The White Horse of the Revelation

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He who sat upon him was called faithful and true; and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were a flame of fire; and upon His head were many diadems; and He had a name written which no one knew but He Himself; and He was clothed in a garment dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean. And He hath upon His garment and upon His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:11-14, 16).

What each of these things involves no one can know except from the internal sense. It is manifest that every one of them is something representative and significative, as, that heaven was opened, that the horse was white, that He that sat upon him was faithful and true, and judgeth and maketh war in righteousness; that His eyes were a flame of fire, that upon His head were many diadems, that He had a name written which no one knew but He Himself, that He was clothed in a garment dipped in blood, that the armies which are in heaven followed Him upon white horses, that they were clothed in fine linen white and clean, and that He had upon His garment and upon His thigh a name written. It is said in plain words that it is the Word which is meant, and that it is the Lord who is the Word; for it is said, "His name is called the Word of God," and then, "He hath upon His garment and upon His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords."

From the interpretation of each of the words it is manifest that the Word is here described as to its internal sense. "Heaven being opened," represents and signifies that the internal sense of the Word is not seen except in heaven, and by those to whom heaven is opened, that is, who are in love to the Lord and thence in faith in Him. The "horse which was white" represents and signifies the understanding of the Word as to its interiors; that a "white horse" is this will be manifest from what follows. That "He who sat upon him" is the Word, and the Lord who is the Word, is evident. He is called "faithful and judging from righteousness" on account of good, and "true and making war from righteousness" on account of truth. His "having upon His head many diadems," signifies all things of faith. His "having a name written which no one knew but He Himself," signifies that no one sees what the Word is in its internal sense but Himself, and he to whom He reveals it. "His being clothed in a garment dipped in blood," signifies the Word in the letter.

The "armies in the heavens which followed Him upon white horses," signify those who are in the understanding of the Word as to its interiors. "Clothed in fine linen white and clean," signifies the same in love and thence in faith. The "name written upon His garment and upon His thigh," signifies truth and good. From all this, and from what there precedes and follows, it is manifest that toward the last period the internal sense of the Word will be opened; but what will then come to pass is also described there (verses 17-21).

That the "white horse" is the understanding of the Word as to its interiors, or what is the same, the internal sense of the Word, is evident from the signification of a "horse," as being the intellectual faculty. In the prophetic parts of the Word a horse and a rider are often named; but no one has hitherto known that a "horse" signifies the faculty of understanding, and a "rider" one who is intelligent - as in the prophecy of Jacob, then Israel, respecting Dan: Dan shall be a serpent upon the way, an arrow-snake upon the path, biting the horse's heels, and his rider shall fall backward. I wait for Thy salvation, O Jehovah (Gen. 49:17-18).

That a "serpent" is one who reasons concerning Divine arcana from the senses and from memory-knowledges, may be seen above; also that a "way" and a "path" are truth; and that the "heel" is the lowest of the natural; a "horse" is the understanding of the Word; and a "rider" he that teaches. Hence it is manifest what these prophetic words signify, namely, that one who reasons concerning the truths of faith from the senses and from memory-knowledges, sticks fast in the lowest things of nature only, and thus believes nothing, which is to "fall backward;" wherefore it is added, "I wait for Thy salvation, O Jehovah."

In Habakkuk:

O God, Thou dost ride upon Thy horses, Thy chariots are salvation, Thou hast made Thy horses to tread in the sea (Hab. 3:8, 15);

where "horses" denote the Divine truths which are in the Word; "chariots," doctrine from them; the "sea," knowledges; and because these are of the understanding of the Word from God, it is said, "Thou hast made Thy horses to tread in the sea." Horses are here attributed to God, as in Revelation, above; to whom they cannot be attributed unless they signify such things.

In David:

Sing unto God, sing praises to His name, extol Him that rideth upon the clouds, by His name Jah (Ps. 68:4);

to "ride upon the clouds" denotes the understanding of the Word as to its interiors, or in its internal sense. That a "cloud" is the Word in the letter, in which is the internal sense, may be seen in the Preface to Genesis 18, where it is explained what is signified when it is said that the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven with power and glory.

In the same:

Jehovah bowed the heavens, and came down, and thick darkness was under His feet; and He rode upon a cherub (Ps. 18:9-10);

"thick darkness" here denotes clouds; to "ride upon a cherub" represents the Lord's providence lest man should of himself enter into the mysteries of faith which are in the Word.

