“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“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.” (Rev. 4:4).

And so we come to the part of this book where it is necessary to start “identifying” things. You cannot interpret without interpreting, and so here we go.

I take the 24 elders to be representative of the elect of God throughout all history. There were twelve tribes in the Old Testament and twelve apostles in the New, giving us 24. The number 24 is also evocative of the priesthood, which in the time of David was divided into 24 courses (1 Chron. 24:4; 25:9-13). In his vision, Ezekiel saw 25 men—the high priest along with the heads of the 24 orders of priests (Eze. 8:16; 11:1). We have the same thing here. The High Priest is on His throne, and around Him are the 24 elders. These men show that God through the salvation wrought by Christ is reconstituting the earthly component of His Divine Council, as drawn from among men.

These men are called elders (presbyteros), and they also have crowns, which makes them ruling elders. They also have other indications of their priestly function as they are dressed in white, and they offer incense (Rev. 5:8).

These functions together (kings and priests) fit with the self-description of the elders in the next chapter (Rev. 5:10). The elders clearly represent elect mankind because they confess that the Lamb redeemed them with His blood, and has made them “kings and priests.” Their rule is on the earth, and that rule is about to be manifested through the course of the rest of the book.

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“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“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” (Rev. 4:1).

The first three chapters of Revelation should be considered as preamble. John is setting the stage, describing the reasons for the revelation that is about to be made manifest. Remember that the entire book is going to be read to the Philadelphians, to the Laodiceans, to the Thyatirans, and so on. This revelation is going to land in their respective churches very differently. Those in Philadelphia are already overcomers, and so they are ready for what this book contains. Those in Laodicea are not ready, at least not apart from repentance. The truth is always constant, but it strikes different levels of inconstancy differently.

John looked and a door in the heavens opened up. He heard a voice that was described as “the first voice,” and the voice sounded like a trumpet talking. John is invited up into the heavens so that he might be shown the things which were to come “hereafter.” Given what has been said in the preamble, and from details of the revelation itself, we know that these events will be shortly hereafter. John was not being shown the distant future. When Daniel was shown the distant future, he was told to seal the words of the prophecy because the fulfilled events were still 4 centuries in the future. John is told not to seal what he sees, and it would be odd if the events were 20 centuries out and counting.

The other thing to note here is that we see the development of a “two-layer” structure for the remainder of the book. Those two layers are the history of Heaven and the history of earth. God is worshiped in Heaven, and dramatic things are accomplished on earth. God is glorified in Heaven, and God is glorified on earth. And this is how we pray—may Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

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“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Rev. 3:20–22).

Despite the fact that the church at Laodicea was in a wretched state, the Lord still offers to commune with any who will commune with Him. The invitation is famously stated as though the Lord were knocking at the door of someone’s heart, but there is no mention of a heart in this text at all. The door He is knocking on is the door of a church. If any of the Laodiceans hear His voice—which indicates that He is both knocking and calling—and comes to open the door, the Lord promises to come into “to him” and sup with him, and the table fellowship would be mutual. This is not a salvation text at all—it is a reformation text.

And despite the defeated condition of that particular church, a glorious prospect is held out. That defeated church might have overcomers contained within it. To anyone who overcomes, the Lord will invite him to be seated together with Christ in His throne. This is done according to the same logic that was applied when the Lord overcame in His trial, and was seated together with the Father in His throne. As that Father shared His throne with the Son, so the Son shares His throne with believers who overcome.

The same general invitation is given to them that is given to other churches—if a man has an ear, he should take care to listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Here we should note the plural churches. What is said to each church is said—mutatis mutandis—to them all. We make adjustments in application in the different churches, but there is always some application.

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