The Bible

 

Revelation 6

Study

   

1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #369

Study this Passage

  
/ 1232  
  

369. (Verse 5) And when he had opened the third seal. That this signifies prediction concerning a further succeeding state with those who belong to the church where the Word is, is manifest from what has been said above (n. 351, 352, 361); for the subject treated of in this and the following chapter is the state of the Christian Church, or the church where the Word is, from its beginning to its end, or from the time of the Lord's coming even to the Last Judgment. For the new church, which is called the Christian Church, [and which] was begun by the Lord when He was in the world, and afterwards extended, has decreased successively down to the present time, which is its last time, in which judgment takes place. The predictions concerning these successive states of the church are here manifested as from a book, by various representatives; but it is to be observed, that such predictions were not seen and read in a book, after its seals were opened, but were manifested through the heavens from the Lord, before the angels of the inmost heaven; and were represented in the ultimates of heaven by such things as are related in this chapter, namely, by horses of various colours, and afterwards by earthquakes, darkenings of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars to the earth.

[2] These, however, were appearances before the angels of the ultimate heaven, signifying such things as were heard and perceived in the inmost heaven, where there were no such appearances; for whatever is heard, thought, and perceived in the inmost heaven from the Lord, when it descends through the middle heaven to the last, is turned into such appearances; thus are the mysteries of Divine Wisdom promulgated before the angels of the ultimate heaven. Those there, who are intelligent, perceive these mysteries from correspondences; but the lowest of them do not perceive, but only know, that mysteries are therein, nor do they inquire further; John was with the latter when in spirit or in vision. These things are mentioned that it may be known how the Word was written, namely, from such things as were seen and heard in the ultimates of heaven, thus from pure correspondences and representatives, in each of which lie concealed innumerable and ineffable mysteries of Divine Wisdom.

  
/ 1232  
  

Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Teachings #246

Study this Passage

  
/ 325  
  

246. From Secrets of Heaven

The church takes a particular form where the Word exists and the Lord is known by means of it, and therefore where divine truths have been revealed: 3857, 10761. Still, though, this does not mean that people are part of the church by merely being born where the Word exists and the Lord is known; people are part of the church only if they are being regenerated by the Lord by means of truths from the Word-that is, they are living caring lives: 6637, 10143, 10153, 10578, 10645, 10829. People who are of the church-that is, people who have the church within themselves-are drawn to the truth for its own sake; that is, they love what is true because it is true. They also search the Word to find out whether the teachings of the church in which they were born are true: 5432, 6047. Otherwise everyone's religion could be declared true merely because someone else said so or because it was the religion of the person's native soil: 6047.

[5] Every church begins with a focus on caring, but in the course of time strays from it (494, 501, 1327, 3773, 4689), and turns instead toward falsities born of evil and eventually to evils themselves (1834, 1835, 2910, 4683, 4689). A comparison of the rise and fall of a church with the infancy and old age of an individual (10134) and also with sunrise and sunset (1837). A discussion of the successive states of the Christian church all the way its last, including an explanation of the Lord's predictions in the twenty-fourth of Matthew, from beginning end, about the close of the age his Coming: 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, 3897-3901, 4057-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424, 4635-4638, 4807-4810, 4954-4959, 5063-5071. The Christian church is now at its last days, because it has lost its faith as a result of losing its caring: 3489, 4689. The "Last Judgment" is the last time of a church: 2118, 3353, 4057, 4333, 4535. On the final devastation of the church: 407-411. The "close of the age" and the "Coming of the Lord" is the end of an old church and the beginning of a new one: 2243, 4535, 10622. Profound truths are revealed as an old church is undergoing its final devastation, for the service of the new church that is then being raised up: 3398, 3786. On the raising up of a church among non-Christians: 1366, 2986, 4747, 9256.

  
/ 325  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.