A summary of the seven seals. Chapter 6:1-2--seal one: The white horse and the rider pictured Christ the Conqueror, the invincible Lord--the Victor. Verses 3-4--seal two: The red horse and the rider stood for bloodshed, the symbol of the color red, representing the persecutor waging war against the church, and the Jews against their own flesh-the unbelieving Jews versus those who professed faith in Christ-an extension of Mat 24:10. Verses 5-6--seal three: The black horse and the rider represented distress and calamity, the sign of the color black, signifying here the dreadful famine in the land, in the signs of the balances and the scales, an enlargement of Mat 24:7. Verses 7-8--seal four: The pale horse and the rider, the color of death, but it was not martyrdom. It was the scene of carnage, of deadly pestilence, with all the ravishing conditions which prevailed during the siege of Jerusalem, foretold in Matthew 24:6-8. Verses 9-11--seal five: The souls under the altar were the martyrs asking for the avenging judgment they were later seen receiving, in chapter 20:4, where the same souls, beholden in martyrdom, under the altar of chapter 6, were enthroned in the victory of chapter 20--a further fulfillment of Mat 24:9. Verses 12-17--seal six: The earthquake was a symbol of the shaking of the persecuting powers in the predicted upheaval, of revolt, and of wars, in fulfillment of Mat 24:29, in signs of the blackening sun, the falling stars, and the scrolled heavens--all of which were the portents of the destruction of the existing persecuting powers which were concluded in the scenes attending the day of wrath to come upon them, and described in the closing verses of chapter six. Chapter 7 describes the intermission or recess after the sixth seal, in a vision of the hundred forty-four thousand, the number of the sealed of all the tribes of Israel, which represent the totality of the spiritual seed, the New Israel, the whole faithful church, of chapter 14. Chapter 8:1-6--seal seven: After this seal was introduced it was momentarily suspended by the silence period before the break of fury in the signals of seven trumpets.