421. Verses 2, 3. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a great voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea; Saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.

2. "And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun," signifies the Divine love going forth from the Lord. n. 422); "having the seal of the living God," signifies the Divine will (n. 423); "and he cried with a great voice," signifies Divine command (n. 424); "to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea," signifies as yet preventing the influx from becoming intense (n. 425).

3. "Saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees," signifies lest the good perish with the evil wherever they are n. 426; "till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads," signifies that those who are in truths from good are first to be separated n. 427.

7692. 'On tree and on plant of the field' means belonging to the things the Church recognized and knew. This is clear from the meaning of 'a tree' as a recognition of truth, dealt with just above in 7690; and from the meaning of 'a plant of the field' as a known fact about truth, also dealt with above, in 7689.