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The White Horse #1

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1. IN the Book of Revelation, this is how John describes the Word 1 in regard to its spiritual or inner meaning 2 :

"I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And the one who sat on it was called faithful and true, and with justice he judges and makes war. His eyes were a flame of fire, and on his head were many gems. He had a name written that no one knew except him. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. The armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. He has on his robe and on his thigh a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords." (Revelation 19:11, 12, 13, 14, 16)

Only from the inner meaning can anyone know what these particular details involve. It is obvious that each one represents and means something — the heaven that is opened; the horse that is white; the one who sat on it; his judging and making war justly; his eyes being a flame of fire; his having many gems on his head; his having a name that no one knew except him; his being clothed with a robe dipped in blood; the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, following him on white horses; and his having a name written on his robe and on his thigh. It says plainly that this is the Word and that it is the Lord 3 who is the Word, since it says “his name is called the Word of God” and then says “he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

[2] If we interpret the individual words, we can see that this is describing the spiritual or inner meaning of the Word. Heaven being opened represents and means that the inner meaning of the Word is seen in heaven and therefore is seen by people in this world to whom heaven has been opened. 4 The horse that is white represents and means an understanding of the Word in regard to its deeper contents (the reason for this meaning of the white horse will become clear in what follows). Unquestionably, the one who sat on the horse is the Lord as the Word and is therefore the Word, since it says “his name is called the Word of God.” He is described as faithful and judging justly because he is good, and he is described as true and making war justly because he is true, since the Lord himself is justice. His eyes being a flame of fire means the divine truth that comes from the divine goodness of his divine love. His having many gems on his head means all the types of goodness and truth that belong to faith. His having a name written that no one knew except him means that what the Word is like in its inner meaning is seen by no one except him and those to whom he reveals it. His being clothed with a robe dipped in blood means the Word in its literal meaning, which has suffered violence. The armies in heaven that followed him on white horses mean the people who have an understanding of the deeper contents of the Word. Their being clothed in fine linen, white and clean, means that these people have an awareness of truth that comes from doing good. His having a name written on his robe and on his thigh means what is true and what is good, and what that truth and goodness are like.

[3] We can see from this and from what precedes and follows [this passage in the Word] that we have here a prediction that around the last time of the church 5 the spiritual or inner meaning of the Word will be opened. What will happen then is described in verses 17, 18, 19, 20, 21.

There is no need to demonstrate here that this is the meaning of these words, since the details have been explained in Secrets of Heaven 6 as follows:

The Lord is the Word because he is divine truth: 2533, 2813, 2894, 5272, 8535. The Word is divine truth: 4692, 5075, 9987. It says that the one who sat on the horse judges and makes war justly because the Lord is justice; the Lord is called “justice” because he saved the human race by his own power: 1813, 2025, 2026, 2027, 9715, 9809, 10019, 10152. Justice is a form of merit that belongs to the Lord alone: 9715, 9979. His eyes being a flame of fire means divine truth that comes from the divine goodness of his divine love, because eyes mean understanding and mean the truth that belongs to faith: 2701, 4403–4421, 4523–4534, 6923, 9051, 10569; and a flame of fire means the goodness of love: 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832. The gems on his head mean all the types of goodness and truth that belong to faith: 114, 3858, 6335, 6640, 9863, 9865, 9868, 9873, 9905. His having a name written that no one knew except him means that no one sees what the Word is like in its inner meaning except him and those to whom he reveals it, because the name means what the named thing is really like: 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3237, 3421, 6674, 9310. His being clothed with a robe dipped in blood means the Word in its literal meaning, which has suffered violence, because a garment means truth since truth clothes what is good: 1073, 2576, 5248, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536 (and this has particular reference to the most external forms of truth and therefore to the Word in its letter: 5248, 6918, 9158, 9212); and because blood means the violence inflicted on what is true by what is false: 374, 1005, 4735, 5476, 9127. The armies in heaven that followed him on white horses mean the people who have an understanding of the deeper contents of the Word, because armies mean people who have the understanding of truth and the love for doing good that are characteristic of heaven and the church: 3448, 7236, 7988, 8019; a horse means understanding: 3217, 5321, 6125, 6400, 6534, 6534, 7024, 8146, 8381; and white means truth that is in heaven’s light 7 and therefore means deeper truth: 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319. Their being clothed in fine linen, white and clean, means that these people have an awareness of truth that comes from doing good, because linen or fine linen means truth of a heavenly origin, which is truth arising from what is good: 5319, 9469. His having a name written on his robe and on his thigh means what is true and what is good, and what that truth and goodness are like, because a robe means what is true and a name means what that truth is like (as noted above), and the thigh means goodness that comes from love: 3021, 4277, 4280, 9961, 10488. King of Kings and Lord of Lords is the Lord in respect to divine truth and in respect to divine goodness. The Lord is called “King” because of his divine truth: 3009, 5068, 6148. He is called “Lord” because of his divine goodness: 4973, 9167, 9194.

