The song is about the conflict between love and peace, on the one hand, and forces of violence and oppression on the other, with Prince promising that love and peace will win.
The significance of the 'seven' who 'stand in the way of love' is not clear. One common suggestion is that they represent the seven deadly sins, which is certainly possible. However, it's hard to find evidence of this in the song.
What is clear is that many words and phrases in the song seem to consciously echo the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible.
First of all, the number seven is highly significant in Revelation, being repeated numerous times: Revelation 1 opens with the author, St. John, addressing "the seven churches which are in Asia", and refers to the "seven Spirits which are before his throne" (i.e. the throne of God). John has a vision of "seven candlesticks", and a figure who "had in his right hand seven stars". The candlesticks are later explained to represent the seven churches, while the stars stand for "the angels of the seven churches". Later, in Revelation 4, there are "seven lamps of fire ... which are the seven Spirits of God ..." [Revelation 4:5]. There is also a book "sealed with seven seals" [Revelation 5:1]. The seven seals are opened by "the Lamb" (Jesus), and John then sees "seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets" [Revelation 8:2]. When the first six angels have blown their trumpets (loosing various plagues and disasters on mankind), John sees another "mighty angel come down from Heaven", who cries out and "seven thunders uttered their voices".
In the song, Prince sings "I saw an angel come down unto me/In her hand she holds the very key". The use of the archaic word 'unto' is obviously intended to suggest a religious text, and in Revelation 20:1 we find a suggestively similar verse: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit ..."
There are more parallels. Prince hears "an army's marching feet"; John sees "the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army." [Revelation 19:19]. The words 'army' and 'armies' also occur frequently elsewhere in Revelation.
Prince sings "And we lay down on the sand of the sea"; John says "And I stood upon the sand of the sea" [Revelation 13:1]. Immediately after the reference to the sand of the sea in "7", Prince says that "... animosity will stand and decree/That we speak not of love only blasphemy"; the rest of Revelation 13 deals with the seven-headed Beast, which is closely associated with blasphemy: "upon his heads, the name of blasphemy" [Revelation 13:1], "... and there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies" [Revelation 13:5], "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name ..." [Revelation 13:6].
Prince sings "we will see a plague and a river of blood"; the angels of Revelation smite the earth with various plagues, and "the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood" [Revelation 16:3]
Prince sings "there will be a new city with streets of gold"; in Revelation 21, the heavenly city of Jerusalem is described in detail, "and the street of the city was pure gold" [Revelation 21:21]
Prince, who was raised as a Seventh-Day Adventist and later became a Jehovah's Witness, would certainly have been familiar with the Book of Revelation. The parallels between the song and Revelation are too numerous and too close to be accidental. It seems very likely that Prince was consciously thinking of Revelation when he wrote the song, and may have intended it as his own prophetic text; just as John predicts the downfall of the enemies of God in Revelation, Prince promises that he and his lover or ally will see "the seven" defeated.
This doesn't resolve the question of who "the seven" are. In Revelation, the number seven is first associated with the churches. It's possible that in the song, "the seven" stands for organized religion in general, or for the Seventh-Day Adventist faith in particular, or it may have had some entirely different, personal meaning for Prince or his fellow songwriters.
The song is about the conflict between love and peace, on the one hand, and forces of violence and oppression on the other, with Prince promising that love and peace will win.
The significance of the 'seven' who 'stand in the way of love' is not clear. One common suggestion is that they represent the seven deadly sins, which is certainly possible. However, it's hard to find evidence of this in the song.
What is clear is that many words and phrases in the song seem to consciously echo the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible.
First of all, the number seven is highly significant in Revelation, being repeated numerous times: Revelation 1 opens with the author, St. John, addressing "the seven churches which are in Asia", and refers to the "seven Spirits which are before his throne" (i.e. the throne of God). John has a vision of "seven candlesticks", and a figure who "had in his right hand seven stars". The candlesticks are later explained to represent the seven churches, while the stars stand for "the angels of the seven churches". Later, in Revelation 4, there are "seven lamps of fire ... which are the seven Spirits of God ..." [Revelation 4:5]. There is also a book "sealed with seven seals" [Revelation 5:1]. The seven seals are opened by "the Lamb" (Jesus), and John then sees "seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets" [Revelation 8:2]. When the first six angels have blown their trumpets (loosing various plagues and disasters on mankind), John sees another "mighty angel come down from Heaven", who cries out and "seven thunders uttered their voices".
In the song, Prince sings "I saw an angel come down unto me/In her hand she holds the very key". The use of the archaic word 'unto' is obviously intended to suggest a religious text, and in Revelation 20:1 we find a suggestively similar verse: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit ..."
There are more parallels. Prince hears "an army's marching feet"; John sees "the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army." [Revelation 19:19]. The words 'army' and 'armies' also occur frequently elsewhere in Revelation.
Prince sings "And we lay down on the sand of the sea"; John says "And I stood upon the sand of the sea" [Revelation 13:1]. Immediately after the reference to the sand of the sea in "7", Prince says that "... animosity will stand and decree/That we speak not of love only blasphemy"; the rest of Revelation 13 deals with the seven-headed Beast, which is closely associated with blasphemy: "upon his heads, the name of blasphemy" [Revelation 13:1], "... and there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies" [Revelation 13:5], "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name ..." [Revelation 13:6].
Prince sings "we will see a plague and a river of blood"; the angels of Revelation smite the earth with various plagues, and "the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood" [Revelation 16:3]
Prince sings "there will be a new city with streets of gold"; in Revelation 21, the heavenly city of Jerusalem is described in detail, "and the street of the city was pure gold" [Revelation 21:21]
Prince, who was raised as a Seventh-Day Adventist and later became a Jehovah's Witness, would certainly have been familiar with the Book of Revelation. The parallels between the song and Revelation are too numerous and too close to be accidental. It seems very likely that Prince was consciously thinking of Revelation when he wrote the song, and may have intended it as his own prophetic text; just as John predicts the downfall of the enemies of God in Revelation, Prince promises that he and his lover or ally will see "the seven" defeated.
This doesn't resolve the question of who "the seven" are. In Revelation, the number seven is first associated with the churches. It's possible that in the song, "the seven" stands for organized religion in general, or for the Seventh-Day Adventist faith in particular, or it may have had some entirely different, personal meaning for Prince or his fellow songwriters.