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Seal of the living God

From a book sealed with seven seals - the book of life  The origin of the seal was a mystery    for almost two thousand years

Seal of the living God:  in metaphorical use - the biblical signet-ring (Esth. 8:8) - inscription engraved on stones - the use of clay impressed with the seal, in sealing papyrus  - an emblem of authority or, as in the Gospel of John,  the evidence of a covenant: Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.  - John 6 : 27

Not until the 19th century was more light shed on the matter of the Seal of God, from a fragment discovered in 1884 in a tomb at Akhmim in Egypt. A Gospel of Peter dating back to at least A.D. 150, says that after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ the elders and scribes asked Pilate to appoint soldiers to guard the tomb:

And Pilate gave them Petronius the centurion with soldiers to watch the sepulchre; and the elders and scribes came with them unto the tomb and when they had rolled a great stone to keep out (al. together with) the centurion and the soldiers, then all that were there together set it upon the door of the tomb; and plastered thereon seven seals; and they pitched a tent there and kept watch.

The above verse is an elaboration of Matthew: "So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting the watch." (Mat 27:66) The seven seals (probably metal objects) were "locking devices" attached with cementing material to the door of Christ's tomb. 

Jewish tombs for the wealthy were prepared beforehand. Their sepulchres were sometimes marked by pillars or pyramids and were often "closed by a very curious and elaborate contrivance." This elaborate contrivance, essentially Jewish, but hardly known elsewhere, consisted of loculi (small cavities) around the inside of the burial apartment. Like hollow columns, the enclosing walls of the loculi were high enough to support the stone door that covered the tomb. The stone door was fitted to the end, luted into a groove which existed there, and sealed with locking devices to the internal loculi.

The opening of the seven seals is symbolic of resurrection and eternal life. But when the door of  Christ's tomb was opened, what actually became of the seven seals? According to records like Paul's Epistle to Timothy, the apostles guarded the whereabouts of the seals after Christ's resurrection and made the Seal of God a part of their rites:

Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. - 2 Tim. 2:19

 Other sources say:

"Give me the seal of Jesus Christ" 

"that I also may receive the seal and become an holy temple and he may dwell in me."

In another manuscript Paul speaks to Longus and Cestus as he is about to be beheaded:

"Come quickly unto my grave in the morning and ye shall find two men praying, Titus and Luke. They shall give you the seal in the Lord."

What became of the seven seals from the tomb of Christ?

In a fourth century Apocalypse of Paul, after seeing a vision of New Jerusalem, he is transported to the west of Jerusalem, to a sea or body of water. From there, Paul is finally taken by an angel to a place or island beyond the ocean:

And he took me from the north side (to the west, Syr.) and set me over a well, and I found it sealed with seven seals. And the angel that was with me answered and said unto the angel of that place: Open the mouth of the well, that Paul the dearly beloved of God may behold; for power hath been given unto to him to see all the torments of hell.

Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. - 2 Cor. 1:21-22

Other narratives say:

 For verily I say unto you: whosoever shall hear you and believe on me, shall receive of you the light of the seal through me, and baptism through me.

And he said: Thou best and alone holy one, it is thou that hast appeared unto us, O God Jesu Christ, and in thy name hath this man now been washed and sealed with thy holy seal.

In one account, Peter baptizes Theon with the seal of the Lord:

And when she was baptized and clad, he break bread and took a cup of water and made her a partaker in the body of Christ and the cup of the Son of God, and said: Thou hast received thy seal, get for thyself eternal life.

Not only is the seal a symbol of baptism, but also a mark on the forehead

In one manuscript fragment, the apostle Andrew, his hands bound behind him, is left in prison. The devil urges his followers to kill Andrew:

And he said: Now my children, kill him. But they saw the seal on his forehead and were afraid, and said: 'Do you kill him, for we cannot. And one of them said: If we cannot kill him, let us mock him; and they stood before him and taunted him with his helplessness, and he wept.

The above imagery is similar to the Revelation where out of the pit comes a plague of locusts, with their sting like the torment of a scorpion:

And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. - Rev. 9:4

Veneration of the forehead: an inner eye

From the Protevangelium, a "Book of James" as old as the second century:

And on the morrow he offered his gifts, saying in himself: if the Lord God be reconciled unto me, the plate that is upon the forehead of the priest will make it manifest unto me. And Ioacim offered his gifts and looked earnestly upon the plate of the priest when he went up unto the altar of the Lord, and he saw no sin in himself.

The Seal of God resembles a "phylactery" or plate worn on the forehead of the priest. From this design, seven plates or plaques were used to seal a tomb and then to cap a well symbolizing the bottomless pit of the unconscious mind.

Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. - Ezekiel 9:4

A Well with Pipes. From a writing attributed to Bartholomew which contains ancient elements, the original Greek text, of which we have two manuscripts at Vienna and Jerusalem, may be as old as the fifth century. Latin fragments of the "Questions of Bartholomew" date to the sixth century. In this manuscript, we find the Apostle Bartholomew fleeing from a monstrous apparition of the Antichrist. But a vision of Jesus immediately intervenes, instructing Bartholomew not to fear the Antichrist, but to "tread upon his neck and ask him what is his power."

And he smote his teeth together, gnashing them, and there came up out of the bottomless pit a wheel having a sword flashing with fire, and in the sword were pipes. And I (he) asked him saying; What is this sword? And he said: This sword is the sword of the gluttonous: for into this pipe are sent they that through their gluttony devise all manner of sin; into the second pipe are sent the backbiters which backbite their neighbour secretly; into the third pipe are sent the hypocrites and the rest whom I overthrow by my contrivance. (Lat. And Antichrist said: I will tell thee. And a wheel came up out of the abyss, having seven fiery knives. The first knife hath twelve pipes (canales)... Antichrist answered: The pipe of fire in the first knife, in it are put the casters of lots and diviners and enchanters, and they that believe in them or have sought them, because in the iniquity of their heart they have invented false divinations. In the second pipe of fire are first the blasphemers... suicides... idolators... In the rest are first perjurers... (long enumeration).

In the New Testament an angel laid hold of Satan and "cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him" (Rev. 20:3). From various sources we learn that water pipes or canales are connected to the well which is sealed with seven seals. The Seal of God is modeled after a plate worn on the forehead. The seven seals are like seven plaques; the caps of water pipes connected to an ancient well system, located somewhere west of Jerusalem, beyond the sea.   The seals from Christ's tomb being moved to a well-shaft may seem unorthodox at first. But in Jewish tombs hollow cavities were like stone tubes. Sealing the door of the tomb was like capping water pipes. Christ's stay in the tomb was symbolic of the descent to hell,  manifest in the last days as going through a deep well.

Seals and pipe dreams?

Rome watered its empire through an elaborate network of aqueducts but may have been the first civilization to suffer grievous damage from toxic heavy metals: scholars speculate that water passing through lead pipes slowly poisoned residents and contributed to the eccentricities of the Caesars.

 "If, today, countries are poised to go to war over oil, the catalyst for future armed conflict could be water. King Hussein of Jordan, for instance, cites a dispute over water as one issue that could provoke his country to start fighting Israel again. Egypt and Ethiopia, as well as India and Bangladesh, also have serious disputes over water supplies, while water may yet emerge as a weapon in the gulf crisis. Turkey has the power to curtail the water flowing into Iraq through the Tigris and Euphrates rivers."

"The Last Precious Drops," Time, November 5, 1990

And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. - Revelation 16:12

Grail legends: The blood of Jesus pouring into a cup

An old story known to Tertullian and to other Latin writers said that "either Domitian at Rome or the Proconsul at Ephesus cast John into a caldron of boiling oil which did him no hurt." The pit of Hades was also likened to a well or caldron situated under the cross of Jesus Christ. Large bowl-shaped sewage containers, rolled on wheels like chariots, were placed under the crosses of Golgotha (the place of a skull) to draw off the flowing blood and discharges streaming down from the bodies. Prisoners were often cast into the caldrons. "The Parable of the Boiling Pot" from the book of Ezekiel provided an additional basis for the romanticized idea of a sacred "cup" or Holy Grail.

"Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine be done." - Luke 22:42

In early sources and in some later ones, the grail is something very different from a "cup." The term "grail" comes from the Latin gradale, which meant a dish. In Chrétien and other early writers, such a plate is intended by the term "grail." Chrétien, for example, speaks of "un graal," or platter. Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival presents the grail as a stone plate. Here, the similarities between the Seal of God and the Holy Grail are more easily understood. In medieval romance, fragments of the grail legend were said to have been brought to Glastonbury in Britain by Joseph of Arimathea and his followers. In the time of Arthur, the quest for the Grail was the highest spiritual pursuit.

In its most poetic sense, the Grail resembles a well of the unconscious mind. According to fragments in Coptic (Sahidic) from the fifth century:

"the Jews point out to Pilate that in a well in the garden there is the body of a crucified man."

in the well "the body is that of the thief who was crucified with him. The Jews are angry and wish to throw Joseph and Nicodemus into the well..."

The sealed well is a symbol of Sheol or the pit of Hades, conquered by Christ.

"Clothe me in thy glorious robe and thy seal of light that ever shineth, until I have passed by all the rulers of the world and the evil dragon that opposeth us."

A pipe is a tube used to transport liquids and gases (like an artery). Men used pipes made of hollow bamboo rods or logs to transport water and gas thousands of years ago. Almost 2,500 years ago, the Chinese used hollow bamboo rods to pipe natural gas and water. A tube of stone once brought water to the pool of Siloam near Jerusalem. Archaeologists discovered lead water pipes in the excavations of Pompeii.

People made pipe of clay thousands of years ago to carry water. The Romans used lead pipe to connect their public fountains to aqueducts. American pioneers made water systems from logs with holes bored through their centers. Later, they made pipes from hoops and wooden staves in much the same way barrels are made. In Roman times, water was carried to houses through lead pipes. The Latin word for lead is plumbum, and from this comes our word plumbing.

Plumbing is an ancient occupation. Historians credit the Egyptians with having made the first crude lead pipes to carry water and drainage. But Roman plumbers developed a plumbing system. They built drainage systems of tile, brick, stone, or lead sewers. These conveyed drainage from houses and public buildings into three main streams. Stone channels under the streets carried the drainage into the Tiber River. Water from the aqueducts ran through the underground channels to clean them.

Plumbers also kept busy maintaining the public baths in Rome. One of their duties was to carve the elaborate water spouts from which the water flowed into the pools. During the Middle Ages, interest in sanitation declined. Only castles, monasteries, and houses of the wealthy had any system for sewage and drainage. In these places plumbers were called upon to fashion ornate washbowls and tubs, and to make elaborate water spouts of fish or imp like creatures. These early plumbers established drainage systems so that waste water ran through pipes into the moats surrounding the buildings. Man has attempted to develop suitable water supplies since the beginning of recorded history.

About 2000 B.C., persons in India filtered water through charcoal, kept it in copper containers, and exposed it to sunlight. People around the Mediterranean Sea knew how to dig wells and to collect water in cisterns. They also knew how to treat the water to make it taste better, as well as make it safer to drink. Ancient Rome became the first city to have a fairly complete water-supply system. The system depended on nine aqueducts ranging in length from 10 to 50 miles.

Historians believe that the first water wheel was developed in the 100's B.C. At that time it was used mainly to grind corn. Later it was used for many kinds of mechanical operations. The water wheel was a major source of power until the invention of the steam engine in the 1700's. Water wheels are so old that no one knows who invented them. The ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and other people in the Mediterranean area used water wheels to grind their grain and to irrigate their crops. Hero of Alexandria described the first known steam turbine in 120 B.C. Steam escaped from two pipes fastened to opposite sides of a metal globe and whirled it around.

In many ways, pipeline systems resemble a railroad. The American pipeline industry developed in the late 1920's when seamless and electrically welded steel pipe became available. After the invention of the breech block, simple pipes evolved into guns and cannons, rockets and missiles ("in the sword were pipes"). Saddam's big gun, intercepted during the Gulf War,  was concealed as a pipeline.

Nuclear power reactors that produce electricity require pipes of many different sizes and made of many different kinds of materials;  pipelines buried in the ground - "a vast network, a maze of pipes."

Seals: shutoff valves or outlets. Valves permit the water to be shut off at one point without affecting the water supply to other parts of the system. Outlets can be opened to clean the pipe.

The design of the seal concerns us

It is the Saturn-like design of an Aegean island (Mykonos) well seal which concerns us most - a visual representation of a region in which a force is effective (for example, a gravitational field). The seal is a good representation of the deuterium atom (heavy hydrogen) which is important to the current Big Bang theory. 

The seal also symbolizes a galaxy with a high degree of precision, to scale. And it is arguably a fair representation of the Unified Field, or the nuclear structure of space-time in all orders of magnitude, from particles within living cells to systems of planets and stars.

Like the Roman skeleton key, our particular hand-made locking device design may have been in use for many centuries - unchanged since the early days of plumbing - being passed on from one generation of water pipe makers to the next, directly from the seals of a tomb near Jerusalem. Only a  few of our well seals could be originals. Most are probably recent hand-made copies of an antiquated prototype design.

This custom of sealing pipes with emblematic plates or plaques was handed down to posterity by a group of Aegean monks and temple builders who were the custodians of well-shafts in the Holy Land. When the Near East came under Muslim control, Mohammed became known as the Seal of the Prophets.  In an incidental way, modern astronomers are not yet able to explain how ancient Egyptians were able to draw pictures of  the rings of Saturn before the invention of the telescope.

From an Egyptian book not earlier than the fourth century in date:

"I prayed to my Father with heavenly prayers which I wrote with my own fingers on the tables of heaven before I took flesh in the holy Virgin Mary."

Yet perhaps the most amazing aspect of our Aegean island well seal is that it represents the perceptual field of human consciousness (vision, and the other senses). To this extent, the seventh seal is your mind, which only he can open.

The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
- Psalm cxviii. 22. 

Keep checking back for a more detailed analysis of the Seal of God, and the book with seven seals.

The late founder of the Mykonos Folklore Museum, Mr. Kyriazopoulos, researched the wells of Mykonos. He wondered if the seven seals from Christ's tomb may have been moved to cap seven wells built out of the relics of Golgotha, according to some Corinthian traditions of St Paul.EE

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