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We continue this week from where we left off last week in “The Dust of Jacob Pt2” Here we delve into where John writes about how the angels of the four winds held them back until the righteous were sealed. If the righteous are somehow in the Clouds of Glory, even in a preliminary gathering among the nations, their smoke of sacrifice and prayer would go straight up as in the Wilderness, unaffected by the four winds:

“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree.” (Re 7:1)

The stillness of winds upon the earth reflects what happened within the protection of Sukkot of Glory in the wilderness. The smoke of the altar fire went straight up, unaffected by the winds. The job of the four winds can be to gather, to scatter, vitalize, or simply hold still/stasis. ”Holding back” may be complemented by another angel’s mission of gathering. Typically, angels do one thing at a time, requiring multiple ministers to address multiple steps in a mission.