IBhayibheli

 

Revelation 6 : The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Funda

1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Amazwana

 

The Meaning of the Book of Revelation: the Four Horsemen

Ngu Jonathan S. Rose, Curtis Childs

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.

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

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This video is a product of the Swedenborg Foundation. Follow these links for further information and other videos: www.youtube.com/user/offTheLeftEye and www.swedenborg.com

Okususelwe Emisebenzini kaSwedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #8620

Funda lesi Sigaba

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

8620. 'Write this [for] a memorial in the book' means for everlasting remembrance. This is clear from the meaning of 'a memorial' as that which should serve to remind or bring to remembrance, dealt with in 8066, 8067; and from the meaning of 'writing in the book' as to serve as an everlasting reminder. This is the meaning of 'writing in a book in Isaiah,

Come, write on a tablet among them, and express it in a book, 1 so that it may be for time to come, forever even to eternity. 2 Isaiah 30:8.

Since remembrance is meant by 'writing in a book', true believers are therefore said to have been 'written in the book of life'; for salvation is meant by God's remembering, and damnation by His not remembering or His forgetting. 'The book of life' is referred to in Daniel as follows,

The Ancient of Days [was seated], the judgement sat down, and the books were opened. Daniel 7:9-10.

In the same prophet,

At that time Your people will be rescued, every one who is found written in the book. Daniel 12:1.

In David,

Add 3 iniquity onto their iniquity, and do not let them reach Your righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, 4 and not be written with the righteous. Psalms 69:27-28.

In John,

He who conquers will be clad in white garments; I will not blot his name out of the book of life. Revelation 3:5.

In the same book,

None will enter the new Jerusalem except those who have been written in the Lamb's book of life. Revelation 21:26-27.

In the same book,

I saw that the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by the things written in the books, according to their works. They were judged, all of them according to their works. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:12-15.

See in addition Revelation 13:8; 17:8.

[2] Anyone who does not know from the internal sense what 'the book of life' is, and also what is meant by 'the books' whose contents are to be used to judge the dead, can have no other idea than this - that such books exist in heaven, and that they contain written down in them everyone's deeds, the memory of which is thus preserved. However, by the books mentioned in the places quoted above one should not understand books but the remembrance of all the deeds they had performed. For each person takes with him into the next life the memory of all his deeds, that is, the book of his life, 2474. But judging someone according to his deeds can be done by no one except the Lord alone. For all deeds emanate from final causes, 5 which lie inwardly and deeply hidden; and it is according to those causes that a person is judged. These are known to no one except the Lord, which is why judgement belongs to Him alone. This is also what the following words in John are used to mean,

I saw on the right hand 6 of Him sitting on the throne a book written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. After that I saw a strong angel crying out with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals? One of the elders said to me, Behold, the Lion which is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose its seals. And He took the book, and they sang a new song, You are worthy to take the book, and to open its seals. Revelation 5:1-9

From all this it becomes clear that 'a book written' is used to mean the presence of someone's deeds. The book referred to in David has a similar meaning,

In Your book they all were written, the days that were assigned. Psalms 139:16.

Imibhalo yaphansi:

1. literally, on a book (i.e.. on a scroll)

2. literally, into a future day, into perpetuity even into eternity

3. literally, Give

4. literally, lives

5. i.e. ends in view

6. i.e. a scroll roll Lying on the open palm of the hand

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

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