Once again, thinking on the vision of Nephi makes the symbols in John’s revelation easier to understand. The one sitting on the throne is Heavenly Father. The 4 beasts are like cherubim—in other words their descriptions are symbolic of their power, authority, and capabilities rather than literal descriptions of individuals—with wings symbolizing power and eyes symbolizing knowledge (although I’m not certain what the individual faces represent). The 24 elders seem to represent Apostles across dispensations (as opposed to a single, specific set of Apostles) worshipping God and His Lamb and testifying of them to the world. The angels represent saints in heaven and it’s no accident that we aren’t talking about 144000—John describes in excess of 100 million which I’m sure is not a literal number any more than 24 is literal for Apostles—which should indicate that far more people will arrive in the celestial kingdom than we might initially expect.
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