Revelation 4:8: And the four beasts ... rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

The four beasts in heaven (celestial paradise)¹ represent all four classes of creation redeemed by Jesus Christ,² including mankind, animals, plants, and worlds.³ The disembodied spirits⁴ of these representative creatures worship at the throne of God the Father⁵ without rest⁶ both day and night.⁷ The holy, holy, holy, of the Trisagion (Tri-SAGE-e-on) is their anthem of praise.⁸ This thrice holy Trisagion comes from Isaiah's vision where he saw Jehovah (Jesus Christ)⁹ seated on a throne in heaven.¹⁰ In John's vision, the Father is seated on the throne and before him are the four beasts in paradise awaiting their resurrection.¹¹ They praise God the Father,¹² who created their spirits¹³ long before the physical creation¹⁴ of this earth and all its physical life forms.¹⁵

Christ is not seated on the throne with his Father in this part of John's vision,¹⁶ but the Trisagion applies equally to Christ¹⁷ as a creator. He physically created¹⁸ all things within each of the four classes of creation¹⁹ under the direction of the Father.²⁰ Christ is also the creator²¹ of immortal souls²² that he resurrects by the power of his atonement.²³ The Father and the Son are thrice holy as the joint creators of all things in all three stages of creation (premortal, mortal, and immortal).

The word holy is the sum of all praise.²⁴ Christ is called the Holy One²⁵ and the Lord God Almighty.²⁶ He is the God which was, and is, and is to come.²⁷ The God which is to come refers to Christ's Second Coming.²⁸ He is, therefore, an object of worship with the Father in this first of fourteen doxologies found in the Book of Revelation.²⁹

Revelation 4:9-10: And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne....

The four beasts first give glory and honor and thanks to God the Father, followed by similar praise from the 24 Elders. The four beasts worship as representatives of all creation because Revelation chapter 4 is focused on the creation.³⁰ Revelation chapter 5, by contrast, focuses on the redemption made possible through Christ's atonement.³¹ Therefore, in Revelation chapter 5, the four beasts and 24 Elders simultaneously praise Jesus Christ.³² John used a future verb tense to describe the manner of their worship in 96 AD³³ to emphasize the continuous and eternal repetition of such glory and honor and thanks.³⁴

The 24 Elders have crowns because they represent the disembodied spirits of men and women in paradise³⁵ that have entered the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage³⁶ and are worthy of exaltation in the celestial kingdom.³⁷ People that do not qualify for exaltation in the celestial kingdom³⁸ can become unexalted angels in that kingdom.³⁹ These angels are represented by the beast in paradise with the face of a man that has no crown.⁴⁰ The three other beasts in John's vision are also representative angels in their sphere.⁴¹ They have no crowns because they represent the lower orders of creation, including animals, plants, and worlds.⁴²

All lower life forms will be resurrected.⁴³ Some have said that all four beasts will be exalted in the celestial kingdom,⁴⁴ but lesser life forms are exalted only in the sense that they will achieve celestial glory after they fill the measure of their creation.⁴⁵ Animals, plants, and worlds are not exalted to become kings and queens with crowns of dominion in the kingdom of God.⁴⁶ As glorified but unexalted creations,⁴⁷ the four beasts praise and thank God in the third person. That is, they do not directly utter the thrice holy Trisagion, whereas the 24 Elders with crowns (exaltation-worthy saints) do worship God directly.⁴⁸

The 24 Elders engage in three acts of worship.⁴⁹ First, they fall down or prostrate themselves before the throne to express great humility and reverence.⁵⁰ They also speak unspecified words of praise, perhaps in the form of a doxology.⁵¹ Finally, they cast their crowns before the throne to pay homage to God.⁵² By this last act of worship, the 24 Elders disclaim any honor or dignity for themselves⁵³ and recognize that all glory, honor, and power belong to God.⁵⁴

Dr. Richard Draper also suggests that the 24 Elders cast down their crowns as a sign of consecration.⁵⁵ However, that interpretation is better suited to saints crowned with glory in the celestial kingdom after the resurrection⁵⁶ rather than in celestial paradise where they are still awaiting their kingdom. When exalted saints receive kingdoms, dominions, and principalities after their resurrection,⁵⁷ they will then consecrate their kingdoms back to the Father.⁵⁸

The 24 Elders represent exaltation-worthy saints in celestial paradise that have died (or will die) since the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the meridian of time.⁵⁹ They will be exalted and achieve eternal life when they are resurrected⁶⁰ at the Second Coming.⁶¹ They will then take up the crowns for their kingdoms,⁶² and become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.⁶³ Through the celestial law of consecration,⁶⁴ exalted saints possess all that the Father has,⁶⁵ including his godly attributes.⁶⁶ They shall be as God is.⁶⁷ Exaltation-worthy saints from the Old Testament provide the historical precedent for this, since they rose from the dead at the time of Christ's resurrection and were exalted to be Gods at that time.⁶⁸