Who are the 24 Elders in Revelation?
Who are the Twenty four Elders in Revelation? Whenever I heard conversation on this topic, my heart jumps onto my throat. But WHY?
Revelation 4 (KJV)
1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
Q. Who are these Twenty four Elders set around a throne in heaven? Would they be
a. Angelic beings, not humans. Jesus said only He had down from heaven John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, so the twenty four elders could not be humans as identified in Revelation 4:4. During the first resurrection, when Christ return, the saints will rise first, Satan bound (Revelation 20:1-4).They will meet Christ in the air, and when Christ set his feet in Jerusalem, the saints will be with Christ forever (1 Thess 4:16-17). Further, among the restored 18 vital truths to the True Church since 1933 (Mystery of the Ages, Dodd & Mead, 1985, p251), Herbert W Armstrong came in the spirit of Elijah (Malachi 4:5), to establish the foundation of the True Church, and to restore all things (Matt 17:11, Mark 9:12, Acts 3:21). “Rain” and soon a storm appeared; “Drought” and the land suffered three and a half years of constipation! When you look at the preceding two or three verses in Acts 3:19-20, this restitution of all things by Elijah is in the context of Christ returning back to this earth. Hence these truths are solidified and sealed.
b. Saints, not angelic beings. First, search the Scriptures, the word or title “elder” is nowhere applied to angels, but only to humans, or once humans. Second, in Rev 5:9, these 24 elders were redeemed by the Lamb’s blood. The exact phase “and hast redeemed us (Strong’s 2248: hémas; our, us, we)”. Only humans, not angels, were to be redeemed to God by Christ’s blood out of every kindred, tongue and nation. And in Rev 5:10 And hast made us (2248) unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth (Those versions that translated as them for us and they for we are erroneous). Again, only humans were promised to be kings and priests to reign on earth, not angels. Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? 1 Corinthians 6:2. Finally, only members of God’s family, or members of Elohim (not angelic beings) are given crowns in heaven (Satan might have a crown too but he’s restricted on this earth). The Greek word for crown in Rev 4:4 (Strong’s 4735 as in Rev 2:10) is stephanos which is a garland wreath as awarded to overcomers or winners as in Greek games.
So are these 24 elders saints or angelic beings?
The answer is obvious: the twenty-four elders are human beings who had been resurrected into spirit beings.
And an interesting point connected to this observation about the two lambs offered during Shavuot:
Leviticus 23:15 “‘And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete. 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. . . .
19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and TWO LAMBS of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the TWO LAMBS; they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.
As Christ is the symbolism of the Lamb killed during Passover (John 1:29), the two lambs could be two streams of martyrs — offered and accepted by God after Passover.
This thought has its merits, especially so when Shavuot was pictured as the redemption of human beings by the giving of the Holy Spirit and later on by resurrection. Perhaps the twenty-four could include some martyrs from two streams:
a) Jews who were martyrs during the first and second centuries – for more click HERE
b) Christians known as Nazarenes during the first century – for more click HERE
A common factor is that both streams of martyrs were offered after Christ was sacrificed.
Perhaps this is what the wave sheaf offering was meant to be. For a study click HERE
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Joel Huan
The Mystery of Ephraim 