The first thing we need to understand when speaking of the time for the work of sealing to take place is that it happens while the four winds are being held in check. “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads” (Revelation 7:1–3). Once the sealing work is finished, then the four winds are permitted to blow with their force upon the unsheltered world.

In our study of prophecy we understand that these winds are the forces of destruction. (See Daniel 7:2; Jeremiah 25:32, 33; 49:36; 51:1, 2.) “John sees the elements of nature—earthquake, tempest, and political strife—represented as being held by four angels. These winds are under control until God gives the word to let them go. There is the safety of God’s church.”3

This is not speaking of the wars and general political strife as we know them because though loosening, they are actually still being, to a great extent, held in check. “While already nation is rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, there is not now a general engagement. As yet the four winds are held until the servants of God shall be sealed in their foreheads. Then the powers of earth will marshal their forces for the last great battle.”4 When we think of the traumatic events that took place in New York City on September 11, 2001, most people think of the tragic loss of the 2,726 souls in the twin towers of Manhattan. What a tremendous loss of life in such a short period of time! However, what most people do not realize is that 50,000 people actually worked in those towers, and that another 200,000 visited or passed through them each day. So the real question is why so few died on that day? The answer is quite simple. Although there seemed to be the loosening of the winds, the angels held back the winds from blowing on that day.

Why is that the countries of this world are held in check when we can see that they are always trying to flex their muscles against one another? “The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, disasters by sea and land, follow each other in quick succession. Science seeks to explain all these. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. Men cannot discern the sentinel angels restraining the four winds that they shall not blow until the servants of God are sealed; but when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture.”5 Are we so devoted to the cause of God that we are praying for the four winds to be held in check until our work is finished? More than that, are we engaged in this work of preparing ourselves and a people to be ready for the culmination of all the prophecies from the beginning of this world’s history?

John the Revelator states that these winds will be held in check until the servants of God are sealed. The modern prophet under inspiration reveals the following about that event in her own time. “I asked my accompanying angel the meaning of what I heard, and what the four angels were about to do. He shewed me that it was God that restrained the powers, and that He gave His angels charge over things on the earth, and that the four angels had power from God to hold the four winds, and that they were about to let the four winds go, and while they had started on their mission to let them go, the merciful eye of Jesus gazed on the remnant that were not all sealed, then He raised His hands to the Father and pleaded with Him that He had spilled His blood for them. Then another angel was commissioned to fly swiftly to the four angels and bid them hold until the servants of God were sealed with the seal of the living God in their foreheads.”6 In 1849 not all were yet sealed, so the four angels had to be held back in their destructive work.

We already know that the seal of God is proper Sabbathkeeping. It is in direct contrast with the seal or mark of the beast, which is the desecration of the seventh-day Bible Sabbath by intentionally observing the first day of the week as sacred.

What will happen to those who receive this mark of the beast power? “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.” And what is the complete and full wrath of God? “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God” (Revelation 14:9, 10; 15:1).

As we read a description of these plagues in Revelation 16, we can see that it is exactly as we have read of the four winds. It involves the earth and sea in a general ruin of the world as we know it. It also includes warfare as mentioned before. This we see in the execution of the sixth plague. “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon” (Revelation 16:14–16). Why are the nations gathered together in Armageddon? Because Jesus is coming as a thief in the night. And when does He come as a thief? “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3).

By this we can clearly see that the blowing of the four winds is nothing more than the seven last plagues. And these plagues—four winds—cannot come until the sealing of God’s people is concluded.

When are these plagues poured out? “And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled” (Revelation 15:7, 8). During the falling of the seven last plagues, no person can enter the temple of God in heaven.

Which being is in this temple in heaven today? “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). And where is this work of mediation being done? “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” And who is this High Priest? “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus” (Hebrews 8:1, 2; 3:1). When we study these things together with Revelation 5, we see that Jesus is the man who is ministering in the holy temple in heaven, together with the 24 courses of priests with their respective 24 elders who are the governors of each course leading out in the work. Please see Revelation 5 together with 1 Chronicles 24:1–4 and Ephesians 4:8 (margin) and Matthew 27:51–53.

When we study the sealing of Revelation 7 and 14, we find that it is the same work that the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel had seen in his ninth chapter. “This sealing of the servants of God is the same that was shown to Ezekiel in vision.”7 For this reason, the destruction in Ezekiel 9, the blowing of the four winds, and the seven last plagues are all a description of the same events. “Our own course of action will determine whether we shall receive the seal of the living God or be cut down by the destroying weapons. Already a few drops of God’s wrath have fallen upon the earth; but when the seven last plagues shall be poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation, then it will be forever too late to repent and find shelter. No atoning blood will then wash away the stains of sin.”8

If Jesus is our mediator in the heavenly temple, and if the 24 courses and elders are assisting Jesus in the ministry of the temple, and if the plagues cannot fall on this earth while they are in the ministry of the temple, and if the plagues are the full wrath of God, and the wrath of God cannot come until the servants of God are sealed, we must conclude that the sealing finishes at the close of probation when Jesus is no longer our Mediator. “I saw that the four angels would hold the four winds until Jesus’ work was done in the sanctuary, and then will come the seven last plagues.”9

What it is meant by the end of the work in the sanctuary? “Every case had been decided for life or death. While Jesus had been ministering in the sanctuary, the judgment had been going on for the righteous dead, and then for the righteous living. Christ had received His kingdom, having made the atonement for His people and blotted out their sins. The subjects of the kingdom were made up. The marriage of the Lamb was consummated. And the kingdom, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, was given to Jesus and the heirs of salvation, and Jesus was to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.

“As Jesus moved out of the most holy place, I heard the tinkling of the bells upon His garment; and as He left, a cloud of darkness covered the inhabitants of the earth. There was then no mediator between guilty man and an offended God. While Jesus had been standing between God and guilty man, a restraint was upon the people; but when He stepped out from between man and the Father, the restraint was removed and Satan had entire control of the finally impenitent. It was impossible for the plagues to be poured out while Jesus officiated in the sanctuary; but as His work there is finished, and His intercession closes, there is nothing to stay the wrath of God, and it breaks with fury upon the shelterless head of the guilty sinner, who has slighted salvation and hated reproof. In that fearful time, after the close of Jesus’ mediation, the saints were living in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor. Every case was decided, every jewel numbered. Jesus tarried a moment in the outer apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, and the sins which had been confessed while He was in the most holy place were placed upon Satan, the originator of sin, who must suffer their punishment.”10

In other words, the sealing work goes on until probation’s door closes. It is only after the last possible person is sealed that the seven last plagues, or four winds, are let loose upon this world. “Just before we entered it [the time of trouble], we all received the seal of the living God. Then I saw the four angels cease to hold the four winds. And I saw famine, pestilence and sword, nation rose against nation, and the whole world was in confusion.”11

When we speak in practical terms of being sealed, we need to understand that we are talking about perfecting one’s character. “We may talk of the blessings of the Holy Spirit, but unless we prepare ourselves for its reception, of what avail are our works? Are we striving with all our power to attain to the stature of men and women in Christ? Are we seeking for His fullness, ever pressing toward the mark set before us—the perfection of His character? When the Lord’s people reach this mark, they will be sealed in their foreheads. Filled with the Spirit, they will be complete in Christ, and the recording angel will declare, ‘It is finished.’”12

The perfecting of character is not something that is done after Jesus comes the second time. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:2, 3).

As we study the sixth chapter of Revelation, the second coming is described as heaven departing “as a scroll.” “The King of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in flaming fire. The heavens are rolled together as a scroll, the earth trembles before Him, and every mountain and island is moved out of its place.”13 We know that it is too late to perfect character and prepare for eternity after the second coming of Jesus. For that reason, the sealing work of Revelation 7 must take place prior to Revelation 6:14.

