Revelation 7:3, commentary and pictures

Four angels are holding back the winds of strife and calamity from striking the earth, the sea, and the trees until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. The order to hold comes from Jesus Christ Himself, who in priestly pity pleads His blood before the Father while the sealing is finished. The seal is God's Sabbath of the fourth commandment written in the mind and intellect, and it is no outward mark but a settling into present truth so firmly that the sealed cannot be moved. This sealing goes on now while Christ ministers in the most holy place, before the plagues, the time of trouble, and the decree to worship the beast, and when it is finished restraint ends and the winds are loosed. Those sealed fully reflect Christ's image in humility, purity, and obedience to all His commandments, and they are sheltered under the Almighty through the coming wrath and given eternal life beyond Satan's power.

Holding Back Destruction

Four angels hold back the four winds so that no harm comes to the earth, nor to the sea, nor to any tree, until the servants of God have been sealed in their foreheads. This restraint remains in force while nations prepare for war and disregard God's law, especially the seventh-day Sabbath set apart at creation, so the sealing must take place before those destructive forces are released. A sentinel angel restrains the winds, and only when God permits their release will a time of strife unlike any that can be described follow. The chapter presents wonderful things about to transpire, full of intense interest to every soul who shall live upon the earth, and is to be carefully read and studied.

The four winds are destructive forces that would bring havoc and desolation on earth, sea, and trees if released, including strife, war among nations, political commotion, earthquakes, tempests, hurricanes, plagues, and other calamities. Nations are eager for conflict but are held back, and although nation rises against nation and kingdom against kingdom there is not yet a general engagement. When God commands the angels to release them a storm of unprecedented conflict will burst upon the earth, a time of trouble and anguish so severe that each person must stand before God individually, with deadly weapons invented and the powers of earth marshaled for the last great battle of Armageddon. Only then will the winds be allowed to go forth on their death-mission of vengeance, which is why many are now preserved from calamity.

The restraint does not come from the nations holding themselves, for they have no power to hold themselves, but is exercised by God alone through angelic agencies. Four angels given charge by God over earthly things hold the four winds, belting the world with hands linked about it and with sleepless vigilance keeping the armies of Satan at bay and refusing Satan his claim to supremacy because of the vast multitude of his adherents. God has commanded angelic agencies to control the satanic agencies seeking to break loose and destroy, and unseen angel hands hold in control all injurious and discouraging influences until everyone working in the fear and love of God is sealed, so without that restraint there would be no hope. Constant prayer for divine aid is therefore needed, with workers pressing to the front with decided testimony, uniting in Christian faith with one heart and one mind and laying petitions before the mercy-seat, while trusting God's power to hold back destruction until the sealing is finished and the claims of God's law are brought before the highest authorities.

Winds, earthquakes, tempests, and the fountains of waters are not capricious outbreaks of unregulated mechanical force but remain in the fullest sense under God's sovereign control through physical law as the expression of His higher will as Maker and Sustainer, placed under angels acting at His bidding. Accidents averted, tempests passing unharmed, and ships brought safely to harbor are the result of mighty angels holding back winds and waves, calling for gratitude to God who holds them in check to preserve His people who love Him and keep His commandments. Local disturbances are still permitted with purpose, as hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, and disasters by sea and land following each other in quick succession thicken as signs of the near approach of the Son of God, though science seeks to explain them and men attribute them to other than the true cause because they cannot discern the restraining angels. These earthquakes, tempests, tornadoes, thunder and lightning are symbols of what will cover the whole world when the angels loose the winds, permitted to call men and women to their senses and to reveal God as the One who gathers the wind, makes the clouds His chariot, brings the wind from His treasuries, sits King upon the flood, sets the decree of the sea, and makes the earth tremble at His touch.

The command to hurt not lasts only until the sealing is finished, spoken by the Restorer and Redeemer who purchased the world by giving Himself, superior to the angelic hosts, the Angel of the covenant ascending from the east, the Dayspring from on high and Light of the world, the Child born as Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He orders the four angels commissioned for a work on earth to hold in check and do no harm until His chosen few who keep all the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus are sealed, an act of mercy amid judgment given for consideration, comfort, and encouragement. While Jesus intercedes in the most holy place the winds of strife are held back and wrath cannot come, but when His work is done and the sealing complete the restraint ends, the seven last plagues come, the wicked enraged against the righteous decree to slay the saints bringing Jacob's trouble, and then the saints are delivered by the voice of God and the 144,000 triumph with faces lighted with glory. The present is therefore the little remaining period of probation to be improved by earnest self-examination, cherishing faith, and eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son by studying, digesting, living the Word until Christ's character becomes the individual character, which alone is safety nothing can break.

