7:1 four corners. The word for “corners” (Greek zonia) is translated “quarters” in Revelation 20:8, obviously referring to the four directions (note the “four winds,” one from each quarter, or quadrant, of the earth, as measured from the point of view of an observer on the surface of the earth), not to a flat, square, earth, as some critics allege.

7:1 four winds of the earth. The angels are seen as controlling the four winds; thus one is probably at each pole, the other two at opposite ends of some key equatorial diameter, restraining the winds which control the great atmospheric circulation. These winds are normally driven by the sun’s heat and earth’s rotation, so to keep them from blowing at all would require tremendous power. This gives a slight insight into the excelling strength of God’s holy angels (Psalm 103:20). Since the atmospheric circulation is essential for continental rains, the angels will have been restraining them ever since God’s two witnesses called for no rain on the earth at the beginning of the tribulation (Revelation 11:6).