"Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. : Rev 4:4 (NKJV)

We are in the throne room of Heaven, seeing it through the Spirit-enabled eyes of the apostle John. Last week, we looked at the four creatures around the throne, this week we will take a look at the twenty four elders. We will peek ahead to Rev Chap 5 to get some additional information on them.

"Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying:“You are worthy to take the scroll,And to open its seals;For You were slain,And have redeemed us to God by Your blood,Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,And have made us kings and priests to our God;And we shall reign on the earth.” - Rev 5:8-10

The number 24 (12+12) has been taken by many commentators to suggest that the elders in view represent the Old and New Covenants - 12 patriarchs of Israel, and the 12 disciples of Christ ( Paul replacing Judas ). This is the majority opinion, but we respectfully would urge you to consider:

1. The apostle John would surely have recognized himself and his fellow disciples if they were making up 12 of the 24... the fact that he does not remark on this, nor does the text say anything about the identity of the elders, is worthy of notice.

2. In Rev 5 - please note their lineage - they have been redeemed out of every tribe/tongue/people/nation by Christs blood. The OT patriarchs and the disciples were ALL Jews by birth. The only way the song makes sense in this context is if - the elders are singing this song in their capacity as -representatives- of Israel and the Gentile church, and that may be fine, but we think it worth pointing out. It is also very very interesting to note that the four living creatures join in the song!!!

3. Missing from the majority opinion are elders such as Abraham (father), Moses (prophet), David (king), Samuel (judge) etc...

All we are saying is that the book is silent about who these elders are, except for what we have pointed out! God in His wisdom chooses people to serve Him in various capacities, and all we can say here is that there is a role of Elder (which includes the role of King and Priest) in Heaven, and there are 24 that have been chosen to serve there, and rule on earth.

The elders all have harps, and bowls of incense. Since we are explicitly told that the bowls of incense are the prayers of the saints - we therefore can conclude that the harps are just that, harps - to make music to accompany the song. In the temple, the priests offered the incense, and there were dedicated musicians and singers also from the tribe of Levi, whose job it was to lead the people in praise. We see specific chambers dedicated to them in Ezekiels temple vision (Eze 40:44), and we see song offered up along with sacrifice and prayer in the OT."Then Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel."- 2 Chron 29:27. The Elders here are not only crowned and robed in the righteousness of Christ, they are also musicians and singers, and custodians of the prayers of the saints!God loves music! It has the power to drive away evil spirits (David played for Saul) and is a vehicle for praising and glorifying Him.

The fact that we see music and song played and heard in the Throne Room, also shows that time is passing in the normal way we have come to expect. Music and song implies rhythm, and notes/words that follow one another in a sequence... so when we see events happening in the Throne room, we are not to infer that a 1000 years pass between one event and the next. Time seems to be flowing at the normal human speed for singing/playing - that is to say, we are not in a space where time does not exist.

A final insight... the role of king/priest is one we see quite clearly articulated in the Kingdom, and we might think that is the highest title one can expect. The Throne Room vision gives us God's title for leaders in His domain - Elder. Elders have crowns, but having a crown does not necessarily make one an Elder.

In the OT, the elders represented the people and had authority over them (Deut 1:13,15). The model for the early church was also elder-driven (e.g Acts 14:23,15:2 shows that the apostles were the church elders in Jerusalem), with overseers (called episkopos or bishops), pastors, teachers, evangelists being roles played by people as they were gifted. The qualifications for an elder are laid out in Titus 1:5-9 - apart from a blameless character and practical example, they were also to be teachers and custodians of correct doctrine. Age, surprisingly, is not a criterion, though a certain age, and longevity in the faith is there by implication of the person not being a new convert, and being a married person haivng children. Being an Elder is a lot of responsibility!

Some church models (Presbyterians etc.) still follow the elder model while other churches use the term as just another title. The key takeaway here is that both in the OT and the NT, the Elders were persons from the local congregation, chosen by the said congregation to represent and govern them. They did not need to have seminary degrees or denominational approval to be appointed, but showed their qualifications by their life and walk, and dedication to learning and teaching the word of God.

A lot of churches have gone away from this model, and sadly, are ignoring the wisdom and anointing already in their pews, choosing instead to pick "professionally trained" individuals to lead them. This is not to say that professionally trained persons cannot also be Elders, but to point out that wisdom and character are not manufactured in Seminaries, but through life experience and walking with the Lord.

Maybe this is why the Elders in the Throne room are anonymous. They have been chosen by God sovereignly for His purposes and not because of any human qualifications or birthright they may or may not possess. They would appear to be truly representative of the redeemed elect in all its shades of tongue, and nation, and have been deemed worthy to be crowned with glory and honour. Their wisdom and humility is apparent however, for we see them casting their crowns before God and giving HIM all the glory and honour for their roles!