The four and twenty elders--4:4-5. 1. “ Four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting” --4:4. The four and twenty signified the patriarchs and apostles- twelve each, twenty-four in number. It was the symbol of the totality of God’ s people in the New Testament church; the whole body of the redeemed. The twelve tribes and the twelve apostles represented the completeness of the church; the Old and the New were combined in the symbol represented in the chiefs: the patriarchs of the Old, and the apostles of the New. 2. “ Lightnings . . . voices . . . thunderings"--4:5. These were signs of a procession of terrible and awful events and is an impressive representation of Omnipotence. (Exodus 19:16) It was a symbol of the accompanying divine presence in the “ seven lamps and the seven spirits” before the throne, signifying universal presence, with eyes to search whole world, and to bring all men to judgment.