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.