The term translated as servants
is the common word for slaves.
It appears in Scripture repeatedly (though certainly not exclusively) as a reference to God’s people (Revelation 1:1; Revelation 7:3; Revelation 11:18; Revelation 19:2, Revelation 19:5). In the present passage the term refers to the blessed inhabitants of the New Jerusalem. The choice of this term for the city’s inhabitants points in two directions:
We might prefer a term perhaps less offensive to our (modern) sensitivities, but the fact is that the redeemed (recall the reference to
the Lamb
) are God’s treasured possession; that is, they belong to him (Leviticus 25:55; Psalm 116:16; Psalm 119:125). In the context of thethrone
of God, the term is most fitting.
The focus of the city’s blessed inhabitants cannot be themselves, that is, their own wishes or preferences. As “slaves” their eyes are directed ever to fulfilling the wishes of their Master and Saviour (Psalm 123:2).
3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.