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Here is a youtube videos to help thoses who need to have someone explaining the important message, the youtube videos about call “revelation 22:3-5 will therebe slaves in heaven?”:

Note: MadeManMinistries.com has no relations with Rev. John Piper, But MadeManMinistries.com enjoys sharing the word.

Are There Slaves In Heaven?

Here is Bible, Chapter, and Verse:

³ No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

With this verse from above from Revelations, there will be Slaves in heaven serving God and Christ forever.

What is the definition used in Revelations for slave or servant?

Romans 1:1 KJB – “Paul, A SERVANT of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.”

NASB – “Paul, A BOND-SERVANT of Jesus Christ, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”

ESV -“Paul, A SERVANT of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”

1 Corinthians 7:22 KJB – “For he that is called in the Lord, being A SERVANT, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s SERVANT.”

NASB – “For he who was called in the Lord while A SLAVE, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s SLAVE.”

ESV – “For he who was called in the Lord as a BONDSERVANT is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is A BONDSERVANT of Christ.”

This little word study resulted from a letter I received from another Christian who wrote me about the alleged error of translating the Greek word ‘doulos’ as “servant” and not always as “slave”. Here is his letter and then my response to the question he brings up.

This brother writes: Recently I was at a gathering and the minister made a big issue about the word “slaves” in the new versions. He said it should have been “slaves”and not “servants” as the King James says. Could you give me more info on this word “servants” and why it should be translated servants and not slaves? He implied that it was a translators preference and nothing to do with Greek. I would really appreciate if you could get back to me with any info on this word “servants” and why it should not be translated “slaves”. I need your help on this one. God bless, hope to hear from you soon. In Christ, because of Calvary, Bruce Downey

Hi brother Bruce. Thanks for writing. I have heard this silly objection to the King James Bible a few times now. One other such “Every Man For Himself Bible Corrector” is Fred Butler. He also has posted this alleged error on the internet. Fred Butler works with fellow Bible Corrector John MacArthur, who also thinks the Greek word doulos should always be translated as “slaves”.  Fred probably got this idea from his favorite teacher.

Men like Fred Butler and John MacArthur do not believe that any Bible in any language is the complete and infallible word of God, but instead make their own minds and flawed understanding the “Final Written Authority”, and yet their ongoing bible invention differs from everybody else’s.

 John MacArthur is now banging the drums for his new book in which he thinks he has found some new insight that apparently has been lost or hidden for hundreds if not thousands of years by virtually all translators of the Bible, both in English and foreign languages.  

John MacArthur writes: “Well if you read the New Testament in its original text, you would come away stunned really by how different the original text is from any English version that you’ve ever read…whether King James, New King James, New American Standard, ESV, NIV and you can name all the rest.  All of them virtually have found a way to mask something that is an absolutely critical element of truth.  In fact, the word “slave” appears in the New Testament 130 times in the original text.” 

http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/80-321.htm

Keep in mind that John MacArthur does not believe that ANY Bible in ANY language is or ever was the complete, inspired and 100% true words of God.  He is a Bible Agnostic.  He has never seen “the original text” he talks about a single day in his life; and he sets up his own mind and understanding against virtually all other Bible translators when it comes to the meaning of the word doulos.

For proof of this, see – John MacArthur – Pastor with NO Infallible Bible –

http://brandplucked.webs.com/johnmacarthur.htm

Even some Greek scholars tell us that the word doulos can have multiple meanings. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament tells us on page 156 that the word doulos can mean either  1.  a slave, and bondman, or 2. A SERVANT, and attendant of a king.

Greek Dictionaries:  I have right here in my study a hardback copy of Divry’s Modern Greek-English Dictionary 1974.  On page 481 when you look up the Greek word doulos it gives these definitions: “slave; enslaved; A SERVANT”.  The verb form is douleuw and is translated as “I SERVE, I labor; I work.”  A related word is he doula and is defined as “a maid, SERVANT, servant girl.”  The Greek word, even in modern times, still carries both meanings, just like the Hebrew and New Testament Greek word – a slave or a servant.

What “scholar” John MacArthur ought to do is simply learn a bit more about the richness of his own native English language. 

 Webster’s New World Dictionary, College Edition.

Look up the word Servant in any good English dictionary and you will see that it means: 1.  A person employed to perform services, especially household duties, for another or others.  2. A SLAVE.  3. A person employed by a government; public servant; civil servant. 4. A person ardently devoted to another or to a cause, a creed.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary 1913

1. One who serves, or does services, voluntarily OR ON COMPULSION; a person who is employed by another for menial offices, or for other labor, and IS SUBJECT TO HIS COMMAND; a person who labors or exerts himself for the benefit of another, his master or employer; a subordinate helper. A yearly hired servant.” Lev. xxv. 53.

2. ONE IN A STATE OF SUBJECTION OR BONDAGE. Thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt. Deut. v. 15.

And Webster’s 1828 Dictionary added these definitions:

3. In Scripture, a slave; a bondman; one purchased for money, and who was compelled to serve till the year of jubilee; also, one purchased for a term of years.

