Revelation 7:2

ascending Probably the Heaven from which St John looks down on the earth formed a vault over it, or at least rested on walls surrounding the earth; cf. Enoch xviii. 8, "I saw, from the end of the earth, the firmament of the heaven which rests upon it." This Angel, then, mounted up the eastern side of this vault or circling wall (probably flying up, just outside it), till he was high enough to see, and to be heard by all the four Angels, even the one on the extreme western side of the earth.

having the seal Perhaps this marks this Angel as one specially favoured and trusted: see Genesis 41:42; Esther 3:10; Esther 8:2. But there seems no good reason for the notion, popular in modern times, that this angel, or any other, is to be taken as representative of Christ. He appears, when He does appear, either in His own person, or under a symbol that is obviously symbolic: it would be out of harmony with the scope of this Book, and indeed with New Testament theology generally, to obscure the distinction between Him and created Angels. The words "our God" in the next v.marks this Angel as a fellow-servant both of the other four, and of the elect on earth. It is far better to illustrate this vision by Matthew 24:31, as we have seen the earlier images of that chapter reproduced under the former seals. This Angel's office, however, is the marking, not the gathering of the elect: he represents and effectuates God's love in its individual, not in its comprehensive aspect.

to hurt the earth, &c. viz., by letting the winds forth, to blow and produce storms.