Bibliorum

 

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?

Commentarius

 

The Meaning of the Book of Revelation: the Four Horsemen

By 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.

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

Ludere Video
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

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Explained #20

Studere hoc loco

  
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20. To the seven churches. That this signifies to all those who are in truths from good, or in faith from charity, is evident from the signification of seven, as being all. For, seven in the Word, signifies a beginning and an end, thus an entire period and a full state, just as a week does (Arcana Coelestia 728, 6508, 9228). And because it signifies what is full, it also signifies all, because all make what is full; for fulness in respect to those who constitute any society, in this case the church, denotes all therefore, when magnitude is treated of in the Word, seven signifies what is full, and when multitude is treated of, seven signifies all. Three, also, in the Word signifies full and all (as may be seen, n. 2788, 4495, 7715); but where anything holy is treated of in the Word, seven is used, and in other cases three (n. 10127). Here, therefore, seven is used, because the subject treated of is truths from good, which are the holy things of the church. This also appears from the signification of churches, as denoting those who are in truths from good, or in faith from charity. The reason why such persons are meant by churches is, because those truths constitute the church with every one; for those who are not in truths from good, although born within the church, yet are not of the church, because no church exists in them. This is why the Lord's church consists of all those, wheresoever they are, who are the church, that is, who are in truths from good. (That the church, like heaven, is in man, and not outside of him, and hence that the man who is in truths from good is a church, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3884; and in the work, Heaven and Hell 53, 54, 57.) It is also said, "who are in faith from charity," because this is the same thing; for truth belongs to faith, and good to charity; that is to say, everything that a man believes is called truth, and everything that he loves is called good. (That all truth is from good, and everything of faith is from charity, may be seen in the small work, The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 84-107, 108-122, and The Last Judgment 33-39; as also in Heaven and Hell 364, 424, 482, 526.) He who knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word, believes nothing else, when he reads these things, than that by the seven churches are meant the seven churches afterwards named (verse 11); but churches are not meant, but all those who belong to the church; such being the spiritual sense of the Word.

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