322. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill. This symbolizes the destruction of all good in the church.

Since death means the extinction of a person's spiritual life, and hell his damnation, it follows that to kill here means to destroy the life of a person's soul. The life of the soul is spiritual life.

A fourth of the earth means, symbolically, all good in the church. The earth is the church (no. 285).

That a fourth means all good can be known only by someone who knows what numbers in the Word symbolize. The numbers two and four are said in application to goods, and they symbolize those goods. And the numbers three and six are said in application to truths, and they symbolize those truths. Thus a fourth part, or simply a fourth, symbolizes all good, while a third part, or simply a third, symbolizes all truth. Therefore to kill a fourth of the earth here means, symbolically, to destroy all good in the church.

Clearly he who sat on the pale horse was not given the power to kill a fourth part of the habitable earth.

[2] In addition, the number four in the Word symbolizes the union of goodness and truth.

That the number four has these symbolic meanings can, indeed, be confirmed from the Word, as by the four living creatures or cherubim in Ezekiel 1,3, 10; by the four chariots between two mountains in Zechariah 6:1; by the four horns in Zechariah 1:18ff.; by the four horns of the altar in Exodus 27:1-8, and Revelation 9:13; and by the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, in Revelation 7:1 (cf. Matthew 24:31). It can be confirmed, too, by the "visiting the iniquity to the third and fourth generation" in Numbers 14:18, and by the third and fourth generation mentioned elsewhere. By these passages in the Word and more, I say, one can confirm that the number four is said in application to goods, and that they symbolize those goods, and also the conjunction of goodness and truth. But because it would take a lengthy explanation of these passages to make this apparent, it is enough to briefly state that this is the meaning that the number four and a fourth part have in heaven.

Title: Why All the Building Projects in Scripture?

Topic: First Coming

Summary: Longer than all the well loved stories in Scripture, there are lengthy description of the building of the tabernacle and the Temple. What does these stories mean, and why do they take up so much space?

Use the reference links below to follow along in the Bible as you watch.

References:
1 Kings 6:14-19; 7:1, 13-14
Exodus 28:3; 29:42; 35:25-26, 35; 36:1
Ezekiel 40; 42:2; 43:1-9
Haggai 1:7; 2:4, 7
Zechariah 2:1; 6:12-15; 7
John 2:17-19, 21
Romans 12:1-5
1 Corinthians 6:13; 12:12, 27
Ephesians 3:6; 4:10, 16; 5:29, 32
Colossians 1:18; 2:16
Revelation 21:14, 22-23
John 14:2
Psalms 127:1
1 Kings 8:27, 31; 9:4
Acts of the Apostles 7:47, 50
1 Chronicles 29:14