Revelation 7:1-8

 

(Rev 7:1 KJV)
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.

In the Book of Revelation we will normally see that the forces of nature are under the authority of the angels as we see in the following two verses.

(Rev 14:18 KJV) And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

(Rev 16:5 KJV) And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.

In Revelation 7:1, the destruction which was determined by the four horsemen in Revelation 6:1-8 are pictured here as being held back. The word for “spirit” in the Hebrew is word “ruach” which may also be translated as “wind and breath.” In Zechariah 6:5, the four spirits are used as a description of the four horsemen.

(Zec 6:5 KJV) And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.

The description of “wind” is representing the four horsemen in Revelation 7:1. These angels are holding back the judgments which will be unleashed by the four horsemen. The earth, sea, and trees would represent the inhabitants of the earth on which the fury of the four horsemen would be unleashed. The reason for the temporary holding back of these judgments is given to us in the next few verses. This section of Scripture also prohibits the idea of Revelation being a chronological book. The events in this chapter precede the events in Chapter 6:1-8.

(Rev 7:2 KJV)
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,

Here we see another angel who ascends from the east having the seal of God. In the Scriptures the east is sometimes associated with the Lord. The term is defined by its usage. We read in Ezekiel 43:2-4, concerning the glory of the Lord coming from the east.

(Ezek 43:2-4 KJV) And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. {3} And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. {4} And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.

The angel in Revelation 7:2 comes from the east with the seal. Now the seal is something that God gives His children as a down payment of eternal life. It also represents the fact that those sealed belong to God and nothing can break the seal of the God of the universe. The Christian is given the Holy Spirit as the proof that they are sealed and possessed by the Lord for eternity.

(Eph 4:30 KJV) And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

We have a wonderful picture of this sealing in Ezekiel 9. Before Jerusalem went into captivity, God had commanded that a mark be placed upon all those who were truly sorry for the sins committed by their people. Only those who are truly saved would grieve for their sins and the sins of others. These people in Ezekiel 9 were marked as those who were followers of the true God and eschewed the evil committed by Judah.

(Ezek 9:4 KJV) And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

(Rev 7:3 KJV)
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

The four horsemen have been withheld from going forth with their destructions for the purpose of waiting until all of the true believers have been sealed with salvation. Once the final sealing has taken place, then the four horsemen will begin their judgments upon the earth. Now God’s children have been sealed since the first one became saved but here we are seeing the culmination of God’s salvation plan as we read that all His children must be sealed before the final events on earth take place. We do not know when the sealing of the last one will take place since a person can be sealed and saved at an early age and then live for another 70 or 80 years. The sealing is definitely tied to salvation since the Holy Spirit, as we read in Ephesians 4:30, is the seal given to the true believer. The seal in the forehead is not literal but is figurative because the forehead represents the mind and the true believer is given the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ always accompanies salvation. (1 Cor 2:16 KJV) For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. Basically, what we have in this verse is the final sealing of those Christians before the return of the Lord. These last days Christians combine with all the others makes for the large multitude before the throne as we will see in the later verses in this chapter.

(Rev 7:4-8 KJV)
{4} And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. {5} Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. {6} Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. {7} Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. {8} Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

The common teaching about these passages is that in the tribulation period, 144,000 Jews will be sealed and sent forth as evangelists. This is absolutely erroneous and has no biblical foundation. If you notice in verse 5, it states that 12,000 from all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed. If this number is from every tribe in Israel, then we have a problem. Where is the tribe of Dan? Dan is not mentioned here which gives us a hint that this section is not a literal 144,000. Please keep in mind that we are looking at apocalyptic imagery. If Dan is missing, then 12,000 are not taken from every tribe! This means that we are looking at something which is a figure. The 144,000 represent the entire body of believers from Adam to the last one. This will be made plain in the following verses in this chapter. Remember, the body of Christ is also referred to as Israel.

The following is from my commentary on Romans:
(Rom 9:6 KJV) Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

Here Paul reveals that there are two Israels. If you notice in the past few verses, Paul was speaking of his kinsman according to the flesh and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. The Bible is now revealing that there are two different Israels. There is Israel according to the flesh and Israel according to the Spirit. This is a very important verse as Paul begins by stating that the Word of God was effective in doing what it was supposed to do. When we look back at the history of the nation of Israel from the time they came out of Egypt, we will see two distinct populations. One of them was the people who built the Golden Calf and were the ones who disobeyed God right down through their entire history. Men such as Korah, King Saul, Baalam, etc. Then you also have the history of the men who obeyed God during their history. Men such as Moses, Joshua, David, Nehemiah, etc. What Paul is saying here is that God’s Word reached His Elect among the ancient nation of Israel, even though it looked more like it failed in keeping the nation of Israel as a holy people. Nothing could be further from the truth.
 
 The word of God, made a distinction between the Israel in the flesh which was disobedient and the Israel of God which was in the Spirit who were the obedient of God. Thus, we see that Paul speaks of two Israels, one according to the flesh and one according to the Spirit. Those who are born again are of Spiritual Israel, which is the eternal Israel. Paul is saying that just because a person was born in national Israel, does not mean they are part of the eternal Israel. One enters the eternal Israel through redemption through the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The true chosen people of God are those chosen for salvation and that is the only chosen people God has. The idea that the modern talmudic Jews are God’s chosen people is nothing more than political heresy which is embraced by many preachers simply because they will not approach these verses in Romans in truth, instead they approach them through the eyes and writings of well-paid false prophecy pundits who receive much money from the Zionists to make sure Christians keep thinking that the modern talmudic Jews are God’s chosen people. (1 Pet 2:10 KJV) Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Notice in this verse it states “the people of God.” The direct article means there is no other people of God.