All Christians are friends of Jesus, but when he was living on Earth the person who became closest to him in practice was John, one of the sons of Zebedee, whom Jesus called 'sons of thunder'. That gives an idea of their character. When some villagers in Samaria weren't keen on helping the disciples, the brothers asked Jesus if they should call down fire from Heaven to burn them up - Jesus told them not to be ridiculous. They still ended up angling for the best positions in Heaven after living constantly with Jesus, the ultimate servant-leader, for over two years. When it came to the crunch, though, John was the only one of Jesus' core team of 12 male disciples who stayed with him at the cross, along with several of the women. Of course, after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he became a changed man, full of power in the Spirit, willing to preach boldly in the face of opposition, and with a strong message of the importance of love in the Christian life.
John, although being a fisherman by trade, turned out to be quite a writer. He seems to have had some help with at least the final editing of his Gospel story of Jesus' life, and perhaps there was someone around to proofread his three letters to churches and individuals; however, his final book, written while he was in exile and by then quite old, was probably all his own work and a bit rugged. His Gospel includes many of the intimate details of discussions between Jesus and various people, including his core disciples, which the other writers either omit or treat much more briefly. This probably reflects how close John was to Jesus. His letters, including the amazing stream of consciousness in 1 John, take forward some of the key messages of Jesus himself, including the paramount importance of love, our freedom from sin and the fact that Jesus is our go-to person for forgiveness when we fail to live up to his standard.
John was faithful to his friend throughout Jesus' life and death, and a reliable custodian of his message after Jesus had ascended to Heaven. Like Isaiah before him, he wrote about Jesus as the Messiah, in his case as an eyewitness showing how Jesus had fulfilled many of the Old Testament prophecies, including several of Isaiah's. Towards the end of his life, though, in Revelation, John reveals that he was himself also a visionary of calibre equal to that of the major Old Testament prophets. In that book he was entrusted with the main message that we have in the New Testament about the end of the world, which complemented the foresight of Isaiah and others with regard to Jesus' second coming. He was given some remarkable visions of the workings of Heaven which have become a treasure trove for the Church.
The apostle John was a close friend of Jesus who was given insight into the love, mercy and goodness of God, alongside his anger and judgement.
John faithfully recorded in the book of Revelation what he saw in those end-time visions of Jesus himself, together with angels and majestic creatures resembling an eagle, ox, lion or man, but with multiple wings and eyes - nothing like the typical Christmastime depiction of angelic beings (as exemplified above). There are also golden lampstands, bowls of prayers, scrolls, trumpets, plagues, and, of course, the devil along with other demonic beings. He saw God's throne room and the coming of the New Heaven and New Earth. This is a book about the power, majesty and love of God, but held in tension with his judgment and anger. Revelation reminds us that Jesus' overwhelming and unconditional love and grace are in the context of serious consequences for sin if we don't serve him as our Lord and saviour.
Sometimes John was given an interpretation, which he wrote down as well, but at others we are left with just the vision. He understood the importance of not leaving out the bits that didn't make sense to him, or either embellishing the message or providing his own interpretation to try to make it intelligible. Therefore, we are left with a faithful record of what God wants us to know, which he can then use in his own way to guide us through the final period of world history. Let us learn from this man who stuck close to Jesus from the time he first left his fishing boat behind on the Sea of Galilee until his death around 70 years later. As a consequence he lived a life of power in the Holy Spirit as an apostle, healer, church leader and writer of a large portion of the the most powerful religious literature in the world.
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