The judgments held back include hail about the weight of a talent falling upon the wicked who would not care for and obey God but insulted Him and despised His mercies, with tempests, thunders, pestilences, calamities, darkness, destruction, and death upon transgressors of His law. When the restraining power is removed there will come a time of trouble and anguish, deadly instruments of warfare invented, vessels with living cargo entombed in the great deep, and all without the spirit of truth uniting under satanic leadership until the great battle of Armageddon. The Lord is going forth to punish the inhabitants of the earth for iniquity, when the earth shall disclose her blood and no more cover her slain, yet He is a refuge bidding those who trust Him hide in Him for a little moment until the indignation is overpast, while Christ in these last moments watches, pleads, and restrains the angels to give time for the last message of mercy to go even to the worst sinners as a final test of seal or mark.

Speaker and Angels

The order to hold back harm from earth, sea, and trees until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads is spoken by Jesus Christ Himself. He is the Restorer and Redeemer who purchased the world by giving Himself, superior to the angelic hosts, the Angel of the covenant ascending from the east. He is the Dayspring from on high and Light of the world in whom is life, the Child born as Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, joining the divine and the human together. The delay He commands lasts only until His chosen few are sealed, those who keep all the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus and love God.

Clothed in priestly garments, He gazes in pity on the remnant who are not all sealed and lifts His hands to the Father pleading His spilled blood for them, with bright light surrounding Him. Commissioned by Him, another angel flies swiftly to the four angels on earth who have charge over earthly things and power to hold the four winds and are about to let them go. That angel commands angels of equal power to hold until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads, so the sealing must be finished first. The restraint does not come from the nations holding themselves, for they have no power to hold themselves, nor from people crying to God or to the nations to hold the winds, and the hope set before believers is to be among the 144,000.

Mercy is mixed with judgment, for destructive harm is held back while the seal of the living God is placed upon the faithful, with the four winds and the elements of nature under angels acting at God's bidding to preserve His people. Four mighty angels belt the world with hands linked about it and with sleepless vigilance keep the armies of Satan at bay, refusing him his claim to supremacy, holding back nations eager for conflict and the raging power of him who has come down like a roaring lion. Injurious and discouraging influences are held in control by unseen angel hands like an angry horse seeking to break loose and rush over the whole earth bearing destruction and death in its path. They are kept under control until every one who works in the fear and love of God is sealed, with accidents averted, tempests passing unharmed, and ships brought safely to harbor calling for gratitude to God.

The sealing itself is the work of the Holy Spirit of promise, wrought in people as God's approval and mark upon the forehead, and it is performed by holy angels placing the seal of the living God on the faithful remnant while Satan accuses them. It is done by the angel with the writer's inkhorn upon all who are loyal and true to the commandments of God, and the four angels hold back the four winds until that work is finished and then let them loose. Those sealed are pardoned, accepted, clothed in Christ's righteousness, and made eternally secure from the tempter, identified with those who have the Father's name in their foreheads. They are the 144,000 sealed to stand without fault before God, redeemed from the earth as firstfruits to God and the Lamb, without guile, standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion and singing a new song.

Meaning of Seal

The forehead stands for the intellect or mind, so to be sealed there is to have God's sign written in the mind and heart through understanding and allegiance rather than by compulsion. Room must be made for present truth, for worldly thoughts, cares and distractions crowd it out and leave no place for the seal, while keeping the commandments and the testimony of Jesus continually in mind, searching the Scriptures with clean hands and a pure heart, prepares for the short sealing time. The seal required is a consecrated mind wholly on the Lord's side.

That seal is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, the only precept of the Decalogue that points to God as Creator of heaven and earth and distinguishes the true God from false gods. It is the token or sign of His authority and power, His royal requirement and sign between Him and His people by which they may know that He is God. Instituted to commemorate creation, it was meant to keep minds directed to the true and living God, leading through nature to remember His power and love, so that faithful observance would have prevented idolatry, atheism and infidelity. Those who obey the fourth commandment bear it as the mark of loyalty to His rightful authority.

It is not a visible mark but a settling into the truth intellectually and spiritually so firmly that the sealed cannot be moved. When God's people are sealed and prepared, the shaking comes, and present judgments on the land are warnings of what is coming.

The sealed are numbered as 144,000, perfectly united and knowing God's voice, their faces lighted and shining with His glory when the Holy Spirit is poured upon them. On their foreheads are written God, New Jerusalem, and Jesus' new name, with a glorious star containing that new name. They are those who have the Father's name and stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion as firstfruits without guile.