4. The subject of a king; as the servants of David or of Saul. The Syrians became servants to David. 2 Sam. 8.

5. A person who voluntarily serves another or acts as his minister; as Joshua was the servant of Moses, and the apostles the servants of Christ. So Christ himself is called a servant, Is. 42. Moses is called the servant of the Lord, Duet. 34.

 There is no version that I could find that consistently translates the word doulos as slave or bondservant, except the Westcott-Hort based Goodspeed translation of 1943, which didn’t amount to more than a passing ripple in a parking lot puddle.  Goodspeed was a LIBERAL theologian, and even John MacArthur now seems desperate enough to recommend this liberal paraphrase just so he can bolster his idea that somebody else agrees with him that the Greek word doulos should always be translated as “slave”.

The closest modern version to do this in the New Testament is the NASB, however even the NASB translates this same word as servants in Revelation 10:7 – “His SERVANTS the prophets”. So too do Wallace’s NET version, the NIV, RSV, ASV, RV, NRSV, ESV, NKJV and the ISV.

Daniel Wallace and his ever changing NET version demonstrates the inconsistency and fickleness of modern scholarship when it comes to defining the meaning of various Greek words.

Wallace translates Romans 1:1 as: “ From Paul, a SLAVE (2) of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”

He then goes on to footnote regarding the use of the word “slave” – “(2) – Traditionally, “servant.” Though (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical translation and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.”

OK, at this point the learned docktor argues for the correct translation as being either ‘bondservant’ or ‘slave’. Oh, but wait. What does this modern day scholar do with other passages of his own NET bible version? Let’s see.

In Luke 2:29 Dr. Wallace translates the verse as: “Now, according to your word, Sovereign Lord, permit your SERVANT (88) to depart in peace.”

He then footnotes: “(88) – Here the Greek word (doulos, “slave”) has been translated “servant” since it acts almost as an honorific term for one specially chosen and appointed to carry out the Lord’s tasks.”

At this point we might well ask, Well, how does this present definition of Wallace’s differ from its use in all the other passages where the Lord’s people, prophets and apostles are referred to as “servants” in almost every Bible translation in existence?

In Revelation 1:1 Wallace translated the word doulos once again as servant, saying, “ The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his SERVANTS (2) what must happen very soon. He made it clear by sending his angel to his SERVANT John”.

He then footnotes: (2) Grk “slaves.” Although this translation frequently renders (doulos) as “slave,” the connotation is often of one who has sold himself into slavery; in a spiritual sense, the idea is that of becoming a slave of God or of Jesus Christ voluntarily. The voluntary notion is not conspicuous here; hence, the translation “servants.”

Did you notice that last part? In order to communicate what he calls “the voluntary notion” he has now (and in other places too) decided to this time translate this Greek word as “servants” in order to show the voluntary nature of this service rendered unto God.

In Revelation 10:7 again Dr. Wallace translates the verse as: “But in the days when the seventh angel is about to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God is completed, just as he has proclaimed to his SERVANTS the prophets.”

So which of the various nuances of meaning does the good docktor wish to convey here? “Not a free individual serving another”, or does he this time include the “voluntary notion”, or is it “an honorific term for one specially chosen and appointed to carry out the Lord’s tasks.”?

These Bible Correcting guys are nothing if not consistently inconsistent.

The Holman Standard is like this too. 

The Holman Standard translates doulos as “slave” everywhere except when we get to the book of Revelation. Then is translates this same word as “servant” or “servants” in Revelation 10:7; 11:18; 15:3, 19:2 and 5 and Rev. 22:3 and 6.

Darby’s translation of 1890 is also inconsistent. He translated doulos as “bondmen” in most of the New Testament, but in Revelation 11:18 and 22:3 he has the same word as “servants”.

The NIV 1982 edition translates doulos as SERVANT 94 times and as SLAVE only 29 times. For example, look at Romans 1:1 – “Paul a SERVANT of the Lord Jesus Christ”. This word doulos is rendered as servant in the KJB, NKJV, NIV, RV, ASV, RSV, NRSV, the 2001-2011 English Standard Version, and the ISV 2007.

See also Luke 2:29 where Simeon comes into the temple and takes up the child Jesus into his arms and blesses God, saying: “Lord, not lettest thou thy SERVANT (doulos) depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation…”