We can see from this what the Word is like in its spiritual or inner meaning and that there is not a word in it that does not mean something spiritual, something about heaven and the church.

Voetnoten:

1. On Swedenborg’s use of the term “the Word” for biblical material, see note 7 in New Jerusalem 1, as well as his list of books contained in the Word in White Horse 16. [Editors]

2. On the use of the terms “spiritual meaning” and “inner meaning” in Swedenborg’s exegesis of the Bible, see White Horse 9, and also note 1 in New Jerusalem 107. See also the fuller description of inner meaning in the later part of note 7 in New Jerusalem 1. [Editors]

3. On Swedenborg’s use of the term “the Lord” to refer to Jesus Christ as God, see note 10 in New Jerusalem 1. [Editors]

4. In Swedenborg’s usage, the notion of heaven’s being open to an individual has two distinct but nonexclusive meanings. It can be applied to those who have had their spiritual senses opened so that they can actually see and hear what takes place in heaven. It can also be applied to “people who love and therefore believe in the Lord” (Secrets of Heaven 2760:2), and more generally to “people who devote themselves to the goodness and truth that come from [heaven]” (Secrets of Heaven 2851:2). To put the latter meaning more simply, heaven is opened to those who are living spiritually rather than materialistically. In the present passage, the latter meaning seems to be intended more than the former, though the former is not excluded. For more detail on what opens heaven to people on earth, see Secrets of Heaven 9594, 10156; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994–1997a) 800:2, 954:2, 970:2-3. [LSW]

5. “The church” in this context refers specifically to Christianity in its various existing branches (primarily the Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox churches) as the reigning religious paradigm in the world in which Swedenborg and his intended audience lived. In White Horse 6:3 Swedenborg defines this church as existing “where the Word exists and the Lord is known by means of it, and therefore where divine truths have been revealed.” For more on the various church eras and their beginnings and endings in biblical and human history, see note 3 in New Jerusalem 4. [LSW]

6. Secrets of Heaven was published by Swedenborg in London in eight volumes between 1749 and 1756. [Editors]

7. On heaven’s light, see the notes in New Jerusalem 24 and Last Judgment 38. [Editors]

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

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #9167

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9167. '[To see] whether or not its owner has put his hand into his companion's property and taken it' means being joined together under [the influence of] good. This is clear from the meaning of 'whether or not he has put a hand into his companion's property' - when said in reference to truth and good, exterior and interior - as whether these have entered into it, dealt with above in 9155, thus whether those things have been joined together under [the influence of] good (as regards being joined together under [the influence of] good, see 9154); and from the meaning of 'owner' or 'master' as good, dealt with in 9154, so that 'whether or not its owner has taken it' means whether good has made those things its own by being joined to them. The reason why 'owner' means good is that with a spiritual person good occupies the first place and truth the second; and that which occupies first place is the owner. Furthermore the character of the good determines the way in which all the truths present with a person are arranged, as a house by the owner or 'lord'. 1

[2] This explains why 'lord' in the Word is used to mean the Lord in respect of Divine Good, and 'god', 'king', and 'master' to mean the Lord in respect of Divine Truth, as in Moses,

Jehovah your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords. Deuteronomy 10:17.

In John,

The Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings. Revelation 17:14.

In the same book,

He has on His robe and on His thigh the name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Revelation 19:16.

The fact that the Lord is called 'God' in respect of Divine Truth, see 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 4402, 7268, 8988, and also that He is called 'King' in respect of Divine Truth, 2015 (end), 3009, 3670, 4581, 4966, 5068, 6148. And from this it is evident that the Lord is called 'Lord' in respect of Divine Good; for when truth is referred to in the Word, good as well is referred to, 683, 793, 801, 2516, 2618, 2712, 2803, 3004, 4138 (end), 5138, 5502, 6343, 8339 (end). In John,

You call Me Master and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. I your Lord and Master have washed your feet. John 13:13-14.

Here again the Lord is called 'Lord' by virtue of Divine Good, and 'Master' by virtue of Divine Truth. In Malachi,

Suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Malachi 3:1.

In these words which refer to the Lord's Coming He is called 'the Lord' by virtue of Divine Good, and 'the angel' by virtue of Divine Truth, 1925, 2821, 3039, 4085, 4295, 6280.

