And after this I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding fast the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor upon any tree.
Revelation 7 opens with the judgments on hold: four angels grip the winds of the earth so that nothing stirs. Why does the storm stop, who are these angels, and what do the winds, the earth, the sea and the tree stand for?
The chapter is not the seventh seal. It sits between the sixth and the seventh. Its character is not like the judgments on either side.
Notice that the two visions of Revelation 7 form no part of the sequence of the seals. The sixth seal is now open, and the seventh does not come until Revelation 8. These visions are introduced as something separate: "After this I saw." They are a parenthesis between the sixth and seventh seals. Indeed they could not form part of the seals, for they are different in nature. The seals are judgments. These visions are visions of remarkable grace — to Israel first, and also to the Gentiles. There is a moral beauty in this interruption. The seal judgments are rolling on, and the sixth has come. But the Lord stops the procession to display this magnificent show of grace — in wrath He remembers mercy.
These angels do more than strike. They hold back the very forces God will later use them to release.
Angels, as always, are the servants of God's providential rule. Here they act as the ones who carry out His judgments... In fact they hold back the powers of evil here. They are also the ones who, in God's own time, bring His vengeance through those same powers. They stand on the four corners of the earth. The whole earth is under the control God has given them, because the number four is the symbol of completeness on earth.
Wind here is not weather.
The "four winds of the earth" are those disturbing elements existing in all quarters, which God can at His will let loose in judgment.
Writers do not treat these influences as coming from God, since God would have no cause to restrain His own work.
The winds of the earth are the various influences that affect it from outside. They are certainly not divine influences, or God would not need to hold them back. They are the power of the enemy at work. Satan, as we learn elsewhere, is "the prince of the power of the air," and the course of this age is under his control. God is above it all, as we now see. Nothing exists unless God permits it. That is the security of His people, whatever hostile circumstances they pass through.
The earth, the sea and the tree each stand for a part of the world of men.
"That no wind might blow on earth" — the scene of settled government (Rev. 10:2; Ps. 46:2); "or sea" — nations and peoples in anarchy and confusion (Dan. 7:2-3; Isa. 57:20); "or against any tree" — the might and pride of earth (Dan. 4:10, 22; Ezek. 31:3-9, 14-18). The verse gives the reason for the pause in judgment in exact terms: "until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads" (v. 3).
The scene is not limited to one region of the world.
John here views the earth as a vast open plain, bounded by the four main points of the compass, north, south, east, and west. At each of these corners an angel stands so as to have full control over the destructive forces of evil. Repeating the number "four" three times marks how complete and how wide-reaching the action is... The earth here must be understood in its largest sense.
The delay has a purpose, and later in the book someone else marks his own followers.
This pictures God in His providence holding judgment back, so that the servants of God can be sealed in their foreheads. If Antichrist will seal his servants in their foreheads (see Revelation 13:16), God will seal His servants and preserve them.
This scene has a practical use for anyone facing danger.
The order of these things is important. It shows that God has complete control of the situation, even of the worst powers that may act on the earth. The earth may be in total turmoil but God takes care of the saints. He knows each one and this is so important for our comfort and consolation. Nothing is too difficult for Him, nor any situation too dangerous.
- Restraint. The four angels hold evil back before they ever release it. The hand that will strike is the hand now gripping the winds.
- Reason. No wind blows until God has sealed His servants. The delay serves a marked people; it is not an accident.
- Reach. Four angels, four corners, four winds. The restraint covers settled government, the tumult of the nations and the great ones of the earth.
- Rescue. The chapter breaks the run of judgments to show grace instead: in wrath He remembers mercy.
- Refuge. Nothing exists unless God permits it, so the timing of the storm is itself the security of His people.
And I saw another angel ascending from [the] sunrising, having [the] seal of [the] living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it had been given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Between the breaking of the sixth seal and the seventh, the vision pauses. Four angels hold back the winds of judgment. Now another angel rises from the sunrise carrying God's own seal. He orders the destruction to wait until God has marked out a certain company as His.
The four angels can harm only what God allows them to harm.
The four angels were given their power to harm the earth and the sea. So the judgment is in God's hand, even though the instruments may be working their own will. The angels have "power to harm" simply because they have the power to restrain the harmful influences, or not. So there is a time of quiet and relative safety until God has finished His own work in those who serve Him.
One voice halts four, and that order matters.
In every upheaval, in every preparation for God's judgments, the angel who shows God's power in mercy is stronger than the angels who carry out His judgments. Good is more powerful than evil. That angel who holds the seal can cry with a loud voice, Do not harm. We see the same thing with Lot, who is a picture of the remnant that escapes at the coming of the Son of Man. The angels could do nothing to Sodom until he had left it. So there is an order among the attributes of God: His mercy always goes before His justice.
The direction he comes from matters. It points to the One whose day is about to break over Israel.
He rises from the east, the sunrise, "with the seal of the living God." This sealing angel comes up from the sunrise for the preservation and blessing of Israel. He seems to be a herald of the Messiah. As the Sun of Righteousness, Messiah will rise with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2) and shine on the land and the people with a brightness nothing can dim. The angel brings the first fruits of the nation's blessing; the full harvest waits for Christ to appear from heaven.
Some readers take the sealing angel to be Christ Himself. Commentators differ, and how Christ appears elsewhere in the book bears on the answer.
Some have supposed that the sealing angel is Christ. One reason is the assumption that the work being done is the giving of the Holy Spirit of promise, the seal of redemption. To me all this is more than doubtful. Our Lord never takes an angelic form and title until we reach the trumpet series.
The angel's own wording points the same way.
