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Posted this on my nlogpage just today! Maranatha indeed:

Four and Twenty Elders

This essay is about what I believe to be the most compelling reason to believe in a pre tribulation Rapture gathering of the Body of Believers in Christ, The One True Church ( Matthew 16:18 )gathered to Christ in the air and returned to The Father's House. ( John 14; 1 ; Thessalonians 4:13-17 )

If we are seeing this accurately, the gathering unto Him event is very close, since the gathering unto Him happens before the Tribulation begins and assumes a period of business in Heaven before the final judgments begin with the opening of the seven sealed scroll. ( Revelation 5:5 and following ))

For those who have not yet believed in Jesus, time is short, very short. Don't continue to wonder and ponder and not make a choice. Choose you this day life in Him and don't be left behind for the horrors which will follow Him gathering those who believe in Whom God sent for their salvation. ( John 6:29 )

Most Christians believe The word of God teaches a Gathering unto Christ, because Jesus introduced the notion in John chapter fourteen. To those who believe the event will happen the issue filters down to 'when', as in before the Tribulation, during the Tribulation, or after the Tribulation (this is not about the specific day or hour).

There are those who call themselves and believe themselves to be Christian who reject the notion of a Rapture. So be it with them, I pray for them and pray earnestly that this essay might be of help for them, also.

If we can show that the Body of Christ, the Ekklesia, The Church per se is in Heaven when the seven sealed scroll is opened by Christ ushering in the Tribulation Time of Jacob's Troubles, there is no further argument on the when for the Rapture. Please follow along as we point to clues from The Word of God which take our presence in Heaven at the opening of the seals as axiomatic, a notion fundamental to the scene.

In 1st Chronicles 24 and following David identifies a category of priesthood involving many families from whom the duty as priests for the Temple work will activate. Though the Temple is not yet built, these are the category identified as the four and twenty elders. This is a category identity since the numbers are well beyond a mere twenty-four individuals and refers to the rotating priesthood of Temple workers drawn from many families named in the passages there in 1st Chronicles.

If these four and twenty elders are a category representation applied later to The Body of Christ in Christianity, there should be many clues in the New Testament which point to this conclusion. And there are! First, let's see how The Spirit had John the Revelator depict them:

Revelation 4:4
And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

For the readers' context, read Revelation chapters four and five from the beginning as John is suddenly in Heaven in the spirit ... he had not yet received his new body. Note please the identifying points of four and twenty, seated in the Presence of God ( Angels always stand in God's Presence ), clothed in white raiment ( the garb of the redeemed ), and they had gold crowns on their physical heads not spiritual heads ( they had heads, so these are not Tribulation saints who lose their heads during the Tribulation and before ) .

The scholarly question arises 'who are these 'twenty four'; do they represent specific men numbering twenty four ? I am convinced these twenty four represent a category of people numbering much more than twenty four, and I come to this conclusion as follows.

In 1st Chronicles the four and twenty elders represent a vast category of men who will be identified as priesthood serving the Temple work. These twenty-four seen by John are not twelve from the Hebrew patriarchy because the resurrection of the Jews comes at the end of the Tribulation, at the establishing of the millenial Kingdom with Jerusalem as the center of the Earth's nations.

During the Church Age / Age of the Ekklesia there is no differentiation of Jew and Gentile under The Gospel of Christ establishing of the Body of Christ Believers. The twenty four are not specific Apostles since John would be looking at his resurrected body which will have God's Spirit indwelling for eternity and John is still alive in his old body when the Spirit reveals the scene to him.

So next we address the clues fonud in the New Testament and in the Revelation to John which support the notion that the four and twenty elders represent The Body of Believers who have received their new bodies and rewards crowns at the Bema Seat of Christ.

A major clue is the seated position in the Presence of God in Heaven.

Ephesians 2:4-6
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Mathew 19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration 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. [Note the saying twelve thrones does not omit the other twelve thrones for some different category, it addresses directly the positional status of these specific twelve among the four and twenty]

Another clue as to the status of the four and twenty elders is found early in the Revelation:

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Revelation 5: 8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Please note that scene -when the Lamb takes the scroll- is in Heaven happening before the seals are opened ushering in the Tribulation, and attended by the category identified as those whom Jesus has redeemed out of every kindred and tongue, and people and nation. This is the more personal identity of the category of four and twenty elders.

This category of The Redeemed are witness to the lamb being worthy AND before He begins to open the seven seal scroll.

The four and twenty elders are a category identified as those The slain Lamb has redeemed from the whole world through their faith alone in Christ alone, They are seated in God's Presence in Heaven. They have white raiment of the redeemed and crowns on real physical heads, crowns which they cast down at the feet of Him Who opens the seven sealed scroll. Folks, Christians,

ALL Christians since the day of Pentecost preaching by Peter and the internalizing of the Holy Spirit are gathered in Heaven before the seven sealed scroll which ushers in the tribulation is even opened. The Rapture Gathering unto Him is very very close, with the tribulation, the opening of the scroll to follow after that super natural event of His Church snatched out of this world.