In Zechariah:

In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto Jehovah (Zech. 14:20);

the "bells of the horses" denote the understanding of the spiritual things of the Word, which are holy.

In Jeremiah:

There shall enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes, sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariot and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city shall be inhabited forever (Jer. 17:25-26; 22:4);

the "city Jerusalem" denotes the Lord's spiritual kingdom and church; "kings," truths; "princes," the primary precepts of truth; "David," the Lord; the "men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem," those who are in the good of love, of charity, and of faith; thus to "ride upon a chariot and upon horses" means to be instructed in the doctrine of truth from the internal understanding of the Word.

In Isaiah:

Then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah, and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob (Isa. 58:14);

to "ride upon the high places of the earth" denotes intelligence. In David:

A song of loves: Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O mighty one, Thy glory and Thy majesty; and in Thy majesty go forward, ride upon the word of truth, and of the gentleness of righteousness, and Thy right hand shall teach Thee wonderful things (Ps. 45: title, 3-4);

to "ride upon the word of truth" manifestly denotes the understanding of truth; and "upon the word of the gentleness of righteousness," the wisdom of good.

In Zechariah:

In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness; and I will open Mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness (Zech. 12:4-5);

where also the "horse" manifestly denotes the understanding, which would be smitten with astonishment and blindness; and the "rider" him that understands, who would be smitten with madness.

In Hosea:

Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good, and we will render the bullocks of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; and we will no more say to the work of our hands, Thou art our god (Hos. 14:2-3);

"Asshur" denotes reasoning; the "horse" one's own intelligence. Besides these there are many other passages.

That a "horse" signifies the faculty of understanding is from no other source than the representatives in the other life. Often there, in the world of spirits, horses are seen, and this with great variety, and those also that sit on them; and whenever they are seen they signify the faculty of understanding. There are such representatives continually with spirits. It is from the representation of the horse, as being the understanding, that when horses are mentioned in the Word, the spirits and angels with man at once know that the understanding is what is treated of. It is also from this that when spirits from a certain distant world on being imbued with intelligence and wisdom are taken up from the world of spirits into heaven, there appear to them horses shining as with fire; which also I have seen when they were taken up.

From this I could see what is signified by the chariot of fire and horses of fire seen by Elisha when Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven; as also what is signified by the exclamation of Elisha then: "My Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof" (2 Kings 2:11, 12); and by Joash king of Israel saying the same to Elisha when he was dying: "My Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof" (2 Kings 13:14). That by Elijah and Elisha was represented the Lord as to the Word, will of the Lord's Divine mercy be told elsewhere; the doctrine of love and charity from the Word being meant by the "chariot of fire," and the doctrine of faith therefrom by the "horses of fire."
The doctrine of faith is the same as the understanding of the Word as to its interiors, or as to its

That chariots and horses are seen in the heavens with spirits and angels, is evident from the fact of their being seen by the prophets, as by Zechariah (chapter 1:8-10; 6:3-7), and by others, and also by Elisha's servant, as thus described in the book of Kings:

Jehovah opened the eyes of Elisha's boy, and he saw; and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha (2 Kings 6:17).

Moreover, where the abode of the intelligent and wise is, in the world of spirits, chariots and horses appear continually; for the reason as said that by chariots and horses are represented the things of wisdom and of intelligence. Resuscitated persons after death, who are entering into the other life, see represented to them a young man sitting upon a horse, and then alighting from the horse; and by this is signified that they are to be instructed in the knowledge of good and truth before they can come into heaven.

That chariots and horses signified these things, was well known in the Ancient Church, as also is evident from the book of Job, which is a book of that Church, where are these words:

God hath made her to forget wisdom, and hath not imparted to her intelligence; what time she lifteth up herself on high she scorneth the horse and his rider (Job 39:17-19).

From the Ancient Church the signification of the horse, as being the faculty of understanding, was extended to the wise round about, even into Greece. From this it came to pass that when they described the sun (by which was signified love), they placed in it the god of their wisdom and intelligence, and gave him a chariot and four horses of fire; and that when they described the god of the sea, because by the sea were signified knowledges in general, they gave horses also to him; and that when they described the rise of knowledges from the understanding, they represented a flying horse which with his hoof broke open a fountain, where dwelt the virgins that were the sciences; and by the Trojan horse nothing else was signified than a contrivance of their understanding for destroying city walls.