It is the seal of the living God, given by the One who alone can give life and grant immortality and eternal life, holding back earthquakes, tempests and political strife until the work is done. It is an indelible signet and mark identifying them as God's own, wrought by the Holy Spirit as God's approval upon those who love purity and His honor. Though not sparing them from individual trials, it marks that their trials refine rather than destroy them and that their identity and destination belong to God as New Jerusalem. Readable by angels though not by human eyes and recognized by the destroying angel, it is seen in adopted sons and daughters through the cross of Calvary, where transgression of God's law is taken away, the wedding garment is worn, and obedience to all His commandments is kept in faithfulness.

It marks those on the Creator's side who keep all the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus, obedient to every command and standing in loyalty to His principles rather than conforming to the world. In the final judgment the two classes are those who keep God's law and those who violate it, and the sealed belong to the obedient, patient saints seen before the harvest of the earth and the treading of the winepress of wrath. If any refuse obedience in keeping His Sabbath the seal cannot be placed upon them, for Christ manifests His character in believers and covers them with His righteousness. Amid worldwide demon-worship, when the world stands on the brink of perdition under a cloud of judicial wrath containing the elements that destroyed Sodom, John beholds this distinct commandment-keeping company preserved with the sign upon their foreheads.

It stands opposed to the mark of the beast and its image, and receiving the one or the other is the great decision facing everyone, dividing humanity into two classes by the side chosen under Christ's banner or against Him. The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty because it is the point of truth especially controverted, drawing the line between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. Keeping the true Sabbath in obedience to God's law is evidence of loyalty to the Creator and the token of allegiance by which the seal is received, while observance of the false sabbath in compliance with the law of the state contrary to the fourth commandment is an avowal of allegiance to a power in opposition to God by which the mark is received. Each Sabbath institution bears the name of its author as an ineffaceable mark showing its authority: the true Sabbath bears the mark of God's kingdom, while the spurious sabbath, Sunday exalted by human law and papal authority above heaven's principles, is honored as the sign of Satan's authority and the rival mark acknowledged by its subjects.

The seal is truth coming up from the rising of the sun in the east, commencing in weakness with only a little light and small beginning but growing stronger and stronger through searching His Word. Like the sun it is first cold and then grows warmer and sends its rays, its beams healing and mighty in power, keeping its course but never setting. All who are saved will be tried upon it in some way, though the test upon it has been but a short time, and the greatest weight and light rests upon it because it lasts forever when the Bible is not needed, highest after entrance into the goodly land and increasing till the sealed are made immortal.

Prophetic Timing Sequence

The sealing must be finished before any hurt touches the earth, the sea, or the trees, before the seven last plagues are poured out, before the time of trouble and persecution comes, and before the decree to worship the beast under threat of death is enforced. The sealed remain mortal through the time of slaughter, but the mark shields them from the killing stroke and from the terrors of divine wrath, while those without it are left without shelter and exposed to destroying judgments. The winds are held only while Jesus ministers as High Priest in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, pleading His blood before the Father for the unsealed remnant as an act of mercy to gain time for the sealing. After 1844, when He passed within the second veil, the restraint continues only until every case is decided for salvation or destruction, and then He lays off priestly attire, puts on garments of vengeance, and permits the plagues, when sins have been blotted out and character fixed, atonement no longer removes sin, no further sacrifice, confession, or prayer for pardon avails, and it is too late to repent.

When the work is done and the sealing complete the restraint ends, the angels release the winds, and fierce human passions break loose with tempests, thunders, pestilences, calamities, deadly weapons newly invented, vessels entombed, and the powers of earth marshaling for Armageddon and the last great battle. The plagues enrage the wicked against the righteous, who are blamed for the judgments, so that a decree to slay the saints is issued, bringing Jacob's trouble in which the saints cry day and night for deliverance, until they are delivered by the voice of God and the 144,000 triumph with faces lighted by glory. Although nation already rises against nation and kingdom against kingdom, there is not yet a general or determined engagement because the four winds are still held. The present is the sealing time, very short and soon to end, still in force even amid war between Spain and America, uneasiness among all nations, striking and aggressive warfare, and angry nations mustering for war, leaving time for a work not yet done to prepare a people to stand in coming trials upon sea and land. It was expected after the midnight cry and shut door in 1844, was still future and not finished in fifteen or thirty days, did not end in October 1884, and remains very near, to be done up speedily while God still spares, requiring swift hiding under His covering.

The holding is prolonged because God's people have not walked in His counsel, believed Him, done His word, and kept His commandments, but are disobedient, unthankful, unholy, indolent, unfaithful, unclean, and polluted, far behind their privileges and unprepared for the crisis, with blindness of mind and hardness of heart and few truly humble, devoted, God-fearing servants laboring with Christ with eternity in view. Had they obeyed, the work would have advanced and the messages of truth would have been borne to all people dwelling on the whole earth, so time is given and the sealing delayed that the last message of mercy may be proclaimed with a loud voice, that the many who have not heard may hear and be converted, and that the great work may go forward. The sealing is the fearful, awful work of the third angel selecting the wheat from the tares and binding or sealing it for the heavenly garner, separating from the churches a people to stand on the platform of eternal truth, to separate the vile from the precious. During the brief period while Christ is in the sanctuary and salvation is closing, trouble comes and nations are angry but are held in check so the third angel's message can be proclaimed more fully, with the Sabbath separating God's true Israel from unbelievers, and the latter rain or refreshing giving power to the loud cry and preparing the saints to stand through the plagues.

