1. CONCERNING THE WHITE HORSE as described in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 19.

In the writings of John, in the Book of Revelation, the following is a description of the Word in its spiritual sense, in other words the sense contained within it, or its 'inner meaning:'

I saw heaven standing open, and behold, a White Horse. And the one sitting on the White Horse was called faithful and true, judging and fighting in righteousness. His eyes were a flame of fire, and on His head were many jewels. He had a name inscribed that no one knew but He Himself. And He was dressed in a garment dyed with blood, and His name is called the Word of God. The armies that followed Him in heaven were on white horses, they themselves dressed in clean white linen. On His garment and on His thigh was written a name, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Revelation 19:11-14, 16.

No one can have a clear idea of what each of the details in this description entails except by way of its 'inner meaning." It is obvious that each particular detail must represent or signify something, as follows:

Heaven which was standing open; a horse which was white; the one seated on it was called faithful and true, ¹ judging and fighting in righteousness; His eyes a flame of fire; and many jewels ² on His head; having a name inscribed that no one knew but He Himself; and dressed in a garment dyed with blood; and the armies that followed Him in heaven were on white horses, they themselves dressed in clean white linen; ³ on His garment and on His thigh He has written a name.

It is stated plainly that the one seated on the White Horse is the Word, and He is the Lord who is the Word, for what is said is that His name is called The Word of God; and then, He has written on His garment and on His thigh the title King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

From the interpretation of each individual phrase or statement it is clear that all this serves to describe the spiritual sense or internal meaning of the Word. The phrase heaven which was standing open' represents and signifies that the inner meaning of the Word is seen by those in heaven, and consequently also by those on earth for whom heaven stands open. 'A horse which was white' represents and signifies an understanding of the Word as regards its inner meanings. ⁴ That the 'white horse' means what I have said will be clear from what follows.

It is clear that 'the one seated on it' means the Lord in His capacity as the Word, and thus means the Word itself, for it is stated that 'His name is called the Word of God;' and he is called 'faithful' and 'judging in righteousness' because of His goodness; and 'true' and 'fighting in righteousness' because of His truth, for the Lord Himself is righteousness. 'His eyes a flame of fire' signify divine truth radiating from the divine good flowing from His divine love. The 'many jewels on His head' signify all the good and true properties of faith. Having a 'name written which no one knew other than He Himself' signifies that no one sees what is the nature of the Word in its inner meaning except Himself, and one to whom He reveals it.

Dressed in a garment dyed with blood' signifies the violence done to the Word in its literal meaning. ⁵ 'The armies in heaven which followed Him on white horses' signifies those who understand the Word as regards its inner meanings.' 'Those dressed in clean white linen' signifies the same people who are endued with truth arising from what is good. 'On His garment and on His thigh a name written ⁶ ' signifies what is true and what is good and their specific qualities.

From all these verses, and from those which come before and after them, it is clear that they serve to foretell that the spiritual or internal sense of the Word will be laid open at around the final time of the Church; and what will happen at that time is also described there, Revelation 19:17-21. There is no need to show here the things which are signified by these words since they are individually shown in Arcana Caelestia. The Lord is the Word because He is the divine truth: 2533, 2803, 2894, 5272, 8535; ⁷ the Word is the divine truth: 4692, 5075, 9987; He is proclaimed to be sitting on a horse judging and fighting in righteousness because the Lord is righteousness. The Lord is proclaimed to be righteousness from the fact that by His own power He has saved the human race: 1813, 2025-2027, 9715, 9809, 10019, 10152. Righteousness is a merit belonging to the Lord alone: 9715, 9979. 'His eyes a flame of fire' signify divine truth radiating from the divine good flowing from His divine love, because 'eyes' signify the understanding and truth of faith: 2701, 4403-4421, 4523-4534, 6923, 9051, 10569; and 'a flame of fire' signifies the good of love: 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832; the 'jewels on His head' ⁸ signify all the good and true properties of faith: 114, 3858, 6335, 6640, 9863, 9865, 9868, 9873, 9905.

