Revelation 7:1–8 (ESV) — 1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, 6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, 8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
We are moving to Chapter Seven in the Book of Revelation. This chapter continues to remind us that God governs His creation and all of history. God is God. His plan, from eternity past, is moving forward to its finality. Like an automobile on an assembly line moving along to the place of completion, so is God’s plan of redemption moving forward to His final chapter. The Book of Revelation shows us that God governs history to fulfill His Plan of Redemption (which was planned before time) for his purified, blood-bought people. Remember, the Lamb Wins!
We have read the opening of the Sixth Seal, and it brought us to the threshold of the end. We begin Revelation Chapter Seven, not with the breaking of the Seventh and last Seal. The Seventh Seal is not opened until Chapter Eight. Here it is as if the Apostle John stands back, slows down, and gives us more detail before the Seventh Seal is opened. Therefore, let us open the ears of our minds and hearts and hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying. Amen.
What is going on as we come to Chapter Seven? This chapter answers the cry of the ungodly in the last verse of Chapter Six. “The great day of … wrath has come, and who can stand before it?” (6:17). The answer to this question is now given. Chapter Seven tells who will stand during these cycles of God’s judgment and who will stand on the last day, that great day of wrath.
We begin with discerning the symbols in the picture. We have winds, which present another image of judgment and disaster. Anyone who has endured a hurricane can tell you, wind can be disastrous. The four winds are also a metaphor for the entirety of the earth. Here, the four angels are “holding back” the winds, that is, restraining God’s judgments from utterly destroying the earth.[1]
There have been several interpretations of these four winds: (1) the rabbis viewed the quarterly winds as evil (cf. Acts 27:14); (2) some refer it to the evil winds or possibly the judgments of God of Jer. 49:36 and Dan. 7:2; and (3) some see it as an allusion to Zech. 1:8 and 6:5, where the four horsemen and chariots are servants of God (cf. Matt. 24:31).[2]
Standing in the same tradition as Zechariah, and therefore possibly also behind Rev. 7:2–3, is Jer. 49:36, where “the four winds” are divine agents of judgment against a nation.[3]
Zechariah 6:1–5 (ESV) — 1 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of bronze. 2 The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, 3 the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses—all of them strong. 4 Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 And the angel answered and said to me, “These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. (cf. Isa. 11:12; Jer. 49:36; Dan. 7:2; Zech. 1:8; 6:1, 5; Matt. 24:31).
Also in this picture, we have a fifth angel “from the rising of the sun” which would be from the east. It tells the four angels to pause. Why? Verse 3 tells us: “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until …. we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” Verse two says this is: “… the seal of the living God”. God’s seal is referred to again in Rev. 9:4 and Rev. 14:1.
Revelation 9:4 (ESV) — 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Revelation 14:1 (ESV) — 1 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
Revelation 22:4 is probably a reference to this seal of God because of the reference to what is on their forehead.
Revelation 22:4 (ESV) — 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Why do these verses, along with Revelation 7:3, say that the seal of God is on their forehead? This alludes back to the prophet Ezekiel 9:4, 6.
Ezekiel 9:4 (ESV) — 4 And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.”
Ezekiel 9:6 (ESV) — 6 Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house.
The Lord says that His mark on the forehead designates a separation of those who have a heart that grieves over sin. Not everyone grieves over sin, but those whom the Spirit of God has moved their heart to love righteousness and hate sin, “who sigh and groan over all the abominations” that are being committed. This is clearly a reference to those who love Yahweh and His commandments. Judgment will not be upon those who have the mark of God. Why are they excluded from judgment with the mark or seal of God? Because they belong to the Lord. He protects them. The mark is not a physical mark but a symbol of God’s seal on those who believe and worship Him.
An interesting note of the word translated “mark” in these verses in Ezekiel. In the Hebrew language, which this was written in, the word “mark” is the last letter in the Hebrew Alphabet—"tau.” The form of that letter in Hebrew is a cross. I’m not making a doctrine out of it, but just found it interesting. The mark of the cross.
Back to the question: why is the seal of God on believers portrayed on their foreheads of believers? It could be that the forehead represents our minds, our thinking, and reasoning. Where decisions and choices are made. The mind tells the will what to do. The choice to surrender to Jesus in faith and trust Him is from the mind. We consciously decide to trust and follow Christ Jesus. I am reminded of Jesus telling us in the teaching of the four types of hearts that hear the good news of salvation. It is the parable of the Sower and Seed, in Matthew 13:18-23. Jesus says the good heart, which is characterized as soil, that bears the fruit of the gospel, “hears the word (the gospel message) and understands it.” The mind understands the good news enough to choose Christ Jesus. In this parable, the emotional responses to the gospel are shallow and fail, but the person who mentally understands the gospel, though it may be ever so little, wills to follow Christ. The understanding comes from the Spirit of Truth giving the person clarity. The point is, the authentic believer grasps (mentally) the gospel enough to believe. The people of God are sealed by God with God. They are sealed in this life. The believers who go through the great tribulation find great encouragement and comfort that God has sealed them for Himself. Their faith under attack may be shaken, weakened, or even falter at times. But God will keep them. He has sealed each of them with His name on their foreheads (Rev. 14:1).
