The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 7:3
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 ... read more
The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 7:2-3
The sealed of God. This chapter tells of a time of suspended judgment. All things were ready. The awful calamities told of when the sixth seal was broken are on the point of descending upon the earth. "But a whole chapter intervenes. Might it not be apprehended that amidst convulsions so terrific the Church itself might founder? Who shall secure Christ's servants against being involved in that catastrophe? Such is the misgiving to which the particular revelation now before us would... read more