Sealed for God

Revelation 7:1-3 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. 2 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: 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.”
 
WITH the phrase “after this”, John continues to relate the sequence of events in Jesus’ revelation from the Father. Four angels – the seraphim - have been moving in obedience to God’s judgment against the earth. Now a fifth angel comes at the Lord’s command to protect God’s people – his church – still on earth. This fifth angel’s seal is not one of the seven seals Jesus has been opening. Before the seventh seal is opened, the Father mercifully sends an angel to protect his people from harm amid the earth-changing turmoil.
   Scripture has many passages describing God mercifully stopping his judgments and giving people a way to be saved. Israel’s history, for example, is one of rebellion against God. He judges them with conquest from foreign powers. Then he raises leaders in Israel to throw off the oppression. Since Eden, the Creator has been tearing down Satan’s evil on the earth to build a redeemed world, a new perfect paradise for his eternal church. Time and again the Lord God has proven he is the protective Good Shepherd who leads his people out of danger and into his perfection.
   Do you see salvation’s picture here? As the Holy Spirit has made  you God’s own, you are protected, sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30b) with Jesus’ atoning blood. Jesus is God’s merciful intervention into the world’s sin. By his blood we throw off sin’s oppression to be free from the enemy’s control. How sweet and pleasing to know “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
   This seal is the Holy Trinity choosing, calling and sealing you against Satan’s mark described further in the vision. Be of faith. As the world’s destructive winds rage against you, know you can trust the quiet and gentle breeze of your Almighty God.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Holy Father, for your eternal peace. Thank you for marking my heart with Jesus’ blood! In his Precious Name, Amen.