Seven Seals

Text and Content

The seven seals are the seals (closures pressed with a signet) that secure the scroll held in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne in the Book of Revelation. Revelation 5:1 describes the scroll as "written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals." When no one is able to open it and John weeps, the slain Lamb, who is also "the Lion of the tribe of Juda," takes the scroll (Revelation 5:5-9). As the Lamb opens the seals one by one, the following events unfold.

• First through fourth seals: The Four Horsemen appear, riding a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse. They are, respectively, one who goes forth conquering and to conquer, one who takes peace from the earth, one who holds a pair of balances and announces famine, and one whose name is "Death" (6:1-8).
• Fifth seal: The souls of the martyrs beneath the altar cry out, asking "How long" judgment will be delayed. They are given white robes and told to rest yet for a little season (6:9-11).
• Sixth seal: A great earthquake occurs, the sun becomes black, the moon becomes as blood, and the stars fall. People hide in caves and say, "Who shall be able to stand?" (6:12-17).
• Seventh seal: After the servants of God are sealed in chapter 7 and the 144,000 and the great multitude appear, the seventh seal is opened. There is then silence in heaven for about half an hour, followed by the seven trumpets (8:1-2).

Background

In the ancient world, important documents were rolled into scrolls, closed with wax, and stamped with a seal. Some scholars cite as background the Roman practice of sealing wills with the seals of several witnesses. The Greek word for seal is sphragis (σφραγίς). In Revelation, the number seven is commonly understood to signify completeness.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The scroll written on both sides recalls Ezekiel 2:9-10, and the sealed book recalls Daniel 12:4 and Isaiah 29:11. The horses of various colors recall Zechariah 1 and 6. Many have noted that the sequence of war, famine, earthquakes, and celestial disturbances resembles Jesus' eschatological discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21). The scene in which only the Lamb can open the sealed book is commonly read as a confession that sovereignty over history and judgment belongs to Christ.

Interpretations and Issues

• Relationship to the trumpets and bowls: The sequential view holds that the three series of judgments follow one another in succession. The recapitulation (or parallel) view holds that they describe the same period from different perspectives (see Seven Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls).
• Timing: Interpretations fall into four main approaches. Preterism places the events in the first-century Roman era; historicism sees them as events spanning the whole of church history; and futurism regards them as events of the end times. Idealism reads them as principles that recur in every age. The dispensationalist tradition generally places the seven seals in the tribulation period following the Rapture. Amillennial scholars in the Reformed tradition commonly read them as depicting the entire church age, from Christ's first coming to his second coming.
• The rider on the white horse: Some interpreters connect this rider with the rider on the white horse in Revelation 19:11 and identify him with Christ or with the advance of the gospel. Others, in keeping with the three horsemen that follow, see him as a calamity, such as wars of conquest or false christs.
• The text does not directly correlate any seal with a specific year or event. Such correlations are added by interpreters.

In the Korean Church

Dispensationalist eschatology is widespread in the Korean church, and many sermons reportedly read the seven seals as a timetable of the coming tribulation. Meanwhile, Shincheonji, which the general assemblies of major denominations have declared heretical, claims that the events of Revelation have been fulfilled as "reality" (silsang) in its own history. Critics regard this as an interpretation that forces the symbols of the text onto the history of a particular group.