1. CONCERNING THE WHITE HORSE as described in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 19.

In the writings of John, in the Book of Revelation, the following is a description of the Word in its spiritual sense, in other words the sense contained within it, or its 'inner meaning:'

I saw heaven standing open, and behold, a White Horse. And the one sitting on the White Horse was called faithful and true, judging and fighting in righteousness. His eyes were a flame of fire, and on His head were many jewels. He had a name inscribed that no one knew but He Himself. And He was dressed in a garment dyed with blood, and His name is called the Word of God. The armies that followed Him in heaven were on white horses, they themselves dressed in clean white linen. On His garment and on His thigh was written a name, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Revelation 19:11-14, 16.

No one can have a clear idea of what each of the details in this description entails except by way of its 'inner meaning." It is obvious that each particular detail must represent or signify something, as follows:

Heaven which was standing open; a horse which was white; the one seated on it was called faithful and true, ¹ judging and fighting in righteousness; His eyes a flame of fire; and many jewels ² on His head; having a name inscribed that no one knew but He Himself; and dressed in a garment dyed with blood; and the armies that followed Him in heaven were on white horses, they themselves dressed in clean white linen; ³ on His garment and on His thigh He has written a name.

It is stated plainly that the one seated on the White Horse is the Word, and He is the Lord who is the Word, for what is said is that His name is called The Word of God; and then, He has written on His garment and on His thigh the title King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

From the interpretation of each individual phrase or statement it is clear that all this serves to describe the spiritual sense or internal meaning of the Word. The phrase heaven which was standing open' represents and signifies that the inner meaning of the Word is seen by those in heaven, and consequently also by those on earth for whom heaven stands open. 'A horse which was white' represents and signifies an understanding of the Word as regards its inner meanings. ⁴ That the 'white horse' means what I have said will be clear from what follows.

It is clear that 'the one seated on it' means the Lord in His capacity as the Word, and thus means the Word itself, for it is stated that 'His name is called the Word of God;' and he is called 'faithful' and 'judging in righteousness' because of His goodness; and 'true' and 'fighting in righteousness' because of His truth, for the Lord Himself is righteousness. 'His eyes a flame of fire' signify divine truth radiating from the divine good flowing from His divine love. The 'many jewels on His head' signify all the good and true properties of faith. Having a 'name written which no one knew other than He Himself' signifies that no one sees what is the nature of the Word in its inner meaning except Himself, and one to whom He reveals it.

Dressed in a garment dyed with blood' signifies the violence done to the Word in its literal meaning. ⁵ 'The armies in heaven which followed Him on white horses' signifies those who understand the Word as regards its inner meanings.' 'Those dressed in clean white linen' signifies the same people who are endued with truth arising from what is good. 'On His garment and on His thigh a name written ⁶ ' signifies what is true and what is good and their specific qualities.

From all these verses, and from those which come before and after them, it is clear that they serve to foretell that the spiritual or internal sense of the Word will be laid open at around the final time of the Church; and what will happen at that time is also described there, Revelation 19:17-21. There is no need to show here the things which are signified by these words since they are individually shown in Arcana Caelestia. The Lord is the Word because He is the divine truth: 2533, 2803, 2894, 5272, 8535; ⁷ the Word is the divine truth: 4692, 5075, 9987; He is proclaimed to be sitting on a horse judging and fighting in righteousness because the Lord is righteousness. The Lord is proclaimed to be righteousness from the fact that by His own power He has saved the human race: 1813, 2025-2027, 9715, 9809, 10019, 10152. Righteousness is a merit belonging to the Lord alone: 9715, 9979. 'His eyes a flame of fire' signify divine truth radiating from the divine good flowing from His divine love, because 'eyes' signify the understanding and truth of faith: 2701, 4403-4421, 4523-4534, 6923, 9051, 10569; and 'a flame of fire' signifies the good of love: 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832; the 'jewels on His head' ⁸ signify all the good and true properties of faith: 114, 3858, 6335, 6640, 9863, 9865, 9868, 9873, 9905.

Having a name written which no one knew other than He Himself' signifies that no one sees what is the nature of the Word in its inner meaning except Himself, and one to whom He reveals it, because a name signifies the nature of a thing: 144-145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3237, 3421, 6674, 9310. 'Dressed in a garment dyed with blood' signifies the violence done to the Word in its literal meaning because a garment' signifies truth, which clothes what is good: 1073, 2576, 5248, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536; especially truth in its outermost form, and thus the Word in its literal meaning: 5248, 6918, 9158, 9212; and because 'blood' signifies violence done to truth by what is false: 374, 1005, 4735, 5476, 9127. 'The armies in heaven which followed Him on white horses' signify those who understand the Word as regards its inner meanings because 'armies' signify those who are equipped with the truth and goodness of heaven and the Church: 3448, 7236, 7988, 8019; and the horse' signifies understanding: 3217, 5321, 6125, 6400, 6534, 7024, 8146, 8381; and 'white' means the truth which the light of heaven has within itself thus, the inner truth: 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319.

Those dressed in clean white linen' signify the same people who are endued with truth arising from what is good because 'linen' or 'a garment of linen' signifies truth from a heavenly sourcewhich is truth from what is good: 5319, 9469. 'On His garment and on His thigh a name written' signifies what is true and what is good, and their specific qualities, because 'a garment' signifies truth, and 'a name' signifies its nature, as above, and 'thigh' signifies the good properties of love: 3021, 4277, 4280, 9961, 10488. 'King of Kings and Lord of Lords' is the Lord as regards divine truth and divine good; the Lord is called King by virtue of His divine truth: 3009, 5068, 6148, and He is called Lord by virtue of His divine good: 4973, 9167, 9194.

