Seven seals

The seven seals is a concept of Christian eschatology, which comes from the Book of Revelation - the last book - in the Christian Bible, where a "book/scroll sealed with seven seals" is described in Rev 5:1http://7seals.blogspot.com. In the vision received by John the Evangelist while exiled on the Island of Patmos, 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 reference to a 'worthy prince'. 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". ()
When the sixth seal is opened, there is a "great earthquake", and signs appear in heaven/the heavens. () Also, 144,000 servants of God are "sealed ... in their foreheads" in .
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 , and the seventh angel does not sound until .
In summary:
*First Seal opened - Religious Conquest/False Prophets, White horse
*Second Seal opened - Conflict War, Red Horse
*Third Seal opened - Famine & Drought, Black Horse
*Fourth Seal opened - Death, green or Pale Horse
*Fifth Seal opened - Vision of martyrdom or martyrs
*Sixth Seal opened - Cosmic Disturbances or Heavenly Signs and the marking of the 144,000
*Seventh Seal opened - Prelude To The 7 Trumpets of 7 Angels & The Final Judgement
Bible scholars associate the seven seals with the seven Spirits of God, and other Biblical 'sevens'. The #7 occurs 58x in The Revelation (this doesn't include chapter & verse numbers). The opening of the seals result in symbols appearing commonly interpreted as death, famine, wars, martyrdom, earthquakes, and the Antichrist. It also states that there will be "seven trumpets" announcing aspects of the "End of the Age": 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 "7 Seals" are revealed as 'beyond Einstein theories' on the cover of the 74-page booklet There Are No Coincidences - there is synchronism by Richard 'Brad'shaw Watson II, 1998, revised 2008 & 2012
*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) is an oratorio by Austrian composer Franz Schmidt
*Bruce Cockburn refers to "that guy in the seventh seal, Watching the newly dead dance across the hills" In his song How I Spent My Fall Vacation first released on the 1980 album Humans and re-released on the 2009 album Slice of Life
*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..
*Darksiders is a third-person action/adventure game where the player takes control of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, summoned on the destruction of the seven seals.
*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.
*In the Iron Maiden song Moonchild, Lucifer speaks to the song's titular character and attempts to goad them into opening the seventh seal.
*The game Realms of the Haunting revolves around the breaking of the seven seals at the hands of main antagonist Florentine.
*The Greek Prog Rock band Aphrodite´s Child with their mastermind Vangelis wrote the album "666" about the revelation. The Enigma sample is taken from one of these songs.
*X a Japanese manga, film, and TV series about the apocalypse
* The song 7 by Prince also spoke of seven angels standing upon the seals they were felled one by one.
==See also==
*Eschatology
==References==
Category:Book of Revelation
7 Seven seals
Category:New Testament words and phrases