Thanks for asking.
I believe that the manuscript evidence shows the wording in Rev5:
9 ( ^ ) to be saying
"US" (except in the Alexandrian Codex which leaves it blank), distinct from verse
10 which has "them/they," and taking the following into consideration (below).
Not all saints of all times are designated "the Church
WHICH IS HIS BODY" [Eph1:20-23 WHEN] (though they are indeed all "saved").
Here's a post I had made awhile back regarding those specifically referred to in
Rev5:9 :
[quoting]
Revelation 4-5 has the "24 elders" (wearing "crowns/
stephanos" [see 2Tim4:8 "in that day"] and sitting on "24 thrones") are singing "antiphonal-ly" with the "4 living creatures" (and progressively adds more voices to the singing)
[considering also the wording in the Greek, btw 5:9 and 5:10], so that in
verse 9 the elders are saying "thou hast redeemed
us out of every... nation". (So these are "redeemed" ppl present "in Heaven" before the opening of the First SEAL; just as 2Th2's SEQUENCE reveals to us [which also agrees with 1Th4-5's SAME SEQUENCE]--recall what I'd said about 2Th2:7b-8a "
UNTIL out of the midst he be come [come to be].
AND THEN shall
that Wicked be revealed" paralleling the Lam2:3-4 wording of "He hath
drawn back His right hand from before the enemy" [effectively saying, "have at it!" or "let 'er rip!"--in a
"judgment" context--see also Ps74:11, in vv.4-11]).
The
"4 living creatures" I believe represent the "four-directional plotment" of Israel, in the following ways:
⦁
Judah - "Lion" banner - east - (Numbers 2:3; Numbers 10:14-17; etc)
⦁
Reuben - "[face of a] man" banner - south - (Numbers 2:10; Numbers 10:18-21; Num32:29; 1Chron5:18;12:37; Josh4:12-14; etc)
⦁
Ephraim - "ox/calf [/bull/bullock]" banner - west - (Numbers 2:18; Numbers 10:22-24; Jer31:18[/Deut33:17]; etc)
⦁
Dan - "eagle flying" banner - north - (Numbers 2:25; Numbers 10:25-28; etc)
[and see also...]
⦁ the Levites "in the midst" - (Numbers 2:17,33; Numbers 3:3-20,39,41,45; 4:5,15a; etc)
In chpt 6, we see the "4 living creatures" saying [individually] "Come! [
and see]" at the opening of each of the first FOUR "SEALS": Rev6:1,3,5,7 (which are parallel to "the beginning of birth PANGS [PLURAL]" of Matt24:4-8/Mk13:5-8/Lk21:8-11, with many MORE birth pangs that FOLLOW ON from there during the trib years).
[...]
Recall also that "we" ('the Church
which is His body') are "ambassadors" here; "OUR citizenship" is not here, but "IS [exists] IN the HEAVENs"... and hasn't it been said that, when "war" is getting ready to be declared, the
ambassadors are called home...
[end quoting]
____________
We see them seated on these "thrones"
before the first seal is opened;
when a "searching judgment" has already taken place (according to the "
was found" phrase in 5:4 [the same way as used pertaining to Paul's trials in the latter parts of Acts, in several verses]); and
when ppl are [all 3-->]:
1) "in heaven" [these "24 elders" included],
2) "and on the earth" [all those described as being on the earth in the chpts about to unfold],
3) "and under the earth" [those having died but not yet "resurrected" at this point in the chronology (both 1Cor15:23 and Rev20:6 show a SEQUENCE to this, meaning, there doesn't remain only ONE point-in-time for "resurrection")];
and as distinct from the 144,000 [of
one nation] and the "a great multitude... of all the nations" (of Rev7)
and from the martyrs "under the altar" at the Fifth Seal,
as well as those beheaded/martyred in the second half of the trib (referred to in Rev20:4b),
as well as distinct from OT saints who will be resurrected "at the end of the days [at the end of a very specific set of days/end of trib]" per Dan12:13,
and distinct also from those in Dan12:12 who will be "BLESSED is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1335 days" [
still-living saints (at the end of trib) who will enter the Mk age in mortal bodies capable of reproducing/bearing children], among about 9 or so other passages which refer to same [re: the "BLESSED"/entering the MK in mortal bodies]); etc...
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