Even at this day the intellect is often described, according to the custom received from those ancient people, under the figure of a flying horse, or Pegasus; and learning is described as a fountain; but scarcely anyone knows that a horse, in the mystic sense, signifies the understanding, and a fountain truth; still less that these significatives were handed down to the Gentiles from the Ancient Church.

From all this it is now manifest whence come the representatives and significatives in the Word, namely, from the representatives that exist in the other life. From this source they came to the men of the Most Ancient Church, who were celestial, and were in company with spirits and angels while living on earth. From them the representatives passed to their posterity, and at length to those who merely knew that they had such a signification; but because the representatives came from the most ancient times, and were in their Divine worship, they were venerated and held sacred.

Besides representatives, there are also correspondences which suggest and also signify something altogether different in the spiritual world from what they do in the natural world; as the heart, the affection of good; the eyes, the understanding; the ears, obedience; the hands, power; besides innumerable other correspondences. These are not represented in this way in the world of spirits; but they correspond, as what is natural to what is spiritual.

Hence it is that every word, even to the smallest iota of all, in the Word, involves spiritual and heavenly things; and that the Word is in this manner inspired, so that when it is read by man, spirits and angels immediately perceive it spiritually according to the representations and correspondences. But this knowledge, which was so much cultivated and esteemed by the ancients after the flood, and by means of which they were able to think with spirits and angels, is at this day altogether obliterated, so much so that scarcely anyone is willing to believe that it exists; and they who believe in it merely call it a kind of mystical thing, of no use; and this for the reason that man has become altogether worldly and corporeal; to such a degree that when what is spiritual and heavenly is mentioned, he feels a repugnance, and sometimes a loathing, or even nausea. What then will he do in the other life, which lasts forever, and where there is nothing worldly and corporeal, but only what is spiritual and heavenly, which makes the life in heaven?

(from Arcana Coelestia 2760-2763)

The Internal Sense of the Word

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The internal sense of the Word - its veriest life - does not at all appear from the sense of the letter. But so many are its arcana that volumes would not suffice for the unfolding of them. A very few only are here [in the work Arcana Coelestia} set forth, and those such as may confirm the fact that regeneration is here treated of, and that this proceeds from the external man to the internal. It is thus that the angels perceive the Word. They know nothing at all of what is in the letter, not even the proximate meaning of a single word; still less do they know the names of the countries, cities, rivers, and persons, that occur so frequently in the historical and prophetical parts of the Word. They have an idea only of the things signified by the words and the names. Thus by Adam in paradise they perceive the Most Ancient Church, yet not that church, but the faith in the Lord of that church. By Noah they perceive the church that remained with the descendants of the Most Ancient Church, and that continued to the time of Abram. By Abraham they by no means perceive that individual, but a saving faith, which he represented; and so on. Thus they perceive spiritual and celestial things entirely apart from the words and names.

Certain ones were taken up to the first entrance court of heaven, when I was reading the Word, and from there conversed with me. They said they could not there understand one whit of any word or letter therein, but only what was signified in the nearest interior sense, which they declared to be so beautiful, in such order of sequence, and so affecting them, that they called it Glory.

There are in the Word, in general, four different styles.

The first is that of the Most Ancient Church. Their mode of expression was such that when they mentioned terrestrial and worldly things, they thought of the spiritual and celestial things which these represented. They therefore not only expressed themselves by representatives, but also formed these into a kind of historical series, in order to give them more life; and this was to them delightful in the very highest degree. This is the style of which Hannah prophesied, saying:

Speak what is high! high! Let what is ancient come out of your mouth (1 Sam. 2:3).

Such representatives are called in David, "Dark sayings of old" (Ps. 78:2-4) . These particulars concerning the creation, the garden of Eden, etc., down to the time of Abram, Moses had from the descendants of the Most Ancient Church.

The second style is historical, which is found in the books of Moses from the time of Abram onward, and in those of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and the Kings. In these books the historical facts are just as they appear in the sense of the letter; and yet they all contain, in both general and particular, quite other things in the internal sense. ...

The third style is the prophetical one, which was born of that which was so highly venerated in the Most Ancient Church. This style however is not in connected and historical form like the most ancient style, but is broken, and is scarcely ever intelligible except in the internal sense, wherein are deepest arcana, which follow in beautiful connected order, and relate to the external and the internal man; to the many states of the church; to heaven itself; and in the inmost sense to the Lord.

