Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 4:10

"the four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying," — Revelation 4:10 (ASV)

The second hymn is sung by the twenty-four elders. When the living creatures confess the truth of God’s holy deeds, the response of the highest order of God’s heavenly creatures is to relinquish their crowns of honor before the feet of him who alone is “worthy” of “glory and honor and power” because he alone (no man, not even the emperor) is the source and stay of every created thing (102:25; 136:5ff.). The expression “by your will they were created and have their being” (v.11) describes first the fact of their existence and then their origin.