Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, August 6, 2025
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
We don’t know who these elders are. They could possibly represent the 12 patriarchs of Israel and the 12 apostles: 12+12=24. If so, they could point to the shared covenant between God’s chosen people and the new church in Christ. (Metzger, p.49) I like this idea of the interconnected history of God’s people (and by extension, all of creation) being a continuous line from the very beginning to now. We are as much a part of the Big Bang and the dinosaurs as we are of the unimagined future. We are connected to all that has come before and all that will come beyond our years. There is a lot of joy to be found in thinking about these connections—of finding ways that we are all one in God. Many of us enjoy researching our ancestry—it can be a powerful demonstration that we are a part of something much larger than ourselves. And, of course, it goes way beyond our actual genetic relatives to everything that God has created, and even everything that God is.
Where do I see connections to those who have gone before me?
——————————————————————————————Metzger, Bruce M. Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1993.
