Nothing by way of explanation is given about these four angels, other then to state that they were seen by John, and that they were involved in holding the four winds etc.
Angels in the Bible are servants of God, who are sent forth to serve God's purposes as it relates to His people. And, in this case, they are apparently involved in what has been called by some and "interlude" during the tribulation period.
The destruction that was taking place during the tribulation, takes a pause as it were.
The next thing John saw was another angel coming up from the east, and he had the seal of the Living God with him. And, he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels spoken of in the first verse. This angel spoke to the four angels and instructed them not to do any harm to any part of the world until "we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads"
Then John heard the number of those who were sealed. It was 144,000 from all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Some further explanation and application:
1. God's timing and processes, are indeed under His own control. It's evident here, that the Lord can and in fact does just simply stop the destruction that was taking place to bring about this sealing of His own servants. The Bible teaches us that God is in control of all things, and is working all things according to His own will. He is in control.
2. God has servants, both on earth and in heaven. We have seen some of earthly servants both in Scripture and in our own lifetime, and hopefully, we ourselves are His servants. However, we have not seen these angelic servants yet. We will, but not till we get to heaven.
They have been created by Him, and have chosen to stay loyal to Him, and always will be as far as we know. The are locked into the Lord and His service if you will. They are the ones who did not follow Satan in his rebellion against God. And, these angels serve the Lord.
3. Sealing in the Bible is a reference to the work of salvation in people's lives. The word itself, means to mark with a seal, for security. God's mark in His servants is the Holy Spirit. We are told that in Eph 5. Just as we might look at a bar code to identify something, or a vin number, or a social security number, etc, we know that the Holy Spirit in a person's life, is God's mark of ownership, and that love produced by the Holy Spirit is the evidence of that sealing. Thus when you see God's love manifested in someone, then you can be sure they are sealed/saved by the Lord. The absence of that love ought to give great reason for concern.
4. So, these verse's in Rev 7, tell us that this large number of Jewish people will be saved during this period. ( This by the way, is apparently just the start of great multitudes that will come to salvation during the tribulation period. But, for starters, 12,000 out of each of the 12 Tribes of Israel will be saved.
Well, we are in a very dramatic portion of Revelation, and I look forward to sharing with you day by day, and verse by verse, and chapter by chapter, as we work our way through this book which leads up to the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ to the earth.
Many blessings in abundance to you from our God, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastor Bob Grenier.
