71 And after these things I saw four messengers, standing upon the four corners of the land, holding the four winds of the land, that the wind may not blow upon the land, nor upon the sea, nor upon any tree; 2 and I saw another messenger going up from the rising of the sun, having a seal of the living God, and he did cry with a great voice to the four messengers, to whom it was given to injure the land and the sea, saying, 3 'Do not injure the land, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we may seal the servants of our God upon their foreheads.' 4 And I heard the number of those sealed, (144 thousands were sealed out of all the tribes of the sons of Israel): 5 of the tribe of Judah 12 thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben 12 thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad 12 thousand were sealed; 6 of the tribe of Asher 12 thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali 12 thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh 12 thousand were sealed; 7 of the tribe of Simeon 12 thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi 12 thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar 12 thousand were sealed; 8 of the tribe of Zebulun 12 thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph 12 thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin 12 thousand were sealed.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Revelation 7:1-8
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.