Apocalypse Revealed #312
312. So I looked, and behold, a black horse. This symbolizes an understanding of the Word among them extinguished as to truth, thus extinguished as regards their doctrine.
We showed above that a horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word. Blackness symbolizes a lack of truth, thus falsity, because blackness is the opposite of whiteness, and whiteness is predicated of truth (nos. 167, 231, 232). Whiteness is also the result of light, while blackness results from darkness, thus from the absence of light, and light means truth.
In the spiritual world, however, blackness has a double origin, one resulting from the absence of a flaming light, the light possessed by inhabitants of the Lord's celestial kingdom, and the other resulting from the absence of a bright white light, the light possessed by inhabitants of the Lord's spiritual kingdom. The first kind of blackness has the same symbolism as a thick darkness, the second the same as a gloomy darkness. The two kinds differ from each other. One is dreadful, the other not so dreadful. It is the same with the falsities that they symbolize. The spirits who appear in a terrible darkness are called devils. They also abhor truth as owls do the light of the sun. In contrast, the spirits who appear in a darkness that is not so dreadful are called satanic spirits. They do not abhor truth, though they are still averse to it, and therefore they may be likened to barn owls, but the first to eagle owls.
The fact that blackness in the Word is predicated of falsity can be seen from the following passages:
Her Nazirites were brighter than snow... Darkened more than blackness is their form. (Lamentations 4:7-8)
...on the prophets... the day shall grow black. (Micah 3:6)
On the day that you go down to hell..., I will make Lebanon dark over you... (Ezekiel 31:15)
...the sun became as black as sackcloth of goat's hair... (Revelation 6:12)
The sun, moon and stars are darkened in Jeremiah 4:27-28, Ezekiel 32:7, Joel 2:10; 3:15, and elsewhere.
It was the third living creature that displayed the black horse because it had a face like a human being, which symbolized the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its wisdom (no. 243). Consequently it was this living creature that displayed the fact that there was no longer any truth of wisdom in the people who were third in order.
Revelation 6
1
I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, "Come and see!"
2
And behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.
3
When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come!"
4
Another came forth, a red horse. To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. There was given to him a great sword.
5
When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come and see!" And behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a balance in his hand.
6
I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don't damage the oil and the wine!"
7
When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature saying, "Come and see!"
8
And behold, a pale horse, and he who sat on it, his name was Death. Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him.
9
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had.
10
They cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
11
A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.
12
I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood.
13
The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind.
14
The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15
The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.
16
They told the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
17
for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?"
