saved. Praise the Lord!

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to be joined to us, the Gentiles, to make us Your wife, part of Your increase among men. We love You, Lord. We are Your wife, Your bride, and we are Your increase and Your spread. Thank You for making us forget all our afflictions and troubles in the past. Amen, Lord, keep us coming to You concerning our afflictions, offenses, and troubles that we have both in our Christian life and in the church life. Only You can make us forgive and forget. We want to be one with You in this matter. Make us those who seek to be forgiven when we offend others and who forgive and forget when others offend us. Amen, Lord, we love You and we love all the saints! We want to cooperate with You to preach the gospel so that You may increase in man. May You bear fruit in us, the saints who abide in the vine, so that You may be satisfied and happy because of all the fruit You bear in us and through us! Hallelujah for our wonderful Christ!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis, msg. 113, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Enjoyment of Christ and our Growth in Life unto Maturity (2023 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 5, entitled, The Reigning Aspect of the Mature Life Seen in the Life of Joseph.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – How to Maintain the Joy of Our Salvation, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The Fine Linen Garment is the Righteousnesses of Christ Lived Out through Us, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The sealing and pledging Spirit, a portion from, The Spirit in the Epistles, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
  – The Ministry of the Spirit and of Righteousness (2), via, Shepherding words.
  – 10 Things You Obtain Immediately upon Believing in Jesus, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The sealing Spirit, a portion from, The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee.
  – Life-Study of Genesis Summaries – Messages 112-116, via, The Church in Regina.
  – Life-study of Ephesians, Message 12: Sealed with the Holy Spirit, video via, Youtube.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – ’Twas after we believed in Christ, / The word of truth, the gospel, heard, / The Holy Spirit us did seal / To show that we belong to God. / This Spirit as the living seal, / To us God’s image now imparts; / Conforming us unto the Son, / He stamps His image in our hearts. (Hymns #1120 stanzas 2-3)
  – All I have in Adam is but sin and death, / I in Christ inherit life and righteousness; / When in flesh abiding, Adam I express, / But when in the spirit Christ is manifest. / When I am in Adam, though I may not sin, / Unto death, a sinner, sentenced I have been; / When in Christ I need not righteously to act, / I’m already righteous, justified in fact. (Hymns #593 stanzas 1-2)
  – Oh, for a heart to praise my God, / A heart from sin set free, / With conscience sprinkled by the blood / So freely shed for me. / A heart resigned, submissive, meek, / My dear Redeemer’s throne; / Where only Christ is heard to speak, / Where Jesus reigns alone. (Hymns #410 stanzas 1-2)