2
Vậy ta thấy trong sự hiện thấy; vả khi ta thấy thì ta tại cung Su-sơ, về tỉnh Ê-lam; và trong sự hiện thấy, ta thấy mình ta ở cạnh sông U-lai.
Daniel第8章:2
Apocalypse Revealed#447
447. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million. (9:16) This symbolizes their reasonings concerning faith alone, with which they had filled the interiors of their minds, springing from nothing but an abundance of falsities accompanying evil.
Armies symbolize goods and truths, and in an opposite sense, evils and falsities - here falsities accompanying evil, as we will see presently. Horsemen symbolize reasonings concerning faith alone, because a horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word (no. 298) and also a destroyed understanding of the Word (nos. 305, 312, 320). Horsemen consequently symbolize reasonings based on a destroyed understanding of the Word - here reasonings concerning faith alone, because the subject is people caught up in that faith. Two hundred million does not mean two hundred million, but an abundance. The number two is used because two is said in application to goodness, and in an opposite sense, to evil (no. 322); and a hundred million, or ten thousand times ten thousand, is said in application to truths, and in an opposite sense, to falsities (no. 287).
It can be seen from this that the number of the army of horsemen being two hundred million symbolizes reasonings concerning faith alone, with which these people had filled the interiors of their minds, springing from nothing but an abundance of falsities accompanying evil.
[2] That armies in the Word symbolize the goods and truths of heaven and the church, and in an opposite sense, evils and falsities, can be seen from passages where the sun, moon and stars are called armies or hosts, and where the sun symbolizes the goodness of love, the moon the truth of faith, and stars concepts of goodness and truth, and the antithesis in an opposite sense (nos. 51, 53, 332, 413). All of these are called armies or hosts in the following passages:
Praise (Jehovah), all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars...! (Psalms 148:2-3)
My hands stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded. (Isaiah 45:12)
By the word of Jehovah the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. (Psalms 33:6)
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. (Genesis 2:1)
(The male goat's horn) grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground... He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host... And the host was sent under the yoke for its transgression, (because) it cast truth to the ground... Then... a holy one said..., "How long will... the sanctuary and the host be trampled under foot?" (Daniel 8:10-14)
Jehovah has given forth His voice before His army. (Joel 2:11)
...(on the roofs of the houses) they have burned incense to all the host of heaven... (Jeremiah 19:13)
(Lest you bow down to and serve) the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the host of heaven... (Deuteronomy 4:19; cf. 17:3, Jeremiah 8:2)
So, too, Isaiah 13:4; 34:4; 40:26, Jeremiah 33:22, Zechariah 9:8, Revelation 19:14.
[3] Since the hosts of heaven symbolize the goods and truths of heaven and the church, therefore the Lord is called Jehovah Zebaoth, or Jehovah of Hosts. And therefore the ministry of the Levites was called military service (Numbers 4:3, 23, 30, 39).
Moreover, we read in the book of Psalms,
Bless Jehovah, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His will. (Psalms 103:21)
Evils and falsities in the church are symbolically meant by the armies of the nations in Isaiah 34:2; and by the army of the king of the north with which he came against the king of the south, in Daniel 11:13, 15, 20. The king of the north is the falsity accompanying evil in the church, and the king of the south is the truth accompanying goodness in it.
The Lord says,
When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its devastation is near. (Luke 21:20)
Jerusalem there symbolizes the church, and the armies symbolize the evils and falsities that will devastate it. The subject is the end of the age, which is the final period of the church.
Evils and falsities are symbolically meant by armies in Joel,
I will restore to you the years that the locust, the beetle grub, the locust's larva, and the caterpillar has eaten, My great army which I sent among you. (Joel 2:25)
To be shown that the locust and the rest symbolize falsity of the lowest sort, see no. 424 above.
Revelation第6章
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?"
