"And circling about the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw the twenty and four elders sitting, having been invested with white garments; and they had upon their heads golden coronal wreaths" (iv. 4).

1. The Twenty-Four Elders

The symbolization presented in this verse is representative of the fulfilment of the promise contained in ch. iii. 21, saying, "The victor, I will give to him to sit with me on my throne, as I also vanquished, and sat with my Father on his throne." To represent this, twenty-four thrones are circled about one throne; so that in occupying representatively, that is, by a representative in the vision, one of the thrones, the individual victor sits with Jesus on his throne; in other words, shares with him in his kingly and priestly administration of human affairs in the Millennial Aion.

The twenty-four elders, then, are the victors or conquerors who have overcome, in the sense indicated in the writing to the seven ecclesias. Hence, being victors, enthroned and wreathed, and invested with white, or priestly garments, we behold them in the vision as kings and priests for the Deity. We see them as those who have eaten of the wood of the life, and who are, consequently, in the Paradise of the Deity; who are, in fact, collectively that living arboretum. We see them also in a position not to be injured by the second death; in possession of the Morning Star; clothed in white garments; pillars in the temple of the Spirit’s Deity to go out no more; with the name of Deity written upon them, the name of the New Jerusalem, even the New Name; for they are the manifestation of Deity, the New Jerusalem, and the New Name.

As symbolical personages, the twenty-four elders are representative of the redeemed in their official capacity of kings and priests. This is apparent from the song they join in singing, in which addressing Him upon the rainbowed throne, they say, "Thou wast slain, and with thy blood hast purchased us for the Deity from every people, tribe, race, and tongue; and hast made us kings and priests for our Deity, and we shall reign upon the earth" (v. 9,10). They are representative of "the people taken out from among the nations for the name of the Deity," to whom it was testified that "they must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God" (Acts xv. 14; xiv. 22). This is the testimony of James and Paul, who are two of the represented. Hence, in the apocalyptic drama, one of the elders declares the origin of the class invested with white garments (which is also the investment of the twenty-four), and in so doing the origin of himself and company, saying, "These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; therefore are they before the throne of the Deity, and serve him day and night in his temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and the Deity shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" (vii. 14).