John, The Apostle – Part 3

(3 John)

I am writing to disciples of Jesus Christ.  If you have not yet heard Him call you to follow, know here that He calls all to follow Him.  He said it this way, “Whoever chooses to come may come to me.”  Further He said, “ If anyone wants to come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me.”  It is about more than believing and going your own way.  It is a narrow way and you will lose things but it is worth it. An eternal reward waits for the ones who follow Jesus.  I stop here thinking about what the cross means.  Criminals carried crosses.  Condemned men carried crosses.  For the man Jesus, death on the cross represented the ultimate in humiliation.  We read in Hebrews that He despised the shame of it.  I heard it said that means He refused shame.  He did not do it before men.  He was so focused on God.  He did it as the will of God and to satisfy His Father’s heart and desire.

As we follow Jesus, relationships will be lost for what we wanted and expected them to be.  Even death cannot take from you what God reserves for you in heaven.  If you are struggling ask God to reveal Himself to you.  He is kind and faithful to answer.  I write this as I think about John for that man was a disciple close to Jesus.  While other disciples and apostles were martyred, that is they died for their faith in Christ Jesus, not all paid that ultimate earthly price.  John went through attempted murder at the hands of the highest earthly authority of his day.  He passed through that fire.  I think of Joseph whose brothers were ready to murder him and sold him into slavery.  He passed through the valley of the shadow of death.  And then he, Joseph, was falsely accused and thrown into prison.  And John was exiled to Patmos among criminals.

And there in that forsaken island, He sees Jesus Christ in His glory.  Later He is released to simply encourage and oversee the Lord’s people, disciples who were following Jesus Christ.  The basic story has not changed.  The call is to follow Him.  When you see Him for who He is, and recognize your spiritual poverty, get up and follow.  Let nothing dissuade you from your pursuit.  And when you are ready to quit, He will show up if you have been following.  If you have never responded, why should you expect Him to cater to you?  As we go with Jesus, and connect with His people, His disciples among us, we learn to love, bless, encourage, and admonish.  That last activity takes some maturity.  Correction requires gentleness and humility.  Those are signs, fruit, of true maturity.

John left Patmos and ended his days in Ephesus.  Read his third letter.  As with his second letter, he opens referring to himself as the elder.  Trouble and selfish ambition have surfaced among those he addressed.  John’s gentleness and maturity are expressed with a firmness.  When he comes he will remind the self-seekers what they have done.  They will be put to shame.  And John closes with the desire to see those disciples face-to-face.  Hear the Spirit in those words.  The Lord is drawing His bride (the chosen lady of 2 John), to that time of seeing Him face-to-face.  We will see fully even as we have been known.  John, after Patmos, writes and leaves a legacy for us, 2000 years down the road.  I think he had no idea of what he was leaving for us today.

I think more is wrapped up in the testimony of John’s life.  His walk is a type for the church, His body and bride, at the very transition to new heavens and new earth.  John did not see physical death as part of His testimony of Jesus.  I mean by that He was not “martyred.”  As Paul wrote we shall not all sleep.  This is greater than John’s story for he still died a natural death.  There will be a people like Simeon and Anna who are alive and remain.  Some of Christ’s members will be martyred.  Some are experiencing death and returning.  Some will pass through the valley of the shadow and be spared, like John was.  And a company of people prepared for the Lord’s appearing in the sky will not sleep.  His life will keep those He has chosen for that day.

John, The Apostle – Part 2

I am impressed to continue looking at the life of this man, John.  We understand he was younger than Jesus.  It’s been suggested he was in his later teen years.  He grew up and lived in  Galilee.  As mentioned previously, he was a cousin, or some extended relative of Jesus.  I used to think that the disciples were all completely unknown to Jesus until He called them.  I now think He may have had some acquaintance with them.  John and James were sons of Zebedee.  Many of these details are relatively unimportant, that is, they are not critical for our lives.  I mention them to consider the reality of Jesus’ life on the earth, and John’s walk with Him.  I think we can glean some thoughts for our own walk with Him in this life.

