Revelation 7:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Concerning the angel descending from the rising of the sun, John speaks of the prophet Elijah. He was to anticipate the time of the Antichrist, in order to restore and strengthen the churches against unbearable persecution. We read of this in the opening of the book both of the Old Testament and of the New Proclamation.

Creation, since it was made for our sake, shares in calamities in the times of our punishment, just as it rejoices with the saints in the time of their glorification. It follows from this that those adorned with virtues also need angelic help in times of affliction, according to the power of the seal of the Spirit given to us. Yet this seal manifests its power only insofar as we ourselves show our activity. If anyone does not receive help from it, this is only because of his own unwillingness.

That the divine angel ascended from the rising of the sun, and not from the west or evening, signifies the preaching of the Gospel and the proclamation of good. For the prophet foresaw in the Spirit this present seal of the living God when he said: The light of Your countenance, O Lord, has been manifested upon us (Ps 4:7). Now it is rightly commanded that no harm be done until the seal has been placed upon those Jews who are worthy of salvation. In this way the righteous would not involuntarily suffer in any manner together with sinners.

The Lord, born in the flesh, the Angel of Great Counsel (cf. Isa 9:6), the Messenger of the Father's will, visited us from the height of the East (Lk 1:78). He brought the standard of the Cross, by which He set seals upon the faces of those who are His.

Loud is the voice of the Lord proclaiming: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17). The dominion of the Gentiles was destroyed so that the ranks of the saints might be marked with the sign of the faith in which they stood firm.

The seal of the living God is the Spirit of adoption, as is clear from the following words of the Apostle Paul: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph 4:30). “God has sealed us and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor 1:22).

By the name “seal of the living God” is meant the Cross of the Lord, the sign of the King of eternal glory, on which He suffered for our salvation. Saint Andrew of Caesarea says of this: “This will be especially so at the coming of the Antichrist, when the seal of the Life-giving Cross will distinguish the faithful from the unbelieving.”

Until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. The prophet Ezekiel once saw an angel placing the sign of the Cross, the letter Tau, on the faces of God’s chosen ones (Ezek ch. 9). So now the sign of the Cross is placed on the foreheads of the chosen Jews who have turned to Christ. In the angel’s prohibition against harming the earth, the sea, or the trees, we see the solution to why Jerusalem and the Jewish people continued to exist after the killing of the Messiah. Under the cover of outward quiet and prosperity, the children of Israel had to be given the possibility of turning to Jesus Christ.

A “seal” is a sign by which an object or a person is recognized or distinguished from others. A “seal on the forehead” is evidently an outward sign, visible to bodily eyes. It makes it possible to distinguish people not only by their inward qualities, but also by their outward appearance, so that the servants of God may be saved from universal destruction.

In a similar way, before the destruction of Jerusalem, the Lord commanded a certain man, clothed in a podir and with a sapphire belt around his waist: “Set a mark upon the faces of the men.” Then it continues: “Go through the city, strike, and do not spare. But touch no one upon whom the mark is found” (Ezek 9:2-6).

The apostle John heard the number of those sealed: there were one hundred forty-four thousand sealed from all the tribes of the sons of Israel, twelve thousand from each tribe. These are the sons of Israel whose salvation at the end of the world the apostle Paul also speaks of (Rom 11:25-26). In his interpretation of this place in the Apocalypse (7:4-8), St. Andrew notes: Let it be known that the tribe of Dan is not mentioned with the others because the antichrist will come from it. In its place is mentioned the tribe of the Innocent One, anciently priestly, which is not included among the tribes.