Charles Spurgeon Commentary Revelation 7

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.

A perfect calm there must be till God's people are saved. Not a leaf shall stir to do them damage. Not a dash of foam upon the waters – no movement of wind, or sea, or tree.

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, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

Everything exists for the servant of God. Creation is but a scaffold for the Church; and when God's Church is finished, then all may be taken down, but not until then.

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.

Observe that God has servants ever ready for his work. There were winds to be restrained. And I saw four angels, – mighty spiritual beings – who had power over the air.

These winds were to be restrained until all God's people were safely sealed, and you can depend on it that no calamity will happen to destroy the people of God; they must first be saved.

There will be no deluge until there is the ark; there will be no Romans to destroy Jerusalem until there is a little city in the mountains to which the disciples may flee. God will protect his own.

The dead calm, the perfect quietude which prevailed while the angels restrained the winds, is set forth in these words.

The wind did not appear to blow on land, or sea, or tree. Not a ripple broke the surface of the waters; not a leaf stirred on the branch. Everything is quiet until God's people are secured.

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, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their forehead.

See how other things are protected for the sake of God's people.

The earth and the sea and even the trees have a cordon of safety around them while God's people are being secured. When the Lord Jesus put to sea on the Galilean lake, we read that there were with him many other little ships; and when the calm came for his ship, they were in the calm, too.

And so it is a good thing if you are not in the Church, yet to have some sort of connection with it; it is a great thing for the age to have the Church of God in it, for God will often take care of a nation for the sake of his people. As he would have spared Sodom had there been righteous men found in it, so does he spare nations for the sake of his saints.

And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

Now we are going to read their names. I hope you will not say it is tiresome to read them.

Remember, He who wrote this Book is their Father, and children's names are not wearisome to their own father.

Remember, He who fills this Book bought them with His blood and wore them on His breastplate as the great High Priest of Israel; bearing all these names on His heart, engraved on the palms of His hands.

We need not be weary of hearing names that Christ has worn on His breast.