No definite date for the close of probation has been given since 1844, though time is short and the end has not yet come, and a people must still be prepared before it. Curious questions about who will be sealed, how many will be sealed, and other such inquiries are prying curiosity and foolish side issues on which salvation does not depend, not to be encouraged nor answered by originating new and strange things from human imagination, but by holding to what is plainly revealed, walking humbly with God, and waiting until what is essential is known. When the four angels let go Christ will set up His kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and when the Lord descends from heaven with power and great glory He will set the seal of final triumph upon His faithful commandment-keeping people, whose work grows stronger and more efficient as doors open to build the old waste places, with the pure receiving the latter rain as formerly while overcoming by grace through His blood. The time of trouble has commenced and begun and is on the increase, increasing more and more until the earth is rid of the wicked, but its fullness over all the earth, when neighbor is against neighbor and brother against brother and sister against sister, comes only when Michael stands up. The seal is the truth that comes last and rises in strength growing brighter and brighter, not the shut-door experience, the trodden-down commandment now to be exalted, and those who receive it will go through that trouble, and this sealing is an expression of God's love for His people.

Character of Sealed

The sealed fully reflect the image of Jesus and reach the fullness of His character, being transformed by the Holy Spirit to show His love in word and action, renouncing self and becoming complete in Christ, and when that mark is reached the recording angel declares the work finished. The seal marks them as belonging to God and distinguishes them from the world, shown in lives transformed by grace and bearing His character of love while Christ covers them with His righteousness. Protection through the time of trouble belongs to those who receive this seal and can live in sight of the Lord without a High Priest in the sanctuary.

The seal marks character shaped by humility before God and obedience to truth, in contrast to those shaped by the world's mold who prepare for the mark of the beast. When the decree is issued and the seal is impressed, their character will remain pure and spotless forever.

The seal is received only when character is free of every spot and stain, with defects remedied and the soul cleansed of every defilement. It is not placed on the impure, ambitious, world-devoted, deceitful in speech, or false in heart, but on those spotless before God and fit for heaven, so preparation is needed now. Then the latter rain falls as the early rain fell on the disciples at Pentecost.

The seal is placed only on those who sigh and cry for the abominations done in Jerusalem among professed believers, who grieve and plead over evils and love purity and God's honor while recognizing sin's true wickedness. Those who sympathize with the world and its wrongdoing, join in evil, excuse sin, oppose faithful reproof, or are engrossed in games for selfish amusement face destruction and do not receive it. Those marked are registered in heaven as overcomers.

Merely professing to keep the Sabbath, knowing truth, understanding prophecy and doctrine, teaching others, belonging to the church, or joining the church does not ensure sealing or save apart from the seal making one complete in Christ. Those who know duty and God's will must live it in works, devotion, piety, family government, brotherly love, and household order showing truth's influence on the heart, be controlled by the Holy Spirit, and have the life of Christ. Lukewarm and half-hearted professing Christians lack the seal and will face bitter disappointment, and many claiming to keep the commandments will not receive it because they do not keep them in truth and righteousness nor bear fruits of righteousness. Religious leaders who fail to follow received light can lead others into danger, so each must study the Bible personally and humbly willing to be taught rather than relying on a minister's example or standing.

Preparation requires being sanctified by truth, converted, forgiven with a clean heart, clothed in Christ's righteousness by faith, standing on the Rock, hiding in the Refuge, being one with Christ as He is one with the Father, and eating His flesh and drinking His blood by carefully studying, digesting, and living the Word until His character becomes individual character by a renewed heart. It means a tearing down and building up with wrongs and hard feelings confessed and forgiven, discord removed, hearts knit in union and love, and set in order for the Lord's coming. It requires giving the law pre-eminence, putting away selfish indulgence that weakens physical, mental, and moral strength and destroys a true sense of the sacredness of God's requirements, not doing own pleasure on the Sabbath, crucifying selfish practices by imparting blessings and exercising God-given ability, and growing in spirituality, patience, fortitude, meekness, gentleness, and love to God and men in seeking to save the lost. Full conversion, not half conversion, is required, serving with entire affections, not giving up under trial nor letting discouragement sap strength, believing, turning from sins, and following on to know the Lord.

