The Bible

 

Revelation 6:1

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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.

Commentary

 

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.

(References: 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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1007

Study this Passage

  
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1007. 'At the hand of man' means from his entire will, and 'at the hand of brother man' from his entire understanding. This is clear from the meaning of 'man' (homo), for the essential element and life of a person is his will - indeed the character of the will determines that of the person; and from the meaning of 'brother man' (vir), for where the understanding resides in man it is called 'brother man', as shown already in 367. Whether the understanding residing there is true, spurious, or false, it is still called 'brother man'. In fact the understanding is called 'a man' (vir), 158, 265, and 'the brother' of the will, 367. The reason why a defiled will and a defiled understanding are here called 'a man' (homo) and 'brother man' (vir) is that the subject here is profanation, the mere mention and consequent representation of which is not tolerated in heaven but instantly rejected with disgust. This is why such mild expressions are employed here. The sense of the words of the verse can be taken two different ways so to speak, so as to prevent those in heaven knowing that this verse contains such matters.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.