John the Apostle holds a unique place in N. T. writings.
John the Apostle's part in these letters is to communicate
the seven letters to seven contemporary churches. John would know one of the
churches by first-hand experience having lived there. (the Ephesians Church is
the first one of 5 churches called to repent). The words come directly from
Jesus Christ, as is the rest of Revelations.
John wrote five writings contained in the New Testament.
The Apostle Paul, another prolific New Testament writer, obviously,
had much more to do with the fine details of church teachings and doctrines.
However, the Apostle John dealt a lot with motivations and principles. Some have called him the apostle of love, and also John the evangelist. He is the apostle who wrote: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world , but that the world through him might be saved he believes in him is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God . ....." John 3:16-18
However, the Apostle John dealt a lot with motivations and principles. Some have called him the apostle of love, and also John the evangelist. He is the apostle who wrote: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world , but that the world through him might be saved he believes in him is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God . ....." John 3:16-18
The
Apostle Paul writes about meeting John, in Galatians 2:9-10.
"When James, Cephas, and John, who were reputed to be pillars, recognized the grace that was given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship; that we should go to non-Jewish Gentiles , and they are into the circumcision or to the Jews." So they were personally acquainted, and from the gesture of giving "the right hand of fellowship", they understood and agreed the Lord uses different gifts in different arenas.
Obviously, in the book of Revelations John's ministry changed to gentile churches. Whatever the seven up of up churches represent--whether the churches, in symbolic form, represented some historic time line or something else, they were local gentile churches.
"When James, Cephas, and John, who were reputed to be pillars, recognized the grace that was given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship; that we should go to non-Jewish Gentiles , and they are into the circumcision or to the Jews." So they were personally acquainted, and from the gesture of giving "the right hand of fellowship", they understood and agreed the Lord uses different gifts in different arenas.
Obviously, in the book of Revelations John's ministry changed to gentile churches. Whatever the seven up of up churches represent--whether the churches, in symbolic form, represented some historic time line or something else, they were local gentile churches.
John wrote: " in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God all things were made by Him , and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life , and the life was the light of men ." John 1:1-4 .."..And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples , which are not written in this book but these things are written but you might believe that Jesus is the Christ , the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through His name." John 20:30-31
John also wrote: " that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with with our eyes, which will look upon, and our hands have handled, the word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and showing to you that eternal life, which was from the father , and was manifested into us that which we have seen and heard declare we under you, but you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father , and with his son Jesus Christ." 1John 1:1-3
John also wrote: " that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with with our eyes, which will look upon, and our hands have handled, the word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and showing to you that eternal life, which was from the father , and was manifested into us that which we have seen and heard declare we under you, but you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father , and with his son Jesus Christ." 1John 1:1-3
While John lived in
Jerusalem, he ministered there in the Jerusalem church for some years. This first-hand experience in the Jerusalem
Church would have acquainted him with most of pitfalls and rewards and motivations in church member relationships. The Church had disputes in working out
relationships between the Hebrews and Hellenists--the church was still all
Jewish at this time. However Paul's
ministry then brought in Gentiles requiring the holding of the first Church Council
Meeting in 50-51 A.D, and new challenges in forming new relationships.
Paul mentions meeting John at that meeting, and calls him "a pillar" (Gal. 2:9), so John must have enjoyed some prestige in the church. At any rate, the Jerusalem's First Christian would seem to be John's home, although he lived as a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee.(actually this was a large lake). Now in writing Revelations, John mentions
being on the Island of Patmos, many hundreds of miles far away from Jerusalem
on the Asiaian coast of the Aegean Sea. Before and after Patmos, he lived in Ephesus, according to Polycarp and other Christian writers of the
time.
So in any study of Revelations, there should be some explanation about when John moved to Ephesus, and why did it happen?
Supposedly
John the apostle was banished to the island Patmos by the reigning Roman
Emperor--said to be banished by Domitian (which would date the writing of
Revelations in the nineties).
Other related
factors putting John in that Aegean Sea area would be the Roman-Jewish War 67
to 70A.D... The war rendered Jerusalem in total ruins, making the city a dangerous place.
