What is the Seal of God in Revelation 7?

Overview

What is the Seal of God? Was it always available, or is it limited to the end-time? Does it simply identify God’s people, or does it give them special power to remain faithful?

In Rev 7:1-3, four angels are holding back the Four Winds so that no wind would blow on the earth, sea, or any tree. Then another angel brings the Seal of God to Earth and cries out to the four angels to continue holding the Winds until God’s people are sealed on their foreheads.

The Earth and Sea symbolize the people of the World. The Trees are God’s people. The Four Winds are the Seven Last Plagues. The vision means that God is holding back the Plagues until His people are sealed.

An End-Time Only Seal

According to the apostle Paul, people are sealed with the Holy Spirit at conversion, meaning that that seal is available throughout the Church Age. However, the Seal of God in Revelation 7 is available in the End Time only because Revelation always mentions it in an end-time context, and its purpose is to protect God’s people during the Seven Last Plagues, which will exist only in the End Time. Furthermore, it is given to God’s people, meaning people who already believe. 

The Seal empowers God’s people.

To understand what the Seal is, we must understand WHY the Plagues will not harm the sealed people. One option is that the Seal will identify God’s people so the angels would not pour the plagues on them. However, the Seal is God’s name, and names in Revelation symbolize character. For that and other reasons, this article concludes that the seal empowers God’s people to remain faithful during the final catastrophic events before Christ returns.


Purpose

This is the second article on Revelation 7:1-3. The first article discussed where the sealing fits in the end-time events (Read Article). It concluded that God’s people would be sealed through and during the end-time persecution of God’s people, as described in Revelation 13:11-18. [Show More]

This second article discusses those same three verses to determine WHAT God’s seal is. Was it always available? Does it simply identify God’s people, or does it empower them?

Overview of the Text

7:1 uses symbols to describe God “holding back” destruction:

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.

In the next verse, the Seal is brought to Earth:

2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God;

Then the angel announces WHEN that destruction will be released: 

and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels
to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea
3 saying, 
“Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees
UNTIL we have sealed the bond-servants of our God
on their foreheads.

Brief Discussion of the Text

The Earth and Sea symbolize the people of the World. 

The four angels keep the four winds from blowing “on the earth or on the sea or on any tree” (Rev 7:1). The earth and sea symbolize the people of the world (e.g., Rev 12:12). For example, in Daniel, “the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea and four great beasts were coming up from the sea” (Dan 7:2-3). But then the “great sea” is explained as “the earth” (Dan 7:17). Similarly, the two beasts of Revelation 13 come out of the sea and out of the earth, respectively (Rev 13:1, 11).

The Trees are God’s people.

The locusts “were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads” (Rev 9:4). Therefore, the trees and green things are the people who have the seal.

This is confirmed by 7:1-2. In verse 1, the angels protect the earth, sea, and trees, but in verse 2, they are granted to harm (by releasing the winds) only the earth and sea. So, they will never harm the trees, presumably because the trees symbolize the people who have the seal. [Show More]

The Four Winds are the Seven Last Plagues.

The number four in the “four angels,” the “four corners of the earth,” and the “four winds” (Rev 7:1) symbolize that these things are worldwide. For example, Revelation often uses four synonyms to describe the entire population of the world (e.g., Rev 10:11; 13:7; 14:6). (Read Article)

In Daniel, “the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea and four great beasts were coming up from the sea” (Dan 7:2-3). These beasts are kingdoms (Dan 7:17). This shows that the winds symbolize things that cause upheaval and conflict among the world’s peoples. [Show More]

One of the conclusions of the previous article was that the four winds (Rev 7:1) are another symbol for the Seven Last Plagues. [Show More]

Angels holding back the Winds means that God is holding back the Plagues until His people are sealed.

These are not literal angels or winds. The four winds symbolize worldwide destruction. The “four angels” symbolize God “holding back” (Rev 7:1) forces of destruction. God has always been restraining the forces of destruction. However, in the end-time, God will allow destruction without limit. When that time comes, God’s seal must protect His people. If the winds were released prematurely, God’s people would be harmed. Therefore, God delays the end-time destruction until all of His people are sealed (Rev 7:2-3). But the people of the world will have no protection.  [Show More]

The angel brings the Seal “from the rising of the sun,” meaning from God.

“The rising of the sun” (Rev 7:2) means the East, where the sun rises. The sign of the Son of man will also appear first in the east (Matt 24:27-30). In the Bible, the East frequently refers to God. Therefore, the angel brings the seal from God. [Show More]

“Living God” means He is immortal and the Source of life.

