The Bible

 

Revelation 6 : The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

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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?

Commentary

 

The Meaning of the Book of Revelation: the Four Horsemen

By Jonathan S. Rose, Curtis Childs

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.

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

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This video is a product of the Swedenborg Foundation. Follow these links for further information and other videos: www.youtube.com/user/offTheLeftEye and www.swedenborg.com

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #359

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359. And he went forth conquering, and to conquer. That this signifies the removal of evils and thence of falsities at the end of life, and afterwards to eternity, is manifest from the signification of conquering in the Word, as denoting to conquer spiritually, which is, to subjugate evils and falsities; but because these are conquered only as they are removed by the Lord, hence by conquering is signified the removal of evils and falsities. (That evils and falsities are removed and not obliterated, or that man is withheld from them, and kept in good and truth by the Lord, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 166; and in the Arcana Coelestia 865, 868, 887, 894, 929, 1581, 2116, 2406, 4564, 8206, 8393, 8988, 9014, 9333-9338, 9446-9448, 9451, 10057, 10060.) It is said, He went forth conquering, and to conquer, and by, He went forth conquering, is signified the removal of evils and of the falsities thence to the end of life; and by to conquer, is signified, and afterwards to eternity; for he who combats against evils and falsities, and conquers them in the world even to the end of life, conquers them to eternity; for according to the character of a man at the end of his life in consequence of his past life, such he remains to eternity. The reason why to conquer signifies to conquer spiritually is, because the Word in its inmost is spiritual, or in its inmost treats of spiritual things, and not of earthly things; the earthly things which are in the sense of the letter, serve only its spiritual sense for a basis, in which spiritual things terminate and in which they are. The same is signified by conquering in the following passages:

[2] In the Revelation:

"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (2:7). "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death" (2:11). "He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations" (2:26). "I will make him that overcometh a pillar in the temple of God" (3:12). "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne" (3:21). "They overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of the testimony" (12:11). "He that overcometh shall be master of all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son" (21:7).

And in John:

Jesus [said] to the disciples, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but trust confidently, I have overcome the world (16:33).

By the Lord's overcoming the world, is meant that He subjugated all the hells; for the world here signifies all evils and falsities, which are from hell (as also in John 8:23; 12:31; 14:17, 19, 30; 15:18, 19; 16:8, 11; 17:9, 14, 16).

[3] The same is signified by conquering, where it is said of the Lord, in Isaiah:

"Who is this that cometh from Edom, sprinkled as to his garments from Bozrah? I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people not a man was with me; therefore have I trodden them in mine anger, and trampled them in my wrath; whence their victory is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have polluted all my raiment. But I have made their victory to descend into the earth" (63:1, 3, 6).

The Lord is here treated of, and His combats against the hells, and the subjugation of them. He Himself as to His Divine Human is here meant by "Edom, sprinkled as to his garments from Bozrah," and by His garments is signified the Word in the letter, for garments signify truths investing; and when said of the Lord, they signify Divine truths, consequently, the Word, for all Divine truths are therein (see above, n. 195). The Word in the sense of the letter is here also meant by garments, because therein are truths investing, for the sense of the letter serves for a garment to the spiritual sense; and because the Word, as to that sense, was torn asunder by the Jewish people, and thereby the Divine truth adulterated, it is said, "sprinkled as to his garments from Bozrah, their victory is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have polluted all my raiment." The garments from Bozrah signify the ultimate of the Word, which is the sense of its letter; their victory upon my garments, signifies the wrong interpretation and application of the truth by those who wrest the sense of the letter to favour their own loves, and the principles thence conceived, as was done by the Jews, and is also done at this day by many. This is meant by their victory upon my garments. That the Lord alone fought, is signified by, I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people there was not a man with me. The wine-press signifies combat from Divine truths against falsities, because in the wine-presses the wine is pressed out from the grapes; and by wine is signified Divine truth; hence to tread it alone, and of the people not a man was with me, signifies, alone, without the aid of any one. That the Lord subjugated the hells, is signified by, I have trodden them in mine anger, and trampled them in my wrath. It is said, I have trodden and I have trampled, because of the wine-press, and they signify that he destroyed; it is said anger and wrath, because they were destroyed, and they are attributed in the sense of the letter to the Lord, when, notwithstanding, there is nothing of anger and wrath in Him, but in those who are against Him; from the appearance it is so said here and in many places elsewhere. That they were subjugated, and condemned to hell, is signified by, I have made their victory to descend into the earth, into the earth denoting into damnation, thus into hell. That by the earth is also signified damnation, may be seen above (n. 304 at the end).

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