February 6 - After this

February 6 – After this
Revelation 7:1

I know that I spread the information regarding the first six seals out over several days and thus, probably lost some of the intensity that comes with reading Revelation 6, but that is a bleak and disturbing look at the result in our world. God’s punishment is meted out on creation through war and famine, plagues and pestilence. The earth itself and the heavens are beginning to show the signs of destruction.

Before we see the opening of the seventh seal, though, there is a break. John has just seen the destruction of 25% of the earth and this is only the beginning.

The first two words of Revelation 7 are “After this …” A new vision is being introduced. We are seeing events occur in a linear fashion, one event stops and another begins.

Now, the last words of Revelation 6 were “Who can stand?” Who can stand against the great day of wrath? Obviously, none of us can when we stand alone, but we are about to see that because of the sacrifice of the Lamb, it is possible. Let’s see what happens

“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea. ‘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.’ Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,00 from all the tribes of Israel.” (Revelation 7:1-4)

The four angels were standing because God has given them power. They stand against complete destruction which will be wrought by indescribable winds.

Nahum 1:3 says, “The Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”

Jeremiah 4:13 tells us that God’s chariots come like a whirlwind.

On this great day of wrath, God will show Himself to the earth in a whirlwind.