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Revelation第6章 : The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

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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?"

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Apocalypse Revealed#322

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322. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill. This symbolizes the destruction of all good in the church.

Since death means the extinction of a person's spiritual life, and hell his damnation, it follows that to kill here means to destroy the life of a person's soul. The life of the soul is spiritual life.

A fourth of the earth means, symbolically, all good in the church. The earth is the church (no. 285).

That a fourth means all good can be known only by someone who knows what numbers in the Word symbolize. The numbers two and four are said in application to goods, and they symbolize those goods. And the numbers three and six are said in application to truths, and they symbolize those truths. Thus a fourth part, or simply a fourth, symbolizes all good, while a third part, or simply a third, symbolizes all truth. Therefore to kill a fourth of the earth here means, symbolically, to destroy all good in the church.

Clearly he who sat on the pale horse was not given the power to kill a fourth part of the habitable earth.

[2] In addition, the number four in the Word symbolizes the union of goodness and truth.

That the number four has these symbolic meanings can, indeed, be confirmed from the Word, as by the four living creatures or cherubim in Ezekiel 1,3, 10; by the four chariots between two mountains in Zechariah 6:1; by the four horns in Zechariah 1:18ff.; by the four horns of the altar in Exodus 27:1-8, and Revelation 9:13; and by the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, in Revelation 7:1 (cf. Matthew 24:31). It can be confirmed, too, by the "visiting the iniquity to the third and fourth generation" in Numbers 14:18, and by the third and fourth generation mentioned elsewhere. By these passages in the Word and more, I say, one can confirm that the number four is said in application to goods, and that they symbolize those goods, and also the conjunction of goodness and truth. But because it would take a lengthy explanation of these passages to make this apparent, it is enough to briefly state that this is the meaning that the number four and a fourth part have in heaven.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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Apocalypse Revealed#285

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285. We are told they "will reign upon the earth" because the earth here and elsewhere means the Lord's church in heaven and on earth. The church in both worlds is the Lord's kingdom. Therefore, lest anyone suppose that people who are redeemed by the Lord all become kings and priests who will reign upon the earth, it is important that we demonstrate from the Word that the earth or land symbolizes the church. This can be seen from the following passages:

Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes (the earth) waste, and will overturn its surface... The land shall be entirely emptied... The (habitable) earth will mourn and... be turned upside down... The earth will be profaned under its inhabitants... Therefore a curse shall devour the earth... and... the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and few men will be left... ...in the midst of the land... it shall be like the stripping of an olive tree... ...the cataracts on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is utterly split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard... (Isaiah 24:1-23.)

[2] The lion has come up from his thicket... to make your land desolate... I beheld the earth (when) lo, it was empty and void... ...Jehovah has said, "The whole land shall be desolate... For this shall the earth mourn... (Jeremiah 4:7, 23-28)

How long will the land mourn...? The whole land is made desolate, because no one lays it to heart. (Jeremiah 12:4, 11-13)

The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and withered away. (Isaiah 33:9)

Its land shall become burning pitch...(and) it shall lie waste. (Isaiah 34:9-10)

...I have heard from the Lord... a destruction decreed upon the whole earth. (Isaiah 28:22)

Behold, the day of Jehovah comes... to lay the land desolate..., and the earth will be shaken out of its place... (Isaiah 13:9-13)

The earth shook and trembled, and the foundations of the mountains quaked... (Psalms 18:7)

...we will not fear when the earth is transformed... When He uttered His voice, the earth melted. (Psalms 46:2-3, 6, 8)

Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21)

O God, You have forsaken us... You have made the earth tremble...; heal its breaches, for it is shaken. (Psalms 60:1-2)

[3] The earth and all its inhabitants will melt away; I will firm up its pillars. (Psalms 75:3)

Woe to a land overshadowed by wings... Go, ...messengers, to... a nation... trodden down, whose land rivers have despoiled. (Isaiah 18:1-2)

By the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts the land is darkened... (Isaiah 9:19)

...you will be a delightful land... (Malachi 3:12)

...I have given You as a covenant of the people to restore the earth... Sing, O heavens! And exult, O earth! (Isaiah 49:8, 13)

I shall not see Yah... in the land of the living. (Isaiah 38:11)

...who caused terror in the land of the living. (Ezekiel 32:23-27)

I would not have believed I would see the goodness... in the land of life. (Psalms 27:13)

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)

I am Jehovah, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens alone, who spreads out the earth by Myself. (Isaiah 44,24, cf. Zechariah 12:1, Jeremiah 10:11-13; 51:15, Psalm. 136:6)

Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation... ...thus said Jehovah, who created the heavens..., who formed the earth... (Isaiah 45:8, 12, 18-19)

...behold, I create new heavens and a new earth... (Isaiah 65:17, cf. 66:22)

And in many other places as well, which, if I were to cite them, would fill a page.

[4] The earth or land symbolizes the church for the reason that it very often means the land of Canaan, which is where the church was. That is the heavenly Canaan. Moreover, when the earth or land is mentioned, angels, being spiritual, do not think of the earth or land, but of the human race dwelling upon it and its spiritual state; and its spiritual state is the state of the church.

The earth or land also has an opposite meaning, and in that sense it symbolizes damnation, since when the church is not present in a person, damnation is. The earth or land is mentioned in that sense in Isaiah 14:12; 21:9; 26:19, 21; 29:4; 47:1; 63:6, Lamentations 2:2, 10, Ezekiel 26:20; 32:24, Numbers 16:29-33; 26:10, and elsewhere.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.