Hurt Not The Earth
After the sealed book of Revelation chapters 5 and 6, while earthly events passed before John’s eyes: in the first verse in chapter 7 he said:
7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given the power to harm the land and the sea: 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” – Revelation 7:1-3
The angels of God do His bidding, holding back the winds. In Bible, prophecy winds represent war and strife.
A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.33 And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.- Jeremiah 25:31-33
speaking of God’s people; the Lord said, “I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.” – Jeremiah 18:17.
My friends remember the “four angels standing on the four corners holding the four winds of the earth. In a figurative sense, war is compared to the east wind. The violent east wind blows from the desert. It scorched the grain
Genesis 41:6, 23-27. The east also bought the plague of locusts
Exodus 10:13, chapter 14:21.
The West wind drove off the locusts in Egypt,
Exodus 10:19.
The wise man Solomon compares the Northwind with “an angry countenance a backbiting tongue”.
Proverbs 25:23. The South wind blew Paul’s ship gently before a fiercer wind demolished his ship.
Acts 27:13-20.
Revelation 7:2, 3.
John said, “And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and He cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,” “Saying, Hurt not the earth,” ’till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads”. Here we have an emergency. God’s mightiest angel was sent to stop the four other angels who were in control of these winds because Jesus stood up and pleaded with the Father for His faithful servants who were yet sealed. Only God can inscribe upon the forehead the mark or inscription, to whom shall be granted immediately, eternal life. “It is the voice of this highest angel that had the authority to command the four angels to keep in check the four winds until this work of sealing was performed, and until he should give the summons to let them loose”.
What is “the seal of the living God? Many may be surprised when they discover what it is. What is a seal?
It is a device that reproduces an image in a soft substance, like wax or clay. History has taught us that in ancient times rules had rings that were used as seals.
Esther 8:8, Job 38:14, Jeremiah 22:24.
Today most legal documents require the seal of a notary public to be binding.
In Revelation chapter 7:3 the seal of God is placed in the forehead or the mind which is God’s law. The Scripture said, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, I will put My laws in their mind, and write them in their heart:” Hebrews 8:10, God’s seal is His law.
Isaiah 8:16.
There is one Commandment out of the Ten which shines out the most in God’s law, and it is the fourth. The first line starts with the word “Remember” Exodus 20:8-11. Why is this commandment is so important it contains the essential elements of an official seal and gives authority to the ten Commandments law. It gives the name and title of God and shows His right to direct the obedience of mankind. Verse 10, His name, “Lord thy God”. Verse 11, His occupation creator, where He rules “heaven and earth”
The Sabbath is a sign of God’s total activity. His creative power in the universe, and His re-creative power in the heart.
Read 2 Timothy 2:19.
The seal of God’s approval, when placed on a person, will indicate he has the victory over sin and it will be evident that he belongs to God. According to Revelation 7:1-3, we are living in the sealing time. God’s people will be commandment keepers. The Sabbath is the outward sign, the mark or the seal distinguishing them from those who do not obey or recognize the Commandments of God. But to God’s people, the Sabbath means sanctification. It is the sign between them and God that marks them as belonging to God.
Read Ezekiel 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:12, Isaiah 8:19, 20, Isaiah 66:22,23, Revelation 12:17, chapter 14:12.
Moreover, also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. – Ezekiel 20:12
Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. – Deuteronomy 5:12
And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. – Isaiah 8:19, 20
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. – Isaiah 66:22,23
Then the dragon was enraged at the woman(church) and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. – Revelation 12:17
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. – Revelation 14:12
The scripture said, “Blessed (or happy) are they that do His Commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city”.-Revelation 22:14.
The word of God. – Wilfred Harry