John was a fisherman.  As I did some research, John was misunderstood to be a bit feminine, even effeminate.  This was extended from him laying against Jesus’ chest but that effeminate picture does not fit being a fisherman.  He may not have been as rough and tough as the others but being a fisherman took some strength and normal masculinity.  Further, that physical closeness is mentioned once.  We do not discount his closeness with Jesus but John was not always physically hanging on the Lord.  It’s recorded that he and James were mending the nets while the others were engaged elsewhere.  Jesus saw that and called them.  See Matt. 4:21 and Mark 1:19.  Later John and James are active in ways that were stitching believers together.

For many of us as members of Christ, we find that same calling.  We work to see His body, His people knit together in love.  I find such ease meeting and connecting with those who know Jesus well.  They are secure in His love.  They are not threatened to be known.  Our religious walls come up when we are afraid to relate to someone.  This may be a believer or an unbeliever.  In those moments we can trust in God, and not look to our own self-protection.  Is He our refuge and strength?  Or do we look to our natural wits?  We have all done this, as we see in the lives of the Lord’s people in the scripture.  David feigned insanity in front of an enemy king.  And Paul divided his adversaries, the Pharisees and Sadducees, when threatened. See Acts 23:6-10.

Rather, remember the words of Jesus Christ, “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”  We learn not to open up to everyone about everything.  I learned some hard lessons in this area.  Not every believer can be trusted to keep our confidence.  We learn to be wise, trustworthy, and slow to speak.  Speaking the truth in love is one of the most important lessons we must learn if we are to be fruitful spiritually.  By that His body builds itself up in love toward that place of maturity to which He calls all men.  May we hear and follow on after that.  It becomes so very simple.  Let knowing Him become your goal and don’t be distracted.

John was one who was secure in the love of Christ.  Psalm 91 comes to mind.  John grew into that secret place of the Most High.  We can follow his story from Jesus calling him as he was mending the nets, to Jesus baptism by John and seeing the dove and hearing the voice, through the 3-1/2 years of miracles, to watching Lazarus come out of the tomb.  John saw all this.  And he also watched as Jesus commented that those who know the will of God and do it are His family.  Luke 8:19-21.  I think that afterwards Jesus went out and spoke with His mother.  Going on from Lazarus resurrection, John leans on His chest at that last covenant-making meal and betrayal, he watches the trial in the courtyard, and sits at the foot of cross.  With 4 women, he watches the unthinkable, supporting them.  He hears the cry of a Roman oppressor, “Truly this was a son of God.”  Did that soldier fully realize what he was saying?  I am sure he was never the same after.

Do we know Him crucified?  This is the beginning.  It seems that some start somewhere else.  Perhaps one has been healed, or some other miraculous change in their life has occurred, and it was evident that Jesus did it.  If such a one turns away, he does so in danger.  Do not harden your heart.  Yes, you may find yourself in a struggle but do not turn away.  Jesus once healed 10 lepers who had come to Him seeking that healing.  Only one returned to thank Him and that one did so in an attitude of worship.  In Psalm 2 we are encouraged to kiss the Son.  This is about worship.  He is worthy and we resist yielding all.  I have struggled through much myself.  It is our self-love that is under all our struggles.  We must love Him more than all including our own selves.  He said exactly that. Luke 14:26.

John knew overcoming because he followed Christ and learned to stay close.  He knew the love of the One who not only called him but who gave Himself on the cross.  All must come to see this and receive Him as given by God Himself.  He is the gift of God to the world.  I have found this is not a one-time experience but the reality of it increases each time I stumble or fall short in some way.  The blood avails always, fully and completely.  There is that place of mercy and as He was raised, so we rise by His grace to continue on.  Like John continued on eventually receiving that Revelation on Patmos, we must press on.  Never give up, never surrender to your self.  Keep yielding to Him.

John, The Apostle

I am drawn to this man, John, as he was drawn to Jesus.  As I consider those words, I turn my eyes past him to that One, Jesus Christ.  John is among the cloud of witnesses now.  He is one of the twelve who lived a full life.  His martyrdom (martyr=witness) was not one that saw death in the brutal way as we understand most, or all, of the other first disciples.  They were all personally called to follow Jesus.  John and his brother James were both called.  They were not the same in their calling or their life journey.  The same was true of Peter and John.  Jesus’ conversation with Peter on the beach after breakfast is so amazing.  Quiet, deeply personal, and wonderful.  He wants to meet each of us that way.  Have you ever had breakfast with Jesus?  He will sit with you at a table, you know.  Read Rev. 3:19-20 again.

