Wed.’s Devo - The Twenty-Four Elders

Read: Obadiah 1:1-21; Revelation 4:1-11; Psalm 132:1-18; Proverbs 29:24-25
Obadiah sees the fall of Judah because of the relationship of hate between him and Edom, his brother. Edom refers to Esau and Judah refers to Jacob. Esau stood for Israel, God’s first-born who rejected their birthright to be God’s sons for simple worldly things comparable to a pot of stew. Jacob, the second-born refers to the Gentile Church who desired the birthright and was adopted by God to be his sons and daughters. The good news was that God was going to deliver Esau one day just as He is going to deliver the Jews.
In Revelation, John is invited to walk through a door and enter God’s presence. There are 24 thrones where 24 elders sit, a menorah, a sea of glass and the throne in the center with four living creatures. One looked like a lion, one like an ox, the third like a man and the fourth like an eagle who continually worship the Lord on his throne. This looks like the tabernacle in heaven - the Holy of Holies with no partition between the rooms because there is no need. The twenty-four elders probably represent the twelve patriarchs of the Old Testament and the twelve apostles of the New even though John would have been one of them which makes it a little questionable.
The four living creatures represent so many things:
1. the four world powers of the earth
2. the four Gospels, Matthew the lion, Mark the ox, Luke the man, John the eagle which express the personal character of the Evangelists and the way Jesus relates to the world. The lion is a symbol of royalty and Matthew was written to the Jews to show Jesus as the King. Mark represents the ox which was a picture of the suffering servant. Mark was written to the Romans to show that Jesus came to serve. Luke represented by the man was written to the Greeks to show that he was the Son of Man. John was written to the church to show that Jesus was the Son of God and was represented as the eagle who soars majestically over mankind.
3. the four corners of the world
4. redeemed man’s rule over the earth. The lion is the head of the wild beasts of the animal kingdom. The ox is the head over the tamed beasts. The eagle is the head over the birds and the creatures of the water. Man is over all of them. As redeemed kinds and priests we are to take dominion over all creation for the glory of God.
5. the four standards by which the Jewish people camped in the wilderness. Judah, to the north was the lion. Dan, to the west was the eagle, Ephraim, to the south was the ox and Reuben, to the east was the man.
In the midst was the tabernacle was the Shekinah symbol of the Divine Presence. This is a picture of earth in heaven which will come down to earth when Revelation 21:3 is fulfilled. Then the tabernacle of God will be with men. Then all four aspects will be manifest. There will be kingly righteousness (the lion) and just judgment (the man), everyone will work with diligence and excellence (the ox), everyone will be sympathetic toward one another and love and the heavenly truth will be on the earth (the eagle).
All will give glory, honor and power to the Lord who created all things.
Lord, you are beyond finding out. Thank you for your Word. Help us to rightly divide it and understand its meaning.