chapter sets up the throne in heaven, and one sitting on it; the sign of the covenant with creation was around the throne.
There is no statement of a veil, intercession, incense, or priesthood. It is government—elders on thrones. There were the seven spirits, the Holy Ghost in his energy and perfectness, the fixed moral purity which belonged to the place, the approach to the throne, and lastly (that of which most was said), four beasts, which were the heads of the genera of creation, and filled with the intelligence and activity of providence, celebrating Jehovah Elohim Shaddai, the covenant and dispensation names of God, not the relationship name of the Church, thus representing the throne of providence and creation, controlling all the springs of the state of things in nature; of which throne these living attributes of God formed the pillars and support ; they were κύκλω τοῦ θρόνου. It was the temple; but the temple was the accompaniment of the throne, without veil or priest. The twenty-four elders may be taken as the representatives of the redeemed of the two dispensations; but it was not the essential character. They were on thrones. The beasts, or living creatures, are more particularly noticed as connected with the living creatures of Ezekiel—the living supports of the
