For Today - Breaker Album Art

A band I listen to released an album recently with an interesting piece of artwork on it's cover.  I questioned it's meaning, and received a more than helpful description from the band themselves via their blog.  Here's the description for the piece above, written by singer Mattie Montgomery:


"For those of you who are interested in digging a little deeper into the meaning/symbolism of our album cover, I have put together a quick explanation of everything on it.  Here we go:


--The 6 wings covered in eyes in the picture represent 4 creatures that fly around the throne of God day and night, called "Seraphim", or “Burning Ones” (Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1, Revelation 4) These creatures are angelic beings whose entire commission it is to simply be near God--this leads, naturally, to the breaking-forth of praises.

--The 4 larger, individual symbols inside the circle are the Hebrew letters, “YHWH”.  This is the scriptural name of God. The writers of scripture, out of reverence for the holy name of God, refused to write out His whole name.  Therefore, they only included the consonants.  So what we know about the name of God is that it contains the consonants “YHWH”.  This is where we get the name “Yahweh” from, although it is also sometimes translated as “Jehovah”, as the letters “y” and “j” are interchangeable in the Hebrew alphabet, as well as the letters “v” and “w”.  

At the top of the circle is the Star of David. The foretold Messiah was prophesied as being a descendant of David (Isaiah 11:10-11).  Jesus, being this Messiah, is of the bloodline of David and has/will be called a “son of David” forever.  Therefore, the use of the Star of David on our album art is a reference to fulfilled prophecy surrounding Jesus and His divinity/godhood.

--In the top, left-hand corner of the circle is the name "Michael", written in Hebrew.  Michael is an archangel (Jude 1:9) called “The great prince who stands watch over your people” (Daniel 12), and spoken of as a commander or a general of an army of angels in Revelation 12.  He is a warrior angel who has been commissioned to defend both the throne of God and the image-bearers of God--humans.

--In the top, right-hand part of the circle, the name Gabriel is written in Hebrew. Gabriel is a messenger angel.  He is recorded as interpreting Daniel’s visions in Daniel 8:16-26, and 9:20-27, as well as announcing the births of John (Luke 1:11-20) and Jesus (Luke 1:26-38). 

-On the bottom, left-hand part of the circle, the name Raphael is written in Hebrew. The name Raphael means “God heals” or, “God, please heal”.  In John 5, there is a pool at a place called Bethesda where many sick people had gathered because “an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved.  And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under.”  Because of Raphael’s name and role, this event is believed to be the assignment of Raphael.

--On the bottom, right hand part of the circle, the name Uriel is written in Hebrew.  Uriel is written about in only extra-canonical books, but his name means “God is light”, or “The light of God”.  And is consistently referred to as the 4th archangel, standing along-side Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.
,,In regards to the man portrayed on the inside of the album’s liner notes, here are a few notes about him:

He is the “Breaker”.  The personification of a role that is filled by God, as well as people operating under the commission of God.  The breaker concept is one that dictates (very simply), “What was once broken is now used to bring breakthrough.”  That is why the Breaker has been torn apart, and then stitched back together.  He is also holding the chains of the delivered in his hands--chains that have been broken off and taken away.  His belt buckle has an ancient Latin symbol meaning “Jesus Christ conquers”, or “Jesus Christ is victorious”.   And, on His chest is carved “Baal Perazim”.  This comes from a biblical story recorded in both 2 Samuel 5 and 1 Chronicles 14.  The phrase “Baal Perazim” means “The God who breaks through”, and David, as he gave the name to the place of his victory said, “As waters break out, the LORD has broken out against my enemies before me.”  (2 Samuel 5:20) The passage goes on to say “The Philistines abandoned their idols there. 

The Breaker represents God’s victory, both in regions and individuals. Baal Perazim is the place in which God breaks through, and people abandon their idols. "

I think it's awesome that they organized a lot of research and went such great lengths to design the symbol above.  I feel like a lot of album artwork is pointless and an afterthought for most bands, and in this day and age taking pride in your albums artwork means a lot when it comes to CD sales since downloading music is a lot more popular.  It gives a lot more value to the hard copy.

Source - http://www.myspace.com/fortoday/blog/539506279