Revelation 4:4

And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold.

There are almost as many explanations of this as there are commentators. Who are these elders? They have been variously identified as symbolical of: (1) the "raptured" church which allegedly had already happened;[27] (2) the twenty-four star gods of the Babylonian pantheon;[28] (3) in the Targum the elders are interpreted as leaders of the Jewish people; (4) the twenty-four priestly orders enumerated in 1 Chronicles 24:4ff;[29] (5) a special order of angels, an interpretation rejected by Lenski on the grounds that angels are nowhere symbolized in Revelation;[30] (6) an order of angel princes called thrones in Colossians 1:16;[31] etc. The interpretation received here is stated thus by Carpenter:

They are described as twenty-four in number; they are the twelve tribes of Israel doubled, to signify the union of the Gentile with the Jewish church; they are two sets of twelve, to represent the New Testament and Old Testament; they are the twelve patriarchs conjoined with the twelve apostles - These interpretations (alleged by many) are all different forms of the same thought, that the twenty- four elders represent the complete church of God in the past and in the future, in the Jewish and Gentile worlds; and, as such, the true spiritual successors, as priests to God, of those twenty-four courses (1 Chronicles 26:1ff).[32]

The great majority of the commentators we have consulted on this question, including Barnes, Earle, Hinds, Scott, and Wallace, accept the view advanced in the quotation above. Some have objected to it on the grounds of what they call "difficulties" in such an interpretation; and others merely avoid trying to answer the question: "One really needs no theory of their presence. They are heavenly creatures and are part of the heavenly scene."[33] The views of Lenski are of particular interest. He objected to our interpretation on the grounds that "elders are not representative of the church."[34] He referred them to "the ministry of the Word," which he believed to be the reality symbolized by the twenty-four elders. It appears to us, however, that this is a distinction without a difference. Since the church is entrusted with the ministry of the word of God in this entire dispensation, his interpretation still refers it to the church.

There are, however, more considerable objections to this interpretation which have given some scholars hesitancy in accepting it. Some of these are: (1) one of the elders performs an angelic function in Revelation 7:13-14, and is addressed by John as "Sir." If the twelve apostles were typified, John himself must have been included; (2) they seem to be grouped apart from the redeemed in Revelation 19:4; (3) these elders appear to be participating in the executive function of the throne of God itself; etc. It must be admitted that such things reflect against the interpretation we have chosen; but we simply set aside such alleged "inconsistencies" on the grounds that similar "inconsistencies" may be leveled against any interpretation. For example, how could human figures represent supernatural beings? There are compelling reasons that underlie the fact of the majority of scholars, especially the older ones, adopting the view presented here. They are:

(1) The number twenty-four cannot be interpreted at all, apart from the view here. (2) The very word "presbyters" connects with nothing else in heaven or on earth except the Jewish and Christian dispensations. (3) The elders' having crowns suggests Matthew 19:28. (4) They say that they reign on the earth (Revelation 5:10). (5) The KJV in Revelation 5:9 identifies them with the redeemed of earth; and despite this verse's having been changed in subsequent versions, Seiss emphatically insists that the KJV is correct, since "the Sinaiticus manuscript contains it."[35]

[27] Ibid.

[28] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 63.

[29] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 114.

[30] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 181.

[31] F. F. Bruce, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 642.

[32] W. Boyd Carpenter, Ellicott's Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 552.

[33] J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 54.

[34] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 178.

[35] J. A. Seiss, The Apocalypse Lectures on the Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1900), p. 104.