Many of the allusions we find in literature and cinema come from biblical writings about judgement or the end times. Here are a few more allusions, to help you understand what these phrases mean when you see them in books or run across them in movies.
Four horsemen of the apocalypse In the book of Revelation in the New Testament, four horses and four riders, or horsemen, are mentioned in relation to the end times, and they have given rise to many allusions. Together, they are often referred to as the “four horsemen of the apocalypse.” This phrase has been used in numerous songs, in comic books, in video games, in an episode of The Highlander, and was probably most famously used to describe one of the most powerful backfields in college football history, four now legendary players at Notre Dame University in 1924. Each of the four horses and their riders are described in Revelation: a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse. The rider of the pale horse is Death. It is this horse and rider that are alluded to in the Clint Eastwood movie Pale Rider.
The last trump (trumpet) The signal of the end of the world. In the book of I Corinthians, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul writes, “we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”
Like a thief in the night Final judgment will surprise people. In the book of I Thessalonians, it says that “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly.” This phrase is used when a writer wishes to suggest that a character deserves judgment or destruction, as in Edgar Allan Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death,” when the prince thinks he has escaped the fate of the common people by hiding in his castle during a plague, partying while people are dying, but death arrives “like a thief in the night.”
The number of the beast In the end times, people will worship someone or something set up by the antichrist. In order to buy or sell, everyone will need to have the mark of the beast on his or her right hand or forehead. The number of the beast is stated as 666.
The seventh seal At the final judgment, a scroll with seven seals is produced. As each seal is broken, another event unfolds. The first four seals signal the appearance of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The breaking of the seventh seal signals the beginning of a period of terrible disasters on Earth .
