And round about the throne were four and twenty seats. Throughout the vision no past tense is used. The vision represents the worship of heaven (so far as it can be presented to human understanding) as it continues eternally.
Thrones … seats. Render both by the same English word, as in the Revised Version. Some doubt is attached to the case of the first θρόνοι. θρόνοι, is found in B, P and this makes the construction nominative after ἰδού (cf.
Revelation 4:2); but א, A, 34, 35, read θρόνους, which causes εἶδον to be understood. The point is immaterial, as the meaning is the same. And upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting. Omit "I saw" (see above).
The number twenty-four, the double of twelve, represents the Churches of both the old and the new covenants. The elders are the heads or representatives of the body to which they belong (see Exodus 19:7; Exodus 24:1, and many others; see also the list of elders in Hebrews 11:1-40.
). In the Christian Church the same distinction exists (see Acts 14:23, "ordained them elders;" Acts 20:17, St. Paul sent for the elders of Ephesus; Acts 21:18, "The elders were present"). So hero the elders represent the saints of both the Old and New Testaments.
Thus they offer "the prayers of the saints" (Revelation 5:8). Christ, moreover, promised twelve thrones to his disciples (Luke 22:30) though not to the exclusion of the saints of old, for both are conjoined in Revelation 21:12, Revelation 21:14.
In Revelation 15:2, Revelation 15:3, the victorious ones sing "the song of Moses and of the Lamb."