Sunday School Notes: Revelation 7:1-2

¹ After these things, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that the wind might not blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor upon every tree. ² And I saw another angel coming up from the east having the seal of the living God, and crying out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to do harm to the earth and the sea…

Our 2014/2015 Sunday School season will finish at the end of May, so it is my intention that we will finish up the seven seals (7:1 – 8:5), and start the seven trumpets (8:6ff.) in the Fall. So we started this week with an overview of chapter 7. We read 7:1 – 8:5 and went over the main points of what happens in this vision:

• Four angels stand at the four corners of the earth holding back the wind.
• An angel rises from the east holding a seal and telling the four angels not to harm anything until God’s servants have been sealed.
• John gives us the number of the sealed: 144,000–12,000 from each tribe of Israel.
• A multitude for all nations, tribes, and people stand before the throne, clothed in white and holding palm branches, declaring the Lord’s salvation.
• Angels, elders, and creatures fall down and worship God.
• An elder identifies the multitude in white as those who have come out of the “great tribulation” with robes washed in the blood of the Lamb.

We might have expected this chapter to begin with the opening of the seventh seal, but instead we get what appears to be a break in the action. Something different is happening. This, along with the other things going on in chapter 7 leads to a number of questions. Over the course of the next few weeks, I want us to at least address, if not also propose answers to, the following questions:

• When are the events of this chapter happening? Is this something that happens after the events of the sixth seal, or is it giving further insight into what’s happened before?
• Who are all these angels?
• What does it mean to be “sealed”? What is the significance of the “sealing”?
• Who are the 144,000? Are they Jews, Jewish Christians, martyrs, or something else?
• Who are the multitude? Are they the same as the 144,000, or different?
• What is the “great tribulation”? Is this something that has yet to happen, or something that happened, or something else?

As we study, we mustn’t forget that what John sees is a vision, so we need to be prepared for the fact that the events are not necessarily happening in sequence (though it’s equally true that they might be). Also, we mustn’t lose sight of the symbolism in what John sees. As we have seen, the key to understanding Revelation lies in the symbols, and what they mean–particularly from an Old Testament context. This is what his original readers would have understood, and so must we if we are to appreciate what God is telling us in this book.

John says this next vision happens “after these things.” We’ve seen this phrase a few times before, and we must remember that this is not a reference to the order in which the visions will come to pass. Rather, John is saying “after these visions, I had this vision.” In other words, he is indicating the order in which he had the visions, not the order in which the visions will be fulfilled. This new vision opens with four angels standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the winds. In the Greek there is no definite article (“the”), so I presume these are not angels we have encountered before. What’s initially striking is the fact there are four of them at the four corners of the earth. There’s the number four again, symbolizing worldly completeness, or material fulness and totality. These angels are about to let loose complete and devastating destruction upon the whole earth.

We looked at a couple of Old Testament passages that reference the “four corners of the earth” and the use of wind as a means of judgment: Ezekiel 7:2, Daniel 7:2, Zechariah 6:5, and Jeremiah 49:36. The Zechariah 6:5 is of particular interest since this is the passage behind the four horsemen of Revelation 6:1-8, so it is within recent memory. In Zechariah 6, the chariots go out essentially bringing God’s judgment to the nations. In 6:5, the ESV says that the chariots go out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves to the Lord. This is not what the either the Hebrew or the Greek Septuagint says:

Hebrew: ‘êlleh ‘arba` ruchôt hashshâmayîm: these are the four winds of heaven

Greek: tauta estin hoi tessares anemoi tou ouranou: these are the four winds of heaven

Why does the ESV translate it this way? I’m not sure. Perhaps they felt the change necessary to make sense of the verse? But to read that way, they have to add at least a preposition to the text which, as far as I’m aware, is not supported in the manuscript tradition. If anyone has insight into this, I’d like to hear it! If the chariots are the “four winds of heaven,” then, aside from the change to “four winds of the earth,” which is not unreasonable in the context, we have a connection here between the four horsemen of the initial seals, and the activity about to take place in this vision. These four angels are about to let loose the four horsemen.

This suggests a temporal location for chapter 7: right before the four horsemen are unleashed. So why not mention this before chapter 6? Ultimately, we can’t answer that–only God knows. But a further clue to this is given at the end of chapter 6, when those hiding in the rocks recognize that the day of the Lamb’s wrath has come, “and who is able to stand?” Perhaps chapter 7 is an answer to that question. In this chapter we not only see who is able to stand (i.e., those who belong to the Lamb), but how they are able to stand. Before the post-Resurrection calamities were let loose upon the earth, the Lord sealed His people, ensuring that they would not be harmed spiritually (there is never any promise of physical protection) from all that was about to happen.

John says the four angels had been given the ability to harm the earth and the sea; this was not an ability they claimed for themselves. Once again, we see God’s hand at work in the commissioning of all that happens for His glory and the ultimate good of His people. The angel rising from the east tells them to wait, and his authority to say this comes from the “seal of the living God” he holds. We will discuss the meaning and nature of seals in a couple of verses. For now, we can look at this seal as a sign of God’s grace, mercy, and love for His people.

The fact that this angel rises up in the east shouldn’t go unnoticed. Why the east? John doesn’t give such detail without a reason, and it usually has symbolic meaning that his readers would have understood. Elsewhere in Revelation, the east is associated as the direction from which bad things come. However there is a strong tradition in Scripture for God’s blessing coming from the east (e.g., Genesis 2:8; Matthew 2:1). Someone in the group pointed out that the new temple in Ezekiel 40ff is in the east–and this will have great relevance to what’s coming in just a few verses since Ezekiel goes on to describe the division of the surrounding grounds in terms of the twelve tribes of Israel. If the four angels holding back the four winds represent God’s judgment upon the earth, then perhaps this angel in the east signifies God’s mercy upon His people. What we have here is, then, a picture of God’s grace in the midst of His justice, which is a picture of the gospel. Our sin deserves judgment, but God grants mercy in Christ. The Lord gives grace to His people, but extends justice upon the rest of the world.

Verse 2 was a bit of an awkward point at which to stop, but we ran out of time so we’ll pick up with verse 3 (after a brief recap for context) next time.