“The living God” (Rev 7:2) may be a shortened version of the description of God found elsewhere in Revelation: “Him who lives forever and ever” (Rev 4:9-10; 10:6; and 15:7). This phrase may also identify God as the Source of life. [Show More]

The Sequence of End-Time Events

The Sixth Seal, at the end of chapter 6, begins with the signs of the return of Christ (Rev 6:12-14; cf. Matt 24:29-30). However, the next chapter jumps back in time to describe the sealing of the 144000. The sixth seal continues in Revelation 7:9 with the innumerable multitude standing before God’s throne. [Show More]

Therefore, the sequence of end-time events is as follows:

1) God (symbolically, the four angels) has always been restraining the forces of destruction (symbolized by the four winds) (Rev 7:1).

2) At a point in history, the Seal of God comes down out of heaven (Rev 7:2). [Show More]

3) While God continues to restrain the forces of destruction and seal His servants (Rev 7:3-8), the Image of the Beast attempts to force all people to receive the Mark of the Beast (Rev 13:15-16).

4) As soon as every person has either the Seal of God or the Mark of the Beast, God releases the forces of destruction (the Seven Last Plagues).

5) When the purpose of the plagues has been achieved, Christ returns. Then, while the great multitude of people who rebelled against God hides in the mountains (Rev 6:15-17), an innumerable multitude of God’s people stands before His throne (Rev 7:9).

An End-Time Only Seal

According to the apostle Paul, people are sealed at conversion with or by “the Holy Spirit of God” (Eph 1:13; Eph 4:30; 2 Cor 1:22; 1 John 4:13), meaning the seal is available throughout the Church Age. [Show More]

However, for the reasons below, only end-time believers will receive the Seal of God mentioned in Revelation 7:

1) The Seal is given to people who ALREADY are Christians

“The four winds” are held back until “the servants of God” are sealed “on their foreheads” (Rev 7:3). In other words, people already sealed with the Holy Spirit receive the end-time seal. This conclusion is supported by the mark in Ezekiel 9, which is also given to people who are already faithful to God. [Show More]

The Revelation 7-seal, therefore, is something more than what Christians in previous generations had.

2) The seal must protect God’s people against the Seven Last Plagues, which exist only in the End Time.

It must protect God’s people when the Four Winds, interpreted as the Seven Last Plagues, are released. Since that danger is limited to the end time, the Seal is also limited to the end time.

3) While Paul’s seal is always available, Revelation’s seal is brought to earth at a specific time.

The seal in Revelation 7 “ascends” in the east after the angels have already been holding back the four winds for some time. Therefore, the sealing begins at a specific point in history. [Show More]

4) Revelation always mentions the Seal of God in an end-time context.

Revelation mentions the Seal of God in two chapters, and both chapters put it in the end-time context, namely, in the context of the great day of God’s wrath (Rev 6:17-7:2) and the Mark of the Beast (Rev 13:16-14:1) [Show More]

Therefore, the seal in Revelation 7 is something more than the seal Paul wrote about, and something only end-time believers will receive to protect them when the Seven Last Plagues.

The Seal empowers God’s people.

The Four Winds will not harm the people with God’s seal:

The angels (or winds) have not been granted permission to harm the trees, and the trees symbolize God’s people (Rev 7:2). (See the discussion above.)

Furthermore, as already stated, the Four Winds are the Seven Last Plagues, and the plagues will only fall on people who have the Mark of the Beast (Rev 16:2).

To understand what the seal is, we must understand WHY the Four Winds will not harm God’s people.

Does the seal identify God’s people so that the angels would not pour out the plagues on them (Rev 16:2)? Then the seal indicates WHO they are. 

Or does the seal change God’s people to enable them to endure those plagues? Then the seal indicates WHAT they are.

To Identify God’s People

In Revelation 9:4, the Seal of God seems to serve as identification. The locusts were told to hurt “only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”

Perhaps one of Jesus’ parables implies this meaning: When the slaves asked whether they must gather up the tares, the “man” said:

“No; for while you are gathering up the tares,
you may uproot the wheat with them” (Matt 13:28-29)

The blood on the doorposts in Exodus 12:21-23 was also an example of a mark that served to identify who must be spared. [Show More]

To Empower God’s People

But, for the following reasons, it is proposed here that the Seal should be understood as power from God to enable His people to remain faithful during the destructions of the Seven Last Plagues:

1) The Seal is God’s name, and names in Revelation symbolize character.

