Recent events in Europe have put the world on edge, with leaders around the globe now speaking publicly about what strategies may be necessary to prevent the start of World War 3. We all certainly hope that such a tragic fate can be avoided, but what should we do if such a war does come to pass? Thankfully, the Bible provides an answer: receive protection through the Seal of God.
The Seal of God and the Four Winds
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. 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.”
According to the book of Revelation, there will come a time when all of the servants of God must receive the Seal of God. This is to take place as four angels hold back harm from sweeping across the earth. The purpose of the Seal is therefore to protect God’s people from harm, as Rev 9:4 confirms. But what kind of harm could be so great that the people of God would need an extra mark of protection? To answer this question, we need to understand the meaning of the winds that the angels are holding back.
The Winds of War
The prophecies found in the book of Revelation draw heavily on imagery introduced earlier in the Bible. To understand what the winds in Revelation 7 represent, we need to see what winds signified in earlier prophecies from the Old Testament.
Jeremiah 4:11 At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse;
At the time of the prophet Jeremiah, God warned His people that a scorching wind was approaching. Unfortunately, this was much more than an unpleasant breeze, as the subsequent verses reveal.
Jeremiah 4:19 (NKJV) O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, Because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war.
Rather than being a literal wind, the disaster which God had warned of was a war. Since wind is used in prophecy to indicate war, we can now understand clearly about the harm facing humanity in the days of Revelation 7. In particular, winds at “the four corners of the earth” represent war over the four corners of the earth, which is to say a World War.
So far in human history, there have already been two World Wars. Then, which World War were these four angels supposed to hold back? The answer can be found at the very start of Rev 7:1, which reads “After this I saw…”. If we can identify the event directly preceding Revelation 7, then we will know for certain which World War is going to be so disastrous that God’s people will need extra protection.
Stars, Figs, and World War
Going backward from Rev 7:1 we can find another prophecy about wind breaking out on the earth.
Revelation 6:13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.
This event is described as a strong wind (strong war) in which stars fall to the earth and figs drop from the fig tree. Although stars and figs may seem to have nothing in common physically, by checking what they represent prophetically we can see that they are closely related. Turning back to the start of the Old Testament, we can find a promise given by God to Abraham regarding his descendants.
Genesis 15:5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Here God likens Abraham’s descendants (the Israelites) to the stars. Likewise, figs are also used to represent Israelites in prophecy.
Jeremiah 24:5 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians.
In the New Testament, Jesus gave a warning to the Israelites whom He had preached to for three years, also likening them to figs.
Luke 13:6-7 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
Armed with the knowledge that stars and figs both represent Israelites, the meaning of Rev 6:13 becomes clear. It is about a mighty war in which many Jews were killed. Since Jerusalem had been destroyed in AD 70, about 30 years before Revelation was written, it would have been hard for anyone alive at that time to understand how a future war could become known specifically for the death of Jews. After all, how do you wage a war against people who are spread all across the various countries of Europe? Nevertheless, God’s prophecies never fail, and the world has now witnessed this exact tragedy in the form of the Holocaust during World War 2. This, in turn, means that the war ended by the angels in Rev 7 was World War 2 and that when the winds are released again a new World War will begin.
When that war does come, it will be a disaster unlike anything humanity has ever faced before. There are more nuclear bombs in the world today than there are cities, and if even 0.7% of the global arsenal is detonated, the results around the entire planet will be catastrophic. Although such a situation may sound hopeless, the same Bible which successfully prophesied about World War 2 more than 1800 years in advance gives clear instructions on how to be saved from this final disaster as well. It is through the Seal of God.
What is the Seal of God?
In order to know whether we have received the Seal of God, we first need to know what it is. Thankfully God did not make it difficult to find the answer through the Bible.
John 6:27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
God put His Seal on Jesus. Then, if we can become one with Jesus we can receive the Seal as well. Jesus explains exactly how to do this later in the very same chapter of the Bible.
John 6:53-56 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.
According to the words of Jesus, when we eat His flesh and blood He will remain in us. Since He has the Seal of God, this means that the Seal of God will be in us as well. Now all that we need to secure protection from disasters is the way to receive Christ’s flesh and blood.
Matthew 26:26-28 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
The way to eat Jesus’ flesh and blood, and thereby to receive the Seal of God, is through bread and wine. Many churches in the world today practice various bread and wine ceremonies and have done so for hundreds of years. Yet in Revelation 7, the Bible prophesied that the Seal of God would only appear after World War 2. The reason for this apparent contradiction is that the bread and wine ceremonies practiced by many churches around the world today are not the same as the ones Jesus gave to His disciples 2000 years ago.
Matthew 26:17-19 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
Eating regular bread and drinking regular wine will be of no use in protecting anyone in the midst of a nuclear war. The thing which set apart the bread and wine mentioned in the Bible from regular food was the word of Jesus. Jesus Himself declared that the bread and wine of the Passover are His flesh and blood, through which our sins are forgiven and we can become one body with Him – thereby receiving the Seal of God. He never said this about any other bread and wine. Even if a church were to buy up all the bread in every bakery in the city to serve its congregation, it would ultimately be meaningless without God’s promise.
Unfortunately, the churches of the world abandoned God’s Passover in 325 AD at the Council of Nicea (see Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, Book 5 Ch 24 and 25). As a result, all throughout the dark ages and into the modern era humanity has been living without God’s promised protection. However, exactly as the Bible prophesied, the Passover has been brought back again to the earth in our age: after World War 2 and before the last and greatest disaster.
Celebrate the Passover
Whether you are searching for protection from impending disasters, the forgiveness of sins, or a true relationship with Christ, you will only find the answer in the Seal of God: the Passover of the New Covenant. Please come and join us in celebrating the Passover soon