Revelation 4 begins with a description of the throne in heaven.  Surrounding the throne are 24 elders. Just who are these elders?  Elders, elsewhere in Scripture, refer to men of spiritual standing worthy of great respect and given authority to rule. They are dressed in white which signify righteousness and they are wearing crowns which signify authority.  So, perhaps they are entities whom we do not know.  What we do know is that these elders surrender all authority to Jesus by casting their crowns of authority before Him.

And, then, there are more questions.  Who are the four living creatures?  See Ezekiel 1 for comparisons of the living creatures. There are some similarities and some differences.

Revelation 5:13
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them...
Imagine every creature singing praises to God.

All of creation has been waiting in eager expectation to be free from corruption and to know the children of God.

R0mans 8:19-22 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 

More questions. What are the seven seals?  People explain the seals in the book of Revelation in many different ways and have them mean many different things. Labeling, and placing things in categories is not what's really important. Essentially, the seals are just a way of explaining some ongoing events. There is nothing really mysterious about it. What is really important is how we live our lives in anticipation of these last days. For more details, see the book These Last Days Second Edition by Phil and Patti Moore.  Available on Amazon.

The mystery surrounding the seven seals and especially the first four seals, also known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, can be incredibly confusing and also very frightening.  There are many who equate the word apocalypse to mean doom and gloom when literally the word means "an uncovering".  Apocalypse is a disclosure of knowledge or revelation. For clarification concerning the four horses see Zechariah 6:1-8.

God allows some terrible things to happen to fulfill his purposes. God continually gives humanity a choice. How are we to choose if there is only good and no evil from which to choose?

The process of winemaking illustrates the point. A vintner will pour the juice of crushed grapes into a clean container. According to his recipe he will add a certain amount of sugar to the grape juice. If nothing else is added to the recipe there will be no wine. It will eventually be only vinegar. In order for the grape juice to make wine another element must be added to the recipe and that element is yeast. Yeast is an agitating force in the making of wine just as evil is an agitating force in the human condition. The vintner separates the dregs from the good wine at the end of the winemaking process. Our struggles between good and evil on the earth are nothing more than the fermentation of the plan of redemption. Whether we live in a condition of eternal death or eternal life depends on how we react to the yeast that God puts into our lives. God will separate the righteous from the unrighteous at the end of days. God gives us the choice.

God has a plan. Satan tries to subvert that plan with his own plan…a devious plan…a clever plan. He is a master at marketing his demon resources. Satan is dealing with a finite number of evil spirits and demons. If his goal is to deceive a thousand people, which would be more resourceful and time efficient… to send out a thousand evil spirits or one powerful evil spirit who would inhabit a religious leader who would deceive a thousand people? All Satan has to do is influence one strong leader who will deceive and influence many people. The choice is set before us. We can choose to believe Satan’s lie or God’s truth. The choice is ours.

The first five seals are ongoing and have been since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. False teaching (the white horse) began in the garden and has plagued mankind since. Satan taught Eve that God did not have ultimate authority. She believed it. That is the spirit of the white horse. False religion is any spirit that teaches against God. That is exactly what Satan did to Eve. While professing to teach the truth he taught against God and she believed it. This is what is symbolized in the first seal.

Our world has been inundated with satanically-led oppressive governments (the red horse) and greed (the black horse) that takes many forms. All these choices made by mankind illustrate man’s freedoms to choose. These choices have consequences. The consequences of all three horses are illustrated by the fourth horse, the pale (green) horse, representing death and destruction. The fifth seal also is ongoing as more and more people are murdered for the cause of Christ.

The evil spirits of the four horses are the mixer, the yeast in the wine that God has put in place to keep things agitated so that humanity has an opportunity to choose between God and Satan. These spirits are catalysts that God has put in place to give us a legitimate choice.

What will we as Believers in Jesus choose?

The 144,000 that are sealed are not all Jews. They are from the house of Israel, 12 tribes, of which Judah (Jews) is a part.

Revelation 7:9-17 is a parenthetical and is out of order in the sequence of events in the book of Revelation. There are several events that are not in chronological order, which makes it a little more difficult to understand.

Revelation 8 picks up with the seventh seal. Why was there silence in heaven?