SEVEN SEALS

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 chapter 5, verse 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 of 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".

Contents

Art

Literature

Branch Davidians

See also

Art

★ ''The Seventh Seal'' is a film by Ingmar Bergman.

Literature

★ ''Seven Seals'' is a poem written by D.H. Lawrence in 1916.

Branch Davidians

a.k.a. "Students of the Seven Seals"

See also

★ Eschatology, a part of theology and philosophy concerned with the final events in the history of the world