SERVANT is the translation given to this word by Wycliffe 1395, Tyndale 1525, Coverdale 1535, the Great Bible 1540, Matthew’s Bible 1549 – “Nowe lettest thou thy seruaunt departe in peace, accordinge to thy promes.”, Bishops’ bible 1568, the Geneva Bible 1587, The Beza N.T. 1599, the Bill Bible 1671, Mace N.T. 1729, Whitson’s N.T. 1745, Wesley’s N.T. 1755, the Worsley N.T. 1770, The Thomson Bible 1808, The Living Oracles 1835, The Pickering N.T. 1840, Morgan N.T. 1848, The Commonly Received Version 1851, The Boothroyd Bible 1853, Julia Smith Translation 1855, Sawyer N.T. 1858, The Revised N.T. 1862,  Noyes Translation 1869, Alford N.T. 1870, The Smith Bible 1876, The Revised English Bible 1877, the Revised Version 1885, Young’s 1898, ASV 1901, Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible 1902, Godbey N.T. 1902, Worrell N.T. 1904, The Clarke N.T. 1913, Weymouth’s N.T. 1912, the Moffatt N.T. 1926,  J.B. Phillips N.T. 1972,  RSV 1946-1973, NRSV 1989, the Amplified 1987, ESV 2011, Message 2002, the NKJV 1982, the NIV 1982 – 2011 editions, the Complete Jewish Bible 1998, The Sacred Scriptures Family of Yah 2001, Names of God Bible 2011, The Voice 2012, the new ISV 2014 (International Standard Version), Common English Bible 2011, and even in Daniel Wallace’s inconsistent and wacky NET version 2006.

Also translating Luke 2:29 and numerous other passages that use the word doulos as SERVANT throughout the New Testament include the Bible in Basic English 1961, The Word of Yah 1993, The Third Millennium Bible 1998, The Lawrie Version 1998, The Koster Scriptures 1998, God’s First Truth 1999, The Common N.T. 1999, the Tomson N.T. 2002, the Evidence Bible 2003, Complete Apostle’s Bible 2005, The Resurrection Life N.T. 2005 (Vince Garcia), The Easy To Read Version 2006, The Spoken English New Testament 2008, The English Majority Text Version 2009 (Paul Esposito), Bond Slave Version 2009, The Christogenea N.T. 2009, The Conservative Bible 2010, The Holy Scriptures VW Edition 2010, The New Heart English Bible 2010, The New European Version 2010, The New American Bible 2010, the Biblos Interlinear Bible 2011, The Aramaic N.T. 2011, The Work of God’s Children Illustrated Bible 2011, The Mounce Reverse-Interlinear N.T. 2011, the World English Bible 2012, The New Living Translation 2013, The Far Above All Translation 2014, The Hebrew Names Version 2014, The New International Reader’s Version 2014, The International Children’s Bible 2015, and the Modern English Version 2014. 

Foreign Language Bibles

Foreign language translations also translate the Greek word doulos as servants. Among these are the French Martin 1744, Louis Segond 1910, French Ostervald 1996 and the La Bible du Semeur 1999 – serviteurs.  Among the Spanish, Italian and Portuguese translations we find the Spanish Reina Valera 1909, 1960, 1995 – siervos, the Italian Diodati 1649, Riveduta 1927 and the New Diodati 1991 – servitori –  as well as the Portuguese Almeida – servus.

In the Old Testament there is one Hebrew word Ebed which can either be translated as servant, bondservant or slave. It all depends on the context. Even the NASB translates this one single word as servant 684 times and as slaves only 25 times.

The same Hebrew or Greek word can mean either servant or bond-servant, depending on the context.

God uses the same Hebrew word to mean either “servants” or “bondmen”.  Context determines the meaning.  We can clearly see this in Leviticus 25:42.  Here we read in the context beginning at v.39 “And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as A BONDSERVANT (#5650)

v. 42 “For they are my SERVANTS (#5650), which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as BONDMEN.” (#5650)

All three words are the same Hebrew word. If they belonged to the Lord and were among his redeemed, then they are servants. But if otherwise, then they are bondservants.

And we belong to the Lord and have been redeemed by him, therefore we are servants and not slaves.

Again, the same thing is found in 1 Kings 9:22 where we read: “But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no BONDMEN: but they were men of war, and his SERVANTS, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen.” BOTH words are the exact same Hebrew word; Context makes all the difference in meaning.

The Servant Who Loves You – Deuteronomy 15:12-18  

Here we read of a Hebrew brother or woman who was sold to serve a master for six years and in the seventh year was to be let go free and sent out furnished liberally from the flock and the floor and the winepress.  But if this servant decided that he loved his his master and his house and he was well off with him, then we read: “Then thou shalt take an au, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy SERVANT for ever. And also unto thy MAIDSERVANT thou shalt do likewise.”  Here, even the NASB and NIV and NET got it right.

They both read SERVANT and MAIDSERVANT (NASB) or SERVANT and FEMALE SERVANT  (NIV, NET)  

However the ESV completely missed the point of the voluntary nature of the servant.  It reads: “then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your SLAVE forever. And to your female SLAVE you shall do the same.”

Is the Lord Jesus Christ a SLAVE or a SERVANT of God? Many passages in the prophetic book of Isaiah refer to Christ as the “servant” of the Lord. See Isaiah 49:5-6, 50:10, 52:13, and 53:11 “…by his knowledge shall my righteous SERVANT justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”

More Inconsistencies from the modern versions.



In Acts 2:18 we read in the KJB – “ And on my SERVANTS and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:”



The Greek word used here In Acts 2:18 is doulos. And it is a quote from the book of Joel 2:29 where we read: 

“And also upon the SERVANTS and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.”



This is the same Hebrew word that is used to describe the Lord Jesus as “the SERVANT of the Lord” in places like Isaiah 42:1; 49:3, 5; 52:13 and 53:11 – “by his knowledge shall my righteous SERVANT justify many”

But in the modern versions we see confusion.



Holman Christian Standard calls them SLAVES in both Acts and Joel.



However the NASB, NKJV, NET, NIV, ESV and the ISV (International Standard Version 2014). ALL refer to those in Joel 2:29 as SERVANTS.



But wait. It gets worse. Though both the NASB and the ISV call them SERVANTS in Joel, when they quote the verse in Acts 2:18 they now become SLAVES!



But versions like the ESV, NET, NKJV, and NIV still call them SERVANTS in Acts 2:18.



All this has to do with that mysterious process they like to call the “science” of textual criticism, don’t ya know 😉

In the New Testament, we are not called slaves but rather servants because Christ said “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:32, 36.

In I Corinthians 7:22 we are told “For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

Galatians 5:1 says: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.” And 5:13 ” For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty”

Read more about the article: Servants or Slaves?

Quoting John MacArthur Sermon

“

I was on a flight one night from Los Angeles to London, I was flying to Leicester, England to the University of Leicester to speak for a week to young people and ministers at The Banner of Truth Conference with Iain Murray. It was on that all-night flight that I was studying this word, and by the time I got to the end of the flight, it had captivated my mind and my heart to a profound degree. That’s several years ago now, two and a half. And that word has really dominated my thinking ever since. It is the word slave, slave.

Now, if you look at your English Bible, you won’t find that word very often. If you look at the Old Testament in the King James, you will find the word “slave” once. But the Hebrew word appears 800 times in the noun, and nearly 300 in the verb. There is a word in the Old Testament for “slave” that appears eleven hundred times, but in your English Bible it’s translated “slave” once. If you go to the New Testament, you will find the Greek word for “slave” about 150 times in all its forms. And you will find it actually translated “slave” only a few of those 150 times.

The New Testament translators only translate the Greek word for slave, “slave,” when it’s referring to an actual physical slave, or when it’s referring to an inanimate object, like “slaves of sin” or “slaves of righteousness.” So there is this concept of slavery in the Scripture that has been completely hidden to the English reader. Now this was by design because the word “slave” is the most important, all-encompassing and clarifying word to describe a Christian used in the New Testament. And yet whenever a Christian is in view, it’s not translated “slave.”

The word is doulos. Have you heard that word? The word is doulos. In the Greek, that word means “slave,” never means anything but “slave.” It doesn’t mean “servant,” it doesn’t mean “worker,” it doesn’t mean “hired hand,” it doesn’t mean “helper.” There are six or seven Greek words that mean “servant” in some form. Doulos never means “servant.” A servant is someone hired to do something. The slave is someone owned. Big difference, huge difference, and yet all through the New Testament the word “slave” is masked by the word “servant,” or some form of the word “servant.” Truly a remarkable thing.

When I started doing the research on this word, I found 22 English translations of the New Testament, 22. There was only one of them. Of all the translations of the English New Testaments going back to the King James, up until today, there was only one of those 22 that translated doulos “slave” every single time, even though everyone knows it means slave and only slave. In fact, the most formidable of all Greek dictionaries, Kittel, says, “The word doulos means slave, the meaning is so unequivocal, no study of history is necessary.” It always means slave, and yet it’s not translated slave.

Recently, there have been a few new translations. Only one of them translates the word The Holman Christian Standard Bible “slave” every time. It’s called the Holman Christian Standard Bible. But up until that one, a few years ago there was only one, and that’s the Goodspeed translation. You ever heard of it? Edgar Goodspeed was a cutting-edge Greek scholar in the 1930s at the University of Chicago. But everybody knows what doulos means. Why don’t they translate doulos “slave”?

For the answer to that question, you have to go back to the first English Bibles, back to the sixteenth century, back to Calvin and John Knox and other translators putting together the Geneva Bible, who made a decision not to translate doulos “slave.” The reason? There’s too much stigma with the concept of being a slave. It’s too strong a downside. It’s too humiliating, too belittling. So they opted to cover the word by replacing it with “servant,” “bondservant,” and eliminated the word “slave,” except when the New Testament talks about an actual, physical slave, or an inanimate object, as I said, like slaves of sin or righteousness. They said it’s just too negative.

They thought that was negative in the sixteenth century? Slavery for all intents and purposes was abolished in the fourteenth century. What were they afraid of? And if they think there was some stigma in the sixteenth century with the concept of a slave, how about in the first century? When the writers of the New Testament used the word, there were as many as twelve million slaves in the Mediterranean world. One out of every five people in the Roman Empire was a slave. And if you study the history of slavery, it was everything that any kind of human relationship could be. There were places in relationships in which it worked very well and there were others in which it was horrendous and abusive and demeaning.

But nonetheless, the Holy Spirit inspired the word doulos, doulos. Since we don’t see that word in our English Bible, we are missing a paradigm in which to understand our relationship to Christ. Frankly, I started doing research. I found one book from about ten years by Murray Harris. I found an article in the 1960s by Doug Yamauchi on this issue of slave. And they were saying exactly the same thing I’m saying. And I said, “Why didn’t anybody pick this up? Why hasn’t anybody responded to this?” Just a couple of illustrations to show you how important it is. Jesus said, “No man can serve two” – What? – “masters.” Well, you could if you were a servant, right? You could serve two people, couldn’t you? You could have a day job and a night job. A lot of people work for more than one person, but you can’t be a slave to two masters because you can only be owned by one.

Jesus talked slave talk all the time. The writers of the New Testament talked slave talk all the time. But we don’t see it because it’s not there in our English text. The Russian Bible has it right. Other international translations have it right. We don’t. This was how Christians referred to them self – themselves in the early church. There’s a story about a man named Aphineus who was imprisoned by the Romans for his commitment to Christ. And then he was brought into some inquisition, and they asked him to answer their questions and to recant his devotion to Christ and swear his allegiance to Caesar. Every question they asked him got the same answer. He said this, “I am a slave of Christ. I am a slave of Christ.” And for that, he was executed.

When you think about terms used to describe Christians in the New Testament, we’re called children of God, right? We’re called heirs and joint heirs. We’re called members of the body of Christ. We’re – we’re even designated as branches, sheep. And you don’t want to mix all those metaphors because each of those gives you a facet of understanding and aspect of our relationship to Christ. But the dominating word inside of which our full understanding of salvation is best seen as this word “slave.”

Now there’s a corresponding word that I want to mention as well, and that is the word “master,” right? If I were to ask you – let me ask you a fundamental question: “What is the foundational reality that defines what it means to be a Christian? What is the fundamental reality that distinguishes the believer’s relationship to Christ? What is our great confession in three words?” Jesus is Lord. In fact, if you want to be saved, Romans 10:9 and 10 says, “You confess Jesus as Lord.” Kuriosis the corresponding word to doulos. Kurios is “lord and master.” Doulos is “slave.” You can no more eliminate doulos from the believer’s relationship to the Lord than you could eliminate kurios.

For years I have written books dealing with the issue of the Lordship of Christ to try to help people who think you can become a Christian without acknowledging Jesus as Lord, which is an impossible thing; but nonetheless, it’s advocated. And the simple answer to that is this. If He is Lord, which is to say He is Master, then I am His slave. There’s no such thing as a master with no slaves or a slave with no master. And 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “We – we call Jesus Lord by the Spirit of God.” We like to talk about Jesus being a personal Savior. And I understand that. But that is so ambiguous. What do you mean “a personal Savior,” like a personal butler? What are you talking about?

People say, “You have Him as your personal Savior.” Well, I understand that it’s not a corporate thing, I understand what’s being stated there. But the ambiguity of that phrase suits the contemporary vagueness of the gospel. Like Jesus is my own genie who jumps out of His little bottle when I rub it and ask Him for what I want. You have to understand, everybody on the planet has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, everybody. And for most people it’s not a good one, but it’s very personal. We have lost this incredibly important concept of Jesus as Lord and I am His slave.

We have a man-centered emphasis in the church. We have man-centered theology that dominates evangelicalism, in which we talk about Jesus coming along as a kind of a buddy who loves you and wants to satisfy all your desires and give you everything you want. But that’s not what the New Testament teaches. What the New Testament teaches is not that you’re lord and He’s your slave; it’s that He’s Lord and you’re His slave. That’s the center of all New Testament teaching. It is inherent in saying Jesus is Lord that you are a slave who understands that obedience is the necessary response. The reality of Christ’s lordship has been obscured by hiding the word “slave.”

Turn to John 15, and I can’t say everything that’s on my mind about this because I just finished writing a whole book on it. So I – I’m just touching lightly on it, but the book will be out in December. It will change – and it will absolutely change how you view salvation and your life and your relationship to Christ, and your identity as a believer. Listen to this, John 15, verse 14, okay? Verse 14, “You are My friends if you do what I command you.” Does that strike you as an odd thing to say? What? What kind of friendship is that?

If I come up to you and say, “I want to be your friend.” “Ah, I’d love to be your friend, John.” “Yeah, I just have one requirement. You can be my friend if you do exactly what I command you.” What kind of a friendship are you talking about here? I never heard of a friendship like that. Well, that kind of a friendship must assume another prior relationship, right? If I’m in charge of you and I command you and you obey me, you’re a slave. But you’re a slave who is also given the privilege of being a friend.

Look at the next verse. “No longer do I merely call you slaves.” – I’m taking you beyond that – “I have called you friends.” And what’s made the difference? The assumption is that we are slaves; He says that. What’s the difference? The difference is, you’ve become my friends. Well, what is the distinction between just being a slave and being a slave who is a friend? Here it is: a typical slave doesn’t know what His master’s doing. He has no reason, he’s not given a reason; he’s not given a motivation; he’s not given a big picture. A slave is simply told, “Do this, do this, do this.”

