The Revelation given to the apostle John is very specific about who it’s written to.

Yet, many who claim to belong to Jesus Christ are taught that this prophecy can be readily interpreted and applied to their lives merely on the basis of their affiliation with a particular congregation or religious doctrine.

But the first sentence confirms the intended audience: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place…” [Rev. 1:1, NASB Translation] [my emphasis]

[δοῦλος: (doo-lôs) noun; meaning as a slave]

I like the NASB Translation’s use of the word “bond-servant” here, since the term “slave” can have different contexts. But to get a true understanding of the New Testament authors’ vision of what it actually meant to be a slave [or bondservant] to the Lord, I might want to look closely at the first ordinance that He gave to His people through Moses at Mt. Sinai:

“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone.

But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him as a slave permanently into the age [often translated as ‘forever‘].” [Ex. 21:2-6] [my emphasis]

This phrase, “serve him as a slave,” is actually a verb derived from the same cognate noun “δοῦλος” noted above which is also recorded in the Septuagint and throughout the rest of the Greek New Testament. There were plenty of other terms to define slavery and servitude that are used in either of the original languages of the Bible.

But in the mind of every New Testament author, a δοῦλος was a special kind of servant. He wasn’t bound against his will in the service of debt, or a child who waited upon his elders. He brought his bondage upon himself.

He was driven by his love for his master and he was all in.

Are you?