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)

313. And he who sat on it had a scale in his hand. This symbolizes their valuation of goodness and truth, what it was like among them.

A scale in the hand symbolizes a valuation of goodness and truth, for all measures in the Word, including weights, symbolize a valuation of the subject which they describe.

That measures and weights have such symbolic meanings is apparent from the following account in Daniel: When Belshazzar, king of Babylon, was drinking wine from the vessels of gold and silver taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, writing appeared before him, saying, "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN," meaning, "numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided." (Daniel 5:1-5) And this was the interpretation of it:

MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. PERES: Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians. (Daniel 5:25-28)

Drinking from vessels of gold and silver from the Temple in Jerusalem, and at the same time worshiping other gods, symbolizes the profanation of goodness and truth, which is also the symbolism of Babylon. Mene, or to number. This symbolically means to know its character in respect to truth. Tekel, or to weigh. This symbolically means to know its character in respect to goodness. And peres, or to divide. This symbolically means to disperse.

That measures and scales in the Word symbolize the character of truth and goodness is apparent in Isaiah:

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured the heavens with the span of His hand, comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in scales? (Isaiah 40:12)

And in the book of Revelation:

(The angel) measured the wall (of the Holy Jerusalem): one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. (Revelation 21:17)