The seal is God’s name on the foreheads of His people (Rev 7:3; 14:1). Since names in Revelation symbolize character (cf. Rev 17:3, 5) and since the forehead symbolizes the mind, to put the name of God on their foreheads is to change how they think; they like God. They will have “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16).

Satan’s counterpart of the Seal of God is the Mark of the Beast. Since the Mark is not mere identification, the Seal is also not mere identification. [Show More]

2) Even in the new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:1), His name will be on their foreheads (Rev 22:4).

This is still the Seal of God, but it must indicate something more than mere identification because, at that time, EVERYBODY will have His name on their foreheads.

3) The Sealing is equivalent to the ‘Completion” in the fifth seal, which means spiritual maturity.

The fifth seal says that “their fellow servants” will be “completed” (Rev 6:11). This has been interpreted as not completed quantitively to a specific number but that God’s people must be completed qualitatively to spiritual maturity. (Read Article) Since the sealing (Rev 7:1-3) is equivalent to that completion (Read Article), the sealing also points to spiritual maturity. [Show More]

4) Revelation indicates that Christ will only return when His people have become spiritually mature.

For example, He will return (Rev 19:11) when “His bride has made herself ready” (Rev 19:7-8; cf. Rev 14:15). Similarly, another article concluded that the number 144000 is not literal but also symbolizes the spiritual maturity of God’s end-time people.  [Show More]

5) The sealing is part of the vision of the Sealed Book in which Jesus shows that His people are worthy. 

The Sealing in Rev 7:1-3 is part of the breaking of the seven seals of the Sealed Book (Rev 5:1, 5), which has been identified as the Book of Life. The seals are Satan’s accusations against the people identified in that book. He shows that they are sinners and claims that if he and his angels must die, God’s elect must also die. Jesus breaks the seals, meaning that He refutes Satan’s accusations by revealing the faithfulness of God’s people under persecution. (See – How will Satan be defeated?) In that context, spiritual maturity is required.

6) The Four Winds are the Plagues, and one purpose of the plagues is to show the character of God’s people. 

The “four winds,” for which God’s people are sealed, are the Seven Last Plagues (Read Article), and the purpose of the plagues is not to punish but to demonstrate that God’s judgments are perfect (Read Article).

On the one hand, the plagues will show that the people with the Mark of the Beast, although they profess to be Christians, are hardened beyond repentance.

On the other hand, the plagues will also show that the people with the seal of God would rather die than disobey God.

Conclusion

While people are sealed with the Holy Spirit when they become Christians, the Seal of God in Revelation 7 is something more that only end-time believers will receive to empower them to remain faithful during the final catastrophic events before Christ returns.

In his book, The Call, Rick Joyner explains the Seal of God well. Quoting Jesus, Rick wrote:

The last-day church will not be greater than Paul’s generation, even if she does greater works. All that is done is done by My grace. However, I will make more of My grace and power available to the last-day church, because she must accomplish more than the church in any age has yet accomplished.

Last-day believers will walk in all the power that I demonstrated, and more because they will be the final representatives of all who have gone before them. The church will demonstrate My nature and My ways as they have never been demonstrated before by men. It is because I am giving you more grace, and to whom much is given much will be required.

Other Articles

The Seven Seals

Other

I recommend Jon Paulien’s commentary on Revelation for further reading. For general theological discussions, I recommend Graham Maxwell, who you will find on the Pineknoll website.

When will God’s people receive the Seal of God? (Revelation 7)

Overview

In Revelation 7, an angel brings God’s seal to the world and tells four angels to hold back the Four Winds until all of God’s people (the 144000) are sealed. The purpose of this article is to determine where this Sealing fits in the end-time events.

Revelation 13 describes a severe end-time persecution in which the Beast and its allies attempt to force everyone to receive the Mark of the Beast. Revelation 14 is the response of God’s people, identified as the same 144000 as in Revelation 7. They refuse the Mark of the Beast.

Revelation 15 prepares for the Seven Last Plagues, and chapter 16 describes the Plagues. These chapters describe humanity as divided between those who refused the Mark of the Beast and those who accepted it. The Plagues fall only on the people who accepted the Mark.

So, where in these events will God’s people be sealed?

There would be no changing of sides after the plagues began to fall. None of the people with the Mark of the Beast will repent, and none of the people with God’s seal will fall away. Therefore, God’s people are sealed before the Plagues begin.

