4:2. “…Behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne….”
“…The throne of glory,….[spoken of in Matt. 19:28], is to be understood of the judgment of Christ to be brought upon the treacherous, rebellious, wicked, Jewish people. We meet with very frequent mention of the coming of Christ in his glory in this sense….” [2:266]
4:4. “…four and twenty elders….”
From the Talmud: “‘He that hath not seen the cathedral church of Alexandria hath never seen the glory of Israel. It was after the manner of a court-walk, double cloistered. There were sometimes there so many as doubly exceeded the number of those that went out of Egypt. There were seventy golden chairs set with gems, according to the number of the seventy elders….'” [2:42] This shows the extent of the ritual and pageantry that went with the ceremonial law.
Four courses of priests returned from Babylon. These “…divided themselves into the house of their fathers into twenty-four courses.” These courses took turns ministering in Jerusalem, each course ministering for one week at a time. At the Feasts all of them ministered. Thus, they completed the half year in twenty-six weeks, one week for each course and two feast weeks. Therefore, the cycle repeated itself twice each year, the first cycle beginning at Passover and the second cycle at the Feast of Tabernacles. These priests came into Jerusalem from their homes throughout the land.
“…’For every course there was a stationary assembly of priests, Levites, and Israelites, at Jerusalem. When the time came, wherein the course must go up, the priests and the Levites went up to Jerusalem; but the Israelites that were within that course, all met within their own cities and read the history of the creation, Gen.i; and the stationary men fasted four days in that week; viz. from the second to the fifth.’
“Gloss: ‘There was a stationary assembly…for every course stated and placed in Jerusalem, who should assist in the sacrifices of their brethren: and besides these that were stated in Jerusalem, there was a stationary assembly in every city. All Israel was divided into twenty-four stations, according to the twenty-four courses….'” [3:8-12]
The scene portrayed in Revelation 4:2-4 may be related to the teaching found in the Jewish writings: “‘R. Abin saith, That the Holy Blessed God will make the elders of Israel sit down in a semicircle, himself sitting president, as the father of the Sanhedrim; and shall judge the nations of the world.'” [3:269]
“… ‘It is not necessary that the whole bench of seventy-one, {i.e. the full Sanhedrin}, should all sit together in their places in the Temple; but when it is necessary for them all to meet, let them be called together. … But at other times, if any one of them have any business of his own, he may go out and do his affairs and return again. This provision is made, that there might never be fewer than twenty-three sitting together during the whole session. If any have occasion to go forth, let him look about him and see if there be twenty-three of his colleagues in the court, then he may go out; if not, he must stay till some other enter.’…” [3:418]
4:11. “… for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
“It cannot be passed over without observation, by what authority Paul applies those words of Psalm cii, ‘Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast founded the earth,’ &c. to the Messias, Heb.i.10, to prove his Deity and dignity. ‘But thou art deceived, O Paul, (would a Hebrew say;) these words are to be applied to God the Father, not to the Messias.’ The apostle hath what to reply from the very confession of the Jewish nation; ‘You acknowledge that Spirit which was present at and president over the creation was ‘the Spirit of the Messias.'” [4:274]