Who are the 24 Elders Around the Throne of God ?

[Quasar]

Hi friends -

Who are the Twenty Four Elders around the Throne of God?

We read from Rev.4:4 the following:

"Surrounding the throne were twenty four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads."

There are some expositors who believe these twenty four elders are a combination of twelve of the Old Testament Patriarchs and twelve of the New Testament apostles, as well as other viewpoints.

However, as God the Father said there would be a king on the throne of David forever, [2 Sam.7:16] the same is true of the Levitical priests that David established to preside over the temple rituals, before God.

"For this is what the Lord says: 'David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor with the priests, who are Levites, ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.'" Jer.33:17-18.

In Chr.24:7-24 is a listing of the twenty four courses of the Levitical priesthood who were established by David to preside over the tabernacle, and then the temple after it was completed by Solomon.

Undoubtedly, the twenty four elders are a very select group, by God, out of those twenty four, who originated out of the Aaronic priesthood, beginning with Aaron and his sons.

In His love.

Quasar

 

[Vic C.]

This is a tough one, but I agree. I wrote this a couple of years ago:

Some say they represent the redeemed ones of the OT and NT, that the 'church' is made up of the 'elect' from both. Others say that that the elders are angelic beings that were created by God as part of His government. No one of them can actually agree as to who these elders are.

There is evidence that the elders are representatives of those redeemed from Israel and the OT. Notice that the word elder (presbuteros), as it is used in Revelations, is used only in reference to the 24 elders. It is used 12 times in Revelations. In other parts of the Bible, the word is used in different ways. It is used to refer to tribal leaders in the OT. And in
the NT, it referred to the leaders of the synagogues and the leaders of the early church. It was also used to describe the OT men of Faith.

1 Chronicles 24 gives us the best description of who these elders are.(keep in mind the white raiment they were wearing in Rev.4:4) Notice also that they were sitting down. This was a bold statement by John. The Jews of his time knew that Levitical priests never sat down; for their work was never done. They were too busy sacrificing animals. Remember this sacrifice cannot atone for sin; it could only cover sin for a year, until the next Day of Atonement. But remember, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, covers them forever. Hence, their work was done and they were now able to sit.

About the white raiment; the high priest discarded his priestly robes and put on instead 'the Holy linen cloth' before they entered the Holy of Holies. They were to wear this only in the presence of God. And there is more. Note the significance of the crowns of gold they are wearing. The crowns represent victory. There are two types of crowns mentioned in the Bible.

One is the crown of a ruler (king) the other, the crown of an over comer, a victor.