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)

393. (Verse 10) And they cried with a great voice. That this signifies their grief of mind, is plain from the signification of crying, as denoting vehement grief of mind, because this manifests itself by the sound of a cry in speech; wherefore cry also in the Word signifies grief. Every affection also, whether it be of grief or joy, expresses itself by sounds, and the ideas of the thought by the expressions in the sound; hence it is that sound in speech manifests both the quality and quantity of the affection, and, this more clearly in the spiritual world than in the natural world, for this reason, that it is not permitted there to produce other affections than those which properly belong to the mind; therefore any one that is wise, can there hear and perceive the affection of another, solely from his speech. (That with spirits and angels sounds pertain to the affection, and words to the ideas of the thought, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell; n. 241, and above, n. 323.) That to cry out, and a cry in the Word signifies grief, is plain from many passages there, of which I will adduce this only from Isaiah:

"Heshbon cried, and Elealeh: the voice was heard even to Jahaz: therefore the armed of Moab shall cry out; his soul shall be grievous unto him. My heart crieth over Moab; for the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab, even unto Eglaim the howling thereof" (15:4, 5, 8).

Because a cry signifies grief, it is hence an accepted saying, to cry unto God, when the mind is in a state of grief (as in Isaiah 19:20; 30:19; 65:19; Jeremiah 14:2, and elsewhere). That a cry in the Word is predicated of various affections, such as of interior lamentation, of beseeching, and supplication from anguish, of protesting, and indignation of confession; of supplication, and also of exultation, and others, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia, (n. 2240, 2821, 4779, 5016, 5018, 5027, 5323, 5365, 5870, 6801, 6802, 6862, 7119, 7142, 8179, 8353, 9202).

2240. That 'cry' is falsity, and 'sin' evil, becomes clear from the meaning of 'cry' in the Word. The meaning of 'cry' as falsity is not seen by anyone unless he knows the internal sense of the Word. The expression occurs several times in the Prophets, and when vastation and desolation are the subject in those places it is said that men 'wail and cry out', meaning that goods and truths have been laid waste. In those places a word is used by which in the internal sense falsity is described, as in Jeremiah,

The voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wail of the powerful ones of the flock, for Jehovah is laying waste their pasture. Jeremiah 25:36.

Here 'the cry of the shepherds' means that they are subject to falsity, which leads to vastation.

[2] In the same prophet,

Behold, waters rising out of the north, they will be a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it, and men will cry out and every inhabitant of the land will wail, on the day that is coming to lay waste. Jeremiah 47:2, 4.

This refers to the desolation of faith which is effected by falsities. 'A deluging stream' is falsity, as shown in Volume One, in 705, 790.

[3] In Zephaniah,

The voice of a cry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the second quarter, and a loud crash from the hills. And their wealth will be for plunder, and their houses for desolation. Zephaniah 1:10, 13.

Here also 'a cry' has reference to falsities that lay waste.

[4] In Isaiah,

On the road to Horonaim they will raise a cry of ruination, for the waters of Nimrim will be desolations, because the grass has withered, herbage is at an end, there are no plants. Isaiah 15:5-6; Jeremiah 48:3.

Here the desolation of faith is meant, and the climax is described by 'a cry'.

[5] In Jeremiah,

Judah mourned and her gates languished; the people were in black down to the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem went up. And their illustrious ones sent their lesser ones to the waters; they came to the pits, they found no water, they returned with their vessels empty. Jeremiah 14:2-3.

Here 'the cry of Jerusalem' stands for falsities, for their finding no water means lack of cognitions of truth - 'water' meaning such cognitions, as has been shown in Volume One, in 28, 680, 739.

[6] In Isaiah,

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; and no more will there be heard in it the voice of weeping nor the voice of a cry. Isaiah 65:19.

Here 'there will not be heard the voice of weeping' means that there will be no evil, 'nor the voice of a cry' that there will be no falsity. The majority of these details cannot be understood, nor thus what is meant by 'a cry', from the sense of the letter, but from the internal sense.

[7] In the same prophet,

Jehovah looked for judgement, but behold, rottenness; for righteousness, but behold, a cry. Isaiah 5:7.

This also is referring to the vastation of good and truth. Here, as also in various places in the Prophets, a kind of reciprocity is expressed, which is such that one finds evil in place of truth, meant by 'rottenness' instead of 'judgement', and falsity in place of good, meant by 'a cry' instead of 'righteousness'; for by 'judgement' is meant truth and by 'righteousness' good, as shown above in 2235.

[8] A similar reciprocity is expressed in Moses when Sodom and Gomorrah are referred to,

From the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah their grapes; they have grapes of poison and clusters of bitterness. Deuteronomy 32:32.

Here a similar manner of expression occurs, for 'the vine' is used in reference to truths and to falsities, 'fields and grapes' to goods and to evils, so that 'the vine of Sodom' means falsity derived from evil, and 'fields and grapes of Gomorrah' evils derived from falsities. For there are two kinds of falsity, dealt with in Volume One, in 1212, and so also there are two kinds of evil. Both kinds of falsity and evil are meant in this verse by 'the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and their sin has become extremely grave', as is clear from the fact that 'cry' is mentioned first and 'sin' second, and 'Sodom', which is evil springing from self-love, is referred to first, and 'Gomorrah', which is falsity derived from that evil, is referred to second.