圣经文本

 

Revelation第6章 : The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

学习

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?

评论

 

The Meaning of the Book of Revelation: the Four Horsemen

原作者: 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.

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

播放视频
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

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#3527

学习本章节

  
/10837  
  

3527. And I am a smooth man. That this signifies the quality of natural truth relatively, is evident from the representation of Jacob who is here speaking, as being the natural as to truth (see n. 3305); and from the signification of a “smooth man,” as being its quality, concerning which something shall now be said. Before it can be known what these things signify, it must be known what is meant by “hairy,” and what by “smooth.” The interiors in man present themselves in a kind of image in his exteriors, especially in his face and its expression; at the present day his inmosts are not seen there, but his interiors are in some measure seen there, unless from infancy he has learned to dissemble, for in this case he assumes to himself as it were another lower mind, and consequently induces on himself another countenance; for it is the lower mind that appears in the face. More than others, hypocrites have acquired this from actual life, thus from habit; and this the more in proportion as they are deceitful. With those who are not hypocrites, rational good appears in the face from a certain fire of life; and rational truth from the light of this fire. Man knows these things from a certain connate knowledge, without study; for it is the life of his spirit as to good and as to truth which thus manifests itself; and because man is a spirit clothed with a body, he has such knowledge from the perception of his spirit, thus from himself; and this is the reason why a man is sometimes affected with the countenance of another; although this is not from the countenance, but from the mind which thus shines forth. But the natural appears in the face in a more obscure fire of life, and a more obscure light of life; and the corporeal hardly appears at all except in the warmth and fairness of the complexion, and in the change of their states according to the affections.

[2] Because the interiors thus manifest themselves in especial in the face, as in an image, the most ancient people who were celestial men and utterly ignorant of dissimulation, much more of hypocrisy and deceit, were able to see the minds of one another conspicuous in the face as in a form; and therefore by the “face” were signified the things of the will and of the understanding; that is, interior rational things as to good and truth (n. 358, 1999, 2434); and in fact interior things as to good by the blood and its redness; and interior things as to truths by the resultant form and its fairness; but interior natural things by the outgrowths thence, such as the hairs and the scales of the skin, namely, the things from the natural as to good by the hairs, and the things from the natural as to truth by the scales. Consequently they who were in natural good were called “hairy men,” but they who were in natural truth, “smooth men.” From these considerations it may be seen what is signified in the internal sense by the words, “Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man,” namely, the quality relatively to one another of natural good and natural truth. From all this it is evident what Esau represents, namely, the good of the natural, for he was called “Esau” from being hairy (Genesis 25:25), and “Edom” from being ruddy (Genesis 25:30). Mount Seir, where he dwelt, has the same meaning, namely, what is hairy; and because it had this meaning there was a mountain by which they went up to Seir that was called the bare or smooth mountain (Josh. 11:17; 12:7); which was also representative of truth ascending to good.

[3] That “hairy” is predicated of good, and thence of truth, and also in the opposite sense of evil, and thence of falsity, was shown above (n. 3301); but that “smooth” is predicated of truth, and in the opposite sense of falsity, is evident also from the following passages in the Word.

In Isaiah:

Ye that inflame yourselves with gods under every green tree; in the smooth things of the valley is thy portion (Isaiah 57:5-6

where “inflaming” is predicated of evil; and the “smooth things of the valley,” of falsity. Again:

The workman strengthens the smelter, him that smoothes with the hammer along with the beating on the anvil, 1 saying to the joint, It is good (Isaiah 41:7); where the “workman strengthening the smelter” is predicated of evil; and “smoothing with the hammer,” of falsity.

In David:

They make thy mouth smooth as butter; when his heart approacheth his words are softer than oil (Psalms 55:21); where a “smooth or flattering mouth” is predicated of falsity; and the “heart and its soft things,” of evil. Again:

Their throat is an open sepulcher, they speak smooth things with their tongue (Psalms 5:9);

“the throat an open sepulcher” is predicated of evil; “the tongue speaking smooth things,” of falsity.

In Luke:

Every valley shall be filled up; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places level ways (Luke 3:5); where “valley” denotes what is lowly (n. 1723, 3417); “mountain and hill,” what is lifted up (n. 1691); “the crooked become straight,” the evil of ignorance turned into good, for “length” and what belongs thereto are predicated of good (n. 1613); the “rough places made level ways,” the falsities of ignorance turned into truths. (That “way” is predicated of truth, see n. 627, 2333.)

脚注:

1. This translation of Isaiah 41:7 is made on the basis of Swedenborg’s translation in the Latin text, this being the only time he quotes the passage; but the verse is evidently susceptible of other renderings.

  
/10837  
  

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