From Swedenborg's Works

 

The White Horse #1

Study this Passage

/ 17  
  

1. CONCERNING THE WHITE HORSE as described in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 19.

In the writings of John, in the Book of Revelation, the following is a description of the Word in its spiritual sense, in other words the sense contained within it, or its 'inner meaning:'

I saw heaven standing open, and behold, a White Horse. And the one sitting on the White Horse was called faithful and true, judging and fighting in righteousness. His eyes were a flame of fire, and on His head were many jewels. He had a name inscribed that no one knew but He Himself. And He was dressed in a garment dyed with blood, and His name is called the Word of God. The armies that followed Him in heaven were on white horses, they themselves dressed in clean white linen. On His garment and on His thigh was written a name, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Revelation 19:11-14, 16.

No one can have a clear idea of what each of the details in this description entails except by way of its 'inner meaning." It is obvious that each particular detail must represent or signify something, as follows:

Heaven which was standing open; a horse which was white; the one seated on it was called faithful and true, 1 judging and fighting in righteousness; His eyes a flame of fire; and many jewels 2 on His head; having a name inscribed that no one knew but He Himself; and dressed in a garment dyed with blood; and the armies that followed Him in heaven were on white horses, they themselves dressed in clean white linen; 3 on His garment and on His thigh He has written a name.

It is stated plainly that the one seated on the White Horse is the Word, and He is the Lord who is the Word, for what is said is that His name is called The Word of God; and then, He has written on His garment and on His thigh the title King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

From the interpretation of each individual phrase or statement it is clear that all this serves to describe the spiritual sense or internal meaning of the Word. The phrase heaven which was standing open' represents and signifies that the inner meaning of the Word is seen by those in heaven, and consequently also by those on earth for whom heaven stands open. 'A horse which was white' represents and signifies an understanding of the Word as regards its inner meanings. 4 That the 'white horse' means what I have said will be clear from what follows.

It is clear that 'the one seated on it' means the Lord in His capacity as the Word, and thus means the Word itself, for it is stated that 'His name is called the Word of God;' and he is called 'faithful' and 'judging in righteousness' because of His goodness; and 'true' and 'fighting in righteousness' because of His truth, for the Lord Himself is righteousness. 'His eyes a flame of fire' signify divine truth radiating from the divine good flowing from His divine love. The 'many jewels on His head' signify all the good and true properties of faith. Having a 'name written which no one knew other than He Himself' signifies that no one sees what is the nature of the Word in its inner meaning except Himself, and one to whom He reveals it.

Dressed in a garment dyed with blood' signifies the violence done to the Word in its literal meaning. 5 'The armies in heaven which followed Him on white horses' signifies those who understand the Word as regards its inner meanings.' 'Those dressed in clean white linen' signifies the same people who are endued with truth arising from what is good. 'On His garment and on His thigh a name written 6 ' signifies what is true and what is good and their specific qualities.

From all these verses, and from those which come before and after them, it is clear that they serve to foretell that the spiritual or internal sense of the Word will be laid open at around the final time of the Church; and what will happen at that time is also described there, Revelation 19:17-21. There is no need to show here the things which are signified by these words since they are individually shown in Arcana Caelestia. The Lord is the Word because He is the divine truth: 2533, 2803, 2894, 5272, 8535; 7 the Word is the divine truth: 4692, 5075, 9987; He is proclaimed to be sitting on a horse judging and fighting in righteousness because the Lord is righteousness. The Lord is proclaimed to be righteousness from the fact that by His own power He has saved the human race: 1813, 2025-2027, 9715, 9809, 10019, 10152. Righteousness is a merit belonging to the Lord alone: 9715, 9979. 'His eyes a flame of fire' signify divine truth radiating from the divine good flowing from His divine love, because 'eyes' signify the understanding and truth of faith: 2701, 4403-4421, 4523-4534, 6923, 9051, 10569; and 'a flame of fire' signifies the good of love: 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832; the 'jewels on His head' 8 signify all the good and true properties of faith: 114, 3858, 6335, 6640, 9863, 9865, 9868, 9873, 9905.

