This John, I

1Jn.1:¹ “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.” (emphasis added).

John was big on love and relationship; he is known as the Apostle of Love. John is the one who would tell us in his letters that, “God is love; he that loveth not knoweth not God…” [1 John 4:7-8 please read]. James had a similar theme, but John was heavily focused on love. In John, Jesus referred to God as Father about one hundred and seven times. That is a lot! Whereas if you put Matthew, Mark, Luke together, Jesus did not refer to God as Father even up to twenty times. John was big on relationship with the Father. Who was John? It is important to know who John is before getting into his work, his writings.

John is known as the last of the twelve Apostles perhaps because he was the youngest. Bible scholars agree unanimously that John was a teenager when he was a disciple of Jesus, because of the volume of historical facts and the length of his life. Imagine that, Jesus had a teenager as one of His disciples. When Paul says, “Let no one despise your youth” [1 Tim.4:12, NRSV], he means God does not care about age. Even if you are young, God wants to use you. John was a teenager, Daniel was a teenager, David was a teenager when he killed Goliath, did you know that? So, being young cannot be an excuse, God uses teenagers. John is the brother of James, the first disciple that was martyred [killed for Christ]; James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

Jesus entrusted the care of His mother to John who cared for her until she died. John was the teenage eyewitness that developed a Pastor’s heart and became a Pastor over the years. He would address letters to his people with phrases like, “My dear children, my dear friends…”. You would read such statements consistently in the works of John. Every Pastor’s heart is a broken heart, constantly being broken. John was an eyewitness and eyewitnesses offer details that only someone who was physically present would know. He gave us the time of the day events happened [please read John 1:39, John 4:6, John 19:14]. He provided instances that only eyes witnesses would know [John 6:19, John 21:8 please read].

The Book of John was written when he was old, so the content of the Book has been taught repeatedly, it has been lived out, he has proven it. Someone said, ‘If Thomas could die for the testimony of the resurrection of Jesus, then Jesus actually rose from the dead.’ Thomas died in India, if he could say Jesus is alive and not back down until he was killed, then Jesus must have actually revealed Himself to Thomas. Someone writing a book in old age when he is about to die will have no time for frivolities. He would do away with the excesses of lies, exaggeration, and error. People at their death bed usually go straight to the point because there is no need anymore. John wrote this Book at a very old age, so he could say to us in 1John 1:1, this thing is not fiction or a story of my imagination. This is the Word of life whom I have seen and touched.

Prayer: Father, I pray that The Word will become alive to me, in Jesus Name. Amen!