In the centre of a huge hall is placed a throne: round about the Throne are four and twenty seats on which sit four and twenty Elders, robed in white and wearing crowns of gold. In this Assembly is introduced the Lamb that is to be initiated. In front of the Throne are four remarkable beasts : one of them is like a lion, another resembles an eagle, the third has the appearance of a calf, and the fourth has the face of a man. These beasts have six wings each, and are full of eyes all over; and they rest not night and day, but keep on blessing the One on the Throne.
Interpretation
The word "Elder" in the majority of places where it is used in the Scriptures means the representative head of a city, family, tribe or nation, so the "Four and Twenty Elders" are representative of the redeemed human race. But why 24 Elders? The Twenty-four is the number of the Priestly Courses as given in 1. Chron. 24:1-19. When David distributed the Priests into "Courses" he found there were 24 Heads of the Priestly families, and these 24 Heads he made representative of The wholesome priesthood. As the "Elders" are representative of both the Old and New Testament Saints, and the Old Testament Saints are represented by the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and the New Testament Saints' by the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb, they together make up 24 representative characters. Although somewhat problematic is that John's own presence in the scene as himself and in conversation with one of the 24 elders, makes for some double accounting by this interpretation. This distinction is clearly brought out in the description of the New Jerusalem, where the 12 Foundation Stones are named after the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb, and the 12 Gates after the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Alternatively the 24 Elders may refer to the dualistic 24 celestial archetypes that are divided into two as 12 and 12 archetypes each sharing each others' respective dual quarters of an archetype element, shared in pairs of two. Rev. 21:10-14.
Allegorical interpretation
, a 20th-century Jain writer claimed that the "Four and Twenty Elders" mentioned in the ChristianBible are "Twenty-four Jain Tirthankaras". In his book, Jainism Christianity and Science, he wrote:
