Revelation 7:1a
1 And[kai] after[meta] these things[tauta] I saw[eido] four[tessares] angels[aggelos] standing[histemi] on[epi] the four[tessares] corners[gonia] of the earth,[ge] holding[krateo] the four[tessares] winds[anemos] of the earth,[ge] that[hina me] the wind[anemos] should[pneo] not[hina me] blow[pneo] on[epi] the earth,[ge] nor[mete] on[epi] the sea,[thalassa] nor[mete] on[epi] any[pas] tree.[dendron] KJV-Interlinear
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 should blow on the earth or on the
sea or on any tree. NASB
John now begins a new
vision.This new vision in introduced
‘after these things,’ or after the vision of the first six seals. This is not a chronological sequence of
events, but the next increment of revelations from God to John.
The pattern of the
Tribulation is set out in chapter six.
The first five seals demonstrate,
mans pursuit of his own solution to his own problems. Humanity in general will reject their own
fault in any of this, and refuse to see the results of their own actions and
policies, despite the horrendous results.
The hero ‘white’ horse
turns to economic disaster, turns to extreme crime and governmental abuse,
which turns into death worldwide, which turns into a world so messed up and
destabilized, that God has to step in to end it all.
Throughout it all,
humanity will reject God and continue to pursue their own
wisdom, which is false and disastrous.
But then after the sixth
seal, the events of the seventh seal which include the trumpet warnings, the
woes, the thunders, and the final bowl judgments, will all have Gods hand in
them, and only then will people become so terrified of God, and finally
recognize His awesome power, to their own detriment.
The Tribulation begins
with the removal of all believers in the Rapture. The population remaining on the earth will be
unbelievers only.
Throughout the next seven
years, many will recognize Gods hand in all of this and believe in Christ and
be saved.Many will become evangelists.
During the next seven
years, all unbelievers will eventually die.
Most will die at the end, at the Second Advent of Christ.
But also, many will
believe in Christ and be saved, but will die as martyrs at the hands of gangs,
of criminals, of government organized death squads, and so forth.
No one on the entire
planet will be untouched by the horrors that will take place.
A very few will turn to
Christ, will figure it all out early on, will take to the hills or mountains
and ride it out and survive until the Second Advent. These few will be the ones who will enter
into the Millennium, to re-populate the Millennial Kingdom. Most will be gentiles from all nations, but
many will also be Jewish believers who will be saved and rescued by Christ at
the Second Advent.
Many of these details are
spelled out in Habakkuk, Nahum, Micah, Malachi, Isaiah, Haggai, and Zechariah.
It is because of those
who will believe in Christ, that God holds off the
judgments in order to allow the re-establishment of evangelism and the spread
of the gospel, so that many will have the opportunity to believe and be saved.
And that restraint, begins the introduction in chapter seven.
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