In Revelation 7:1 an important paradigm is given that is a key to understanding world history, as well as the present:
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth....
Understanding these “four winds of the earth” can make clear the forces that have shaped the development of civilization, as well as those impacting our own times. We will briefly look at these and how they apply to what is now unfolding in the world today, including the coronavirus crisis.
Winds often speak of change in literature and Scripture, as in “the winds of change.” We have heard much recently about how the coronavirus has brought about a radical change to the world. No doubt it has, but little has been defined about how. History testifies that those who grasp the impact of change are those who will control the future.
The "four winds of the earth" in Revelation 7:1 are the four great powers that shaped civilization. These are worldly powers, “winds of the earth,” not heaven. Each of these winds dominated one of the four major epochs of world history. They are Military, Religious, Political, and Economic powers. The sequence in which these became dominant saw the construction of civilization in that order.