REVELATION
SIMPLIFIED
CHAPTER 7.1
Gleanings
from the Book of Revelation:
A
Weekly Verse-by-Verse Bible Study Series
The
REVELATION
TO JOHN
(The
Apocalypse)
Chapter Seven
A
Parenthetical Chapter:
Judgment
Suspended
Introduction
Although the Book of Revelation is prophetic, and
amid Tribulation events, one must never lose sight of the person of Jesus
Christ and the glory of His Second Coming, first revealed to John by a vision in
Chapter 1. With that in mind, Chapter 7 is a parenthetical chapter where God's
wrath is temporarily suspended to fully demonstrate His love. To extend this
love, He beseeches mankind to open their hearts, repent, and come unto Him.
Overview
Thus far:
1. Six Seals have been broken by the Lamb
2. Antichrist has been revealed
3. One-quarter of the population has perished through
wars, hunger, and pestilence
In the continuous narrative flow of chronology, before
our Lord opens the Seventh Seal, He interrupts the natural order of Tribulation
events. Though the heavens and the earth are shaken, and the system of nature is
thrown into chaos, four angels are told to temporarily restrain wrath and set
apart a remnant of Israel, that they may be witnesses to the world,
concomitantly fulfilling His promise to Israel.
Romans
9:27 – Esaias
also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be
as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be
saved (cf. Isaiah 10:21-23).
Many Jews and likewise Gentiles will be turning to
Christ during the Great Tribulation Period. Both will make up the multitudes
from all nations. Evangelism is God's intention that the Gospel be presented
most effectively. It should be increasingly unmistakable: The Church has been
delivered from this Period despite erroneous non-biblical interpretations.
Jesus Himself teaches:
John 5:24 - Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word,
and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
He also made it clear to the Age of Philadelphia that He would deliver them from that hour (cf. Revelation 3:10).
In verse nine, John sees a vast multitude standing
before the Throne of the Lamb temporarily clothed in white robes. Along with
the remnant and martyred souls, are angels, elders, and four living creatures
who join the throng with palms in their hands and songs of praise on their
lips.
Before the success of the final judgment, the chapter
concludes with the reassurance of His promise of freedom from suffering and
everlasting life of peace. Seemingly, this may be the answer to the prophet
Habakkuk's prayer:
Habakkuk
3:2 - O
LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the
midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.
(Verse 1)
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four
corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should
not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
After these things
The expression after
these things or after this, used
several times in Revelation, refers
to the prior vision of the six tremendous judgments John saw in Chapter 6, thus
indicating a new vision is about to be revealed.
I (John) saw
four angels
Once again, God will use the ministry of angels and
deploy them on a special mission to execute His plan. This will be made manifest:
1. In staying judgment [one angel (v. 1)]
2. In sealing servants of God [four angels (Vv. 2-4)]
3. In executing judgment [eight angels (8:2-3 ff.)]
Four angels standing on the four corners of the earth
Seen by John standing on the four corners of the
earth are four angels. The word for corners
is best translated as quarters or angles. The misconception the earth was somehow
flat stems from this passage. However, the phrase specifies four directions:
north, east, south, and west. Four corners are also employed as a military term
to define four points of the compass or four quadrants.
As
A Side Note:
A Flat Earth
The flat-earth theory stemmed from ancient Sumerian,
Mesopotamian, and mythology of the Middle Ages. Greek scholar and mathematician
Pythagoras (circa 500 B.C.) set forth Pythagorean
mathematics proposing circular earth. Interesting historical studies are the accomplishments
and lives of (1) Eratosthenes of Cyrene, (2) Socrates, (3) Plato, (4)
Aristotle, (5) Ptolemy, (6) Copernicus, and (7) Galileo in determining a spherical
planet. [Their biographies may be researched on Wikipedia].
In an expedition to circumnavigate the globe, Portuguese
sailor and explorer Ferdinand Magellan set sail in 1519 from Castile (later
part of Spain) but died in the Philippines during his travels in 1522. His
successor Juan Sebastian Elcano ultimately brought the voyage to completion in
1522.
