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)

1865. 'Saying, To your seed I will give this land' means the comfort experienced after these temptations and their horrors, to the effect that people who have charity and faith in Him will become His heirs. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' and from the meaning of 'land'. 'The seed of Abram' means love and faith that flows from love, as shown already in 255, 256, 1025, and consequently all who have charity and faith in the Lord. 'The land of Canaan' however means the Lord's kingdom, and therefore 'giving the land to your seed' means that the heavenly kingdom would be given as an inheritance to those who from charity have faith in Him.

[2] That these things brought comfort to the Lord following temptations and their horrors becomes clear without explanation. For after those grim events which He had witnessed - that is to say, after He had put to flight the evils and falsities meant by 'the birds of prey that came down on the carcasses and that Abram drove away', described in verse 11 - gross falsities nevertheless entered into Him, such as horrified Him, meant by 'the dread of a great darkness which came over Abram in a deep sleep', described in verse 12. This, together with the fact that in the end sheer falsities and evils took possession of the human race - meant by 'the smoking furnace and flaming torch which passed' between the pieces', referred to in verse 17 - inevitably caused Him distress and grief. Comfort therefore follows now, like that in verses 4 and 5 above, namely that His seed will inherit the land, that is, those who have charity and faith in Him will become heirs of His kingdom. The salvation of the human race was for Him the only comfort, for He was moved by Divine and celestial love and became, even as regards the Human Essence, that Divine and celestial love, in which solely the love for all is countenanced and entertained.

[3] That such is the nature of Divine love becomes clear from the love of parents towards their children, in that it increases with every descending degree of affinity, that is, it becomes greater towards later descendants than towards immediate offspring. Nothing ever exists without a cause or origin, and therefore this love towards descendants, present in the human race and ever increasing with each successive generation, cannot exist without them. The cause and origin of that love are attributable solely to the Lord, from whom all conjugial love and love of parents towards children flow. The source of that love is His love, which is such that He loves all as a father loves his sons, and wishes to make all his heirs, and provides an inheritance for those yet to be born, as he does for those born already.