Revelation 19:5

The O.T. expression servants of God implied (R. S. 69 f.) not simply membership in a community of which God is king, but special devotion to his service and worship. It was not associated with any idea of “slavery to a divine despot,” but was originally confined in the main to royal and priestly families (cf. Revelation 1:5) which had a special interest in primitive religion and which were near to the god of the tribe or nation. Hence, in the broader and later sense of the term, the “servants of God” are all those who live in pious fear of him, i.e., yielding him honour and obedience. John, pre-occupied with judgment, views the faith of the Lord as equivalent practically to his fear; unlike most early Christian writers, who (1 Peter 1:17-18, etc.) carefully bring forward the complementary element of love. Lowly confidence rather than warm intimacy is this prophet's ideal of the Christian life towards God. See Did. 3, 4.; Barn. Revelation 4:11; Herm. Mand. x. 1, xii. 4, 6.