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)

8740. To become warm the same people seem to themselves to be cutting pieces of wood. While they are cutting there appears underneath the wood something that looks like a human being, whom they try to strike at the same time. This happens because they claim merit for themselves; and since they also impute righteousness to themselves they claim holiness. Those who do this in the world seem to themselves in the next life to be cutting pieces of wood, as also do some from our planet, whom I have spoken about from experience before. To shed light on the subject let that experience recorded in 4943 be repeated here:

On the lower earth beneath the soles of the feet there are also those who have regarded good deeds and works to be meritorious. Many of these appear to themselves to be cutting pieces of wood. The place where they are is quite a cold one, but they seem to themselves to find warmth in the work they do. I talked to these people too and was allowed to ask them whether they wished to leave that place. Their replies were that they had not done enough meritorious work. But once this stage is completed they are released from there. These people likewise are natural, for the desire to earn salvation through merit is not a spiritual desire, since it begins in self, not in the Lord. What is more, they regard themselves to be those who are superior to others, and some of them are also contemptuous of others. If in the next life they do not receive greater joy than all others, they are angry with the Lord, which explains why [sometimes] when they are cutting pieces of wood, it appears as though something of the Lord is underneath their pile of wood - their anger being that which produces this appearance. But because they have led a devout life and have acted in the ways they did out of ignorance that had some degree of innocence within it, angels are therefore sent to them periodically to console them. Sometimes, in addition, something that looks like a sheep appears from above on the left, and from this too they receive consolation when they see it.

See also 1110.