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)

944. 22:7 "Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." This symbolically means that the Lord will surely come and give eternal life to people who keep and obey the doctrinal truths or precepts in this book, now laid open by the Lord.

"Behold, I am coming quickly!" means, symbolically, that the Lord will surely come. Quickly symbolically means surely (nos. 4, 943), and coming symbolically means that He will come - not in person, but in the Word, in which He will be visible to all those people who will be part of His New Church. This is the meaning of His coming in the clouds of heaven, as may be seen in nos. 24, 642, 820 above.

"Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book" means, symbolically, that the Lord will give eternal life to people who keep and obey the doctrinal truths or precepts in this book, now laid open by the Lord. One who is blessed symbolizes a person who receives eternal life (nos. 639, 852). To keep symbolically means to keep and obey truths or precepts. The words are truths and precepts. The prophecy of this book symbolizes the doctrine in this book now laid open by the Lord, prophecy being doctrine (nos. 8, 133, 943).

[2] Anyone who weighs the matter can see that to keep the words of the prophecy of this book does not mean to preserve them, but to maintain them, that is, to keep and obey the doctrinal truths or precepts in this book that are now explained and laid open. Indeed, if not explained, the book of Revelation contains few things that can be kept, as they are prophecies previously not understood. Take for example the following:

It is impossible to keep what is related in chapter 6 regarding the horses emerging from the book. In chapter 7 regarding the twelve tribes. In chapters 8, 9 regarding the seven angels sounding their trumpets. In chapter 10 regarding the little book that John ate. In chapter 11 regarding the two witnesses that were killed and lived again. In chapter 12 regarding the woman and the dragon. In chapters 13, 14 regarding the two beasts. In chapters 15, 16 regarding the seven angels having the seven plagues. In chapters 17, 18 regarding the woman sitting on a scarlet beast and regarding Babylon. In chapter 19 regarding the white horse and the great supper. In chapter 20 regarding the Last Judgment. And in chapter 21 regarding the New Jerusalem as a city.

It is apparent from this that the verse does not mean that those people are blessed who preserve the words of the prophecy, for the meanings of the words are hidden, but it means that those people are blessed who maintain them, that is, who keep and obey the doctrinal truths or precepts that are contained in those words and are now laid open. That the explanations originate from the Lord may be seen in the Preface.