A Round Earth
Convincing evidence from Scripture indicates round
earth:
Job 26:7 - He stretcheth out the
north over the empty place, and
hangeth the earth upon nothing.
Isaiah
40:22 - It is
he that sits upon the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a
curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in.
It is not precisely documented that early
inhabitants understood round earth, but something to ponder is this: By
observing the setting and rising of either the sun, or the moon, or if one
observed the stars and followed the patterns of the seasons, then the
assumption concluded a rotating motion. Also, the Hebrew calendar was calculated
upon lunar revolutions for the month and solar cycles for the year thus
determining their feasts. From the beginning, the Word of God is Truth:
Genesis
1:14 - And
God said, Let there be lights in the firmament (expanse) of the heaven
to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.
Genesis
9:13 - I do
set my [rain-] bow in the cloud, and it shall be
for a token (sign) of a covenant between Me and the earth.
The prophet further elaborates:
Isiah
13:10 - For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give
their light: the
sun shall be darkened in his
(its) going forth, and the moon shall not cause her (its) light to shine.
When Jesus reprimanded the people about His person,
the Messiah, He said:
Luke
12:56 - Ye hypocrites, ye
can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not
discern this time
[the time of His arrival]?
Then, the Apostle Paul made this profound
statement:
Romans
1:20 - For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by
the things that are made, even
His eternal power and Godhead; so that they
are without excuse.
Besides, the Israelite farmers depended upon the
signs in the skies for planting and harvest seasons, since they were primarily
an agrarian society.
Four angels… holding the four winds of the earth
Angelic forces are controlling the four winds of divine
judgment and will be temporarily restrained until Chapter 8 when terror and
devastation are poured out.
Daniel, as well as Zechariah, alludes to the idiom
of four winds:
Daniel 7:2
- Daniel
spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
Daniel
11:8 - And
when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward
the four winds of heaven.
Zechariah
2:6 - Ho, ho,
come forth, and flee from the
land of the north, saith the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD.
Almighty God (El Shaddai) in Control
All nature obeys His commands. He is in total
control. Scripture refutes modern ideologies regarding climate change and
global warming, hence His power is testified when reading the following
passages:
1. Genesis 8:1b-3
-
God made (caused) a wind to pass over
the earth, and the waters assuaged (subsided
or receded); The fountains also of the deep and the
windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained, And
the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the
hundred and fifty days the waters were abated (decreased).
2. Psalm
147:15-18 - He
sendeth forth His commandment upon
earth: His word runneth very swiftly. He
giveth (sends, gives) snow like wool: He scattereth the
hoarfrost (frost) like ashes. He casteth forth His ice like
morsels: who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out His word, and melteth
them: He causeth His wind to blow, and the
waters flow.
3. Psalm
148:8 - Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour
(clouds); stormy
wind fulfilling (accomplishes, obeys) His
word.
That the wind should not blow on the earth,
nor
[That the wind should not blow] on the sea,
nor
[That
the wind should not blow] on any tree
Blow in the Greek language analytically translated
means to forcibly smite or strike. In this passage, the Lamb directs His angels
to restrain the wind from affecting three elements of nature:
Literally:
1.
The Earth
2.
The seas
of the earth
3.
The trees
on the earth
Symbolically:
1. The earth represents Israel
2. The sea defines the Gentiles
3. The trees, taken from Judges Chapter 9, refer to
those in authority
In effect, God is saying to the angels,
"Before you unleash judgment, I am going to set aside a remnant of Israel,
and multitudes that renounce Antichrist come to Me through My Son." This
scenario will unfold as the narrative of Chapter 7 continues in the following
studies.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the central theme of Revelation?
2. Why is Chapter 7 necessary?
3. What is the mission of the four angels?
4. Who or what controls the forces of nature?
5. Why is judgment suspended?
6. Identify the four winds.
7. How can God be justified by His actions?
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