Chapter Nineteen - Sealing the Israel of God

"WHO is able to stand?" (Revelation 6:17)  Yes, who indeed?  When the great day of divine wrath devastates Satan's system, rulers and peoples of the world may well ask that question. To them it will appear that the impending cataclysm will snuff out  all human life. But will it?  Happily, God's prophet assures us:  "Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe."  (Joel 2:32)  The apostles Peter and Paul confirm that fact.  (Acts 2:19-21; Romans 10:13)  Yes, those who call on the name of Jehovah will be survivors. Who are these ones? As the next vision unfolds, we shall see?  

It is truly remarkable that anyone should come through Jehovah's say of judgment alive, for another of God's prophets describes  in these words:  "Look! a windstorm of Jehovah, rage itself, has gone forth, an onward-sweeping tempest. Upon the head of the wicked ones it will whirl.  The burning anger of Jehovah will not turn back until he will have executed and until he will have out the the ideas of his heart."  (Jeremiah 30:23, 24)  It is urgent that we take steps  to weather the storm! -Proverbs  2: 22; Isaiah 55:6, 7; Zephaniah 2:2, 3. 

The Four Winds

Before Jehovah unleashes this fury, heavenly angels perform a special service. John now beholds this in vision:  "After this I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding tight the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow upon the earth or upon the sea or upon any tree.: (Revelation  7:1)  What does this mean for us today?  These "four winds" are a vivid symbol of destructive judgment about to be let loose on a wicked earthly society, on the surging "sea" of lawless humanity, and on lofty treelike rulers that draw support and sustenance from the people of the earth.  -Isaiah  57:20; Psalm 37:35, 36. 

No doubt these four angels represent four angelic groups, whom Jehovah uses to hold back the execution of judgment until the appointed time.  When the angels release those winds of divine wrath to whirl at one time from north, south, east, and west, the devastation will be tremendous. It will resemble, but on a stupendous scale, Jehovah's use of the four winds to scatter ancient Elamites, shattering and exterminating them.  (Jeremiah 49:36-38)  It will be  a gigantic storm wind far more devastating than the "tempest" by which Jehovah annihilated the nation of Ammon.  (Amos 1:13-15)  No part of Satan's organization  on earth will be able to stand in the day of Jehovah's fury, when he vindicates his sovereignty for all eternity to come. -Psalm 83:15; Isaiah 29:5, 6. 

Can we be sure that God's judgments will ravage the entire earth? Listen again to his prophet Jeremiah:   "Look! A calamity is going forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest itself will be roused up from the remotest parts of the earth. And those slain by Jehovah will certainly come to be in that day  from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth."  (Jeremiah 25:32, 33) It is during this tempestuous storm that darkness will engulf this world. Its ruling agencies will be shaken into oblivion. (Revelation 6:12-14)  But the future will not be dark for everyone. For whose sake, then, are the four winds held back?

Next time: Chapter Nineteen - Sealing the Israel of God - The Sealing of God's Slaves

From the book of Revelation