The Identity of the Twenty-Four Elders: A Critical Monograph on Revelation 4:4 -- By: John P. Burke

Journal: Grace Journal
Volume: GJ 02:3 (Fall 1961)
Article: The Identity of the Twenty-Four Elders: A Critical Monograph on Revelation 4:4
Author: John P. Burke


The Identity of the Twenty-Four Elders:
A Critical Monograph on Revelation 4:4

John P. Burke

Abridged by the Author

Pastor, Grace Brethren Church
Wheaton, Illinois

“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.”

The vision of the Apostle John of Revelation four and five is one of the most majestic of the entire Word of God. His description of it begins as follows. “And after this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven….” A throne is then seen in the process of being set and the one sitting on it is described as one “like a jasper and a sardine stone” to look upon. The person on this throne is not named; however from the thrice repeated “holy” of verse eight, it might be concluded that this one is the triune God himself. The purpose of the throne is both that of salvation and of judgment but primarily one of judgment. In fact, in the light of verse five, it would seem that the entire purpose of chapters four and five in the outline of the book is to set up a throne of judgment from which the seven seals, the seven trumpet judgments and the seven vials of divine wrath of Revelation six to nineteen proceed. Around this central throne are twenty-four “seats” or more properly, “thrones,” on which are seated “four and twenty elders” who are clothed in white raiment and crowned with crowns of gold.

Immediately then we are brought face to face with these “four and twenty elders.” Who are they or what do they represent? Needless to say, a wide diversity of opinion prevails represented by almost every conceivable theological and eschatological persuasion. For example, men who hold to a partial rapture say that these elders represent the overcomers of Revelation two and three. Men who hold to the amillennialist position, represent them as the principalities and powers of Eph 1:21, Col 1:16, while others say that they are angels or the authorities of 1 Pet 3:22. Some posttribulationists dismiss them as being incapable of any identification. Premillennialists almost without exception see in these heavenly elders representatives of the redeemed, resurrected and enthroned Church. Thus the problem is one of immense importance involving for more than a mere arbitrary identifying of a vague and insignificant symbol, for it involves a discussion of that peculiar relationship of the Church to that period of time known as the tribulation. Beyond this, the answer to our question involves one’s view of history and the futu...

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