The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 183

just as in eh.. xiv. 18 an llollgel has power the Prophet Elijah. That this angel waii of over fire, and in eh. xvi. 5 we read of the like nature with the first four a.ppeura prob-. "angel of the waters;'' The ~nds have able from the words in ver. 8, ''°till we ha.Te been interpreted in two ways, neither of sealed the servan!, of our God." Raving which seems strictly oorreet. The first is the eeal of the living God. The sealing io give a literal meaning (as Diisterdieck) instrument with which they seal God'a to the winds,a.nd to understand lite:raJ. wind- servants. Of its nature we are told nothing stotms aa part of the jud~eut upon the beyond what is contained in ver. a.. He is earth. The aecond method interprets the specially referred io a.s "the lifling God," winds &!I. sym,bo]s of the judgments of since, by this sealing, lifa · is imparted. the first six seals, which are held in sus- We have. here the sho)'.tel' expression, "the pension, while the elect are sea.led. The living God," not, as in a.II other places of truth probe.lily is that the winds, like the the Apocalypse, "him that liveth fol" ever earthquake, the rolling-up of the heaven as and ever" (see eh. iv. 9; v. 14; x. 6; xv. 7). a scroll, etc., a.re part of the figurative And he cried with a loud voice to the four de8el'iption of the destruction or tlie world aus-els (cf. oh. i. 10; v. 2; vi. 10) to 1ll'hom. at the• judgment-da.y ; which destruction, it was given to hurt the earth and the sea; like thllt of Sodom, is delayed for the pro- that is, by letting loose the winds, as shown servation of. God's elect. That the wind by vers. 1 and 3. Bengel and Rinck,looking 11honld Do&: blow on the earth, nor on the sea, only at the immediate context, thought that nor on any tree. D<iv l'ievllpo'!, !'every tree," the hurt was done by preventing the winds is read in N, P, 1, 86, Andr-, etc. The from blowing on the earth and coolillg it in earth, the sea., the trees, are mentioned as the scor!)hing plagues which follow (oh. viii. things .likely to be affected by the action 7). The trees are not mentioned, being in- of the winds; the two former, of course, eluded in the _earth; and this appears to em:~cing those things situated upon them, indicate that the expression," the earth, the and· the lut being specially mentioned, sea, and the trees" (vers. I and 3), signifies perhapg; as a class· of things which are the world in genera.I, without being intended peculiarly liable to destruction from wind. to represent indiyidual parts, as the great Wordsworth .a.nd others, interpreting sym- men, etc. (see on eh. v. 1). bilioil.lly, consider ~ thtt bla.sta of wind Ver. 3.-Sa.ying; .Hurt not &he nrtll, f)ll;"'6 earth typify eiuthly.powezs, opposed neither the sea, nor the treea. Hsri flGt.· ~"~ .of. 4eaven, while the sea is em- by loosing the four winds, as stated on t>eJ!. blematio of nations in a state -0f .agitation 2. The destruotion prepa.ted for the gniltJ, against God, and . the trees represent the world is not allowed to full until ~ & elect g.rea.t ones of this world. This interpreta- have been gathered in, and preserved free tion, therefore, reganis the objects mentioned from danger (cf. Matt. mv. 81, where as the enemies of God, which, by his com, ,.. im1nediately after the appearance of the Son ma.nd, are preserved from destruction and of man, his elect are gathered from the four allowed t.o flourish· in ease and apparent winds). (For the significatiQJl of the earth, eeourity, until the time ·of the sea.ling of the sea, and the trea, see on vera. 1 and 2.) God's servants ms been MOOmplished. But Till ·we have sealed ille servaaitl of our God il;sseemiJ better t.o regard the winds a.s form~ in their foreheads, '.!.'he angel &BBOOiates · ing paTt of the general description by which himself with the first four, as being on· an God's judgment is foreshadowed. It is not equality with them in this work, although unuilua.l in the Bible for the wind to be he alone is stated to posse11&thesea.l (ver. 2). t®ntioned in oonnection with destruction Of the nature of the sea.ling nothing more and judgment (of. 1 Kings xix. 11: Job i. is indicated. The forehead is naturally 19; xxi. 18: · xxx. Hi; Ps. i. 4: £xlvii. 18; mentioned as being the most oonspicnona ll!3. xi. 15; xxvii. 8; xxxii. 2;·xli. l6; Jer. part of man, as well as that which wear& nii-,22: Dan. ii. 35; vii.·2). accustomed to regard as the noblest and· V,•r. 2.-And I saw 11.nother angel as- most vital part. The idea maybe compared, oeilding from the east; from the rising of with that in Ezek. ix. 4, 6. It is remarkl-' fM 'l!oo. Again no individual angel is able,-too, that tbe word in Ezekiel rendered pal'tie.ulurized, though a.n archangel may "mark" is the name of the H;,brew letter- ~ iutemled, as he has· authority over the tau, of which the ancient form was a cross fll'bv' four. He pruceeds from that que.rter (of. the sign of the cross in be.ptism; also oh. whence comes light; and; like the Sun of iii, 12, '' I will write upon him the :Name or Uighteousness, he rises with healing in my God.~. and my new Na.me·;" anddh. xiv. hi.. wings ; for · his mission is to render I, " Having his Father's Name wiHt.en in MJ0t1re the servants of God. Wordsworth their foreheads"). ",The serve.nm or ov ,hmk11 Christ, or a messenger from Christ, God," says Bengel, is a title which especially W'tlleaui--. view &bared by HengstenbergJ belongs to holy men in Is~ (ef. Gen. I. VAtringa says the Holy Ghost; Vioiorinus, 17 ; Dent. x:uii.. S6: he, J.xi. 6). Tha.e ex. vu. 1-17.] THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. 201