The persecution of Revelation 13 precedes the Plagues. During that persecution, everybody will be forced to choose between the Mark and the Seal. A person does not have either the Mark or the Seal until a choice is made. By refusing the Beast’s mark, persons receive God’s seal. Therefore, God’s people are sealed during and through that persecution.

Therefore:

The Plagues will begin to fall as soon as every person has made a final choice and when every person is marked, either with the Mark of the Beast or the Seal of God. Revelation 15  describes that moment in human history.

Since both the Seven Last Plagues and the Four Winds are released as soon as God’s people are all sealed, the Four Winds are the Seven Last Plagues.


Introduction

Purpose

In Revelation 7, an angel brings God’s seal to the world (Rev 7:2) and tells four other angels to hold back the Four Winds until God’s people are sealed (Rev 7:3). The chapter describes God’s sealed people as 144000, 12000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel (Rev 7:4-8). (Read Article)

While the first 11 chapters of Revelation describe the entire Church Age, the last 11 emphasize the End Time. The purpose of this article is to determine where the Sealing fits chronologically in the end-time events. That will help to explain what the Seal is and why it is required. [Show More]

Revelation 13 – End-time Persecution

During the severe persecution of the Revelation 13, the end-time Image of the Beast will attempt to force all people, with death threats (Rev 13:15; 14:13) and economic sanctions (Rev 13:17), to receive the Mark of the Beast “on their right hand or on their forehead” (Rev 13:16-17):

A previous article identified the Beast as the Church of the Middle Ages. (Read Article)

The Image of the Beast will be an end-time replica of the system during the High Middle Ages when the Church reigned over the kings of Europe and trampled God’s true people.

The Mark of the Beast refers to long-standing (orthodox) but blasphemous Christian practices and beliefs. [Show More]

Revelation 14 – God’s Response

Revelation 14 describes the response of God’s people. It explicitly describes God’s people as the 144000, symbolically standing on Mount Zion and before God’s throne, which is in heaven (Rev 14:1, 3). [Show More]

They refuse to accept the Mark of the Beast. While they have the Seal of God on their foreheads in Revelation 7, in Revelation 14, they have “His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads” (Rev 7:3; 14:1). In other words, the Seal of God is God’s name. 

While the Image of the Beast persecutes people who do not accept the Mark, God’s people will preach the three angels’ message (Rev 14:6-11). These angels fly “in midheaven” (Rev 14:6), symbolizing that this message will go out with exceptional clarity and power to provide all intelligent human beings with sufficient evidence for their decisions:

The first angel warns all to worship the Creator alone (Rev 14:6-7). This is the opposite of the Mark of the Beast. [Show More]

The second angel explains the corruption of the false religious system driving the persecution (Rev 14:8; see – Babylon, Mother of Harlots). 

The third angel warns that accepting the Mark of the Beast has terrible eternal consequences (Rev 14:9-11).

Therefore, the crisis of Revelation 13 and 14 will be a period of final decisions. Everybody will be forced to choose.

Names of foreheads symbolize character.

In Revelation, names on foreheads symbolize character:

The harlot’s character is reflected by the name on her forehead (Rev 17:5).

Similarly, the Mark of the Beast is the name of the Beast on the foreheads of his people (Rev 13:16-17). To have his name on the forehead means to think like the Beast, meaning to have its character! [Show More]

But the 144000 have God’s name on their foreheads (Rev 14:1), meaning that they will think like God. [Show More]

Revelation 15 and 16

Revelation 15 describes the preparation for the Seven Last Plagues, and chapter 16, the Plagues themselves. They will fall on the people who have the Mark of the Beast. Despite the plagues, these people refuse to repent (Rev 16:9, 11, 21). [Show More]

Two Multitudes

In these chapters, humanity is divided into two groups:

1) “Those who had been victorious over the beast and his image” (Rev 15:2) are the people who refused to accept the Beast’s mark.

2) The seven angels will pour out the Plagues (Rev 15:7) on “the people who had the Mark of the Beast and who worshiped his Image” (Rev 16:2). [Show More]

In other words, these people will be alive when the Image attempts to force all people to accept the Mark of the Beast, as described in Revelation 13 and 14.

When Sealed?

People are marked with the Beast’s Mark during the persecution of Revelation 13 (Rev 13:16), but when are God’s people sealed?

