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.

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

253. It is by virtue of the heavenly and angelic proprium that in the Word the Church is called woman (mulier) as well as wife, and also bride, virgin, and daughter. That it is called 'a woman' may be seen in Revelation,

A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And the dragon pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. Revelation 12:1, 4-5, 13.

Here 'the woman' is used to mean the Church, 'the sun' to mean love, 'the moon' faith, 'the stars' truths of faith, as previously, which things evil spirits hate and persecute with all their might. That the Church is called 'a woman' as well as 'a wife' may be seen in Isaiah,

For your Maker is your Husband, ¹ Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth He is called. For Jehovah has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and a wife of youth. Isaiah 54:5-6.

Here 'Maker' and 'Husband' are plural nouns because the proprium is the subject as well as [the Church]. 'A woman forsaken' and 'a wife of youth' stand in particular for the Ancient Church and the Most Ancient. Similarly in Malachi,

Jehovah was a witness between you and the wife of your youth. Malachi 2:14.

That the Church is called 'wife' and 'bride' may be seen in Revelation,

I saw the holy city, [the new] Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb Revelation 21:2, 9.

And calling the Church a virgin and a daughter is a common occurrence in the Prophets.

脚注: