“A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place.” (Revelation 1:1a) So it was the resurrected Jesus Christ who received this weighty message from God. Far from being part of a mystic Trinity, Jesus is here shown to be subject to his Father. In the same way, the “slaves” making up the Christian congregation are subject to Jesus Christ, so that they ‘keep following him wherever he goes.’ (Revelation 14:4; Ephesians 5:24) But who today are truly “slaves” of God, and how does Revelation benefit them?

3. (a) Who are the “slaves” that are subject to Jesus Christ? (b) What work are the faithful “slaves” doing under angelic direction?

³ The apostle John, who wrote down Revelation, describes himself as such a slave. He was the last surviving apostle and one of the select spirit-anointed group of “slaves” that inherit immortal life in the heavens. Today, there are just a few thousand of these remaining on earth. God has other servants, too, a great crowd of them, men, women, and children, numbering now into the millions. Under angelic direction, these are sharing with the anointed “slaves” in declaring everlasting good news to all mankind. Oh, how all these “slaves” are expending themselves in order to help the meek ones of the earth to find salvation! (Matthew 24:14; Revelation 7:9, 14; 14:6) Revelation indicates what you must do to benefit from the happifying good news.

6. How did Jesus identify the channel that he would use to provide spiritual food for his ‘slaves’ today?

⁶ God had a channel for communicating Revelation in John’s day, and John was the earthly part of that channel. Likewise, God has a channel for giving spiritual nourishment to his ‘slaves’ today. In his great prophecy concerning the conclusion of the system of things, Jesus identified the earthly part of this channel as “the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time.” (Matthew 24:3, 45-47) He uses this John class in unlocking the meaning of the prophecy.

Channel of Communication

5. How was Revelation communicated to the apostle John and then to the congregations?

⁵ Revelation 1:1b, 2 continues: “And he [Jesus] sent forth his angel and presented it [Revelation] in signs through him to his slave John,