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.

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

10694. 'And they were afraid to approach him' means that they could not bear an outward form of the Church, worship, and the Word such as this. This is clear from the meaning of 'being afraid to approach' as not being able to bear something, for those who cannot bear interior things are afraid to approach them; and from the representation of 'Moses' as the outward form that the Word, the Church, and worship take, containing what is inward, dealt with in 10563, 10571, 10607, 10614. The situation in all this is that those whose interest lies solely in things of the Church, worship, and the Word on an outward level devoid of what is inward cannot bear interior things. The reason for this is that those whose interest lies in outward things devoid of what is inward are ruled by selfish and worldly love, and consequently see by an inferior light, called natural illumination. But those whose interest lies in things of the Church, worship, and the Word on an inward level as well as those on an outward one are governed by love towards the neighbour and love to the Lord, and consequently see by the light of heaven. And since the two kinds of love are opposites, and consequently the two kinds of light are as well, one cannot bear the other. For when heavenly love, that is, love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, flows into earthly loves, which are self-love and love of the world, it induces feelings of agony like the throes of death; and when heavenly light flows into worldly light, it induces thick darkness and consequently stupidity. So it is that an outward form devoid of inward content cannot bear any outward form when it does have an inner content. Since the Jewish nation was like this they could not bear to hear about the Lord, or about love and faith in Him, which are the interior things of the Word, the Church, and worship. These then are the things which are meant when it says that the children of Israel were afraid to approach Moses because the skin of his face gleamed. What it is that 'the skin of Moses' face' means, see above in 10691.