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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