The Apostle John was unique of all the Apostles of a Jesus Christ because he was one said to be the closest to Jesus(Jesus assigned John to care for His mother), one of the first to follow Jesus, and one of the youngest of Apostles, and lived the longest--writing the last letters to defend and promote the Christian Faith.
JOHN THE APOSTLE WROTE THE GOSPEL OF JOHN BEFORE THE FALL OF JERUSALEM ABOUT 69AD.
"But as many as received Him to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe on His name...."(John 1:12)
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoeverr believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God did not send His son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God."(John 3:16-18)
"Many other signs and therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written this book. but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God: and that believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:30-31)
JOHN WROTE HIS LETTERS AFTER THE JEWISH-ROMAN WAR BETWEEN 85AD AND 100AD.
John is an old man, probably in his 90s. Also as an old man, having lived a hard life of suffering for the Faith and having watched friends, loved ones, family(his brother James) and fellow Apostles put to death for this Faith--most very cruel deaths.
John would not be promoting the Christian Faith as he does if what he witnessed of Jesus Christ and the Gospel was a lie. So John's life and letters further confirms the truth of the Gospel. Most of his life had witnessed, more than any man, Gospels of Christ--Christ's 3 years of teaching, Christ's crucifixion, and His resurrection. Witnessing Christ's Ascension, he also witnessed Pentecost and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
If the Gospel of Christ was a lie, the Apostle John would certainly know it. And John's 7 letters to the churches is highly critical of most local churches (repent or be excommunicated), including the one he attends (Ephesus), so John is very open to voicing the truth.
John would not be promoting the Christian Faith as he does if what he witnessed of Jesus Christ and the Gospel was a lie. So John's life and letters further confirms the truth of the Gospel. Most of his life had witnessed, more than any man, Gospels of Christ--Christ's 3 years of teaching, Christ's crucifixion, and His resurrection. Witnessing Christ's Ascension, he also witnessed Pentecost and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
If the Gospel of Christ was a lie, the Apostle John would certainly know it. And John's 7 letters to the churches is highly critical of most local churches (repent or be excommunicated), including the one he attends (Ephesus), so John is very open to voicing the truth.
Remember therefore whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent Revelations 2:5
And yet he has hardly deviating from his belief that it's a true message. In fact, at this stage in life, he still is enthusiastically promoting the Faith and others to come to Christ--knowing there will be trials and suffering for them. John's life, alone, confirms the truth of the Christian Gospel.
"These things I have written to you we believe in the name of the son of god in order that you may know that you have eternal life." (1 John 5:13)
"For I would have you know, brethern, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ..." (Galatians 1:11-12)
But when He who had set me apart, even from my mother's womb, and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His son in me, that I might preach Him among the gentiles, I did not immediately consult with the flesh and blood..." (Galatians 1:15-16)
"Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not a lying." (Galatians 1:20)
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,
not as result the works, that no one should boast. for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared before and we we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Unlike the Apostle John's life, the Apostle Paul probably never met Jesus Christ during the Lord's early ministry on earth. Paul became a Christian 3 years after Jesus Christ's death and resurrection and ascension.
Paul's early name was Saul. Named after the first Israeli king, Saul had a lot to live up to, and he was a extremely devout Jew. Is reached to Apostle Paul was raised as a trained as a jew of the tribe of Benjamin named after the cave the lead tribe named as the first after the first catered to Israel and was of the trut a there were many things that he had advanced Christ or DIS
He looked on Christianity as a heresy. He saw Jesus, the recognized founder and leader of Christianity, as a man cursed of God. By definition, the Law determined God cursed the man, "who hangs on a tree..." (Deuteronomy 21:23). In Saul's judgement, without even looking at his teaching or his law-breaking, by the very nature of his death, Jesus disqualified as the Messiah.
Saul had "persecuted the Churchn of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it....He had advanced in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries among his countrymen being more in extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions"
So in persecuting the Christians, he had gained permission and papers to go to foreign cities, as Damascus Syria. to bring the Christians, as prisoners, back to Jerusalem.
Jesus Christ had intercepted Saul just before his arrival at Damascus. This meeting, described in only four scriptures, had a deep-reaching impact on Saul's life. It forced a revolution in Saul's mind. Having judged Jesus as fraud and heretic, Saul suddenly came face to face with the glorified Son of God.
An example of such a meeting is in Revelation !:17:
" And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last...."
I fell at his feet as dead.
The appearance of the glory of the Lord had then same effect upon Ezekiel, Ezekiel 1:28: and the appearance of Gabriel had the same effect on Daniel, Daniel 8:17. The terrible splendour of such majesty was more than the apostle could bear, and he fell down deprived of his senses, but was soon enabled to behold the vision by a communication of strength from our Lord's right hand. |
Another example of such a meeting is in Isaiah 6:5
"Wo is me! for I am undone
nidmeythi, I am become dumb. There is something exceedingly affecting in this complaint. I am a man of unclean lips; I cannot say, Holy, holy, holy! which the seraphs exclaim. They are holy; I am not so: they see God, and live; I have seen him, and must die, because I am unholy. Only the pure in heart shall see God; and they only can live in his presence for ever, Reader, lay this to heart; and instead of boasting of thy excellence, and trusting in thy might, or comforting thyself in thy comparative innocence, thou wilt also be dumb before him, because thou hast been a man of unclean lips, and because thou hast still an unclean heart."
I am undone-"I am struck dumb"
nidmeythi, twenty-eight MSS. (five ancient) and three editions.-I understand it as from dum or damam, silere, "to be silent;" and so it is rendered by the Syriac, Vulgate, Symmachus, and by some of the Jewish interpreters, apud Sal. b. Melec. The rendering of the Syriac is tavir ani, stupens, attonitus sum, "I am amazed." He immediately gives the reason why he was struck dumb: because he was a man of polluted lips, and dwelt among a people of polluted lips, and was unworthy, either to join the seraphim in singing praises to God, or to be the messenger of God to his people. Compare Exodus 4:10;; 6:12; ; Jeremiah 1:6. |
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