The tabernacle where the people of Israel met with God was constructed by the Israelites in the wilderness not long after they were delivered from slavery in Egypt, but it was later replaced by a permanent structure built by Solomon in the city of Jerusalem. King David laid out the plans for building the temple of God before his death (1 Chronicles 22:2-5), but it was his son, King Solomon who executed the plans and brought the building project to completion (2 Chronicles 5:1). The event that inspired David to build a house for God was a pestilence that killed 70,000 men in less than three days. 1 Chronicles 21:15-16 tells us, “And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw, and he relented of the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, ‘It is enough; now stay your hand.’ And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem.” David was instructed to raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite (1 Chronicles 21:18), and later said about the site that he had purchased, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel” (1 Chronicles 22:1).

David’s preparation for building the house of the LORD God included the organization of the priests and the Levites to do the work that was required to conduct religious services and to maintain the temple. David organized the priests “according to the appointed duties in their service” (1 Chronicles 24:3). The Hebrew word that is translated appointed duties, pᵉquddah (pek-ood-dawˊ) means “visitation.” Jesus referred to a time of visitation during his triumphal entry when he wept over the city of Jerusalem. Luke tells us, “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that made for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:41-44). The Greek word that is translated visitation, episcope (ep-is-kop-ayˊ) refers to “superintendence; specially the Christian ‘episcopate’:-office (of overseer), visitation” (G1984).

There are only two instances in the New Testament where episcope is used to refer a specific office or position that needed to be filled among believers. The first is in reference to the position that Judas Iscariot had as one of Jesus’ twelve apostles. It says in Acts 1:15-20 that Peter stood up among the brothers and said:

“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

“‘May his camp become desolate,
    and let there be no one to dwell in it’;

and

‘Let another take his office.’”

Judas’ betrayal of Jesus resulted in him being removed from his appointed office. Paul said in his first letter to Timothy, “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:1-7). In this passage, Paul mentions the office of overseer and then, refers to an overseer. Paul used the Greek word episkopos (ep-isˊkop-os) to refer to an overseer, indicating that he was talking about a “Christian officer in general charge of a (or the) church” (G11985). From this we can conclude that David’s organization of the priests according to the appointed duties was intended to be similar to management of the body of Christ or what we refer to today as the church.

We are told in 1 Chronicles 24:4-19:

Since more chief men were found among the sons of Eleazar than among the sons of Ithamar, they organized them under sixteen heads of fathers’ houses of the sons of Eleazar, and eight of the sons of Ithamar. They divided them by lot, all alike, for there were sacred officers and officers of God among both the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar. And the scribe Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded them in the presence of the king and the princes and Zadok the priest and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and of the Levites, one father’s house being chosen for Eleazar and one chosen for Ithamar.

The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, the third to Harim…the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. These had as their appointed duty in their service to come into the house of the Lord according to the procedure established for them by Aaron their father, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.

The appointed duty of the 24 sacred officers was “to come into the house of the LORD according to the procedure established for them” (1 Chronicles 24:19). The Hebrew word that is translated procedure, mishpât (mish-pawtˊ) is “a masculine noun meaning a judgment, a legal decision, a legal case, a claim, proper, rectitude. The word connotes several variations in meanings depending on the context. It is used to describe a legal decision or judgment rendered: it describers a legal decision given by God to be followed by people (Isaiah 58:2; Zephaniah 2:3; Malachi 2:17)” (H4941). The procedure that the officers were expected to follow was commanded by God. This meant that the priests’ activities were governed by God’s sovereign authority and were meant to result in a divinely ordered arrangement for the management of God’s house of worship.

The orderly arrangement of the priests’ activities in God’s temple reflected the ideal state that God intended when he created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1-2 tells us that in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.” God added all of the necessary elements to make his creation a functioning system that was able to sustain itself. God created light, an expanse to separate the waters, vegetation, and living creatures. Then, God created man in his own image and gave him the task of caring for his creation (Genesis 2:15). It says in John 3:16 that, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” The Greek word that is translated world in this verse is kosmos (kosˊ-mos), which means “orderly arrangement” and as a noun signifies “to tend, to take care of” (G2889). The priests in God’s temple were delegated representatives that had the divine responsibility of keeping God at the center of everyone’s attention as the Creator and benefactor of life. Worshipping God is a necessary part of human existence and is vital to the sustainment of God’s creation.

The mistake that the Israelites made in their worship of God was letting it become a meaningless ritual rather than a heartfelt expression of adoration and gratitude toward the benefactor of all that they possessed. God blamed the priests and the Levites for this problem and Jesus pronounced seven woes on the religious leaders of his day prior to his crucifixion (Matthew 23:1-36). Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. (Matthew 23:2-15)

Following his harsh criticism of Israel’s religious leaders, Jesus foretold the destruction of the temple. Luke tells us, “And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Luke 21:5-6).

One of the passages in Isaiah that refers to Israel’s Messiah that Jesus identified with himself is Isaiah 61:1-2. Jesus quoted this passage when he was teaching in a synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth and told the people afterward, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Isaiah 61 talks about the year of the LORD’s favor and says that the Christ of God will “grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; but you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God” (Isaiah 61:3-6).

The fourth chapter of the book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into God’s throne room in heaven. The Apostle John, who wrote the book of Revelation, tells us that “a door was standing open in heaven” and he was commanded to “Come up here” and would be shown “what must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1). The after this that John is referring to is after the year of the LORD’s favor, when the gospel of Jesus Christ is being preached throughout the world. John tells us that, “a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne” and “around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads” (Revelation 4:2, 4). John went on to describe four living creatures who never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8), and then, tells us, “whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever” (Revelation 4:9-10). John concluded his description of God’s throne room by telling us the twenty-four elders, “cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created’” (Revelation 4:10-11).

John used the same word that is translated elder in Revelation 4:4, 10 to refer to himself in the greeting of his second letter. John opened his letter with the statement, “The elder to the elect lady and her children” (2 John 1:1). “The ‘elect lady and her children’ (2 John 1:1) may be a reference to an actual lady and her children, but many scholars contend that this is a cryptic way of addressing a church to safeguard against the letter falling into the hands of those who were hostile to the church” (Introduction to the Second Letter of John). In the same way, John may have wanted to protect his identity by referring to himself as “the elder,” but this reference could also have been John’s way of disclosing that he saw himself as one of the twenty-four elders in his vision of God’s throne room. The identity of the twenty-four elders may not be as important as the role they play in God’s throne room. Like the twenty-four sacred officers that were tasked with maintaining the orderly arrangement of worship in God’s temple, the twenty-four elders who cast their crowns before the throne, demonstrate for believers the proper procedure to worship a God who is so holy, that it causes them to fall down before him in adoration and awe.