FORTY-SEVENTH. We observe it because when our Lord is about to return to our world, He pronounces as blessed those who keep the commandments of God. Rev. 22:12, 14: "And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." "Blessed are they [continues the Saviour] that do His commandments [those of His Father], that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."
Forty-eighth. We observe it because striking signs of the second coming of our Lord having appeared in the sun, moon, and stars, in answer to many predictions of prophecy, the winds of war are restrained that the seal or sign of authority "of the living God" may be put in the "foreheads" (or in the hearts or spirits, the forehead being the seat of the intellect) of "the servants of our God." Rev. 7:1-3: "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 winds should not blow on the earth, nor the sea, nor on any 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."
A seal is a sign of authority, and in this passage the word seal is derived from the Greek term sphragis, which signifies "seal; . . . impression made by a seal." It also means "a sign, a mark," as does the word "sign" in the Hebrew of Ex. 31:17: "It [the Sabbath] is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." Here, as in verse 13, etc., "sign" is applied to the Sabbath. (For definitions of Greek terms, see "Dictionaire Grec-français," par "Alexandre;" "Greenfield's Greek Lexicon to the N. T.," etc.) It is evident that the seal mentioned in Rev. 7:1-3 is the Sabbath; the only part of the law that makes known the Author of the law, the extent of His dominion, and His right to rule,—characteristic meanings of seals used by earthly rulers.
Those who are sealed are servants of God and children of Israel. Now it is impossible to be true servants of God and true children of Israel without believing in our Lord Jesus Christ; and it would be very inconsistent to limit here the expression, "the servants of our God," to those who are Israelites in the sense of being natural descendants of Jacob. Therefore true Christians are here referred to, whether they are or are not descendants of Jacob.
And this reason is not invalidated by the Biblical truth that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. Eph. 4:30, etc. The Spirit of God is the agent by which the Sabbath as seal, or sign, of the living God is put in our foreheads or graven in our hearts, that we may love and observe it with all the precepts of the law of God.