These twenty-four elders had not muscled their way up some ladder so that their seats around God’s throne might in some way be their own achievement (see Revelation 4:4). As creatures in the presence of God—crowned to be kings through Christ at that!—they could only acknowledge that their being in God’s presence was fully and only God’s grace. By casting their crowns before God’s throne they confessed that all they had was from God alone.
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,