THE SEAL OF THE COVENANT

A seal is mark of belonging, an identity. Sometimes its a representation of somebody's right to use-and abuse. It can also be a lid, to prevent contamination or tampering - to preserve purity and sanctity. Our covenant with God has a seal, a spiritual one. The glory of God is a seal. So is each and every one of His words concerning a person. Angels can also be referred to as seals.

Cain was sealed after his punishment. He was bright enough to realize that Gods damnation would expose him to destruction, and at his request pleading God put a seal on him, so no man could kill him. This was a covenant of some level of protection even in his newly acquired animal-like status.
A seal will be used as a mark of a cut covenant, sometimes in our days, represented by a signature in written agreements. For the promise of God that He would never fatally flood as with the time of the ark again, the rainbow became the seal. Fire was the seal in the case of Abraham's covenant with God After he laid out the sacrifice. It assured Abrahams of Gods participation in the agreement. The use of fire would be of continued important for subsequent covenants. On grand occasions, God lit it up himself by letting it fall form the heavens. This was the case in the dedication of the temple by Solomon, in the contest of gods at mount Carmel with Elijah, among others.

Come the new covenant, and the seal too, an angel of the covenant too.  A new temple is the bodies of men, a new sacrifice-self, and fire from God to consume the sacrifice, as John promised of the coming messiah who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The fire now comes down in a grand scale too. Great quaking preceded the fire that first engulfed the disciples before the Spirit of God filling them. As the fire consumed them, their spirits were purified to accommodate a new strongman, the Holy Spirit. This is the seal of the new covenant. This was that said by John the baptist of one coming that would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And the Spirit of God is referred to later as the guarantor of the saints inheritance also, the seal of the new covenant between God and His people. All the followers of Christ have even now, this seal in common, with the fire being a permanent display within the hearts of men-hence "do not quench the Spirit of God," and the story of the ten virgins.