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“Who Is Worthy to Open the Scroll?”Revelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand!
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“And when he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp and golden bowls that were full of incense, and the incense means the prayers of the holy ones.” (Revelation 5:8) Like the four cherubic living creatures before God’s throne, the 24 elders bow to Jesus in acknowledgment of his authority. But these elders are alone in having harps and bowls of incense.a And they alone now sing a new song. (Revelation 5:9) Thus they resemble the 144,000 of the holy “Israel of God,” who also carry harps and sing a new song. (Galatians 6:16; Colossians 1:12; Revelation 7:3-8; 14:1-4) Further, the 24 elders are shown to fulfill a heavenly, priestly function, pictured by that of the priests in ancient Israel who burned incense to Jehovah in the tabernacle—a function that ended on earth when God took the Mosaic Law out of the way, nailing it to Jesus’ torture stake. (Colossians 2:14) What conclusion do we draw from all of this? That here the anointed overcomers are seen in their ultimate assignment as ‘priests of God and of the Christ, ruling as kings with him for the thousand years.’—Revelation 20:6.
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“Who Is Worthy to Open the Scroll?”Revelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand!
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16. (a) In the Christian system of things, who penetrate the antitypical Most Holy? (b) Why do anointed Christians have to ‘burn incense’?
16 In the Christian system of things not only the antitypical High Priest, Jesus Christ, but also each of the 144,000 underpriests eventually gets to enter the antitypical Most Holy, the place of Jehovah’s presence in heaven. (Hebrews 10:19-23) Entry into this Most Holy is impossible for these priests, as represented here by the 24 elders, unless they ‘burn incense,’ that is, constantly offer up prayers and supplications to Jehovah.—Hebrews 5:7; Jude 20, 21; compare Psalm 141:2.
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“Who Is Worthy to Open the Scroll?”Revelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand!
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[Full-page picture on page 86]
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