This is the main focus of Chapter Seven of Revelation. Sadly, many people focus on the 144,000 in this Chapter, trying to understand who or what the 144,000 are, and thereby miss the intent of this symbolic picture. The focus that God has sealed all who have embraced Jesus Christ. He will preserve them through persecution and affliction. He will preserve them through the judgments that come upon the earth by the four winds (7:1), by the four horsemen (Rev. 6:1-11)
What is the purpose of this Seal on believers? In the ancient world, a seal served three main purposes. I will focus on the first purpose of the Seal today. Next time, we will look at the other two main purposes of God’s sealing of His saints. We will also look closely at the 144,000 – Vvs. 4-8.
A main purpose of sealing was to identify ownership of the document or object. A common type of seal was the signet ring, which bore the owner's emblem. The Seal identified ownership of the document or object. Think of how cattle were branded to show and prove ownership. The same was used by a personal seal of wax from a signet ring.
The symbolic message from symbolic pictures in Revelation is that God has stamped us as His possession!
Revelation 14:1 (ESV) — 1 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
And we have 1 Peter 2:9 — “… you are a people for his own possession …”
When a believer grasps this truth, that God has sealed you for eternity as His possession, comfort in trials, hope in persecution, and affliction begin rising up from within the soul. Let’s not stop here; there is more to dig up in this great truth. What is this Sealing, and who has been sealed by God? The Answers to these eternal questions are found in Ephesians 1:12-14.
Ephesians 1:12–14 (ESV) — 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Verse 13 speaks of Christians being sealed. We see in verse 14 that this is His eternal seal that takes us to our full redemption—“our inheritance until we acquire possession of it”, it being our eternal inheritance.
Verses 12-13 say who are sealed. Those who have their hope in Christ and who heard the word of truth, the gospel, believed in Christ. These believers “… were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit”.
Who has the Seal of God? Who are sealed by the Spirit of God? Who will be preserved by God for eternity? Those who have their eternal hope in Christ Jesus.
These verses tell us specifically who the “mark” and “seal” symbolism represents: the Holy Spirit of God. Ephesians 1:13, “… were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit”. We are sealed by God with God himself.
2 Corinthians 1:22 (ESV) — 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
This helps us throw out misconceptions about this sealing. The Sealing is not water baptism, nor Church Membership. It is nothing man-made. The Sealing is the gift of the Holy Spirit in and upon those who put their hope in Jesus Christ for the salvation of their souls.
Something else we notice from Ephesians 1:13-4 and 2 Corinthians 1:22 is that the seal is a guarantee, or, as some translations say, a down payment or installment of what is to come in the ages to come. This means that no one and nothing, in heaven or earth, can remove the Holy Spirit from you. You are His. You are eternally guaranteed as God’s possession. Hallelujah!! William Hendriksen writes, “This sealing is the most precious thing under heaven.”2
There is an application to this truth that some people need to recognize, whether for themselves or loved ones. It comes from Ezekiel 34:15–16
“I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.”
There are many believers—sealed with the Spirit of God for eternity, who have been wounded, broken, spiritually injured, and are weak. Many believers who belong to Jesus have strayed like sheep (c.f. Isaiah 53:6). If this is you, or a loved one, the Seal of God remains. His Seal is not based on how strong in faith you are, how much faith you have, or how strong your faith is. The seal of God is not based on how good a Christian you have been, nor on your spiritual knowledge. The seal of God is given to those who hope in Christ Jesus, and it is a guarantee of the eternal inheritance waiting for you in the final chapter of the plan of redemption (Eph.1:14). Your salvation is not by you or from you. It is a work of God in you and for you. So is His sealing of you.
Then there are those who have brought wounds upon themselves. They have strayed from the flock of God by disobedience to Him, or pride, selfishness, or ungodliness. If you have put your hope in Christ Jesus for the salvation of your soul, Jesus has His arms open. He is calling the stray sheep to return (Ezekiel 34:16). He is calling you to lay down your pride and return to Him with a humble and contrite heart. He will not slap you down. He wants to restore the joy of your salvation. Jesus said,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30 (NIV)
If this is you, return to the Lord. Remember His love for you. Return.
[2] Utley, Robert James. Hope in Hard Times - The Final Curtain: Revelation. Vol. Volume 12. Study Guide Commentary Series. Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International, 2001.
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