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.

(références: Apocalypse Explained 315; Apocalypse Revealed 262-263, 301, 306, 314, 316, 320, 322-323)

843. 20:3 And he cast it into the bottomless pit, and shut it up, and set a seal on it, so that it should not lead the nations astray any more. This symbolically means that the Lord removed entirely those who were caught up in faith alone and took away all their communication with the rest, to keep them from inspiring any of their heresy in people who were being raised into heaven.

The dragon here means people caught up in falsities as regards their faith, as in no. 842 just above. We are told that the dragon was laid hold of, bound, cast into the bottomless pit, and shut up, and had a seal set on it; and this symbolically means that it was entirely removed and kept from having any communication with the rest. Its being laid hold of means, symbolically, that the people meant by it were brought together and detained. Its being bound means, symbolically, that the people were forcibly drawn away and separated. Its being cast into the bottomless pit means, symbolically, that the people were sent down in the direction of hell. Its being shut up means, symbolically, that the people were entirely removed. A seal's being set on it means, symbolically, that communication with the rest was completely taken away.

[2] The dragon was entirely removed for a time in order that the people who had been hidden away by the Lord might be raised from the lower earth (the subject of verses 4-6) without being led astray by the dragon-people as they were being raised. Consequently the text also says, "so that it should not lead the nations astray any more," which symbolically means, to keep them from inspiring any of their heresy in those other people.

This event occurred in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, and it took place because in that world evil people have dealings with the good while the good are being prepared for heaven and the evil for hell, and the good there are tried and tested by having some association with the evil and being explored as to their character and constancy.

The good are meant by the nations that the dragon-people were kept from leading astray. That nations mean people who are good in the way they live, and in an opposite sense people who are evil, may be seen in no. 483 above.

It can be seen from this that the dragon's being cast into the bottomless pit, shut up, and having a seal set on it, symbolically means that the Lord removed entirely those who were caught up in falsities as regards their faith, and took away from them any communication with the rest, to keep them from inspiring any of their heresy in people being raised into heaven.