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)

6048. 'And says, What are your works?' means and to know your forms of good. This is clear from meaning of 'works' as forms of good. The reason why 'works' means forms of good is that works originate in the will, and what originates in the will is a form of good or a form of evil, whereas what originates in the understanding, such as spoken words, is a form of truth or a form of falsity. The 'works' done by Jacob's sons, and also by their forefathers, consisted in tending livestock, thus in acting as shepherds; and by these 'works' too forms of good are meant, in particular forms of the good of truth. This meaning has its origin in correspondences, for lambs, sheep, kids, and she-goats, which are members of the flock, correspond to forms of the good of charity; and so do young bulls and oxen, which are members of the herd. The fact that these animals have this correspondence is clear from the consideration that when angels, moved by a heavenly affection, talk to one another about forms of the good of charity, flocks and herds are seen in some places in the world of spirits and also in the first or lowest heaven. Flocks are seen when they talk about interior forms of the good of charity, but herds when they talk about exterior forms, see 3218-3220. This explains why in the Word such deeds are meant by 'flocks and herds'.

[2] In general it should be recognized that every spiritual meaning contained in the Word has its origin in representatives in the next life, and those representatives in correspondences. The reason for this is that the natural world derives its existence from the spiritual world in the way an effect does from its cause, to the end that the spiritual world may flow into the natural world and act as the causes behind things there. In this way everything there is maintained in its proper path and order. For the whole natural creation is a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, that is, of the spiritual and celestial realities there, see 2758, 2987-3002, 4939, 5116.