Having a name written which no one knew other than He Himself' signifies that no one sees what is the nature of the Word in its inner meaning except Himself, and one to whom He reveals it, because a name signifies the nature of a thing: 144-145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3237, 3421, 6674, 9310. 'Dressed in a garment dyed with blood' signifies the violence done to the Word in its literal meaning because a garment' signifies truth, which clothes what is good: 1073, 2576, 5248, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536; especially truth in its outermost form, and thus the Word in its literal meaning: 5248, 6918, 9158, 9212; and because 'blood' signifies violence done to truth by what is false: 374, 1005, 4735, 5476, 9127. 'The armies in heaven which followed Him on white horses' signify those who understand the Word as regards its inner meanings because 'armies' signify those who are equipped with the truth and goodness of heaven and the Church: 3448, 7236, 7988, 8019; and the horse' signifies understanding: 3217, 5321, 6125, 6400, 6534, 7024, 8146, 8381; and 'white' means the truth which the light of heaven has within itself thus, the inner truth: 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319.

Those dressed in clean white linen' signify the same people who are endued with truth arising from what is good because 'linen' or 'a garment of linen' signifies truth from a heavenly sourcewhich is truth from what is good: 5319, 9469. 'On His garment and on His thigh a name written' signifies what is true and what is good, and their specific qualities, because 'a garment' signifies truth, and 'a name' signifies its nature, as above, and 'thigh' signifies the good properties of love: 3021, 4277, 4280, 9961, 10488. 'King of Kings and Lord of Lords' is the Lord as regards divine truth and divine good; the Lord is called King by virtue of His divine truth: 3009, 5068, 6148, and He is called Lord by virtue of His divine good: 4973, 9167, 9194.

From all this it is clear what the nature of the Word is in its spiritual or inner sense, and that there is no single word within it which does not have some spiritual meaning relating to heaven and the Church.

Footnotes:

1. The Revd John Elliott: "The [original Latin] text ought surely to read, as Arcana Coelestia 2760; 'quod fidelis et verus, et in justitia ...'" The translator has followed this conjecture.

2. In translating diademata as 'jewels,' rather than 'crowns,' I have noted the Revd John Elliott, who draws attention to John Chadwick's assertion (from his Lexicon to the Latin Texts of Swedenborg's Theological Writings), that there can be little doubt that Swedenborg understood jewel, not crown, by the Latin word diadema.

3. The Latin byssinus means 'a garment made form byssus' (Lewis and Shorts Latin Dictionary). Byssus: cotton (Baxter and Johnsons Medieval Latin Word-List); cotton, or (according to some) a kind of flax, and the linen made from it (Lewis and Shorts Latin Dictionary).

4. The Latin interiora (plural of interius, and comp. of intern um) means 'inward' or 'internal' (Lewis and Shorts Latin Dictionary). It may also signify: 'more hidden,' 'secret' or 'unknown' (Lewis and Shorts Latin Dictionary).

5. I am grateful to the Rev'd. John Elliott for the suggestion of translating litera as 'in its literal meaning." I was in a fog as to Swedenborg's intention in using litera, which classically may mean either 'a letter' or 'writing."

6. The Latin interiora (plural of interius, and comp. of intern um) means 'inward' or 'internal' (Lewis and Shorts Latin Dictionary). It may also signify: 'more hidden,' 'secret' or 'unknown' (Lewis and Shorts Latin Dictionary).

7. Throughout this translation I have used the reference numbers following the emendations made by the Revd John Elliott in De Equo Albo (2004).

8. In translating diademata as 'jewels,' rather than 'crowns,' I have noted the Rev'd. John Elliott, who draws attention to John Chadwick's assertion (from his Lexicon to the Latin Texts of Swedenborg's Theological Writings), that there can be little doubt that Swedenborg understood jewel not crown by the Latin word diadema.

