The Bible

 

Revelation 6 : The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Study

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?

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 #6378

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6378. 'And his garment in the blood of grapes' means that His Intellect consists in Divine Good from His Divine Love. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood of grapes' as the good of love, and in the highest sense the Lord's Divine Good flowing from His Divine Love, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'garment' as the intellect, for the intellect is a receiver, and what is a receiver, being a container, is like a garment. The reason why 'garment' means the intellect and why 'clothing', dealt with immediately above in 6377, means the natural is that the external was the subject there, whereas the internal is the subject here. For owing to the heavenly marriage in the Word, when the external is referred to, so also is the internal; and when truth is referred to, so also is good, see 6343. This sometimes seems to outward appearance to amount to a repetition of the same thing, as for example here where it says 'He washes his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes .'Wine' and 'the blood of grapes' seem to describe the same thing, and so do 'clothing' and 'garment'; but they do not because what is external and what is internal are expressed in that way.

[2] The fact that 'the blood of grapes' is Divine Good from the Lord's Divine Love is evident from the meaning of 'blood' as Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord's Divine Good, referred to in 4735; and by 'grapes' in the highest sense is meant the Lord's Divine Good present with those in His spiritual kingdom, and consequently in the relative sense the good of charity, 5117. 'The blood of the grape' also has a similar meaning in the Song of Moses,

Butter from the cattle, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, the breed 1 of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat, and of the blood of the grape you drink unmixed, wine. Deuteronomy 31:14.

Footnotes:

1. literally, sons

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