So a question that needs addressing as to Bond-Servants, is who are they?

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated [it] by His angel to His bond-servant John, (NASB1995)

God sent the Revelation itself to His Bond Servants, by way of His Bond-servant John. The Revelation was by most accounts one of the last books to be written. Therefore it would have been after Paul met with the Apostles. This fact then is the reason that I believe it to be of interest to yesterdays post. First of all it was given by Jesus to His bond-servant’s to whom it is said: Revelation 1:3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. (NASB1995)

So, in the last post we saw that Paul considered himself one of these bond-servants. What would that mean to the teachers who attempt to separate Him from the Kingdom Gospel and the other Apostles, and proceed to teach that Revelation is not written to the Church that Paul established? For this is what Don Samdahl (who is the likely originator of this understanding) has as part of his teaching at his Doctrine.org site. He says that the Revelation was given to the Jewish Churches not to Gentile believers. In fact he claims that all seven Churches addressed in the Revelation were Jewish. Yet, the book of Ephesians was written by Paul and he also is recorded as addressing them in Acts 20. His ministry definitely included them. So does the message to Revelation include us? It certainly seems to be that the Church today teaches and may even understand* much about this book, as things are now progressing. It would be hard to conclude that Israel is reading and understanding the Revelation.

So was the message really near? It certainly had meaning for the churches of Johns day, as well as for the churches of today. Most believers today associated with Dispensation doctrine, and who call themselves watchman are looking for the Rapture. There is a much smaller group who are looking at the events of Matt. 24, and who are looking for the Tribulation, as those events progress.

The next post (part 3) will take a deeper look into the bond-servants of Scripture.

*Even though the church is all over the place on that understanding.

See Don Samdahl. Doctrine.org for the modern day teachings on the Kingdom Gospel.