The Lord of the slave doesn’t have to give Him his agenda, his motivation, his purpose, his strategy, or his plan. But once he becomes a friend, a slave who is a friend, he says, “All things I’ve heard from My Father, I’ve made known to you.” I let you in on the inside secrets.” So, we’re slaves who have been given the privilege of being friends. What does that mean? It means He is in charge. He commands, we obey. But He commands us with full disclosure of all the reasons, marvelous, glorious reasons for doing what He’s doing.

There are two critical things to understanding the believer’s identity. One is Jesus is Lord. Kurios—one who has the power. One who is the owner is what the Greek word means. One who has an absolute right to command. It is synonymous with another word. In Jude, this other word is used, and this is a good comparison. You’ll remember this in Jude. At the end of verse 4, it talks about ungodly persons “who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Do you hear the slave talk there? Our only Master and Lord. You can only have one, right? No man can serve two masters. He is our only Master and Lord.

What I’m driving at is the word “master.” Lord is kurios. Master is used here as a synonym, and the Greek word is despotēs, from which we get the English word despot. Now we use it as an adjective. We say somebody who is overbearing, totally in charge, dominating is despotic. That’s exactly the word that’s used. It means an absolute ruler, a sovereign ruler. He is our only despot. He is our only master; extremely powerful words, extremely narrow words. That is why, when our Lord offers the invitation to follow Him, He says this: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself.” You’re no longer in charge; you’re no longer in charge. “Take up your cross and” – What? – “follow Me.”

That’s what it means to become a believer. You just became a slave of Jesus Christ. Our life is not defined by our own wants, our own will, our own desires, our own ambitions, but by His will, His desires and His purposes. This is the basic truth of Christianity. Jesus is Lord. When I say I’m a Christian, I am saying Jesus is the sovereign over my life. Whatever He wants, I submit to that. That’s the first great understanding of Christian life. Second – first, Jesus is Lord; two, Christians are slaves. We are douloi. That’s the plural. It means we’re owned.

Now if you expand on that, I only have a few more minutes to kind of whet your appetite a little bit on this. It’s really, really amazing. You start to study slavery. How did it work? The slave market, right? Slave market. Slaves are on a block for sale. You want to buy a slave; you go into the slave market. You pick your slave and then you pay for your slave and then you own your slave. And then you control your slave and then you provide for your salve and then you protect your slave. And then you discipline your slave and then you reward your slave. That’s slavery.

Think about that with salvation in mind. The Lord went into the slave market of sin, didn’t He? And He chose, and then He paid the redemption price, and it wasn’t silver and gold. What was it? Precious blood. And we are not our own; we are bought with a price. And now He is our Lord and He said this, “Whoever obeys Me, he is My child.” Another metaphor, but the same concept. So we have been chosen, we have been bought, we are owned. We are provided for. “My God shall supply all your needs.” We are protected, are we not? We are disciplined. We are rewarded. “Well done, good and faithful slave.” All those concepts within the magnificent realm of what it means to be a Christian are tied to the concept of being a slave.

You say, “Wow! This is a pretty hard pill to swallow.” Put yourself in the position of the early church, okay? Listen to this. “Go into the world and preach the gospel.” Okay, let’s go to the Gentile world; let’s go to the Roman world. That’s where they went. And here’s your message, a crucified Jew, crucified by Romans, is God incarnate. What? Yes, He’s not only the Messiah of Israel; He’s the Savior of the world. Do the Jews believe that? No, the Jews do not believe that. They were the ones who sought His death and the death of Jesus was final proof that He wasn’t the Messiah and that is why the preaching of the cross to the Jews is a stumbling block.

It’s a stumbling block to the Jews, but to the Gentiles it is foolishness. What are you talking about? A crucified Jew executed in an obscure place in Palestine is God in human flesh to be worshiped? If you’re near the Circus Maximus in Rome, you can look behind some bars that have been there for a long, long time and you will see what is remaining of an etching in a wall that pictures a cross and hanging on the cross is the body of a man and the head of a jackass. And a man below is bowing down in worship and the inscription says, “Alexamenos worships his God.” What a joke. A crucified man is God, and mock it by giving Him the head of a jackass. That’s what the Gentiles thought. Sell that gospel when you get to Rome.

Oh, and by the way, not only do we ask you to acknowledge that this crucified Jew, rejected by His own people and executed as a criminal by the Romans in an obscure place in the Middle East, but we are expecting you not only to acknowledge Him as God, but to become His what? Slave? If you think slavery had a stigma in the sixteenth century, how about the first? You think they had a little uphill climb in evangelism? You say, “Well, you know, we got to adapt the gospel or people will never believe it.” But that’s exactly what they preached. Jesus is Lord. Not Caesar; Jesus is Lord. You must become His slave.