Having a name written which no one knew other than He Himself' signifies that no one sees what is the nature of the Word in its inner meaning except Himself, and one to whom He reveals it, because a name signifies the nature of a thing: 144-145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3237, 3421, 6674, 9310. 'Dressed in a garment dyed with blood' signifies the violence done to the Word in its literal meaning because a garment' signifies truth, which clothes what is good: 1073, 2576, 5248, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536; especially truth in its outermost form, and thus the Word in its literal meaning: 5248, 6918, 9158, 9212; and because 'blood' signifies violence done to truth by what is false: 374, 1005, 4735, 5476, 9127. 'The armies in heaven which followed Him on white horses' signify those who understand the Word as regards its inner meanings because 'armies' signify those who are equipped with the truth and goodness of heaven and the Church: 3448, 7236, 7988, 8019; and the horse' signifies understanding: 3217, 5321, 6125, 6400, 6534, 7024, 8146, 8381; and 'white' means the truth which the light of heaven has within itself thus, the inner truth: 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319.

Those dressed in clean white linen' signify the same people who are endued with truth arising from what is good because 'linen' or 'a garment of linen' signifies truth from a heavenly sourcewhich is truth from what is good: 5319, 9469. 'On His garment and on His thigh a name written' signifies what is true and what is good, and their specific qualities, because 'a garment' signifies truth, and 'a name' signifies its nature, as above, and 'thigh' signifies the good properties of love: 3021, 4277, 4280, 9961, 10488. 'King of Kings and Lord of Lords' is the Lord as regards divine truth and divine good; the Lord is called King by virtue of His divine truth: 3009, 5068, 6148, and He is called Lord by virtue of His divine good: 4973, 9167, 9194.

From all this it is clear what the nature of the Word is in its spiritual or inner sense, and that there is no single word within it which does not have some spiritual meaning relating to heaven and the Church.

Footnotes:

186. That thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. That this signifies the quality of their thought, in that they suppose themselves to be alive because they lead a moral life, when yet they are dead, is evident from the signification of name, as being quality of state (concerning which see above, n. 148); and from the signification of living, as being to have spiritual life (of which we shall speak presently), and from the signification of being dead, as being not to have that life, but only moral life without it. The reason why this is signified by being dead is, that life in the Word signifies the life of heaven in man, which also is there called life eternal, and death is called the life of hell, which life in the Word is called death, because it is a privation of the life of heaven. Here, therefore, by thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead, is signified to suppose themselves to have spiritual life, and thus to be saved, because their life is moral, when yet they are spiritually dead. But how this is to be understood is evident from what was said above (n. 182), concerning spiritual and moral life, namely, that moral life without spiritual life is the life of the love of self and of the world, but moral life from spiritual life is the life of love to the Lord and of love towards the neighbour, and that this latter life is the life of heaven, but the former life is what is called spiritual death; and this being understood, it may be known what is here meant by living and yet being dead.

[2] That to live, or to be alive, signifies spiritual life in man, and that to be dead signifies the deprivation of that life, and damnation, is evident from several passages in the Word; of which I will adduce the following. In Ezekiel:

"When I say unto the wicked, In dying ye shall die, and thou hast not admonished him, nor spoken to dissuade the wicked one from his evil way that he may be made alive, the wicked himself shall die in his iniquity. But if thou hast admonished the wicked, and he has not gone back from his wickedness and from his evil way, he shall die in his iniquity, yet hast thou delivered thy soul. Again, if thou hast admonished a righteous man that he sin no more, and he sinneth not, living he shall live, because he hath obeyed the admonition" (3:18-21).

By in dying to die, is here signified to perish in eternal death, which is damnation, for it is said of the wicked; and by in living to live, is denoted to enjoy life eternal, which is salvation, for it is said of those who perform the work of repentance, and of the righteous. In the same:

[3] "Thou hast profaned me with my people, to slay the souls that should not die, and to cause to live the souls that should not live, whilst ye lie to the people, to them that hear a lie" (13:19).

