Revelation 19: Enslaved to God

Imagine the cascade of emotions John must have been experiencing in this gripping vision of judgment, destruction, grief, shock, and the heavenly command to rejoice. Immediately, the inhabitants of heaven responded with shouts of acclamation.

After these things I heard a sound like a great throng, multitudes of people in heaven, saying,

“Alleluia, the salvation and the glory and the power of our God, because true and righteous the judgments of [God], because [God] judged the great idolator, who was corrupting the earth with [Babylon’s] idolatry/unlawful sexual acts and [God] avenged the blood of [God’s] slaves from her hand.”

Then, again a second time they have said,

“Alleluia, and the smoke of [Babylon] rises into the ages of the ages.”

Then the twenty four elders fell prostrate, and the four living creatures, and paid homage to God, the One sitting upon the throne, saying,

“Amen, Alleluia.”

Then a voice came out from the throne saying, “Praise our God, all [God’s] slaves, and the ones who fear [God], the small and the great.”

And I heard a sound like multitudes of people, and a sound like many waters, and a sound like mighty thunders, saying,

“Alleluia, because the Lord reigned, God the Almighty. We will rejoice and greatly exult, and we will give glory to [God], because the wedding feast of the Lamb has come, and His mistress has made herself ready.”

And it was also given to her that she might be wrapped in fine linen, radiant and pure, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the holy ones.

Then he says to me,

“Write: Blessed the ones who have been invited into the wedding banquet of the Lamb.”

Also, he says to me,

“These truthful statements are of God.”

Then I fell prostrate before the feet of him, to give homage to him. And he says to me,

“Do not attend! I am a fellow slave of you and of your brothers, the ones having the testimony of Jesus. You are to worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of the prophets.”

Revelation 19:1-10

δοῦλος, The Slave of God

Literally, that is what the text says. δοῦλος | doulos means “born bondman/woman,” or “slave,” or “one made a slave.” There is no nuanced meaning, such as “servant,” though some translators will turn to that word to soften how it might land.

At first glance, a slave was the farthest rung down on the ladder of social status, but it was not so simple as that in the first-century Greco-Roman world. A slave of Caesar’s household had far higher status, for example, than, say, a freed man or freed woman. And depending on the rank of that slave—whether physician, or scribe, or accountant, or personal assistant—status might rise above several more social tiers.

So to be a slave of Almighty God would increase the status of that person above all other people.

Slave of Christ

However, being called a slave of God is not about status, it is about ownership. We in the west are very independently minded. Though we may agree, in principle, that we “belong” to our wedded spouse, or to our children (or our children to us), or we might “belong” to an organization, we still retain a strong sense of autonomy. Ultimately, each of us would feel we belong to ourselves first.

But that is not how the early church understood their relationship to Jesus. Paul called himself a slave of Christ, as did James, and Peter, and Jude, and John. The word itself shows up 126 (or 154, according to one site) times in the Christian Testament. Jesus spoke of slaves in his parables and teaching, and the apostles did as well. In order to understand why, we need to understand one of the ways Christ’s work on the cross changed everything. We need to get the language of redemption right.

Language of Redemption

In the physical earthly realm passersby saw a man shredded by flogging, naked, hanging on a cross between two known felons. His crime was posted over his head, “King of the Jews.” Not much to report, just another sordid crucifixion brought to you by the Roman Empire.

But in the spiritual heavenly realm a vast transaction was taking place, immeasurable in size. In fact, what was happening on the spiritual plane finally affected the earthly realm to such a degree that all the light was sucked out of the area, and darkness completely blanketed the crucified Lord. Massive seismic activity caused the heavy curtain in Jerusalem’s temple to be rent clean in two. Even the dead were shaken from their graves. That is indicative of what it cost God to redeem God’s people from the grip of sin and death.

“Redemption” was originally a technical term, used in the Ancient Near East in the world of commerce, specifically in connection with the buying and selling of the enslaved. A captive person being sold as a slave could be purchased to own, or could be “redeemed” for the express purpose of being given their liberty. The price of redemption was called a “ransom.”

In Jesus’s day, enslavement was pretty commonplace. People routinely offered themselves as slaves to pay off debts or provide for their families. It is, in a sense, what the first man and woman did in Genesis 3. They freely entered into sin’s service and received sin’s wages: death.

Parents could sell their children into slavery, and in a sense that also happened with the whole of humankind, as Adam and Eve consigned all their descendants to sin’s enslavement.

Finally, a person could be born a slave to enslaved parents.

The only way out was to be redeemed by someone who had the wherewithal to purchase the freedom of that enslaved person.

Of course, any purchase would have to be transacted in the coin of the realm or be an exchange of equal value. Peter wrote that Jesus paid with something even more valuable than silver or gold, which, after all, as precious as it is, is still perishable. The ransom Jesus exchanged for all humanity was his own divine life. Jesus redeemed us from our enslavement to sin and death with his own blood, the blood of a perfect sacrificial lamb.

Jesus redeemed people to give us liberty, to give people the opportunity once again to live in righteousness, and to have eternal life.

Paul wrote,

for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:20 (DLNT)

There is no way you and I could ever repay the Lord, and what Jesus has given to us is of such incredible value, incalculable value, there is nothing less we could give back in gratitude except to devote our whole selves to him.

We happily belong entirely to God.

He Says to Me

Just to clear up any possible confusion, one of the angels who had poured out a ceremonial bowl containing the passion of God’s cleansing wrath, had come over to John to explain to him what he was seeing. It is this angel who now told John to write things down, and before whom John spontaneously crumpled in homage.

“Stop it!” was the angel’s response. Though a formidable heavenly messenger, imbued with great power and authority, the angel knew he was on equal ground with John and all the brothers and sisters in Christ. In fact, one day, it is we who will have authority over the angels.

Do you not know that we are to judge angels, to say nothing of ordinary matters?

1 Corinthians 6:3

Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Hebrews 1:14 (NRSVUE)

Human beings are to worship God alone, and never any other heavenly being.