Revelation 7:3 - Printer Friendly

ESV: saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

NIV: 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.'

NASB: 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.'

CSB: "Don't harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads."

NLT: Wait! Don’t harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants.'

KJV: Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

NKJV: saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

In this verse we read that the ascending angel—or messenger—speaks to the four angels mentioned in the prior verse. Their role was to hold back the four winds, which is symbolic of God restraining His judgment. These four are told not to harm the earth—to delay further judgment—until God's servants had been sealed on their foreheads. In John's day, slaveowners sometimes marked their slaves, even on the forehead, to indicate ownership and protect them from kidnapping. In Ezekiel 9:3–4 Ezekiel wrote about a man with a writing case who was commanded to pass through Jerusalem and put a mark on the forehead of every person who lamented the abominations that were committed there.

The seal of God stands in contrast to those who will take such a "mark" from Satan in the end times, a concept seen later in Revelation. The servants of God will refuse this "mark of the beast." Whether or not all saved believers in the tribulation will have this special "sealing" of God is not entirely clear, but it seems likely. The beast is the false prophet who exercises control over Israel as the willing accomplice to the head of the Revived Roman Empire, the region around the Mediterranean Sea (Revelation 13:1, 16–17). Instead of this ungodly emblem, believers will have the name of the Lamb and the Father's name written on their foreheads (Revelation 14:1).

Revelation 7:1–4 contains another highly symbolic vision from John's vision. Four angels stand at the extreme points of the earth. He sees another angel ascend from the rising sun and hears him command the four angels to withhold further judgments until he has sealed God's servants on their foreheads. The number of those sealed by this angel is 144,000. This event comes as an interlude between the opening of the sixth and seventh seal judgments. God is preparing to send His servants into the known world to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom.

Revelation 7 occurs after the opening of the sixth seal, and before the seventh. John sees four angels standing at the four corners of the earth and another angel ascending from the rising sun with the seal of God. He seals 144,000 saved Jews on their foreheads. These 144,000 sealed servants of God are instrumental in leading a great number of people from all parts of the world to faith in Jesus Christ. This multitude of believers have passed through the tribulation and will serve God perpetually in the millennial temple. Their troubles and tears will be behind them.

The last and largest section of Revelation began in chapter 4, where John is shown events yet to come (Revelation 1:19). Chapters 4 and 5 describe what John saw in heaven, including a scroll of God's judgments. Chapter 6 focused on the events that transpire when Jesus opens six of the seven seals on that scroll, one at a time. Now, in chapter 7, an interlude occurs between the opening of the sixth seal and the seventh seal. In the interlude an angel seals 144,000 saved Jews as God's servants. Chapter 8 will describe the seventh seal, and the beginning of the ''trumpet'' judgments.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''