/ 17  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2009

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

2009. That 'no longer will your name be called Abram' means that He will cast off the human, and that 'your name will be Abraham' means that He will put on the Divine, is clear from the meaning of 'name', also from the meaning of 'Abram', and after that of 'Abraham'. When the phrase 'your name will be' is used in the Word it means the nature of, that is, what a person's nature is going to be like, as is clear from what has been brought forward in Volume One, in 144, 145, 1754. And since 'names means the nature of, a name includes everything in its entirety within that person, for in heaven no attention is paid to someone's name, but when anyone is referred to by name, or when a name is used, a mental picture of his nature comes up, that is, of all that is his, with him and in him. This is why 'name' in the Word means the nature of. To make this matter clearer to the understanding let further confirmatory quotations from the Word be introduced, such as in the Blessing in Moses,

Jehovah bless you and keep you; Jehovah make His face 1 shine upon you and be merciful to you; Jehovah lift up His face 1 upon you and give you peace.

So shall they put My name upon the sons of Israel. Numbers 6:24-27.

From this it is evident what 'name' and 'putting Jehovah's name upon the sons of Israel' means, namely that Jehovah blesses, keeps, enlightens, is merciful, and gives peace, and that such is Jehovah's or the Lord's nature.

[2] In the Ten Commandments,

You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless who has taken His name in vain. Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11.

Here taking God's name in vain does not mean His name but every single thing deriving from Him, and so every single thing belonging to the worship of Him, which must not be treated with disdain, still less be blasphemed and defiled by what is filthy. In the Lord's Prayer,

Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, as in heaven so on earth. Luke 11:2.

Nor in this instance is 'name' used to mean name but all things that belong to love and faith, for these are God's, or the Lord's, and derive from Him. Since the latter are holy, the Lord's kingdom comes, and His will is done on earth as it is in heaven, when they are upheld as being holy.

[3] That 'name' means such things is clear from all the places in the Old Testament Word and in the New where the word 'name' is used, as in Isaiah,

You will say on that day, Confess Jehovah, call on His name, make His deeds known among the peoples, make mention that His name is exalted. Isaiah 12:4.

Here 'calling on the name of Jehovah' and 'making mention that it is exalted' does not in any way mean making the name itself an object of worship, or believing that Jehovah is called on by the mere uttering of His name, but by knowing His nature, and so every single thing that derives from Him. In the same prophet,

Therefore in the Urim give honour to Jehovah, in the isles of the sea to the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. Isaiah 24:15.

Here 'in the Urim give honour to Jehovah' means worship based on the holy things of love, 'in the isles of the sea to the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel' worship based on the holy things of faith.

[4] In the same prophet,

Jehovah our God, in You alone will we make mention of Your name. Isaiah 26:13.

And in the same prophet,

I will stir up one from the north, and he will come, from the rising of the sun he will call on My name. Isaiah 41:25.

Here 'making mention of' and 'calling on the name of Jehovah' is worshipping from the goods of love and the truths of faith. Those 'from the north' are people outside the Church who do not know the name of Jehovah but who do nevertheless call on His name when they are leading charitable lives one with another and venerate some deity as the Creator of the universe, for it is the worship and what constitutes it, not the name, that calling on Jehovah entails. That the Lord is also present with gentiles, see 932, 1032, 1059.

[5] In the same prophet,

The nations will see your righteousness and all the kings your glory; and you will be called by a new name which the mouth of Jehovah will announce. Isaiah 62:2.

Here 'you will be called by a new name' stands for becoming a different person, that is to say, as a result of being created anew or regenerated, and so stands for becoming such. In Micah,

All the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God for ever and eternally. Micah 4:5.

'Walking in the name of its god' clearly stands for worship that is profane, while 'walking in the name of Jehovah' stands for true worship. In Malachi,

From the rising of the sun and even to its setting, great is My name among the nations; and in every place incense is offered to My name, and a pure minchah, for great is My name among the nations. Malachi 1:11.

Here 'name' is not used to mean the name but the worship; and this worship is the essential nature of Jehovah or the Lord, from which He wills to be adored.

[6] In Moses,

The place which Jehovah your God chooses out of all the tribes to put His name there, and to make His name dwell there, to that place shall you bring all that I am commanding you. Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 14; 16:2, 6, 11.

Here also 'putting His name' and 'making His name dwell there' do not mean the name but the worship, and so Jehovah's or the Lord's essential nature from which He is to be worshipped. His nature consists in the good of love and the truth of faith, it being with those who are governed by such good and truth that Jehovah's name dwells. In Jeremiah,

Go to My place which is in Shiloh where I made My name dwell at first. Jeremiah 7:12.