The subject here treated of is the falsification of truth, which is meant by its being said, "Thou hast profaned me with my people," and by "your lying to the people, to them that hear a lie." Here a lie signifies falsity, and what is falsified. To slay the souls that should not die, is to deprive them of life derived from truths; and to cause to live the souls that should not live is to persuade them that life eternal is from falsities. That this is here meant by causing to live is evident from the preceding verse.

[4] In David:

"Behold the eye of Jehovah is upon them that fear him, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine" (Psalms 33:18, 19).

Again:

"Thou has delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living" (Psalms 56:13).

In Jeremiah:

"Behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death" (21:8).

In John:

"Jesus said Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word hath eternal life, and shall not come into condemnation; but shall pass from death unto life" (5:24).

That in these passages death denotes damnation, and life salvation, is clear.

[5] Because death is damnation, it is also hell; therefore hell in the Word is commonly called death; as in Isaiah:

"Hell will not confess thee, nor will death praise thee; they that go down into the pit will not hope upon thy truth. The living, the living, he shall confess to thee" (38:18, 19).

Again:

"We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we have made a vision" (28:15).

In Hosea:

"I will redeem them from the hand of hell; I will liberate them from death. O death, I will be thy plague! O hell, I will be thy destruction!" (13:14).

In David:

"In death there is no remembrance of thee; in hell who shall confess thee?" (Psalms 6:5).

Again:

"The cords of death encompassed me, and the cords of hell" (18:4, 5).

Again:

"Like sheep they shall be laid in hell; death shall feed on them" (49:14).

Again:

"Jehovah, thou hast brought up my soul from hell; thou hast kept me alive" (30:3).

And in the Apocalypse:

"A pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed him" (6:8).

And in another place:

"Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire" (20:14).

[6] Because death signifies damnation and hell, the meaning of the following passages in Isaiah is evident:

"He will swallow up death to eternity; and the Lord Jehovih will wipe away tears from off all faces" (25:8).

Again:

"That he might give the wicked in their sepulchre, and the rich in their deaths" (53:9).

In David:

"Jehovah, thou liftest me up from the gates of death" (Psalms 9:13).

Again:

"Thou shalt not be afraid of the arrow that flieth by day, and of the death which wasteth at noon-day" (91:5, 6).

In John:

"If a man keep my word, he shall not see death to eternity" (8:51).

And in the Apocalypse:

"He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death" (2:11).

In another place:

"Many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter" (8:11).

Again:

"The second angel poured out his vial into the sea and it became as the blood of a dead man; whence every living soul died in the sea" (16:3).

From these passages it is evident that the dead signify those who are destitute of the life of heaven, consequently those who are in evils and thence in falsities.

[7] These are meant in the following passages; as in David:

"They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead" (Psalms 106:28).

Again:

"He hath made me to sit in darkness, as the dead of the world" (Psalms 143:3).

In Matthew:

One of the disciples said, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead" (8:21, 22).

On account of this signification of the dead, the sons of Aaron were not allowed to touch any dead body (Leviticus 21:2, 3, 11); nor the priests, the Levites (Ezekiel 44:25); nor the Nazarite (Numbers 6:6, 7); and if any one of the sons of Israel touched the dead, he was to be cleansed by the water of separation (Numbers 19:11 to the end).

[8] Because death signifies damnation and hell, hence, on the other hand, life signifies salvation and heaven; as in the following passages. In Matthew:

"Strait is [the gate], and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life" (7:14).

Again:

"It is good for thee to enter into life one-eyed, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the gehenna of fire" (18:9).

Again:

"If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments" (19:17).

In John:

"They that have done good shall go forth unto the resurrection of life" (5:29).