No Changing of Sides during the Plagues

For the following reasons, there would be no changing of sides after the plagues began to fall:

None of the people with the Mark of the Beast will repent (Rev 16:9, 11, 21).

The Seal of God implies that the eternal destiny of God’s people has been permanently secured. Therefore, NONE of them will fall away during the plagues.

In Revelation 15:8, the temple closes, and nobody is allowed to enter. Since the temple symbolizes where people go to receive forgiveness (e.g., Heb 10:10, 19), the closing of the temple symbolizes that nobody else will be saved after this point in time.

Since there is no changing of sides, both the Mark of the Beast and the Seal of God have been applied to people before the Plagues begin. 

All God’s people are sealed when the plagues begin.

15:2 confirms that the sealing will be complete before the Plagues begin to fall:

Revelation 15, describing the moment just before God pours out the Plagues (Rev 15:7), describes God’s people as “those who had been victorious over the beast” (Rev 15:2). They, therefore, are the people who have resisted the efforts of the Beast to put the Mark of the Beast on them. In other words, these victorious ones are the 144000! [Show More]

John saw “those who had been victorious over the beast” (Rev 15:2). By implication, he saw ALL of them. This means that, at the point in history represented by Revelation 15, which is when the plagues begin to fall, all of God’s people have ALREADY been sealed.

Sealed during the Persecution

The persecution of Revelation 13 precedes the Plagues. The question is: Are God’s people sealed before or during that persecution? In other words, are they sealed to protect them during the Persecution or the Plagues?

It is proposed that the persecution in Revelation 13 will divide humanity into two classes: the people with the Mark of the Beast and the people with the Seal of God. In other words, God’s people will also be sealed during and through that persecution. This conclusion is justified as follows:

1) People will be forced to choose. By refusing the Mark, persons accept the Seal. 

Since people will be forced to accept the Mark of the Beast, the crisis of Revelation 13 will be a valley of decisions. Everybody will be forced to choose between the Mark and the Seal. Their choices will reveal their faith or lack thereof. A person does not have either the Mark or the Seal until a choice is made. By refusing the Mark, persons receive the Seal. Since people receive the Mark during this period of persecution, God’s people are sealed during and through that persecution [Show More]

2) Revelation mentions the Mark and the Seal together, and both are names on foreheads. 

Sometimes, chapter divisions, added centuries after the Bible was written, obscure the meaning of the text. Revelation 13 ends by describing the Image of the Beast forcing people to accept the Mark of the Beast (Rev 13:16-17). Revelation 14 begins by describing the 144000 with the Seal of God on their foreheads (cf. Rev 7:1-3). Since these two descriptions are in two different chapters, people sometimes fail to associate them. But they form a unit. By mentioning the Mark and the Seal together in the context of the end-time persecution with respect to the Mark of the Beast (13:11-14:13) and by describing both as names on foreheads, these verses indicate that Mark and the Seal have a similar function and identify the class to which a person belongs. It implies that the persecution in Revelation 13 will divide the population of the world into these two classes.

Revelation 15 is the moment before the Plagues.

Since people will be sealed and marked during the end-time persecution, and since there will be no switching of sides after the Plagues begin to fall, Revelation 15 describes the moment in human history when every person has made a final choice and when every person is marked, either with the Mark of the Beast or the Seal of God. [Show More]

Further Conclusions

1) Since God’s people will be sealed during and through the persecution in Revelation 13, they are NOT sealed to protect them during that persecution, but during the plagues that follow AFTER that persecution! [Show More]

2) As discussed, there will be no switching of sides after the plagues begin to fall. Since Revelation 15 describes the point in history when God sends forth the plagues (Rev 15:7; 16:1), the plagues will begin to fall as soon as EVERY person on earth is marked either with the Beast’s mark or God’s seal.

3) God delays the plagues because His people are not sealed (Rev 7:3), meaning they are not ready. The plagues serve an essential function, and God’s people must be prepared. (Read Article) See also, Why has Christ not yet returned? What is God waiting for?

4) Since both the Seven Last Plagues and the Four Winds are released as soon as God’s people are all sealed, the Four Winds are the Seven Last Plagues.

5) The persecution of God’s people will continue during the plagues.

6) Both the Mark and the Seal indicate that the person’s eternal destiny is fixed.


Other Articles

The Seven Seals

Other

I recommend Jon Paulien’s commentary on Revelation for further reading. For general theological discussions, I recommend Graham Maxwell, who you will find on the Pineknoll website.