Revelation of John 7:1
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After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back its four winds so that no wind would blow on land or sea or on any tree.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
SEALING OF THE ELECT OF ISRAEL. THE COUNTLESS MULTITUDE OF THE GENTILE ELECT. (Rev. 7:1-17) And--so B and Syriac. But A, C, Vulgate, and Coptic omit "and." after these things--A, B, C, and Coptic read, "after this." The two visions in this chapter come in as an episode after the sixth seal, and before the seventh seal. It is clear that, though "Israel" may elsewhere designate the spiritual Israel, "the elect (Church) on earth" [ALFORD], here, where the names of the tribes one by one are specified, these names cannot have any but the literal meaning. The second advent will be the time of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, when the times of the Gentiles shall have been fulfilled, and the Jews shall at last say, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." The period of the Lord's absence has been a blank in the history of the Jews as a nation. As then Revelation is the Book of the Second Advent [DE BURGH], naturally mention of God's restored favor to Israel occurs among the events that usher in Christ's advent. earth . . . sea . . . tree--The judgments to descend on these are in answer to the martyrs' prayer under the fifth seal. Compare the same judgments under the fifth trumpet, the sealed being exempt (Rev 9:4). on any tree--Greek, "against any tree" (Greek, "epi ti dendron": but "on the earth," Greek, "epi tees gees").
Open source ↗Here we have, I. An account of the restraint laid upon the winds. By these winds we suppose are meant those errors and corruptions in religion which would occasion a great deal of trouble and mischief to the church of God. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is compared to the wind: here the spirits of error are compared to the four winds, contrary one to another, but doing much hurt to the church, the garden and vineyard of God, breaking the branches and blasting the fruits of his plantation. The devil is called the prince of the power of the air; he, by a great wind, overthrew the house of Job's eldest son. Errors are as wind, by which those who are unstable are shaken, and carried to and fro, Eph 4:14. Observe, 1. These are called the winds of the earth, because they blow only in these lower regions near the earth; heaven is always clear and free from them. 2. They are restrained by the ministry of angels, standing on the four corners of the earth, intimating that the spirit of error cannot go forth till God permits it, and that the angels minister to the good of the church by restraining its enemies. 3. Their restraint was only for a season, and that was till the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads. God has a particular care and concern for his own servants in times of temptation and corruption, and he has a way to secure them from the common infection; he first establishes them, and then he tries them; he has the timing of their trials in his own hand. II. An account of the sealing of the servants of God, where observe, 1. To whom this work was committed - to an angel, another angel. While some of the angels were employed to restrain Satan and his agents, another angel was employed to mark out and distinguish the faithful servants of God. 2. How they were distingu…
Open source ↗7:1-17 Three interludes occur in chs 6–14 (ch 7; 10:1–11:14; 12:1–14:20) to define the place of God’s holy people and to provide perspective on the previous scenes. In this first interlude before the seventh seal is broken, two visions communicate how God protects his people and assures them of his calling. 7:1-8 The interlude’s first vision shows how God protects his faithful followers from ultimate harm. 7:1-3 Wait! God calls for a temporary halt by the four angels of destruction. • The seal of the living God implies membership in God’s household; God owns and protects his people (2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13-14). In the ancient world, sealing or tattooing was a sign of ownership. • The angel . . . carrying the seal identified God’s people, answering the question of who would survive God’s wrath (Rev 6:17; see Ezek 9:3-8; John 17:14-15) and furthering the promise of protection (Rev 3:10; see also 11:1-2).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
Daniel declared: “In my vision in the night I looked, and suddenly the four winds of heaven were churning up the great sea.
I will bring the four winds against Elam from the four corners of the heavens, and I will scatter them to all these winds. There will not be a nation to which Elam’s exiles will not go.
And He will send out the angels to gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
Thus the goat became very great, but at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off, and four prominent horns came up in its place, pointing toward the four winds of heaven.
“O son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says to the land of Israel: ‘The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.
Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and tell the breath that this is what the Lord GOD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live!”
By warfare and exile You contended with her and removed her with a fierce wind, as on the day the east wind blows.
He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
saying to the sixth angel with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”