The fourth style is that of the Psalms of David, which is intermediate between the prophetical style and that of common speech. The Lord is there treated of in the internal sense, under the person of David as a king.

(from Arcana Coelestia 64 - 66)

The Written Word

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Reasons Why the Lord Willed to be Born on Our Earth, and Not on Another

There are many reasons why it pleased the Lord to be born and to assume the Human on our earth, and not on any other, concerning which I have been informed from heaven.

The principal reason was for the sake of the Word, in that it could be written on our earth, and when written could then be published throughout the whole earth; and once published could be preserved for all posterity; and that thus it might be made manifest even to all in the other life that God had become a Man.

That the principal reason was for the sake of the Word, is because the Word is truth Divine itself, which teaches man that there is a God, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is a life after death; and which teaches besides how a man must live and believe in order that he may come into heaven, and thus be eternally happy. Without revelation, thus on this earth without the Word, all these things would have been utterly unknown; and yet man has been so created that in respect to his internal man he cannot die.

That the Word could be written on our earth, is because the art of writing has existed here from the most ancient time, first on wooden tablets, later on parchment, afterward on paper, and finally it could be published in print. This has been provided by the Lord for the sake of the Word.

That the Word could afterward be published throughout this whole earth, is because there is here an interaction of all nations, both by overland travel and by navigation, to all places on the globe. Therefore the Word once written could be carried from one nation to another, and could be everywhere taught. That there should be such an interaction has also been provided by the Lord for the sake of the Word.

That the Word once written could be preserved for all posterity, consequently for thousands and thousands of years, and that it has been so preserved, is known.

That thus it could be made manifest that God has become a Man, is because this is the first and most essential thing for the sake of which the Word was given; for no one can believe in and love a God whom he cannot comprehend under some form; and therefore those who acknowledge the incomprehensible, in their thought fall into nature, and thus believe in no God. Wherefore it pleased the Lord to be born here, and to make this manifest by the Word, not only in order that it might become known on this globe, but that by this means it might also be made manifest to all in the universe who come into heaven from any earth whatever; for in heaven there is a communication of all.

Be it known that the Word on our earth, given through heaven by the Lord, is the union of heaven and the world; to which end there is a correspondence of all things in the letter of the Word with Divine things in heaven; and that in its supreme and inmost sense the Word treats of the Lord, of His kingdom in the heavens and on earth, and of love and faith from Him and to Him, consequently of life from Him and in Him. Such things are presented to the angels in heaven, from whatever earth they come, when the Word of our earth is read and preached.

On every other earth truth Divine is made manifest orally through spirits and angels, as has been shown in the preceding chapters, where the inhabitants of the earths in this solar system have been treated of; but this takes place within families; for on most of the earths mankind live separate according to their families. Wherefore Divine truth thus revealed through spirits and angels is not conveyed far beyond the families; and unless a new revelation is constantly following, what has been revealed is either perverted or perishes. It is otherwise on our earth, where truth Divine, which is the Word, remains in its integrity forever.

Be it known that the Lord acknowledges and receives all, from whatever earth they may be, who acknowledge and worship God under a human form, for God under a human form is the Lord. And because the Lord appears to the inhabitants of the earths in an angelic form, which is the human form, therefore when spirits and angels from these earths hear from the spirits and angels of our earth that God is a Man in actuality, they receive this Word, acknowledge it, and rejoice that it is so (see n. 7173)

To the reasons already adduced may be added that the inhabitants, spirits, and angels of our earth bear relation in the Grand Man to the external and bodily sense, and the external and bodily sense is the ultimate, into which the interior things of life come to a close, and in which they rest as in their common receptacle. The case is similar with truth Divine in the letter, which is called "the Word," and which for this reason also has been given on this earth and not on another. And because the Lord is the Word, and is its first and its last, therefore in order that all things might come forth according to order, He also willed to be born on this earth, and to become the Word; according to these words in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All thing were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father. No man hath seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath set Him forth (John 1:1-3, 14, 18)

"the Word" denotes the Divine truth. But this is a secret which will fall into the understanding of only a few.

That the inhabitants of other earths rejoice when they hear that God took on Himself the Human, and made it Divine, and that thus God is Man in actuality,

(from Arcana Coelestia 9350 - 9361)