“And I looked, and lo a Lamb stood on Mount Zion and with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand having His Father’s name written in their foreheads,” Rev. 14:1-5.

“THE LIVING CREATURES AND THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS,”continued

“And they sang a new song BEFORE THE THRONE (OF GOD) and before the four living creatures and before the elders (of the heavenly Sanhedrin)…” Rev. 14:3 AMP.

The four living creatures as seen in the face of Jesus as revealed in the Epistles;

EPISTLES CREATURES AS THEY PORTRAY CHRIST (REV. 20:8) UNIVERSAL POINT PERSONALITY TYPES:

1. MATTHEW = LION = Kingship (Gen. 49:8; Num. 2:3) = East = Choleric – Easily Angered

2. MARK = OX = Service. Jesus came to serve mankind (Burden bearer) = West = Phlegmatic – Cool and collected, unemotional

3. LUKE = MAN = Struggles, Wisdom = South = Melancholy – Depression of Spirit, Morbidity, gloomy, depressed, passive

4. JOHN = EAGLE = Overcomer – Life, swiftness = North = Sanguine – Hopeful, Confident, Cheerful

While there is no room to discuss every aspect of what we have above, it is enough to say that whatever personality traits you have, it is expected that all be harmonized into the glory of God, the Christ nature. For no matter the personality you have, as the Christ Spirit comes into you, you become one with Him as you now begin to have life within yourself as a Living Creature. So the whole picture boils down to the nature of the redeemed of the Lord in glory. For these creatures are connected to the glory of God.

THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS

In the verse we are dealing with, Rev. 14:3 the Amplified said, “…before the elders (of the heavenly Sanhedrin).” What is the meaning of this? Who were the Sanhedrin? The Sanhedrin was a Jewish Court located in Jerusalem made up of seventy-one members. The seventy-one members in the days of Jesus included the high priest, those who have served as high priest, the high priest’s family, older men, the heads of the tribes and families and scribes, and men that are vast in the law (Acts 4:5-6).

They were members of the sect of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Acts 23:6). They had a lot of power over the Jews in religious matters, especially during the reign of the Romans. And this authority was even greatly recognized by the Jews that were scattered abroad (Acts 9:1-4).

The Sanhedrin was abolished after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

The high priest was the head and president of the Sanhedrin who called the assembly together (Acts 5:17, 21, 27). Ananias was the High Priest presiding over the Sanhedrin at the time of Paul’s trial (Acts 23:2). One thing about the court was that they had a lot of power which ranges from the verdict of inflicting the penalties of scourging (flogging), ex-communication, to that of death. Membership of the Sanhedrin was limited to Israelites of pure blood and was held for life. Jesus Himself appeared before them (Matt. 26:59).

With the above background, when we are talking of the twenty-four elders sitting on thrones around the throne of the Lord, we are then talking of a court session in the heavens. But why are there twenty-four?

Certainly these heavenly beings which this court consists of with Jesus as the High Priest on His throne must, of course, speak of the twelve patriarchs of the OT and the twelve apostles of the NT.

Jesus personally spoke to them on this in Matt. 19:28 when He said, “..in the regeneration (time of the Holy Ghost) when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, YE ALSO SHALL SIT UPON TWELVE THRONES JUDGING THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL.” See Rev. 20:4.

So just as we had the elders of the twelve tribes of Israel forming the Court of the Sanhedrin, so also today we have the twelve Patriarchs and Apostles forming the new court of the heavenly Sanhedrin of twenty four Elders. This is the meaning of the symbols here.

To be continued…