|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another (1 John 3:11, ESV).
The Apostle John was the only apostle who died a natural death at close to 1oo years old.
Let’s consider his legacy: apostle, wrote five books of the New Testament (inspired by the Holy Spirit), pastor of the church in Ephesus, elder to the growing church throughout the Roman Empire, and the disciple whom Jesus loved.
In the last chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus, while looking at Peter, said, “If it is my will that he [John] remain until I come, what is that to you?” A rumor then spread that John wouldn’t die. He did die (or he would be very old now), but while Jesus didn’t say that John would live until the Second Coming, he did indicate that John’s ministry would continue for the rest of his life.
John the AGED apostle!
With Jerusalem destroyed in 70 A.D., Christians scattered throughout the Roman Empire, all the other apostles martyred before or shortly after 70 A.D., John lived for 20 more years.
John died last because, as the “aged” apostle He was needed to lend authority, bring apostolic revelation, and lead the early church as it transitioned from primarily Jewish to Greek. All of John’s books (the Gospel of John, the three epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation) were probably written in the last decade of his life, when he was 90 years old — again, an “aged” voice to a new church.
I just turned 73, and while the old phrase, “God is not finished with me yet,” can apply to all of us as we age, the biography of the Apostle John takes it to a new level!
Throughout John’s writings, we find themes of love, keeping ourselves pure from the world’s influences, loving Jesus first, and walking in unity. We know that Jesus is the Word from the beginning of both the Gospel of John and 1 John. The seven “I AM” statements of Jesus (I am the Light, I am the Life, I am the Way, the Truth, etc.) are found only in the Gospel of John. The best teaching on the Holy Spirit as our Comforter and Helper is found in John 14-16, and the Book of Revelation is the most controversial yet hopeful book ever written.
Let’s note (from his own words) some of John’s life experiences…
- His relationship with Jesus: At the Last Supper, sitting next to Jesus was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23), a phrase John uses in his Gospel to refer to himself.
- What he witnessed: As John writes in the last verse of his Gospel (John 21:25), “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them written, I suppose that the whole world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” And John saw most of these acts.
- And from the Book of Revelation: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard a voice behind me …” (Revelation 1:10). A Voice that then revealed the entire courses of human history in one long prophetic vision.
Where would we be without John?
As Jesus appointed Peter as the Apostle to the Jews and Paul as the Apostle to the Gentiles, He anointed John as the Apostle of the Ages. Let’s conclude this blog post with the last words in 1 John. These words also hint at John’s life calling and the purpose of his writings…
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:20-21).
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20b)