No angel could give the Holy Spirit. This angel's own words show he is a creature. The "we" shows that more than one carries out this ministry, and those who do it speak of God as "our God."
God's title here — the living God — fits what the seal secures. Where the angel puts it matters too.
"The seal of the living God" implies safety from death. The seal on the forehead means a public, open acknowledgment that those who are sealed belong to God. We are not told what the seal is.
Scripture also calls believers today sealed, but the two sealings serve different ends.
The instructed reader will see at once how this sealing differs from the sealing of believers now with the Holy Spirit. God seals believers of this present time as soon as their sins are forgiven, and He seals them for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30). The 144,000 of this chapter are sealed with the seal of the living God. It keeps them safe through the judgments that will fall on the world. For Israel those judgments will be the day of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:4-9; see also Matt. 24:21-22). They are sealed for blessing on the earth in the kingdom of their glorious Messiah.
Safety is not the whole story. God has a purpose for the people He seals.
These servants are drawn from the twelve tribes of Israel, and their number, "one hundred and forty-four thousand," is symbolic. This surely shows that during this time of tribulation God will raise up His servants from among His ancient people Israel. They will be a public witness to Himself in every part of the world to which they may have been scattered.
- Restraint. Four angels can strike the earth only because God permits it. One word from the sealing angel stops them. Judgment stays in God's hand.
- Mercy. God's mercy moves ahead of His justice. As with Lot and Sodom, judgment waits until His own are safe.
- Seal. Set on the forehead, the seal openly marks whose they are. We are not told what it is. It is not the Spirit's sealing of believers now.
- Life. The title "the living God" fits the promise. The sealed come through the coming judgments alive, and they are blessed afterwards in Messiah's kingdom.
- Sunrise. The angel rises from the east as herald of the Sun of Righteousness. He brings the first fruits of a blessing whose full harvest waits for Christ to appear.
saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, until we shall have sealed the bondmen of our God upon their foreheads.
Between the sixth seal and the seventh, the flow of judgment stops. Four angels hold back the winds. Another angel calls out to them, and no harm may fall until God has marked out a people as His own.
This chapter breaks the sequence on purpose:
The contents of our chapter form no part of events under the Seals. There is no historical sequence… So between the sixth seal and the seventh, belonging to neither, God brings in a deeply interesting episode of blessing to Israel and to the Gentiles. Judgment pauses, and the veil lifts so that we may see the heart of our God. It is not all judgment in those dark and evil days.
The angel names three things — the earth, the sea and the trees. Each stands for a part of the world of men:
"That no wind might blow upon the earth," the scene of settled government (Rev. 10:2; Ps. 46:2): "nor upon the sea," nations and peoples in anarchy and confusion (Dan. 7:2-3; Isa. 57:20); "nor upon any tree," the might and pride of earth (Dan. 4:10, 22; Ezek. 31:3-9, 14-18). The angel states the reason judgment stops in precise terms: "until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."
The verse says the harm was given to these angels. That single word decides who is really in charge of the coming trouble:
Here we read that the four angels were given the power to hurt the earth and the sea. So the judgment is in the hand of God, although the instruments may be working their own will. The angels have "power to hurt" only because they can hold back the harmful influences, or let them loose. So there is a time of quiet and relative safety until God has finished His own work in those who serve Him.
This order of events has happened before:
We learn, next, that God governs the world with His people in view… In the same way, judgment was about to fall upon Jerusalem. The Lord had a mark put on the foreheads of the men who sighed and cried over all the abominations done in it (Ezek. 9). He kept this faithful remnant safe while the scourge swept over everything.
A seal is an owner's stamp. Placed on the forehead, it is the least hidden spot on a person:
"The seal of the living God" means safety from death. The seal on the forehead is a public, open acknowledgment that those who carry it belong to God. What the seal is we are not told.
Later in the book a different mark appears on foreheads:
God's seal on their foreheads stands in contrast to the mark of the beast that unbelievers receive in Revelation 13:16-18.
A reader may ask how this sealing relates to Christians now:
Any instructed reader will at once see the difference between this sealing and the sealing of believers now with the Holy Spirit. Believers today are sealed as soon as their sins are forgiven, and they are sealed for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30). The 144,000 of this chapter are sealed with the seal of the living God. This preserves them through the judgments that will fall upon the world… They are also sealed for blessing on the earth in the kingdom of their glorious Messiah.
Commentators differ over the identity of the sealing angel. Some read the plural as Christ acting with His own:
I have little doubt this points to Christ (though in a new character, and in connection with the earthly people) and the saints. He holds the seal of the living God. Of course He alone could; but the saints are associated with Him. He says, "until we have sealed the servants of our God."
Others argue the wording itself rules this out:
The words "until we have sealed" would be beneath the surpassing dignity of Christ. So would the closing words of the angel's cry, "the servants of our God." The language and spirit of John 20:17 runs right through the New Testament: "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God." We never meet the terms "our God" and "our Father" as covering Christ and believers together.
The title fits their history. Older translations render the word "bondmen":
They had kept up the testimony of God through trial and difficulty. Their path was marked by conflict and service. So the title "servants" fits them well.
- Restraint — the harm was given to the angels, so the storm never moves until God releases it.
- Reason — the restraint exists for one purpose: God is marking out His servants first.
- Mark — the seal is His stamp of ownership, set where everyone can see it, and it carries protection with it.
- Not ours — today's sealing is by the Spirit for the day of redemption. This one carries a faithful remnant through judgment into an earthly kingdom.
- Pattern — Ezekiel 9 shows the same order. God governs the world with the safety of His people in view.