I have understood that John and James were part of Jesus’ extended earthly family.  That makes me think, he had known them as they grew up as kids.  Yes, this awesome One, Jesus, grew as a child.  John was close to Him from the start.  At the table, on the night Jesus was betrayed, John was leaning on Him.  Men will hug, but in today’s Western culture, we avoid the appearance of a distorted lifestyle.  John was the closest one to Jesus of the twelve.  Their was an intimacy and trust between them.  And Jesus knew John’s destiny was different than the others.  Read John 21:12, 20-25.  Peter would experience the sufferings of Christ by crucifixion.  John would know it another way.

Tradition tells us, and I believe it, that John suffered severe persecution under a Roman emperor, Domitian.  That man was known as the one of the most violent persecutors of believers.  He had John dipped in boiling oil but it was to no effect.  With that, John was exiled to Patmos which was the prison for the worst criminals and the insane.  We understand that John brought with him the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and we expect many on that island were transformed.  The Lord saw and knows.  Having passed through all this trouble, the Lord brought John to the place for a most awesome revelation of Himself.  John was in the Spirit and heard and saw the things that were about to take place.  He saw The Lamb of God, the root of David, The Lion of the tribe of Judah, open the scroll of God’s purpose through the remainder of human history.

This was two thousand years ago.  We could follow that trail but we want to continue with John.  Jesus had indicated on the beach that were He to want John to remain until He returned that was up to Himself.  John went on to clarify in His gospel that Jesus did not say that he, John, would not die.  On Patmos, he did see the glory of God.  He saw and experienced more than Daniel, and Ezekiel, and Isaiah.  This exile was not John’s end.  Domitian died and his successor allowed for John’s release.  He went to Ephesus, where we understand he had been earlier.  I have heard, and believe it true, that he was then part of that gathering where Timothy was the overseer, the elder.  We also understand it was there that he passed fully into the glory he had seen in part on the island.

While there is some disagreement about the timing and the sequence of John’s writing, if we consider his own spiritual growth, the content and character of each book speaks for itself.  I should also mention that all may not agree or accept the history I mention.  That history is not essential.  I think it valuable that we agree that he wrote all his work after Patmos.  He writes having seen so much that is truly heavenly reality.  Consider that in his gospel, chapter 3, he writes of Jesus saying that He is in heaven as He speaks to Nicodemus.  That is not included in all manuscripts, I know, but it is in most.  Jesus walked in a spiritual awareness of heaven to which He later introduced Peter, James, and John.  We know it as the transfiguration.  In Jesus day, the Jews and others recognized spiritual realties.  Angels appeared and people fell into trances produced by the Holy Spirit.

Consider that Jesus knew the experience to which He was bringing the three when they went up to a mountain.  Also consider Moses and the elders sharing a meal with the Lord at the glassy sea.  I am not writing to exalt such experience.  Peter was caught in that mentality as he was ready to build a “church.”  Hear the message here.  We want to build earthly structures.  The experience of the transfiguration and John’s revelation of Christ and heaven on Patmos had the effect of losing more of earthly pursuits and a greater alignment with the Lord’s purposes.  I repeat Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians, “Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spirituals (it is a singular Greek word).”

Paul had been blinded for three days, and then the Lord sent a man, Ananias, to pray and Paul’s eyes were opened.  John’s eyes were opened.  The Holy Spirit gives gifts severally as He wills.  I asked for the gift of tongues as I saw it as valuable by Paul’s discussion.  Without drama, alone in my bedroom, I received it.  I look to use it wisely.  I have had unction, leading of the Spirit, to pray for a brother’s healing.  He received it.  It happened as I prayed.  On other occasions, I had no such leading although I wanted to see a dear one avoid a surgery.

John had seen much as he walked directly with Jesus, sat at the foot of the cross, was at the transfiguration, and heard and saw Jesus Christ resurrected.  As John went the way he was led by the Spirit, he endured and passed through much persecution.  See Rev. 1:9.  It was intense.  Those experiences brought him to Patmos where he was given tremendous revelation of the ascended, glorified Lord and heavenly reality.  He was forever changed and ended his days in peaceful joy, loving the believers and exercising true authority by the Spirit.