Revelation 4:4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.
Isaiah 24:23 “Then the moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed; For the Lord of hosts will reign On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously.”
The second category of individuals that will reside in the New Jerusalem, are the twenty-four elders. For as the first passage of scripture quoted above reveals to us, these elders are permanently seated on thrones around the throne of God. The second passage quoted, refers to God’s reign in the New Jerusalem, and we can see from this passage, that the twenty-four elders will remain present before God, in the heavenly city. And so, although scripture does not reveal to us who these individuals are, we do know that they are not men descended from Adam, for these individuals were seated in the presence of God, before Jesus ever presented His atoning blood before the Father for the sins of mankind (Revelation 5:8).
Psalms 107:31-32 “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! (32) Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the company of the elders.”
Scripture also does not reveal to us, when God created the elders that are seated before Him in heaven, but it does seem that they have been in the presence of God from eternity. For the scripture quoted above, which was written roughly a thousand years before Jesus came into the earth, mentions that when men gave thanks and exalted the Lord in the assembly of the people, that they did so in the company of the elders, thus indicating that the elders were already present before God, at that time.
Michael E.B. Maher
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