Here similarly 'name' stands for worship, and so for doctrine concerning true faith. It may become clear to anyone that Jehovah does not dwell with somebody who merely knows and utters His name, for without any conception and recognition of His essential nature, and without any belief in it, the name by itself is a mere verbal expression. From this it is evident that the word 'name' means the nature of, and the knowledge of that nature.

[7] In Moses,

At that time Jehovah set apart the tribe of Levi to serve Him and to bless in His name. Deuteronomy 10:8.

Here 'blessing in the name of Jehovah' is doing so not by means of the name but by means of those qualities associated with the name of Jehovah which have been referred to above. In Jeremiah,

This is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our righteousness. Jeremiah 23:6.

Here 'name' stands for the righteousness which is the essential nature of the Lord, to whom these words refer. In Isaiah,

Jehovah called Me from the womb, from My mother's body 2 He made mention of My name. Isaiah 49:1.

These words too refer to the Lord. 'Making mention of His name' is informing about His essential nature.

[8] That 'name' means the nature of is plainer still in John's Revelation,

You have a few names in Sardis, who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who conquers will be clad in white garments and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; and I will confess his name before My father and before the angels. He who conquers I will write on him the name of God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. Revelation 3:4-5, 12.

Here it is quite clear that name does not mean the name but the essential nature of him who conquers. 'The name in the book of life' is nothing else. Nor is 'confessing his name before My Father', and 'writing on him the name of God and of the city, and a new name'. The same applies elsewhere to the names which are said to have been written in the book of life and in heaven, Revelation 13:8; 17:8; Luke 10:20.

[9] In heaven one person is always recognized from another by his nature or character, which is expressed in the sense of the letter as 'the name', as may also become clear to anyone from the fact that on earth the mention of anybody's name presents to another a mental picture of his nature or character by which he is known and distinguished from anyone else. In the next life those mental pictures survive but names perish. More especially is this so with angels. This is why in the internal sense 'name' means the essential nature of, or the knowledge of that nature. In the same book,

On the head of Him who sat on the white horse were many jewels. He has a name written which no one knows but He Himself. He was clad in a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. Revelation 19:12-13.

Here it is stated openly that His 'name' is The Word of God, thus the essential nature of Him who sat on the white horse.

[10] The fact that the name of Jehovah means the knowledge of His nature, that is to say, it means every good of love and every truth of faith, is quite clear from these words spoken by the Lord,

Righteous Father, I have known You, and these too have known that You have sent Me, for I made known to them Your name, and I will make it known that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:25-26.

[11] And that the name of God or of the Lord means the whole doctrine of faith concerning love and charity, which is meant by 'believing in His name', is clear from these words in the same gospel,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name. John 1:12.

If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, keep My commandments. John 14:13-15.

Whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give it to you. These things I command you, that you love one another. John 15:16-17.

In Matthew,

Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20.

Here 'being gathered together in the Lord's name' means those who possess the doctrine of faith concerning love and charity, and so who are governed by love and charity.

[12] In the same gospel,

You will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. Matthew 10:22; 24:9-10; Mark 13:13.

Here 'for My name's sake' clearly stands for doctrine's sake. The fact that a name itself is of no avail, only that which the name embodies, that is to say, everything constituting charity and faith, is quite clear from the following in Matthew,

Did we not prophesy through Your name, and cast out demons through Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name? And then I will confess to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matthew 7:22-23.

From this it is clear that people who make worship consist in a name, as Jews do in the name of Jehovah and Christians in the name of the Lord, are not on that account worthier than any others, for the name is of no avail. But they are worthier when their characters conform to what He has commanded; and this is the meaning of 'believing in His name'. And when they say that there is salvation in no other name than the Lord's they mean in no other doctrine, that is, in none other than mutual love, which is the true doctrine of faith, and so in none other than the Lord since all love comes from Him alone, and all faith from that love.

Footnotes:

1. literally, faces

2. literally, viscera

  
/ 10837  
  

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