"Then 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 granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, 'Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.'" (Revelation 7:2, 3)
The word for, "harm," here is from a judicial term. It is a further confirmation that at some point in time, the Living Triune God will indeed judge the whole "earth, the sea,...the trees." Of the "Last Days," the prophet Isaiah wrote, "The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured (literally, "eaten") the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate (literally, "guilty, by implication to be punished").
"....till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."
There is a Biblical principle here. God will not bring cataclysmic judgment "til all the ransomed Church of God be saved to sin no more." Could it be that judgment is awaiting the last soul to be brought into the "Household of faith?" When God was about to destroyed man on the earth, the Bible tells us of Noah, "and the Lord shut him in." The angel told Lot, "Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there." What has been referred to as "The Rapture," the catching away of the "servants of our God," will take place before "the earth, the sea, or the trees" are harmed, i.e., judged, condemned.
People of the Earth: "The Great Escape" is only for those who live in obedience to Jesus Christ and His "Law/Word." When you and I received Jesus into our lives, when we surrendered to His Reign in our lives, what is said of Noah became true in us, "and the Lord shut him in." Stay there. It is the "secret place of the Most High." It is the place where, "A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right; but it shall not come near you."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You for "the Shelter in the time of storm"- "under [Your] wings." Amen.
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"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