The sealed overcome the world, the flesh, and the Devil, while those with impure hearts and hands or who deliberately plan and practice sin do not receive the seal. They repent and confess in the great antitypical day of atonement, watch for the Saviour, live in keeping with professed truth, stand steadfastly by principle, resist corruption, put on the whole armor of righteousness, and are as true as steel to principle. Those who knowingly cherish sin and corrupt themselves and others have names blotted from the book of life and are left in darkness. In the church militant, not yet triumphant, they will be tested by the dragon's war against commandment keepers with the testimony of Jesus and must stand firmly for truth and uphold obedience as long as they live. The seal must be implanted in a clear mind, for a mind engrossed with other things has no place for it, and everything must be done on this side of Michael's standing up, with those established now becoming fully established so they will not falter.

The sealed are of one heart and of one mind with one object, the salvation of souls, because there is a heaven to win, drawn together and not apart. Discord is removed and hearts are knit in union and love. They press together, love one another as Christ loved, lay down life for the brethren, let self die throughout the camp, pray for the covering, live carefully, drop little idols, and agree together here in order to reign together in heaven.

No idol may remain where the seal is placed. One who uses tobacco as an idol cannot be sealed while continuing it and must give it up, and using it as medicine dishonors God as the great Physician and brings His frown. The seal will not be placed on anyone keeping connection with Freemasons or any secret organization after light has shone, for Christians cannot serve God and mammon. It is a stamp of character never placed on one who worships self, appetite, eating and drinking, and money, ruled by will, unholy passions, worldly spirit, and cruel wrongs to wife and children. Self must be hid in God with God first and last and best in everything, past wrongs righted as far as possible, not a trace or fiber of selfishness remaining, and Sabbath pleasure denied.

Suffering for Christ purifies and fits believers to receive the seal, pass through the time of trouble, and see the King in beauty. Being sealed does not spare from individual trials, but God watches over His own so trials refine rather than destroy them, with identity and destination marked as God's and as New Jerusalem.

The sealing comes through receiving saving present truth carried by God's messengers while Jesus pleads His blood, sufferings, and death before the Father, with messengers standing ready and waiting to bring it to fainting, starving souls dying for want of spiritual food. It is the work of fitting up a people to stand in the day of the Lord by combining Old and New Testaments, bearing a message with the seal of the living God, to be done now for the day is right upon us while many watchmen sleep. Giving means to send messengers speeds the sealing, while holding property and refusing to sell possessions to support them withholds the means that would seal souls.

Physical condition does not bar sealing, for the blind, deaf, lame, and deformed may receive it without being healed and without change of hair color or bodily form. What is required is inward cleansing with a heart washed and made white in the Lamb's blood, faith in Christ, faithfulness and truth, control of natural propensities, denial of selfish inclinations, Christ's righteousness and obedience to the commandments, and victory over hereditary tendencies to wrong. Removal of every deformity by the Life-giver belongs to the future great day of God when the faithful receive the healing touch and eternal life, not to the present as a condition.

The sealed bear God's superscription after testing and trial, shaped, refined, and purified to represent His character and reflect heaven. Living faith and the Spirit of Christ matter more than worldly recognition, position, occupation, or outward show, and a life lived for Christ with desire to belong wholly to God, renewed strength in faith, love for God and His commandments, and humble obedience is the life on which the Saviour can put His seal.

The sealed hold the beginning of their confidence firm to the end and receive the mark of God in their foreheads as the only safety in future perplexity, trouble, deception, and conflict. They keep God's commandments of one heart, bound up with Christ and one another, hid with Christ in God, strengthened by taking hold of His strength and making peace with Him. At the appointed time glad tidings of deliverance will fill them with gladness and joyful praise.

Unfaithful leaders who sit in the gate deciding what people should have and should not have do not bear the seal. They take away the key of knowledge, refuse to enter themselves, and hinder those who would enter, and all in responsible positions must be solemnly and terribly afraid lest they be found unfaithful stewards in this sealing time before vengeance is executed.

Those who become blind to principle and partake of the spirit stirring the ungodly, who refuse instruction and will not impart what they receive, or who abuse God's goods cannot bear God's sign or seal and cannot be used by Him. God disciplines His people to lead them rightly and commands them to impart what they receive. Punishment will surely come and its severity will be proportionate to the light had but not heeded or practiced.

The sealing is granted to few, for many hear mercy's invitation and are tested but few humble themselves with a meek lowly spirit and the grace of Christ to receive it. Pride, envy, self-exaltation, ambition, world-love, impurity, deceit, and falsehood exclude, and candidates must be pure before God and fit for heaven. Deep heart-work producing Christlike character is required, with heart subdued by love, controlled tongue, strengthening conversation, and influence gathering with Christ rather than scattering. The sealed are chosen not by the world's standard but by humility that lets God teach them, put His words in their lips, trust them to speak, represent Him in meekness and lowliness, receive His Spirit, learn His ways, wear His yoke, and represent immortal principles of truth while Christ manifests His character in them and covers them with His righteousness. The seal is not for the impure in mind, the sexually immoral, or the adulterous, but for character made holy and fit for the prepared home.

