Revelation 7:2-3

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Revelation 7:1-12

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... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 7:1-3

7:1-3 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, restraining the four winds of the earth so that the wind might not blow upon the earth, or upon the sea, or against any tree. And I saw another angel going up from where the sun rises, with a seal which belonged to the living God, and he shouted with a great voice to the four angels to whom was given power to harm the earth and the sea: "Do not harm the earth and the sea or the trees until we seal the servants of... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 7:1-3

This vision is expressed in conceptions of the world which were the conceptions of the days in which John wrote. The earth is a square, flat earth; and at its four corners are four angels waiting to unleash the winds of destruction. Isaiah speaks of gathering the outcasts of Judah from the four corners of the earth ( Isaiah 11:12 ). The end is come upon the four corners of the earth in Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 7:2 ). It was the belief of the ancient peoples that the winds which came from due... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 7:1-3

Before the great tribulation smites the earth the faithful ones are to be marked with the seal of God. There are two points to note. (i) The angel with the seal comes from the rising of the sun, from the East. All John's pictures mean something and there may be two meanings behind this: (a) It is in the East that the sun, the supreme earthly giver of light and life, rises; and the angel may stand for the life and the light that God gives his people even when death and destruction are abroad.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 7:2

And I saw another angel ,.... Not Constantine, who came from the eastern parts to the empire, with the true knowledge of God, and the authority of God to propagate it; and who repressed the four angels, or evil spirits, contention, ambition, heresy, and war, from doing the mischief they otherwise would; and sealed the saints, by giving them a platform of doctrine at the council of Nice, as Brightman and others think. But the uncreated angel, the angel of the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 7:3

Saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees ,.... That is, as yet, for their commission was not contradicted, nor taken away by Christ; and at the time appointed, at the blowing of the several trumpets, they let loose the winds, and let in the Goths, Hans, and Vandals, the Saracens and Turks into the empire, and after that poured out the vials of God's wrath upon the Romish antichrist: this retarding of them was but in appearance, that there might be an opportunity to show to... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Revelation 7:2

The seal of the living God - This angel is represented as the chancellor of the supreme King, and as ascending from the east, απο ανατολης ἡλιου , from the rising of the sun. Some understand this of Christ, who is called ανατολη , the east, Luke 1:78 . Four angels, to whom it was given to hurt - Particular agents employed by Divine providence in the management of the affairs of the earth; but whether spiritual or material we know not. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Revelation 7:3

Till we have sealed the servants of our God - There is manifestly an allusion to Ezekiel 9:4 ; here. By sealing we are to understand consecrating the persons in a more especial manner to God, and showing, by this mark of God upon them, that they were under his more immediate protection, and that nothing should hurt them. It was a custom in the east, and indeed in the west too, to stamp with a hot iron the name of the owner upon the forehead or shoulder of his slave. It is worthy of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 7:1-3

A sketch of an impending judgment. "And after these things," etc. The text points to a judgment that is overhanging the world, entrusted to angels for its execution, and who are restrained in their work by a special messenger from heaven on account of the godly tenants of the earth. This is a view of the passage which scarcely admits of any data for a different opinion. From the words we see— I. THE WORLD EXPOSED TO JUDGMENT . It is represented as exposed to "the four winds... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 7:1-8

The Church on earth, sealed in the great tribulation. The visions of this chapter are set between the sixth and seventh seals. The great tribulation, to which the opening of the sixth seal is the prelude, is not that of the final day of wrath, for we are but at the sixth seal, and not the seventh. Nor can this great tribulation be any merely local calamity, for according to Revelation 7:9-14 those coming out of it are of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. It is so... read more

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