Seven seals

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For other uses, see Seven seals (disambiguation).

The seven seals is a concept found in the Book of Revelation in the Bible which states that when the world reaches its end, seven seals will be opened. A book with seven seals is first mentioned in Revelation 5:1. In chapter 6, the first six seals are opened by The Lamb (presumably Jesus), one by one. Then 144,000 are sealed at chapter 7 in legions of 12,000. Chapter 8 begins with the opening of the seventh seal, and a gold censer with a gold altar of incense before God's throne (mercy seat). The first four of the seven seals are commonly referred to as the 4 horsemen / 4 horses of the Apocalypse.

These 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, water 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.

Scholars associate the seven seals with the seven Spirits of God, and other Bible 'sevens'. Poems such as Seven Seals by D.H. Lawrence (1916) and EDEN TO EDEN by Vernon Howell (1993) have been written about them. In EDEN TO EDEN, David Koresh speaks of "two love birds" -cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant mercy seat- being unsealed. Koresh encouraged his Branch Davidian followers to think of themselves as "Students of the Seven Seals".