Seven seals

The seven seals is a concept of Christian eschatology, which comes from the Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible, where a book with seven seals is described in Revelation 5:1. The seven seals were opened by the Lion of Judah. New Testament Book of Revelation 5:5; "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof". Judah was usually the kingdom given to the Crown Prince of Israel. Jesus in Christian traditions is the King of Kings, not the Crown Prince. The Lion of Judah is a deliberate direct reference to a worthy Prince "Of the Blood of Christ". The seven seals were opened, one by one, by the Lamb. Revelation 5:6; "And behold, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.". Revelation 6:1; "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see."

Signs

Each opening of a seal is followed by some event or series of events.

When each of the first four seals is opened, a horse and its rider appear and are described. These are commonly referred to as the four horsemen / four horses of the Apocalypse.

The opening of the fifth seal is followed by a vision of those that were "slain for the word of God". (Revelation 6:9)

When the sixth seal is opened, there is a "great earthquake," and signs appear in heaven. (Revelation 6:12-6:14) Also, 144,000 servants of God are "sealed ... in their foreheads" in Revelation 7.

When the seventh seal is opened, seven angels with trumpets begin to sound, one by one. The events of the seventh seal are further subdivided by the events following each angel sounding their trumpet. This seal is opened in Revelation 8, and the seventh angel does not sound until Revelation 11.

In summary:

• First Seal - Conquest, White horse
• Second Seal - War, Red horse
• Third Seal - Famine, Black Horse
• Fourth Seal - Death, green or pale horse
• Fifth Seal - Vision of martyrs
• Sixth Seal - Earthquake and the marking of the 144,000
• Seventh Seal - Trumpets of Angels and the end of the world

Bible scholars associate the seven seals with the seven Spirits of God,^[1] and other Biblical 'sevens'.^[2] The seals contain symbols commonly interpreted as death, famine, world wars, martyrdom, earthquakes, and the Antichrist. It also states that there will be "seven trumpets" announcing aspects of the "End Times": mankind being judged, seas turning to blood, sores on people's bodies, plagues, infertility, and the introduction of "seven bowls" (in King James Version called "vials"). These bowls are a third each of the sea, humankind, water, animal life, ships, crops, and earth, all engulfed by an infinite abyss.

In popular culture

• The Seventh Seal, a film by Ingmar Bergman.
• The Seventh Seal is the opening track of Van Halen's 1995 record Balance.
• D.H. Lawrence wrote a poem called Seven Seals in 1916.
• The Seven Seals were at the center of David Koresh's teachings to his followers among the Branch Davidians.
• The seals are portrayed in the 1991 film The Rapture.
• The Book with Seven Seals (Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln) an oratorio by Austrian composer Franz Schmidt.
• In The CW Television Network's Supernatural season 4 the seals are brought into the storyline, only there are over 600 seals but only 66 must be broken.
• Musical Project Enigma used the phrase "And when the lamb opened the seven seal, silence covered the sky" in the song The Rivers of Belief, released 1990 on the album MCMXC a.D.].
• "Sounding the Seventh Trumpet", an album by Avenged Sevenfold.
• In Robert Jordan's 'The Wheel of Time' series, the seven seals hold back the Dark One from the world.
• Placebo features the line "Can the savior be for real, or are you just my seventh seal?" in the song Special K.
• The Seventh Sign, a film starring Demi Moore and Michael Biehn about a woman whose child is tied to the opening of the Seven Seals.
• The Seventh Seal is the title of MC Rakim's album that will be released in November, 2009
• In the Iron Maiden song "Moonchild," Lucifer speaks to the song's titular character and attempts to goad them into opening the seventh seal.

See also

• Eschatology
• The book with seven seals (oratorio)

References