Protection and Deliverance

The sealing must be finished before harm touches earth, sea and trees, because it safeguards God's servants from the coming evil and protects them through the time of slaughter and the terrors of God's wrath. The forehead stands for the intellect or mind, so the seal written there is God's sign written in the mind through understanding and allegiance, not by compulsory worship. That sign is the Sabbath, the seal of God's law and token of His authority and power as Creator by which His people know Him as God, set against the beast's counterfeit mark and false sabbath. The mark is set by an angelic messenger only on those who sigh and cry for the abominations done in Jerusalem among professed believers, not on those engrossed in selfish amusement, and they are registered in heaven as overcomers. When the ministers of destruction are commanded to smite without pity, beginning at the sanctuary, they come not near any who has the mark, though the sealed saints remain mortal in that time. Once the seven last plagues are poured out it is too late to repent or find shelter, for atonement no longer removes sin.

During this time-limited sealing God draws the covering of the Almighty over His people to give shelter from the burning wrath poured out in the seven last plagues. He has begun to draw that covering, and it will very soon be drawn over all who are to have shelter in the day of the Lord, the time of trouble and the time of slaughter. That covering is the sealing placed on every soul decided upon the truth and planted firmly on present truth and pure in heart. Those whose knees tremble and whose feet slide because they are not planted on present truth cannot have the covering drawn over them while trembling, and when the sealing ends they are left without protection. Satan works in this sealing time more than ever to distract, draw away and deceive God's people, to make them careless or doubtful of present truth, and to hold the unsteady and wavering where they are until the sealing is over. There is no danger for God's sealed people, yet they must pray for the covering, be careful how they live, drop little idols from the pathway, press together, love one another as Christ loved, let self die throughout the camp, lay down life for the brethren, and agree together here in order to reign together in heaven, even as sword, famine and pestilence speedily come upon earth, sea and trees.

To be sealed is the main business of life, meaning life, eternal life in the kingdom of glory, promised to every soul warring the good warfare for the crown of glory that fadeth not away. The seal of the living God places the saints beyond Satan's power as God's chosen purchased possession whom none can pluck from His hands, so because his time is short he labors to make them careless about or doubtful of present truth and spiritually unwatchful in order to bring them under his power before they can be sealed. In the final scene holy angels place that seal on the faithful remnant while Satan accuses them, and the sealed who remain loyal are pardoned, accepted, clothed in Christ's righteousness, and eternally secure from the tempter. They bear the Father's name in their foreheads and stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion as the 144,000. The living righteous receive this seal before probation closes, marking them as belonging to God and distinguishing them from the world, their lives revealing His loving character while Christ covers them with His righteousness, and those who receive it will have special honors in God's kingdom.

Those sealed who die before the end rest in the grave through the time of trouble instead of going through it, so there is no need to mourn for them except for the living's loss of their company. At the voice of God they will come up and stand upon the earth with the 144,000, and their death results in good. Only those who receive the seal of the living God will have the passport through the gates of the holy city. Those who take responsibilities in God's work without being wholehearted believers cannot receive it while they remain so, especially those who trust in their own righteousness, mingle the common with the sacred, and lose discernment of spiritual things. Receiving it requires consecration and deep earnest heart purification through the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, cleansing from self-importance and self-exaltation, right motives in action, supreme love to God and love to neighbor as self, and refusal of misleading spiritualistic views that will be valueless in the great day of God.

The sealed will come from every nation, kindred, tongue and people, gathered by the worldwide missionary work of God's renewing grace to worship God and the Lamb, a work that depends on people experiencing the Holy Spirit's work in their own hearts. They are God's people, a small remnant who cannot defend themselves against the deadly conflict and rely on God for defense. When the time of trouble comes every case is decided and probation is closed, while an earthly decree commands worship of the beast and receipt of its mark under threat of persecution and death.

Now amid the perils of the last days the angels are holding the four winds, giving a short delay and opportunity to seek the Lord most earnestly before trying times come. When restraint ends, drought, famine, pestilence, earthquakes and casualties by sea and land will multiply, and everything that can be shaken will be shaken so that only what cannot be shaken remains. In that danger life will be unsafe anywhere except for the life hid with Christ in God, safe whatever happens and wherever they are. Making calling and election sure now, holding the beginning of confidence firm unto the end, keeping God's commandments of one heart bound up with Christ and with one another and hid with Christ in God, gives protection in the coming storm of perplexity, trouble, deception and conflict. That safety comes by taking hold of His strength and making peace with Him, being prepared to close earthly history and to live out the light of truth received because the end comes in a short time, and at the appointed time the glad tidings of deliverance will fill hearts with gladness and lips with joyful praise.

