Revelation 7:3 - Exposition

Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees . Hurt not, by loosing the four winds, as stated on Revelation 7:2 . The destruction prepared for the guilty world is not allowed to fall until God's elect have been gathered in, and preserved free from danger (cf. Matthew 24:31 , where immediately after the appearance of the Son of man, his elect are gathered from the four winds). (For the signification of the earth, the sea, and the trees, see on Revelation 7:1 and Revelation 7:2 .) Till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads . The angel associates himself with the first four, as being on an equality with them in this work, although he alone is stated to possess the seal ( Revelation 7:2 ). Of the nature of the sealing nothing more is indicated. The forehead is naturally mentioned as being the most conspicuous part of man, as well as that which we are accustomed to regard as the noblest and most vital part. The idea may be compared with that in Ezekiel 9:4 , Ezekiel 9:6 . It is remarkable, too, that the word in Ezekiel rendered "mark" is the name of the Hebrew letter tau , of which the ancient form was a cross (cf. the sign of the cross in baptism; also Revelation 3:12 , "I will write upon him the Name of my God... and my new Name;" and Revelation 14:1 , "Having his Father s Name written in their foreheads"). "The servants of our God," says Bengel, is a title which especially belongs to holy men in Israel (cf. Genesis 1:17 ; Deuteronomy 32:36 ; Isaiah 61:6 ). Those who hold the preterist view believe that the Christians who escaped the destruction of Jerusalem are indicated by this expression. The sealed are probably these referred to by our Lord in Matthew 24:22 , Matthew 24:24 , Matthew 24:31 , as "the elect."