377. Verses 7-8. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a pale horse; and he that sat upon him his name was Death, and hell followed with him. And there was given unto them power over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and with death, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

7. "And when he had opened the fourth seal," signifies prediction still further manifested (n. 378); "I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying," signifies out of the inmost heaven from the Lord. n. 379); "Come and see," signifies attention and perception (n. 380).

8. "And I saw, and behold a pale horse," signifies the understanding of the Word then become nought in consequence of evils of life and then of falsities therefrom n. 381; "and he that sat upon him," signifies the Word (n. 382); "his name was Death, and hell followed with him," signifies eternal damnation (n. 383); "and there was given unto them power over the fourth part of the earth, to kill," signifies the loss of every good and thence of every truth from the Word, and in consequence, in the doctrine of their church from the Word n. 384; "with sword," signifies by falsity (n. 385); "and with famine," signifies by the loss, lack, and ignorance of the knowledges of truth and good (n. 386); "and with death," signifies the consequent extinction of spiritual life (n. 387); "and by the wild beasts of the earth," signifies the evils of life or lusts and falsities therefrom springing from the love of self and of the world, which devastate all things of the church with man n. 388.

93. This state of the celestial man who has been granted the serenity of peace, who has been recreated by the rain, and freed from the slavery of evil and falsity, the Lord describes through Ezekiel as follows,

I will make with them a covenant of peace and I will banish the evil wild animal from the land, and they will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods, and I will give them and the places around My hill a blessing, and I will cause the rain to descend in its season. They will be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field will give its fruit, and the earth will give its increase, and they will be there with confidence on their land, and they will know that I am Jehovah, that I will break the bars of their yoke, and I will free them from the hand of those who enslave them. You are My flock, the flock of My pasture. You are man, I am your God. Ezekiel 34:25-27, 31.

And through Hosea He describes the attainment of this on the third day, which has the same meaning in the Word as the seventh,

He will revive us after two days, on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him. And we shall know, and we shall press on to know Jehovah. Ready as the dawn is His going forth, and He will come to us like the rain, like the latter rain that waters the earth. Hosea 6:2-3.

And through Ezekiel, when the Ancient Church is the subject, the attainment of that state is compared to the seed of the field,

I gave you to be like the seed of the field; and you grew up and became tall and reached full beauty. Ezekiel 16:7.

It is also compared to

The shoot of plantings, and the work of the hands of Jehovah God. Isaiah 60:11.