Hence it is that salvation is called "life eternal," as in Matthew 19:16, 29; 25:46; Mark 10:30, 31; Luke 10:25; 18:18, 30; John 3:14-16, 36; 17:2, 3; and other places. For the same reason heaven is called the land of the living; as in David:

"O Jehovah, thou art my confidence, my portion in the land of the living" (Psalms 142:5).

Again:

That thou mayest see "the good of Jehovah in the land of the living" (Psalms 27:13).

Again:

"O bless our God, ye peoples, who placeth our soul among the living" (Psalms 66:8, 9).

[9] That the Lord alone has life in Himself, and that every man has life from Him, the Lord teaches in the following passages. In John:

"As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself " (5:21, 26).

Again:

"Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he die, he shall live" (11:25, 26).

Again:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life" (14:6).

Again:

"I am the bread of life, which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world" (6:33, 35, 47, 48).

Hence it is that the Lord is called

Alive, and he that liveth (Apoc. 4:9, 10; 5:14; 7:2; 10:6);

as also is Jehovah in very many passages in the prophets.

[10] And because the Lord is life, therefore all have life from Him; this He also teaches in John:

"He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life" (John 3:36).

Again:

Jesus said, "I am come" that the sheep "may have life. I give unto them eternal life" (John 10:10, 28).

Again:

"He that believeth in me, though he die, he shall live" (John 11:25, 26).

Again:

"Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life" (5:40).

[11] The reason why life signifies the Lord, and hence salvation and heaven is, that the all of life is from one only Fountain, and the only Fountain of life is the Lord; angels and men are only forms recipient of life from Him. The life itself which proceeds from the Lord and which fills heaven and the world, is the life of His love, which appears in heaven as light; and because it is life, it enlightens the minds of angels and gives them understanding and wisdom. Hence it is that the Lord calls Himself not only the life, but also the light; as in John:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (1:1, 4-12).

Again:

"Jesus said, I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (8:12).

And in David:

O Jehovah "with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light" (Psalms 36:9).

The light which is life from the Lord in heaven is there called Divine truth, because it affords light to the minds of those who are there, and hence shines before their eyes. This is why light in the Word signifies Divine truth, and intelligence and wisdom therefrom, and that the Lord Himself is called light; this, however, will be more fully evident from what is said and shown in the work, Heaven and Hell 126-140, and 275).

[12] The reason why the all of life is from the Lord is this: He is the Sun of the angelic heaven, and the light of that Sun is Divine truth, and the heat of it is Divine good; each is life; this is the origin of all life in heaven and in the world. The Spiritual which flows into nature, and imparts life to it, is from no other source; but then it imparts life according to reception (concerning this circumstance, see the work, Heaven and Hell 116-125). From these considerations it is now clear why the Lord calls Himself the Life, and why those are said to have life, and to live, who receive light, which is Divine truth, from the Lord, and why those are said not to live, but to be dead, who do not receive it. That there is one only Fountain of life, and that the Lord is that Fountain, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 9); and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 278).

9952. 'And with these you shall clothe Aaron your brother' means such a state of Divine Good in the spiritual kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'to clothe' as to bring about the state of whatever reality is represented by garments, in this instance the state of Divine Truth in the spiritual kingdom. For 'Aaron' represents the Lord in respect of Divine Good, and so also Divine Good that comes from the Lord, dealt with in 9806, and 'his garments' the Lord's spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to His celestial kingdom, 9814. The meaning of 'to clothe' as to bring about the state which is represented by garments that are put on has its origin in representatives in the next life. Spirits there and angels all appear wearing garments, each wearing ones that accord with the state of the truth that governs him, thus each wearing ones that accord with his power of understanding that harmonizes with the power of will within it. The reason why this should be so is that a person's understanding serves to clothe his will, the understanding being formed from truths, and the will from forms of good, and that good is what is clothed, 5248. So it is that in the Word truths are meant by 'garments', see 165, 1073, 4545, 4763, 5954, 6378, 6914, 6917, 9093, 9814, and that this has its origin in representatives in the next life, 9212, 9216, 9814.