The Seven Seals of God from the Bible's Book of Revelation are the seven symbolic seals (, sphragida) that secure the book or scroll that John of Patmos saw in an apocalyptic vision. The opening of the seals of the document occurs in Rev Ch 5–8 and marks the Second Coming of the Christ and the beginning of The Apocalypse/Revelation. Upon the Lamb of God/Lion of Judah opening a seal on the cover of the book/scroll, a judgment is released or an apocalyptic event occurs. The opening of the first four Seals releases the Four Horsemen, each with his own specific mission. The opening of the fifth Seal releases the cries of martyrs for the "Word/Wrath of God". The sixth Seal prompts plagues, storms and other cataclysmic events. The seventh Seal cues seven angelic trumpeters who in turn cue the seven bowl judgments and more cataclysmic events.
Christian interpretations
Certain words and phrases used in The Revelation had a clearer meaning to ancient readers familiar with objects of their time. For example, important documents were sent written on a papyrus scroll sealed with several wax seals. Wax seals were typically placed across the opening of a scroll, so that only the proper person, in the presence of witnesses, could open the document. This type of "seal" is frequently used in a figurative sense, in the book of Revelation, and only the Lamb is worthy to break off these seals.
From the Reformation to the middle of the 19th century, the seals in Revelation have been interpreted through various methods, such as the historicist view that most Protestants adopted and the views of preterism and futurism that post-Reformation Catholic circles promoted. Idealism was also a fairly major view that became realized since the time of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (AD 345–430).
Preterist views
The preterist usually views that John was given an accurate vision of a course of events that would occur over the next several centuries to fulfill the prophetic seals.
Robert Witham, an 18th-century Catholic commentator, offers a preterist view for the period that spans the length of the opening of the seals; it being the period from Christ to the establishment of the Church under Constantine in 325.
Johann Jakob Wettstein (18th century) places the date of the Apocalypse as written before A. D. 70. He assumed that the first part of the Book was in respect to Judea and the Jews, and the second part about the Roman Empire. The “Sealed Book” is the book of divorcement sent to the Jewish nation from God.
Isaac Williams (19th century) associated the first six Seals with the discourse on the Mount of Olives and stated that, “The seventh Seal contains the Seven Trumpets within it… the judgments and sufferings of the Church.”
Historicist views
Traditionally, the historicist view of the Seven Seals in The Apocalypse spanned the time period from John of Patmos to Early Christendom. Scholars such as Campegius Vitringa, Alexander Keith, and Christopher Wordsworth did not limit the timeframe to the 4th century. Some have even viewed the opening of the Seals right into the early modern period. However, Contemporary-historicists view all of Revelation as it relates to John's own time (with the allowance of making some guesses as to the future).
According to E.B. Elliott, the first seal, as revealed to John by the angel, was to signify what was to happen soon after John seeing the visions in Patmos. The general subject of the first six seals is the decline and fall, after a previous prosperous era, of the Empire of Pagan Rome.
Futurist views
Moderate futurists typically interpret the opening of the seals as representing forces in history, however long they last, by which God carries out His redemptive and judicial purposes leading up to “the end”.
Idealist views
The idealist view does not take the book of Revelation literally. The interpretation of Revelation’s symbolism and imagery is defined by the struggles between good and evil.
Opening the seven seals
First seal
The returned Christ opening the "7 Seals" has its consequences. The first 4 Seals result in the Four Horsemen.
Revelation 6:1–2
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. 2 And I saw and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. (--Authorized King James Version)