Those who receive the seal must reflect the image of Jesus fully and be such as can live in the sight of the Lord without a High Priest in the sanctuary through the time of trouble, with sins blotted out beforehand.

Urgent Mission and Unity

The holding back of the winds is a brief respite of grace before harm touches earth, sea, and trees, given so the servants of God can be sealed and the warning against disobeying His law can be proclaimed throughout the world. It is the limited time to carry truth to all nations, tongues, and peoples, and the labor must be extended without delay because the time to work will soon be past. The restraint lasts only while the appointed warning work is given and while the storm of coming trouble gathers, and when nations' strife breaks out it will come with unexpected intensity and catch many unprepared like a thief in the night. The sealing is not yet completed, so the holding is to be prayed for to gain more time to work and to use every physical, mental, and moral ability in service to those perishing in ignorance.

The command belongs to wonderful things about to transpire of intense interest to every living soul upon earth, and the chapter should be carefully read and studied. It is a message to draw God's people together and not draw apart, to be of one heart and of one mind with one object before them, the salvation of souls, because there is a heaven to win. Being among that sealed number requires preparing now for Christ's coming by not burying talents in worldly business or commercialism and not becoming so engrossed in this world as to have no time or thought for readiness, with the decisive work to wash robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. At the slow rate of working it would take a temporal millennium to warn the world, but God works according to faith, and the winds are held until a people has decided for truth and the honest in heart have been convicted and converted. The delay is given so power, influence, and means will flow in the missionary channel, putting money out to the exchangers so stewards may present talents doubled in the ingathering of souls to Christ, turning self and all that can be given, even ornaments and trinkets, into advancement of the work at home and in foreign lands while Mercy's voice still pleads and heaven's opened door still receives every repentant soul.

This message of the seal of the living God belongs to God's people and places fearful responsibility on the church to warn and to gather means from believers and unbelievers for schools, churches, health institutions, and medical missionary enterprises. The seal distinguishes God's servants from the world and is borne by converted, devoted workers needed in missionary agencies and in every branch of work and in His institutions, seen in words and works revealing laborers together with God through whom He reveals the power of His grace. The work is urgent with awful responsibility because iniquity reaches unto heaven, souls perish out of Christ, vice deepens, infidelity increases, and God's name is dishonored while the end is near, requiring His witnesses to stand between the living and the dead.

God alone can hold the four winds until His servants are sealed, so constant prayer for divine aid is needed, uniting in Christian faith with one heart and one mind and laying petitions before the mercy-seat in faith and simplicity under the bow of promise arched over the throne, for it is His glory to answer and do a great work in the earth. The holding is to be prayed for and worked with in aggressive warfare, letting nothing lessen the force of present truth, making present truth the burden, and letting the third angel's message do its work of separating from the churches a people who will take their stand on the platform of eternal truth. This restraint allows the sealing to proceed while the claims of God's holy law are brought before the highest authorities, as believers plead before legislative councils for the right to worship according to conscience with kindness, true courtesy, and no bitterness, praying for divine help to defend conscience.

The sealing message is a proclamation to be given in distinct notes of solemn warning to prepare a people to receive the seal, and the light received is to be shared with others. The winds held back are plagues, war, and confusion of nations coming upon the earth, and now is the time to do the appointed work, reveal living faith, prepare for what is coming, and set the heart in order to be purified, refined, elevated, and ennobled, with no time to halt between two opinions. Being ready requires knowing the truth as it is in Jesus and working in harmony to accomplish the appointed work, graduating prepared when the seal is placed, for the remaining time for sowing truth is short though no definite date for the close of probation has been given since 1844. Those whose life is hid with Christ in God will be safe when the sealing comes whatever happens and wherever they are, and making calling and election sure now gives protection in the coming storm, calling each person to be prepared to close earthly history and live out received light because the end will come in a short time.

Satan tries to keep people from being sealed before the covering of Almighty God is drawn over them to shelter them from wrath poured out in the seven last plagues. Because his time is short he works more powerfully now than ever, in every way and by every insinuation to get saints off guard, to make them fall asleep upon present truth or doubt it and be careless about it, and so prevent their being sealed and place them beyond his power. He works to distract, draw away, and deceive God's people in this sealing time and to hold the unsteady where they are until sealing is over, coming in almost human shape with his angels seeking to devour, while God and His angels hover around the saints and cover them with wings to shut out unholy influence. Those whose knees tremble and feet slide because they are not planted on present truth cannot have the covering drawn over them while trembling, and those left without it are left without protection in the time of slaughter; the wavering are not ready, while those firm in truth and pure in heart receive it. That short time is used to ensnare those not firmly established, for each person is tested and uncorrected defects of character can lead to destruction, so God's strength and His Spirit's help are needed, and determined effort is made to divide and scatter God's people by side issues diverting minds from important subjects.

