2021/12/06

16. The Seventh Seal

The seventh seal signifies the Book of Revelation. It invites people to the training of Revelation by telling at its beginning, "Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein." The form of letters to the churches is adopted here so that the trainees may practise the training with a sense of presence and that it may be effective through the ages (Revelation 1:1-20). And seven letters were written concretely (2:1-3:22). The trainees will relate to the contents of these letters, seeing in them the same problems they and their community have, and will feel remorse not a little. They unknowingly prepare themselves for hearing finding the words, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches," which are repeated at the end of each letter. The trainee, sensing the biblical imagery in the throne, the seven spirits of God and the four living creatures that are described immediately afterwards, tries to hear as "He who has an ear." As he continues to practice reading aloud the texts and hearing them in this way, the images of the New Testament are infused into the unconscious realm of his memory (4:1-11). Then, these images are suggested with tense words "opening the seal" (5:1-7:17), and a sense of presence becomes intensified even in the unconscious. When the seventh seal, the Book of Revelation, is opened, the efficacy of the seven books of the New Testament is stated with the sound of trumpets the seven angels have. The images are established in the trainee’s memory by the repeated trumpet sounds with further tension (8:1-9:21). The author likens himself to an eagle that flies in midheaven and cries with a loud voice, "Woe" (8:13). This passage indicates that the sound of the fourth trumpet signifies the Gospel of John, while the sounds of the preceding three trumpets the Synoptic Gospels. We can identify the books that correspond to each subsequent two trumpet sounds, using their descriptions as clues.¹ Also, the Catholic Epistles represented by the "seven thunders" are mentioned,² and we can say the entire New Testament has been prophesied here. The "little scroll which is open" in the hand of the angel who came down from heaven was the New Testament. As the author, when he received it and ate all of it, realized the words of the angel, "[I]t will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth" (10:5-11), the trainee will realize the meaning of them soon.

Reference 1. The sound of the fifth trumpet (9:6) is paradoxically consistent with the description of those who were slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne (6:9-10). The command heard from the four horns of the golden altar in front of God when the angel blew the sixth trumpet (9:14-15) is consistent with the description of the opening of the sixth seal (7:1-3). 2. This blog №12

Maria K. M.