From all this it is clear what the nature of the Word is in its spiritual or inner sense, and that there is no single word within it which does not have some spiritual meaning relating to heaven and the Church.

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7835. 'Then he and his neighbour immediately next to his house shall take one' means being joined to the nearest good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'taking' - that is, taking along with one's immediate neighbour, a single animal - as being joined together; and from the meaning of 'neighbour next to his house' as the nearest good of truth. The meaning of 'immediate neighbour' as the nearest is self-evident; and for the meaning of 'house' as good, see above in 7833. The term 'good of truth' is used because those belonging to the spiritual Church are the subject, and with them good is the good of truth, the good of truth being truth present in will and action. For when the truth of faith is received together with charitable affection it is implanted in the inward parts of the mind. And when that truth presents itself again, the affection to which that truth has been linked presents itself too, appearing in the form of good. So it is then that good in that Church is the good of truth, which is also called spiritual good.

4599. 'And pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder' means more interior aspects of this. This is clear from the meaning of 'pitching a tent' as an advance in holiness, in this case towards more interior aspects - 'a tent' meaning holiness, see 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312, 4391; from the meaning of 'beyond the tower' as into more interior aspects, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'Eder' as the nature of the state, that is to say, the nature of the advance made in holiness towards more interior aspects. This tower possessed that meaning from of old, but because there is no further reference to it in the Word apart from Joshua 15:21, this cannot be proved from parallel passages in the way other names can. The reason 'beyond the tower' means towards more interior aspects is that things which are more interior are expressed as objects that are lofty and high - as mountains, hills, towers, housetops, and the like. The reason for this is that minds which form their ideas from natural objects in the world as perceived through the external senses see things of an interior nature as objects that are higher than others, 2148.

[2] That 'towers' means interior things may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill, ¹ which he surrounded [with an enclosure] and gathered out the stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it. Isaiah 5:1-2.

'A vineyard' stands for the spiritual Church, 'the choicest vine' for spiritual good, 'he built a tower in the midst of it' for the interior aspects of truth. Similarly also in the Lord's parable in Matthew,

A householder planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants. Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1.

[3] In Ezekiel,

The sons of Arvad, and your army, were on your walls round about, and Gammadim were in your towers; they hung their shields on your walls round about; they made perfect your beauty. Ezekiel 27:11.

This refers to Tyre, by which are meant cognitions of good and truth, or people who possess these cognitions. 'Gammadim in its tower' stands for cognitions of interior truth.

[4] In Micah,

Jehovah will reign over them in Mount Zion, from now on and for ever. And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you will it come, and the former kingdom will return, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. Micah 4:7-8.

This describes the Lord's celestial kingdom. 'Mount Zion' describes the inmost part of it, which is love to the Lord; 'hill of the daughter of Zion' its immediate derivative, which is mutual love, called in the spiritual sense charity towards the neighbour; 'tower of the flock' describes its interior truths of good. The existence of a spiritual-celestial kingdom from this is meant by 'the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem'. In David,

Mount Zion will be glad, the daughters of Judah will be exultant, because of Your judgements. Encompass Zion, and go around her; count up her towers. Psalms 48:11-12.

Here 'towers' stands for interior truths which defend the things that constitute love and charity.

[5] In Luke,

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For who of you, when he wishes to build a tower, does not first sit down and work out the cost, whether he has the means to complete it? Or what king going to encounter another king in war does not first sit down and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? So every one of you who does not renounce all that is his own cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:27-28, 31, 33.

Anyone who is not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word can only suppose that here the Lord was using comparisons, and that the expressions 'building a tower' and 'going to war' were not used to mean anything more. He does not know that each comparison in the Word has a spiritual meaning, and is representative, and that 'building a tower' means acquiring interior truths to oneself and 'going to war' fighting from those truths. For the subject in this quotation is the temptations undergone by those who belong to the Church and are here called the Lord's disciples. Those temptations are meant by 'his own cross' which each of them has to carry; and the truth that they do not in any way conquer of themselves and from what is their own but from the Lord is meant by 'he who does not renounce all that is his own cannot be My disciple'. This is how these expressions hang together; but if the references to a tower and to war are understood to be simply comparisons without a more interior sense they do not hang together. From this one may see what light flows from the internal sense.

[6] The interiors of those who are governed by self-love and love of the world, and so the falsities from which they fight and from which they reinforce their kind of religion, are also expressed as 'towers' in the contrary sense, as in Isaiah,

The height of men (vir) will be brought low, and Jehovah alone will be exalted on that day, for the day of Jehovah Zebaoth will be against everyone that is lofty and high, and against everyone that is lifted up, and he will be humbled; and against all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and against all the oaks of Bashan, and against all high mountains, and against all hills that are lifted up, and against every lofty tower and against every fortified wall. Isaiah 2:11-18.

Here the interior and exterior aspects of those loves are described by cedars, oaks, mountains, hills, a tower, and a wall - interior falsities being described by 'a tower'. Thus interior things are again described by objects that are 'high'. The difference however is this: People who are governed by these - by evils and falsities - believe that they themselves are high and above others, whereas those who are governed by goods and truths believe that they themselves are least and below others, Matthew 20:26-27; Mark 10:44. All the same, goods and truths are described as things that are 'high' because in heaven they are closer to the Most High, that is, to the Lord. Furthermore 'towers' is used in the Word in reference to truths, but 'mountains' to forms of good.

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