What does the Bible mean when it refers to the corners of the earth?

Angels, as ever, are the ministers of God's providential government. Here they are seen in the character of the executors, of His judgments. (Compare Matt. 13:41-42, 49, 50; Isaiah 37:36, etc.) They are presented here indeed as the restrainers of the powers of evil, as well as the executors through these, in God's own time, of His vengeance. They stand upon the four corners of the earth, the whole earth (the number four being the symbol of earthly completeness) being under their delegated control. Remark also that they hold ("hold fast") the four winds of the earth, etc. The four winds are symbols, as one has written, "of those disturbing elements, existing in all quarters, which God can at His will let loose in judgment." Daniel thus said, "I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea." (Rev. 7:2.) The sea in this scripture, as in our chapter, represents the nations in a state of tumult or commotion (compare Rev. 13:1), while the earth sets forth rather the nations in the enjoyment of ordered government. Trees are often used in Scripture as figures of the great ones of the earth. (See Daniel 4:19-22; Ezekiel 17, 31, etc.)

1 — “Four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding fast the four winds of the earth.” The banished Seer here views the earth as a vast extended plain, bounded by the four main points of the compass, north, south, east, and west. At these respective corners an angel stands so as to have full control over the destructive forces of evil. The threefold repetition of the numeral “four” marks the completeness and the universality of the action. We see no reason for limiting the term “earth” here to the Roman world. The winds are not to blow till an ideal number of Israel is sealed (vv. 3, 4). Now the two houses of Israel, Ephraim and Judah, are embraced in this work. Jehovah “shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isa. 11:11-12). Thus both the Prophet and the Seer refer to the full extent of the inhabited earth, and not to the territorial limits of the Roman world, whether past or future. Clearly, too, verse 9 refers to the result of a divine testimony amongst the Gentiles far exceeding the extent of the empire in any period of its history. The earth here must be understood in its largest sense.

I. We see the saved remnant of the twelve tribes of Israel (vv. 1-8): "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." (vv. 1-3.)

The "four angels standing on the four corners of the earth" are the ministers of God's judgments, occupying even the remotest regions of the world. The "four winds of the earth" are those disturbing elements existing in all quarters, which God can at His will let loose in judgment. Thus Gog, the great hostile hewer named in Ezekiel, is said to "ascend and come like a storm" (Ezek. 38:9); and Jehovah, when delivering Israel from her enemies, is described "as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest." (Isa. 32:2.)

“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” (v. 1).

The order in which these things are presented to us is important. It is made clear that God has complete control of the situation, even of the worst powers which may act upon 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.

In this verse the expression “the earth” is used in two different senses. What I am referring to is, “on the four corners of the earth,” which I take to be literally the earth as we know it today. But further on in the verse, “that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea,” the earth has rather the significance of what is stable in contrast to what is in turmoil like the waves of the sea. Israel, for example, came from the hand of God having a certain measure of stability, while the sea seems to represent anarchy and that kind of thing amongst the nations.

(a) Four angels are now seen standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding in restraint the four winds of the earth, that no wind should blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor upon any tree. Manifestly here again all is symbolic. The winds of the earth are the various influences which from outside affect it; surely not divine influences, or they would not need to be restrained, but rather the power of the enemy working: for Satan, as we learn elsewhere, is "the prince of the power of the air," and the course of this age is thus under his control. God is above all, as we see now. Nothing is but as it is permitted to be, and this is the security of His people, whatever may be the adverse circumstances through which they pass. The earth seems always to speak of that which is settled under government, as we may say, as the sea cannot be, which speaks in general of unrestrained will — thus of the nations, looked at as away from God. The tree is individual, one specially prominent, rooted in the earth, as it might seem. A time is coming which shall test all this.

— “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 reason of the cessation of judgment is stated in precise terms: “until we shall have sealed the bondmen of our God upon their foreheads” (v. 3).

First of all John sees four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. This symbolizes a providential restraint of judgment for the object of sealing the servants of God in their foreheads. If Antichrist will seal his servants in their foreheads (see Revelation 13:16), God will seal His servants and preserve them.

The four angels, the four corners of the earth, the four winds of heaven, speak of that which is universal.

When the thousand years expire, Satan reappears on the scene to the sorrow and ruin of the Gentiles who were not born of God. But it is for the last time, not of this age only, but of the various dispensations of God. "And when the thousand years are completed, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations that [are] in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war." This is clearly of moral importance. The glory of the kingdom does not preserve when men in their natural state are exposed to the adversary. Even in that day the distant nations, "the number of whom is as the sand of the sea," fall a prey to Satan. If we had not this fact revealed, we should have lost a crowning proof of man's evil and of Satan's wiles and power.

Such is man, and such is Satan. A thousand years confinement in the bottomless pit has not changed the character of the deceiver. A thousand years' blessedness under Christ's rule has not changed the nature which greedily listens to the deceiver's voice. Gog and Magog are here used in a wider sense than in Ezekiel, and their invasion differs in time and details, though agreeing in character and object, with that which he foretells. Ezekiel predicts an incursion by a great northern power called Gog, which, from certain geographical indications, is easily identified with Russia. In the Revelation, however, Gog and Magog are used to designate the nations, not merely from the north, but from all parts, "the four quarters of the earth." Again, the invasion named by Ezekiel is at the beginning of Christ's reign; that in the Revelation at the end. The hosts in Ezekiel, too, fall on the mountains, and their bodies are buried; whereas the forces assembled in the Revelation are devoured by fire from heaven.

Rev. 20:8. — On the completion of the thousand years’ imprisonment‎ Satan, not now spoken of as the dragon, “is loosed from his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which (are) on the four corners of the earth,‎ Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war,‎ whose number is as the sand of the sea.” During the reign all Israel is saved (Jer. 31:31-34; Rom. 11:26), and‎ their seed and seed’s seed for ever (Isa. 59:20-21). But not so the Gentiles. The populations of the earth will be greatly thinned by judgments, large numbers be saved, but many will only render feigned obedience to the authority of the reigning Monarch of the earth. Not the obedience of faith, but a compelled submission under the iron rod ‎(Ps. 2:9), an obedience extorted by fear (see Ps. 18:44;‎ ‎Ps. 66:3; Ps. 81:15; in the margin of each of those texts we reach feigned obedience). Another consideration, which in itself fully accounts for the countless multitudes gathered by Satan from all parts of the earth, is that death even amongst the unsaved will not be the rule, rather the exception ‎(for the principle see Isa. 65:20); besides, the peopling‎ of the earth shall go on as ever, but Scripture does not,‎ so far as we know, intimate that those born during the thousand years are converted, except those amongst Israel ‎(Isa. 59:21). The restraint upon Satan being removed,‎ the nations, not merely individuals, but communities and peoples who had basked under the light and blessing of Messiah’s personal reign, yield themselves up to Satan.‎ Alas! what is man? He has been tried and tested under every possible condition, in every possible way, under goodness, government, law, grace, and now under glory.‎ The former gathering of the powers was under human leaders (Rev. 19:19). This one is on a vaster scale, and under the direct control and guidance of Satan himself.‎ Both end in utter rout and ruin.‎