If we read all the four gospels we would come across two different John's. One is John the Baptist and the other one Apostle John(Disciple whom Jesus loved). John the baptist is relative of Jesus who came to make a way for Jesus ministry. Later he was beheaded on the orders of Herod. But in this post I want to focus on the disciple whom Jesus loved the most. He is none but Apostle John who has been referred to as a disciple who always used to stay close to Jesus heart. He is also a relative for Jesus Christ.
Some Facts about John the Apostle:
- Son of Zebedee and Salome
- Refereed as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, and the Beloved Disciple
- Siblings: James
- Books Written: Gospel of John, First, Second, and Third epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation
- Only disciple who is not killed by Martyrdom. He was once thrown into hot oil but he did not die.
- James and John were the cousins of Jesus and their mother Salome was the younger sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
What is so special of John the Apostle?
Some things we need to note or consider before going on in this topic is about the style and the words used by John in his Gospel and his epistles. He is the only Apostle who stresses more on Life and Love. Just read the three epistles of John you would notice that John uses words like Love and Life. Now I want to stress more on Life. Lets see some of the scriptures which are taken from Gospel of John. I have highlighted the word's life or live in bold just for the sake of identification.
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" -John 11:25-26So what is common in the above scriptures? all scriptures says about life and about living for ever. If you were a regular Sunday school goer you might have come across John 3:16 which also conveys the same message.
I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. - John 6:47
But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. - John 6:50
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. - John 6:51
I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. - John 8:51
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever. - John 6:58
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. - John 5:24
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. – John 6:53
Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval. – John 6:27
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.Now there is no other disciple who wrote about life so strongly as John the Apostle has written. If you read John 21:24 it says This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. So if His testimony about life is true then he should not die at least in order to prove the truth. For example if I say eat this bread you wont die and I myself have died then there is no point of my testimony. So now if John has believed that there is no death then he himself is the living example. Answer to this is also given in his gospel. Jesus says to peter that he will die then Peter will ask about disciple whom Jesus loved(John) then Jesus says if I want him to live what is that for you just follow me. If you want to read the scriptures read them below
Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” - John 21:20-24See this Video from Gospel of John Movie which I have collected.
I do not agree with above post.
ReplyDeleteJohn is talking about eternal life ( in heaven). and those are words of Jesus. not John's own thoughts.
Well then if Jesus was talking about eternal life which is in heaven then Jesus should not have mentioned about how Peter is going to die on earth. I never said those words are John's thoughts. I meant John was the only disciple who was able to pick the word "eternal life" among all the other disciples.
Deleteyes, he is soon to resume his ministry and declare the book he ate in Revelation to all people as many shall hear and be saved. His return will coincide with the great earthquake in Revelation 6 which begins the day of the Lord.
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe he is...
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% with the writer that the Apostle John has never died, having received eternal life (on this earth), as our Lord and Saviour has promised in the the verses the author has recited. Yeshua himself dispels the typical mind set in John 11:24 that we hear in this regards, i.e., that eternal life means life in Heaven after the resurrection. In verse 25 Jesus says: "I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." He then proceeds to raise Lazarus from the dead. It would defy common sense to think that Lazarus, after being raised from the dead, should die a normal death in a few short years, then be resurrected again at the end of this age? He is without doubt alive also as I write these comments. Regarding where the Apostle John is right now, I would be very interested to start a discourse on Malachi 3:1b, which seems to be pointing to a soon appearance of the Apostle John. The first part of this verse was clearly fulfilled by John the Baptist as Yeshua quotes in Matthew 11:10-14, but the second part was never fulfilled as far as we know. This is extremely important to understand in our day, as the verse says: "He shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant that ye delight in..." His ministry shall be Holiness, as it is recorded in Malachi 3: 2-3, similar to John the Baptist. John the Baptist never appeared at the temple. He was a "voice of one crying in the wilderness..." Also, we do not have any record of John the Baptist ever fulfilling Malachi 4:6: "Turning the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers." The covenant mentioned in Malachi 3:1b is without doubt the Law of Love that Yeshua has so graciously given unto us, and rarely mentioned, heard, or adhered to in our Pauline / Gentile background. The temple mentioned in this verse is the Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane? That is indeed a Holy Place to this day, as our precious Saviour shed great drops of blood there in great agony for us as he prayed before his crucifixion. That will remain a Holy Place until the abomination of desolation spoken of by our Saviour in Matthew 24:15.
ReplyDeleteWith much respect and humility to our Holy Apostle if I have misread or misconstued anything here. I ask for forgiveness. I am not qualified at all even to breach these subjects. I have deep love for Yeshua is my own personal testimony. My prayer is Ps 119:10: "With my whole heart I have sought thee, O let me not wander from thy commandments." Please forgive me as I am less than nothing, and may have caused others to stumble at the Law, as mentioned in Malachi 2:8. I myself am in desparate need of the ministry of the Holy Apostle. And likewise my family and children, Sincerely, Bob
Post a Comment