La Bibbia

 

Revelation 6 : The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

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1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Commento

 

The Meaning of the Book of Revelation: the Four Horsemen

Da 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.

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

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This video is a product of the Swedenborg Foundation. Follow these links for further information and other videos: www.youtube.com/user/offTheLeftEye and www.swedenborg.com

Dalle opere di Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Explained #274

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274. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. That this signifies Divine truth itself united to the Divine good proceeding from the Divine love of the Lord is evident from the signification of seven as denoting, all things in the aggregate; and from the signification of lamps of fire burning before the throne as denoting Divine truth united to Divine good proceeding from the Divine love of the Lord. For lamps signify truths; hence seven lamps signify all truth in the aggregate, which is Divine truth; and fire signifies the good of love. And because the lamps were seen burning before the throne upon which the Lord was, it is signified that the good or love was from the Lord. Because the seven spirits of God signify all the truths of heaven and the church from the Lord, as may be seen above (n. 183), it is therefore said, "which are the seven spirits of God." (That seven signify all, may be seen above, n. 256; that fire signifies the good of love may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 10055.)

[2] That lamps signify truths, which are called truths of faith, is evident from the following passages in the Word, as in David:

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalms 119:105).

The Word is said to be a lamp, because it is Divine truth. Again:

"Thou lightest my lamp; Jehovah God maketh my darkness resplendent" (Psalms 18:28).

To light a lamp signifies to enlighten the understanding by Divine truth; and to make the darkness resplendent signifies to dissipate the falsities of ignorance by the light of truth. In Luke:

"Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps shining" (12:35).

The loins being girded signifies the good of love (see Arcana Coelestia 3021, 4280, 4462, 5050-5052, 9961); and the lamps shining signifies the truths of faith from the good of love.

[3] In Matthew:

"The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness" (6:22, 23).

The eye is here called a lamp, because it signifies the understanding of truth, and hence also the truth of faith; and because the understanding derives its all from the will - for the quality of the former is according to that of the latter, just as the truth of faith derives its all from the good of love, - when therefore, the understanding of truth is from the good of the will, then the whole man is spiritual, which is signified by the words, "If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." But the contrary is the case when the understanding is formed from evil of the will; that it is then in mere falsities is signified by the words, "if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (That the eye signifies the understanding may be seen above, n. 152, and that darkness signifies falsities, in Arcana Coelestia 1839, 1860, 3340, 4418, 4531, 7688, 7711, 7712). He who does not know that the eye signifies the understanding cannot by any means comprehend the meaning of these words.

[4] In Jeremiah:

"I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of the millstones and the light of the lamp" (25:10).

To take away the voice of joy and the voice of gladness signifies to remove the interior happiness derived from the good of love and the truths of faith. To take away the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride signifies to remove all the conjunction of good and truth, which constitutes heaven and the church with man. To take away the voice of the millstones and the light of the lamp signifies to deprive them of the doctrine of charity and faith. (What is signified by a millstone, and by grinding, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 4335, 7780, 9995, 10303). Similarly in the Apocalypse:

"And the light of a lamp shall shine no more in" Babylon; "and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more" there (18:23).

In Isaiah:

"Let your salvation burn as a lamp" (62:1),

signifying that the truth of faith should be from the good of love.

In Matthew:

"The kingdom of heaven shall be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. The five foolish took their lamps, but no oil: but the five wise took oil also." Wherefore when the bridegroom came the wise went in to the marriage, but the foolish were not admitted (25:1-12).

By lamps are here signified the truths of faith, and by oil is signified the good of love. (What the rest of this parable signifies may be seen above, n. 252, where it is particularly explained.)

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.