The Meaning of the Book of Revelation: the Four Horsemen
Por Jonathan S. Rose, Curtis Childs
Transparency is needed to sort things out. Before big change happens, God first reveals what’s really going on.
In the Book of Revelation - the last book of the Word - the apostle John describes a series of apocalyptic visions that he experienced during his exile on the Isle of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea.
In one of these visions, he saw four horsemen, the first riding a white horse, the second a red horse, the third a black, and the fourth - named Death - riding a pale horse. These "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" - oft-pictured - are described in Revelation 6:1-8.
What do these horses, and their riders, represent? What do they have to do with us, today? Watch as Curtis Childs and Jonathan Rose explore the hidden Bible meaning of the Four Horsemen in the Book of Revelation, in this video from the Swedenborg and Life Series, from the Swedenborg Foundation.
Plus, to go straight to the source, follow the links below to the places in "Apocalypse Revealed" where Swedenborg explained the inner meaning of this famous Bible story. A good place to start would be Apocalypse Revealed 298.
(Referencias: Apocalypse Explained 315; Apocalypse Revealed 262-263, 301, 306, 314, 316, 320, 322-323)
Arcana Coelestia #3439
3439. 'I am the God of Abraham your father; do not fear, for I am with you' means that the Divine also was present there, that is to say, in the literal sense of the Word. This is clear from the representation of 'Abraham' as the Lord's Divine, dealt with in 2833, 2836, 3251, 3305 (end). Consequently 'Jehovah the God of Abraham' means the Lord's Divine, which 'Abraham' represents. And as the subject is the Word, which also is the Lord since the whole Word comes from Him and the whole of the Word has reference to Him, 'I am the God of Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you' therefore means that the Divine also was present there. With regard to the Divine presence in the Word the position is that the Divine itself is present in the highest sense of the Word because that is where the Lord is. The Divine is also present in the internal sense because that is where the Lord's kingdom in heaven is, and therefore that sense is called the celestial and spiritual. The Divine is also present in the literal sense of the Word because that is where the Lord's kingdom on earth is, and therefore that sense is called the external and also the natural, for this sense contains crude appearances that are quite remote from the Divine, though every single thing there is nevertheless Divine. Those three senses are related to one another as parts of the tabernacle are related. Its inmost part, or that inside the veil where the ark containing the testimony stood, was the most holy place or the holy of holies; the internal part, or that directly outside the veil where the golden table and the lampstand stood, was the holy place; while the external part, where the court was situated, was also a holy place. This was where all the people met, and therefore it was called 'the Tent of Meeting'.