The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America's Future

As the prophet states in the beginning of the novel: “The seal was the sign of authenticity” (8), allowing the recipient of a message to know that it came from a specific person and could be trusted. In the novel, the seals establish the link between the biblical prophecies on ancient Israel and the modern prophecy on America, but they also establish the prophet as a prophet and Kaplan as the scribe of the prophet. As a symbol, the seals likewise represent the authenticity of the novel itself, as they provide the link between the actual biblical events and modern American events that allow Jonathan Cahn to construct the novel. Just as the name of Baruch on Kaplan’s seal verifies Kaplan’s role as the scribe, so, too, does the inclusion of the seals establish Cahn’s authenticity as an author.

The seals are used in the novel to serve various purposes. The seal Kaplan receives initially serves to initiate his interest in the prophet, and the nine seals of the harbingers serve first to verify the harbingers, and then to verify the four mysteries of the second part of the novel. However, it is important to consider that Kaplan often studies the seals, carrying them with him and occasionally deriving insight from them.