[3] This explains why in the Old Testament when people entreat the Lord they very often say Lord Jehovih, by which 'O Good Jehovah' is meant, 1793, 2921, and why in the New Testament the name Lord is used instead of Jehovah, 2921. From all this one can also see what the following words in Matthew are used to mean,

No one can serve two lords, for either he will hate the one and love the other ... Matthew 6:24.

'Two lords' are good and evil. For a person must be governed by good or else by evil; he cannot be governed by both simultaneously. Many truths can reside with him, but they are truths arranged under the influence of one good. Good constitutes heaven with a person, whereas evil constitutes hell. He must have heaven within himself or hell, not both, or something half-way in between. All this now shows what 'lord' or 'owner' is used to mean in the Word.

Voetnoten:

1. The Latin word rendered owner is dominus, which in other contexts is usually rendered lord. The phrase also involves a play on words which might be rendered as a house by a householder (sicut a domino domus).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Teachings #4

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4. On the subject of this new heaven, it is also important to know that it is distinct from the older heavens - the ones, that is, that existed before the Lord's Coming. Nevertheless, the newer are set in relation to the older in such a way that together they make one heaven.

The reason this new heaven is distinct from the older heavens is that the only body of teaching people of the earlier churches had was one of love and caring; they had no knowledge of any body of teaching about faith apart from love. 1 That is also why the earlier heavens form a higher level while the new heaven forms a level underneath them. The heavens are levels, one above the other. 2 On the highest level are the angels called "heavenly," most of whom come from the earliest church. 3 The people there are called "heavenly angels" because of their heavenly love, which is a love for the Lord. On the levels below them are the angels who are called "spiritual," most of whom come from the ancient church. The people there are called "spiritual angels" because of their spiritual love, which is a caring about their neighbor. Below them are the people who are devoted to doing the good that their faith calls for, people who had lived lives of faith. "Living a life of faith" is living by the teachings of one's church, and "living" includes both intending and acting.

Still, all these heavens make one heaven because of an indirect inflow and a direct inflow, both of which come from the Lord. 4 You may get a clearer picture of all this, though, from what has been presented in my work Heaven and Hell. See particularly the chapter there on the two kingdoms 5 into which the heavens are broadly distinguished (§§20-28), the chapter on the three heavens (§§29-40), and the information in the references assembled from Secrets of Heaven at the close of §603 on indirect and direct inflow. On the earliest church and the ancient church, see §46 of the booklet The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed .

Voetnoten:

1. Swedenborg attacks bodies of religious teachings that promote "faith apart from love" throughout his theological works, but his exact meaning is sometimes ambiguous, because the referent is twofold. His immediate referent is usually the doctrine of Martin Luther (1483-1546) commonly known as Sola Fide, or "By Faith Alone," the traditional rendering of the phrase. To Luther it was not so much the act of repentance that mattered, but faith in God through Christ, which would lead to a pouring down of grace. His aim in teaching this doctrine was partly to emphasize human incapacity and partly to counteract Catholic teachings, which held that works, or actions-specifically, the receiving of the sacraments (or the intention of receiving them), and notably those of baptism and penance-were necessary for forgiveness by God. Luther believed that it is too much even to say that repentance results in justification (our "setting ourselves right with God"); rather this is accomplished solely through faith in Christ's power to atone for our sins. Sola Fide remained the doctrinal cornerstone of the Lutheran tradition in which Swedenborg was raised nearly two centuries later, but ultimately Swedenborg rejected the theory of Christ's atonement on which Sola Fide was built. He severely criticized the spiritual complacency that resulted from dismissing good works (which he understood as loving actions toward one's neighbor rather than as the sacraments). However, Swedenborg also uses the term "body of teaching about faith apart from love" to refer to any religious system that privileges ritual performance or orthodox profession over living a life of caring for the neighbor: it is in this latter, wider sense that the term is being used here. Swedenborg sees the propensity toward crafting a theology of faith alone as something universal to humanity after the fall of the early churches, a temptation represented in the Bible by the Philistines:

In the ancient church and after its time, "Philistines" referred to people who had little energy for learning how to live but a great deal of energy for learning theology. Eventually they even rejected life issues and acknowledged belief issues as those crucial to the church, detaching them from life. So they dismissed and erased doctrines concerning neighborly love, which formed the whole of the ancient church's theology. ( Secrets of Heaven 3412[2]; see further references in New Jerusalem 257:2)

