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.

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

9088. 'He shall give silver to its owner' means by means of truth with him whose good or truth in the natural has been perverted. This is clear from the meaning of 'silver' as truth, dealt with in 1551, 2048, 5658, 6112, 6914, 6917, 7999, and of 'giving silver' as redeeming by means of truth 2954; and from the meaning of 'its owner' - the owner of the ox or ass that fell into the pit - as the one whose good or truth in the natural has been perverted. For 'ox' is good in the natural, and 'ass' the truth there, 9086; and 'falling into a pit' means perverting them, 9086.

[2] The situation here is that if good or truth is perverted by falsity, then what has been perverted must be amended by means of truth, within the Church by means of truth from the Word, or from teachings drawn from the Word. The reason why it must be done this way is that truth teaches what evil is and what falsity is, and thereby a person sees and acknowledges them; and when he sees and acknowledges them amendment can be accomplished in him, since the Lord enters into those things with a person that the person knows, not into those he does not know. He does not therefore amend evil or falsity until the person has learned that it is evil or falsity. So it is that those who have to do the work of repentance must see and acknowledge their evils, and accordingly lead the life of truth, 8388-8392. The situation is similar with purification from the evils of self-love and love of the world. Purification from those loves cannot at all be accomplished except by means of the truths of faith, because these teach that all sinful desires spring from those loves. This explains why circumcision among the Israelite and Jewish nation was performed with a knife made of flint; for circumcision was a sign of purification from those foul loves, and the knife of flint with which it was performed was a sign of the truth of faith, 2799 (middle), 7044. By means of the truths of faith also a person is regenerated, 8635-8640, 8772. This was meant by the washings used in former times for ritual cleansings; and the same thing is also meant at the present day by the waters of baptism. For the waters are a sign of the truths of faith, by means of which evils are removed, 739, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 7307, 8568, and baptism is a sign of regeneration, 4255, 5120 (end).

[3] From all this it is evident how false the thinking is of those who believe that a person's evils or sins are wiped away as dirt on the body is washed away by water, that the interiors of those who were washed with water in former times according to the rules of the Church were cleansed, and also that people at the present day are saved through undergoing baptism. In actual fact the washings in former times did no more than represent the cleansing of people interiorly, and baptism is only the sign of regeneration. The waters there mean the truths of faith by means of which a person is cleansed and regenerated, for by means of those truths are evils removed. Baptism is for those within the Church, because they have the Word, where the truths of faith, the means by which a person is regenerated, are to be found.