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.

(Referências: Apocalypse Explained 315; Apocalypse Revealed 262-263, 301, 306, 314, 316, 320, 322-323)

2121. The Last Judgement is now imminent, but this is not so clear on earth and within the Church as it is in the next life, to which place all souls go and flock together. At the present time the world of spirits is full of evil genii and evil spirits drawn for the most part from the Christian world. Among them nothing but forms of hatred, revenge, cruelty, disgusting behaviour, and also scheming devices prevail. This is the situation not only in the world of spirits where souls recently arrived from the world first gather, but also in the interior sphere of that world where those people are who, as regards their intentions and ends in view, have been interiorly evil. This interior sphere is at the present time so full to capacity that I have wondered that so vast a number could ever exist. For all are not cast down into the hells instantly, since the laws of order ensure that every such person shall return to the life that was his during his lifetime, and from that point be taken down step by step into hell. The Lord casts no one down into hell, but everyone does so to himself. Consequently those worlds of spirits are completely full to overflowing - with the vast number of such souls gathering and remaining there for a time. Because of them souls coming from the world are horribly oppressed. And in addition the spirits who are present with a person - for everyone is governed by the Lord by means of spirits and angels - are stirred more than ever before to afflict him with wicked suggestions, doing so to such an extent that the angels present with him can scarcely ward them off, but are compelled to flow into that person from further away. From this situation as it exists in the next life it is quite clear that the final period is imminent.