On the notion of earlier churches, see note 28 below. For Swedenborg's discussion of faith, see New Jerusalem 108-122. He attacks justification by faith alone at many points in his works; the foundations for this criticism and rejection are laid as early as §§30-36in Secrets of Heaven. This treatment continues in Heaven and Hell 521-527, The Lord 18, and Marriage Love 523-529, right through to True Christianity, the final published work in his corpus, where it receives colorful commentary in §§355-361, 626-666, and elsewhere. There are dozens of similar passages in other volumes. Some of the more focused and extensive discussions of faith alone, or faith apart from love, may be found in Secrets of Heaven 4783, 4925, 8093; Faith 4 41-72; Divine Providence 114-117; and in the chapters of Revelation Unveiled expounding onRevelation 8-16 (§§386-716). On the connection of faith alone with blindness, or blind faith, see Faith 9, 46; Revelation Unveiled 914; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) §781. For more on faith separated from charitable (loving) works and its effect on the church specifically, see the passages from Secrets of Heaven listed in New Jerusalem 121[2] and Last Judgment 39[3]. For more on the content and context of the doctrine of Sola Fide see, for example, Strohl 2003; Wriedt 2003; Bertram 1985, 172-184. [DNG, RS, LSW, SS]

2. The three heavens described in this section are the upper or third heaven, also called the heavenly heaven; the middle or second heaven, also called the spiritual heaven; and the lower or first heaven, also called the earthly or natural heaven. These heavens can be pictured as levels one above the other or as distinct regions one within the other. (See Secrets of Heaven 9594; Heaven and Hell 29-40; Divine Love and Wisdom 202.) The three hells, which are an inverted and distorted mirror image of the three heavens, are the deepest hell opposite to the third heaven, the middle hell opposite to the second heaven, and the highest hell opposite to the first heaven (Heaven and Hell 542; Divine Love and Wisdom 275). For diagrams illustrating these relationships, see Woofenden and Rose 2008, 38; Lang 2000, 13, 21. [LSW]

3. The term "church" in Swedenborg's usage does not always denote a group of Christians (though it may do so) but very often refers instead to one of five major phases he assigns to the world's spiritual history. In general he calls the first phase the earliest church (from the creation story to the time of the Flood); the second the early, or ancient, church (from the Flood to the time of Moses, but with a second phase called the Hebrew church starting at the time of Eber); the third the Israelite or Jewish church (from Moses to the time of Christ); the fourth the Christian church (the Christian era up to 1757); and the fifth a new church represented by the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22 and seen as beginning in Swedenborg's own time and covering the rest of human spiritual history. In addition to the reference to further discussion that Swedenborg himself provides at the end of this section (that is, Last Judgment 46, which itself contains further references to the voluminous material on these churches in Secrets of Heaven), see the following: New Jerusalem 246-248; Divine Providence 328; True Christianity 760, 786; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) §948:3; and Heaven and Hell 115 327 (which contain brief overviews). Three particularly useful passages in Secrets of Heaven are §§1850, 10248:7, and 10355. See also notes 1 and 8 in Last Judgment 46. For an early use of the word church to refer to the Israelites, see Acts 7:38. [GFD, LHC, LSW]

4. "Inflow" is a one-way flow from one level or entity into another, having a direct effect on the lower or secondary level or entity (see note 5 in Last Judgment 9). Here Swedenborg mentions two distinct types of inflow: indirect inflow and direct inflow. Direct inflow proceeds from the Lord by an internal route into the souls of angels, spirits, and people on earth, and from there into the rest of their being. Indirect inflow proceeds from God through the various levels of the spiritual world (see note 2 in New Jerusalem 4). From there it influences angels, spirits, and people on earth in a more external way, through their spiritual and social environments, and for people on earth through their physical environment as well. In this case, the inflow is presumably a flow of goodness as spiritual heat and truth as spiritual light. For more on direct and indirect inflow, see New Jerusalem 23[8]; Secrets of Heaven 6058, 6063:2, 6472, 9682-9683; Heaven and Hell 296-297. For more on inflow in general, see New Jerusalem 277-278. [LSW]

5. The two kingdoms, or realms, of heaven mentioned here are the heavenly kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. These are occasionally identified with the heavenly and spiritual heavens outlined in note 2 in New Jerusalem 4 (as in True Christianity 195, 212), but are more commonly presented as distinct regions of heaven that stand side by side, as opposed to the three heavens, which are presented as horizontal levels "stacked" one on another. In general, the angels occupying the heavenly kingdom are motivated by love for the Lord, while the angels occupying the spiritual kingdom are motivated by love for the neighbor. For more on the two kingdoms of heaven, see Secrets of Heaven 3887-3889; Heaven and Hell 20-28, 95. [LSW]

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

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