We also know that the sealing work cannot begin before the falling of the stars in Revelation 6:12, 13. From the study of history, we know that this event was fulfilled on November 13, 1833.14 The reason it could not happen before that time is that, in order to be sealed, one must understandingly keep the seventh-day Bible Sabbath. This commandment keeping is in direct contrast to those who are receiving the mark of the beast. “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). We must, therefore, conclude that this sealing of the 144,000 takes place when the message of warning against the receiving of the mark of the beast is given by the third angel.

“The third message warns all against receiving the mark of the beast. So this movement makes it the burden of its work to show what the mark of the beast is, and to warn against its reception. It is the more solicitous to do this, because this antichristian power has worked so cunningly that the majority are deceived into making unconscious concessions to its authority. It is shown that the mark of the beast is an institution which has been arrayed in Christian garb, and insidiously introduced into the Christian church in such a way as to nullify the authority of Jehovah and enthrone that of the beast. Stripped of all disguises, it is simply setting up a counterfeit sabbath of its own on the first day of the week, in place of the Sabbath of the Lord on the seventh day—a usurpation which the great God cannot tolerate, and from which the remnant church must fully clear itself before it will be prepared for the coming of Christ. Hence the urgent warning, Let no man worship the beast or receive his mark.”15

The third angel’s message is given after the first and second messages, after the announcement of the hour of His judgment and the fall of Babylon when the Protestant churches rejected the first angel’s message. Therefore, it must take place after 1844, when the Sabbath light was received as the seal of God, and the people of God understood that the conscious, purposeful worship of Sunday was the mark of the beast.

“As the ministration of Jesus closed in the holy place, and He passed into the holiest, and stood before the ark containing the law of God, He sent another mighty angel with a third message to the world. . . . After Jesus opened the door of the most holy, the light of the Sabbath was seen, and the people of God were tested, as the children of Israel were tested anciently, to see if they would keep God’s law.”16 Therefore, this sealing of Revelation 7 cannot take place before the falling of the stars in Revelation 6:13. It fits clearly between verses 13 and 14 of Revelation 6.

The subject of the sealing of the 144,000 is given in answer to a question brought to view at the end of the sixth seal in chapter 6, when the second coming of Christ is introduced. “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 6:17). Since Revelation 7:1–4 is given in answer to that question of who will stand when Jesus comes again, then it must follow that the 144,000 are the ones that will be alive at the second coming of Jesus.

As we study the prophecy regarding the Sabbath-Sunday issue, we learn that intent is very important in receiving the mark of the beast. “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time” (Daniel 7:25). In this prophecy, the little horn really believes that he has the power to change times and laws. We know that he cannot really change them, but he believes that he has that power.

Another prophecy explains why this beast power believes that he can change the laws. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4). He really believes that he is God and therefore can change the laws of the unchangeable and eternal God.

Why is it so important to know the reason of this origin of the mark of the beast in regard to Sunday keeping? Because intent is the key. Unless a person hears and understands the third angel’s message, he or she does not and cannot receive the mark of the beast and consequently does not receive the wrath of God on that alone. In other words, Sunday keeping is not the mark of the beast. It is only as a person who understands the Sabbath truth and rejects that truth and then accepts its imposture that he or she receives the mark of the beast.

The proclamation of the third angel’s message results in the distinction between a people who keep the commandments of God, not just the patience of the saints and the faith of Jesus, and those who receive the mark of the beast. They are distinct because of the proclamation of the third angel’s message. Therefore, the sealing of the 144,000 is a result of the proclamation of the third angel’s message, and individuals consciously and purposely choose to obey God rather that give honor or worship to the beast.

“As men then reject the institution which God has declared to be the sign of His authority and honor in its stead that which Rome has chosen as the token of her supremacy, they will thereby accept the sign of allegiance to Rome—‘the mark of the beast.’ And it is not until the issue is thus plainly set before the people, and they are brought to choose between the commandments of God and the commandments of men, that those who continue in transgression will receive ‘the mark of the beast.’”17 As probation’s door is closing, are you preparing for the mark of the beast or for the seal of the living God?