3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
3 "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."
3 saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants
3 "Don't hurt the earth! Don't hurt the sea! Don't so much as hurt a tree until I've sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads!"
3 saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."
3 "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."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Revelation 7:3
Commentary on Revelation 7:1-8
(Read Revelation 7:1-8)
In the figurative language of Scripture, the blowing of the four winds together, means a dreadful and general destruction. But the destruction is delayed. Seals were used to mark for each person his own possessions. This mark is the witness of the Holy Ghost, printed in the hearts of believers. And the Lord would not suffer his people to be afflicted before they were marked, that they might be prepared against all conflicts. And, observe, of those who are thus sealed by the Spirit, the seal must be on the forehead, plainly to be seen alike by friends and foes, but not by the believer himself, except as he looks stedfastly in the glass of God's word. The number of those who were sealed, may be understood to stand for the remnant of people which God reserved. Though the church of God is but a little flock, in comparison with the wicked world, yet it is a society really large, and to be still more enlarged. Here the universal church is figured under the type of Israel.