Sentinel angels restrain the winds that they shall not blow until servants of God are sealed, though men cannot discern the angels doing it. The restraining Spirit is even now being withdrawn, and hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, and disasters by sea and land following each other in quick succession are signs thickening around us telling of the near approach of the Son of God, though science seeks to explain them and men attribute them to other than the true cause. The command to hold fast so they do not blow remains in force even while there is war such as between Spain and America and uneasiness, striking, and aggressive warfare in all nations, with nation plotting against nation and kingdom against kingdom on the threshold of great and solemn events with prophecies fulfilling. When God bids His angels loose the winds there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture, with overwhelming judgments following, so those who see the peril must work diligently to save others and trust God for help rather than assume shelter without regard to duty, recognizing how long forbearance will continue and preparing for what is coming on sea and land.

God rocks this world in the cradle of security and gives a time of peace so communications are not cut off from place to place. That delay before hurting earth, sea, and trees gives messengers full time to carry the message to the children of God and gives servants time to do their work for souls, and receiving the message seals them with the seal of the living God to pass through trouble such as never was. God's restraining hand has not yet been withdrawn and judgment is held back while mercy lingers and the Holy Spirit strives with hearts of unbelievers and great men to draw them to light. This is time to bide time, hide in Christ, and move and work with great wisdom, as wise as serpents and harmless as doves, letting the Lord work and not taking responsibility to come into needless conflict with authorities and powers or to close avenues and bind up means God would have set free, but receiving and seeking in wisdom the gifts and favors from those with no sympathy, faith, or practice that open avenues for truth, since goods in hands of unbelievers are to be used for the fallen world.

The restraint comes from intense interest for rebellious people, holding back destroying agencies to give them time to return to the fold in safety and peace, to finally overcome, and to be saved eternally with God's family in heaven. The delay gives time to help others and children get ready before He comes, for the angels will not wait, and if Israel remains not ready others will go in before them. To be ready means to wash in the open fountain, to put away self and confess every sin at the sanctuary through the great High Priest, and to receive pity and forgiveness. The four angels are now just ready to let go, bringing near a dark, lonely, sad time, so nothing is to be counted too dear to give up for God, even parents and others who hold back, and there is urgent need to speed and hide beneath the covering while the mind is perplexed and troubled, living not to please self but for God, getting hold of Jesus and trusting His strength to save.

Servants of God must be sealed to be ready for the Lord's coming, to meet Him in peace, and to stand when the earth reels to and fro like a drunkard. Sealing is of great importance to secure the soul's salvation, obtained by taking hold of God's strength and making peace with Him, loving Him with the whole heart, and praying much. John beheld with intense interest a distinct company preserved by the sign of the living God upon their foreheads amid worldwide demon-worship when the whole world stands on the brink of perdition and a cloud of judicial wrath containing the elements that destroyed Sodom hangs over the multitude. Those sealed servants are His commandment-keeping people, the patient saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, seen before the harvest of the earth and the treading of the winepress of the wrath of God, connecting sealing with heaven's judgments on the wicked.

Those bearing the seal in their foreheads are in the church militant, not yet the church triumphant, and will be tested by the dragon making war with those who keep God's commandments and have the testimony of Jesus, so as long as they live they are to stand firmly for truth and uphold obedience. They will receive bitterest persecution from false teachers who will not hear God's Word and put stumbling blocks before those who would hear, facing loss and persecution from apostate churches for faithfulness to the Bible, while waiting for the divine command that will place them beyond Satan's wrath. They are not to fear, because Satan cannot go beyond his limit and the Lord will be their defense, regarding injury done to His servants for truth's sake as done to Himself, until the sealing work is done, the last decision made, and all have taken sides either for Christ and the commandments or for the great apostate, when God will arise in power, mouths that blasphemed Him will be forever stopped, and every opposing power will receive punishment.

The sealing of God's people is a closing work to be finished before the work is closed up, and before it is finished there will be the outpouring of God's Spirit with angels from heaven in the midst, and God will do great things for those who do not flag or weaken but grow in grace and knowledge. The present is the fitting-up time for heaven to have a part in that closing work, when each person and every family must consecrate to God's service, walk in full obedience to all His commandments, stand wholly on the Lord's side trusting in Christ alone, and hold confidence firm. Its servants of the living God are believers now who must not rest in superficial knowledge, must not be elated by flattery nor depressed by faultfinding, and must turn away from temptation to act to be admired and flattered.