You go in the book of Acts and that’s what they preached, that’s what they preached. You – this is what’s so hard. You aren’t going to see it there because the word is not translated “slave.” Acts 4:29, “And now, Lord, take note of their threats and grant that Your bondservants may speak Your Word with all confidence.” No, “That Your slaves may speak Your Word with confidence.” Colossians 1 talks about being slaves; Colossians 4, many other places. You see in the pastoral epistles Paul referring to himself, Philippians 1:1, as a servant of Christ. In the Greek it’s “a slave.” In Romans 1:1, “slave of Christ.” Titus 1:1, “slave.”

James, the half-brother of our Lord; it doesn’t say, “James, the half-brother of Jesus.” He says “James the slave.” Peter, not to be outdone, 2 Peter 1:1, “Peter the slave.” “Jude the slave.” Revelation 1:1, “John the slave.” Every one of them identifies himself as a slave of Christ, chosen, bought, owned, subjected, dependent, disciplined, rewarded, provided for, protected, and obedient, and obedient. It was a very offensive message. And that is why 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “No man calls Jesus Lord but by the Holy Spirit.” Only the Holy Spirit could overcome the natural resistance that the sinner has in his heart.

Dear friends, we do evangelism, we preach the truth, we preach the message, but only the Holy Spirit can change the heart. Now, I was doing a pastors’ conference with African-American pastors in North Carolina, and the subject came up. We were having a great time. We were in the foot – we were in the football stadium at Wake Forest. It’s really kind of a neat place. We were up in this beautiful football complex with a glass window overlooking the football field. All these pastors where there. One of them said, “How in the world am I going to tell my congregation? How am I going to tell my congregation this message about slaves when it has such a stigma? What am I going to tell them?”

And I said, “Well, I’ve got good news for you. You have a loving Master who is all-wise, compassionate, generous, powerful, resourceful, protective, kind, merciful, forgiving, who takes you from being just a slave to making you a slave that is also a friend. Are you ready for this one? And takes you from being a friend to a son, and not just a son but a joint-heir. And if you follow the rest of the count in the New Testament, you become a citizen of His kingdom.”

Do you understand that no slave in the Roman Empire could be a citizen? Couldn’t own anything? Didn’t have any rights? Couldn’t give testimony to a court of law? Couldn’t be defended in court? This is a different kind of slavery. He provides everything you need; makes you an intimate friend and gives you full disclosure of everything that’s on His heart. First Corinthians 2:16, “We have the mind of Christ.” He’s revealed it to us on the pages of Scripture. And He makes us sons and He makes us heirs and joint-heirs with His own Son and He makes – we could go on – He makes us reign with Him, citizens of His glorious kingdom.

In John 13, He is in the Upper Room, Jesus was, and He was looking at His block-headed disciples who struggled to understand things. And they were so selfish. They were always fighting about who would be the greatest in the kingdom, right? James and John even got their mother to go and beg. What man would do that? The strange part is they were the sons of thunder. At one time they’re praying down fire on people’s heads and Jesus has to calm them down. The next time they’re hiding behind their mother’s skirt.

But there was always this thing about who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom, and they have no thought for what He’s about to suffer. He’s told them day-after-day that He’s going to suffer and die. And they’re just into their own thing. And in John 13 when it says, “Having loved His own who – who were in the world, He loved them” eis telos. “He loved them to the max.” This is a Master who loves with a perfect love, with a complete love, with an everlasting love. You will never understand your relationship to Jesus Christ until you see it in this sense. Jesus is Lord, I am His slave.

You say, “I still have a problem. It seems demeaning.” Turn to Philippians 2, Philippians 2. There’s a lot more I could say about this. That’s what your pastor always says when he’s just run out of material. Philippians 2 – how do I know that? Ha-ha, I’m not saying. Philippians 2, verse 3, you know this. “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves and do not merely look out for your own personal interest, the interest, but the interest of others.”

This is humility, right? Okay, humble yourself. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,” – Christ is the model of humility; now watch this – “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of” – guess what? – “a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

who though existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself, taking the form of” – guess what? – “a doulos.” How far down did He come? In the likeness of men, humbled all the way down, verse 8, “To become obedient to the point of death.” – what kind of death? The worst – “even death on a cross.” So if you’re having a little trouble thinking it might be beneath you to be considered a slave, better think again because Jesus was a slave, gladly. What did Jesus say? “I do what the Father tells Me to do. I do what the Father shows Me to do. I do what I see the Father doing. Not My will, Yours be done.”

When You confess Jesus as Lord, you confess yourself to be a slave, a slave who was a friend and a son and an heir and a joint-heir and a citizen of that eternal kingdom, and who is loved, having been captured, enslaved. His captor is a despot of love and a master of mercy, and one day He’ll gather us in, Matthew 25:21, and say, “Well done, good and faithful slave.”

I close with Luke 17, Luke 17. Once you understand this, you – you’ll start to see this unfold as you go through the Scriptures and the gospels and through the rest. You can go through the book of Revelation, there are references to believers in every age up until the last age before the return of Christ, and we’re identified as slaves. So it’s a long-lasting identification.

Luke 17:7, “Which of you having a slave” – this is – because it’s the actual slave in this little illustration; it’s translated correctly – “Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? – No, no. “Will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, properly clothe yourself’ – go get cleaned up – ‘and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’?” That’s what slaves did, right? They served their masters.

He doesn’t thank the slave because he did the things commanded, does he? It’s not like above and beyond the call of duty to be obedient, is it? To do that which pleases your master? “So you too,” – verse 10, “when you do all the things which are commanded you, say this, ‘We’re’ – What? – ‘We’re unworthy slaves, we only did what we should have done.’” Wow! Kind of deals a deathblow to the self-esteem notion, doesn’t it? You say, “Well, I thought we were free in Christ.” You are – you are free to do what your Master desires.

Father, it’s been wonderful to think about this tonight and great fellowship, and we thank You for being able to fellowship around the truth. We confess Jesus as Lord and we confess that we’re His slaves. What a privilege. As slaves in the Roman Empire who happened to have the privilege of being slaves of Caesar, which speak frequently of the dignity and the honor, being slaves of the one who reigned, we speak with honor and dignity, being chosen and bought to be slaves of the One who reigns over all, King of kings and Lord of lords.

May we be obedient slaves, may we be slaves who do what our Lord commands and, in all things, endeavor to be pleasing to Him, the One who chose us, the One who bought us with His own precious blood. Lord, thank You for this great high calling. Thank You that we’re Your friends, and we have Your Word and we know Your mind. Thank You for the promise of eternal reward, which we will enjoy in Your presence. May we be faithful to bear the name, a slave of Christ. We desire to honor You in all we do and we thank You. In Christ’s name. Amen.”

Read the rest of the article: Servant or Slave?

What does Revelation 22:3 mean? [⇑ See verse text ⇑]

Adam’s sin brought the curse of laborious work and death on the human race. When Adam sinned, God told him: “Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:17–19).

This curse will not apply to life in the eternal state, and life will be blissful and productive. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in the eternal city, and God’s people will serve and worship God. Service for God is never fruitless if we serve Him with gladness and rely on Him for the results. Paul told the Corinthians, “…in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Read more at: Bibleref.com

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

I would start out by saying what Jesus Christ would want us to do? Pray and how should we pray? The Lord’s Pray, and how often should we pray? Continually. Why do we use the Lord’s Pray and not some other? The Lord’s pray covers all the areas that is important for our spiritual being.

When we pray the Lords prayer we ask to forgive our enemies, let God’s will be done, the kingdom to come. By praying the Lord’s prayer we let go of many thoughts we have in our head and give them back to God so we can have things revealed to us.

We must overcome resentment in our heart, and in the above video Dr. Jordan Peterson talks about how resentment can destroy us and we become our own very worst enemy and Jordan goes on to say that we must talk to people what we have resentment toward to overcome that resentment. Other people who lived in the past who talked about this is Jesus Christ and someone who is living now who talks about this daily is Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson.

Women are looking for a fathers love

Women are looking for a fathers love. Its important that men understand women are looking for a fathers love and not get screwed. Woman more than anything are looking for a strong spiritual man to lead the future (the family). I think in a video Jesse Lee Peterson shares with us on his youtube channel he has been working toward and brings everything to a point of how young women are being hurt by men that are just looking to get laid instead of doing right and being in christ and setting a good example of a strong man. We must be in Christ, hate no one, love all, forgave thoses we resent, love what is right and support people who are walking with God.

Women need their fathers in their lives to be strong man to be good examples and not BETA men or weak examples of what a man should be. Its important that a man leads the way as Christ leads men, we as man need to fellow Jesus Christ to keep society from going to HELL.

Every day you can see or people watch how some men and women our living in hell without the right spiritual order then you will continue your hellish way according to 2 Peter. You can also find it in Romans. God will give you over to a reprobate mind.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. – Romans 1:28 (KJV)

In Romans 1, Paul refers to something known as a reprobate mind. If you’re not familiar with the term reprobate, the literal definition in the Greek is failing to pass the test, unapproved, counterfeit.

Spiritual Order – In The Family and Church

God the father

Jesus Christ

Father (Men over women)

Mother (Women over children)

Here is Book, Chapter and Verse from the Kings James Version 1 Corinthian 11:2-16, But the main messsage is in 1 Corinthian 11:3: “³ But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.”

How God Commands Us To Forgive Those Who We Have Resentment Toward.

All of us are tested everyday by our personal internal struggle coming from resentment of what happened earlier in our lives as children typically what our mother did to us, telling how our fathers were not good enough or driving us away from our fathers when we were children. We most go to the people that we have resentment against and forgive them. By forgiving our mothers or whoever we have resentment against, God will forgive us and we can return to the heavenly Father through our Lord and Savory Jesus Christ.

It was said if you don’t love everyone then you love no one. People today live like the Old Testament people did. We must forgive and love everyone as God Commanded us to do according to Matthew 22:34-40.

After Reading The Passage I would Recommend Doing A Silent Prayer

Its is said: Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10 King James Version (KJV)

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Uniting men of good character who, though of different ethnic or social backgrounds, share a belief in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of mankind. Bring Men back to the Father and sharing the biblical view of the Heavenly Father.

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Conclusion

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