The Roman-Jewish
War would destroy the Temple and most of Jerusalem. The entire Israel nation
begins a suffering period at this time--actually lasting until the middle of the 20th century.
According to Josephus, 1.1 million non-combatants died in Jerusalem, mainly as a result of
the violence and famine. Many of the casualties were actually foreigners who
had wanted to experience the festivities around Passover but instead got
trapped in the chaotic siege.[1]
He also tells us that 97,000 were enslaved.[1]
Matthew White, The Great Big Book of Horrible Things (Norton, 2012) p.52,[2] estimates the combined death toll for the First and Third Roman Jewish Wars as being approximately 350,000
Matthew White, The Great Big Book of Horrible Things (Norton, 2012) p.52,[2] estimates the combined death toll for the First and Third Roman Jewish Wars as being approximately 350,000
Jesus left the care of His mother Mary with John. (John
19:26-27) Jesus also warned His disciples to flee when Jerusalem was
surrounded by armies. (Luke 21:20-224). Tradition does speak of John
bringing Mary to Ephesus. There are additional reasons to believe that John had
taken Mary, the mother of Jesus, to Ephesus. In Ephesus, there are tombs for
both, beside the much later- pope-built basilicas and cathedrals.
Roman history has it that following the
suicide of Nero, in June 68 AD, Rome's Emperor's office had a leadership
crisis--from: 68AD to 79AD there were four contending emperors:
Galba,,Vitellius, Otho, and Vaspasian. It amounted to civil war among contending
emperors, and must have reached an emergency stage, because General Vespasian had
to be called from the Roman-Jewish war battlefield to serve as Emperor.
As previously
stated the Roman-Jewish war was 67AD to 70AD, and included all of Israel,
including the seemingly impregnable fortress Masada. This involved a
protracted siege of Jerusalem, and an insane civil war inside the walls between
religious groups, which included the deliberate burning of Jerusalem's food
storage.
Titus, the
son of Vespasian took over finishing the war, and largely the credit for the
victory. Titus became the next Emperor in June 79 AD. He was succeeded by
Domitian in Sept. 14, 81AD. Dominican was emperor until Sept. 96, and followed
by Nerva Sept 96AD. Trajan following in Jan. 98AD. Obviously Nerva had a
short term.
Trajan served a
long time until Aug. 117AD.
Hadrian following
Trajan held the position from 117AD through to 138AD.
During Hadrian's
Emperorship had another desperate war with a Jewish rebellion. 135AD, the
Kochba had the trappings of his messianic reign. This also had a terrible
ending with 10 Roman Legions involved.
Incidentally
Hadrian also conducted a state persecution of Christians.
How John moved Mary to Ephesus is unknown to me, however they must have left Jerusalem early in the war because the Romans usually build a wall around a city under siege to prevent anyone from escaping. Traveling to Ephesus directly would have required a long sea voyage or an even longer land voyage, and filled with many dangers.
John the apostle's
life spanned the time period of the first Christian churches, and lived as a
major figure in the church authority. Compared to fellow Apostles and general
population, John lived to be quite old, in the nineties.
Because he was one
of the first of Jesus' disciples, walking with Him, and listening to His
teaching. The writing of John's Gospel and letters would involve
first-hand experiences and Holy Spirit aided memories. John's writing of
the churches-- while John the apostle's experience, particularly the Ephesians Church, involved first-hand
experience, each vision is preceded by the phrase that he was "in
the Spirit". Obviously, in any event, "all scriptures are inspired ("God-breathed"), only coming from
the Spirit of God.(2Timothy 3:18)
The Book of
Revelations consists of four great visions, and ech vision begins with
"...in the spirit." The first vision has 7 different letters to 7
different churches. As mentioned above, in five of these 7 church
letters, the church is called to repent, and Ephesus was the first.
The Ephesians
Church consisted of house-churches--Prisca and Aquila had a house-church there
(Acts 18:24-26, 1Cor. 16:15-19 Paul wrote 1 Cor. from Ephesus). Ephesus,
a very large city of 250,000, must have had a large church because of the Apostle
Paul spent close to 3+ successful years there.
"...So
the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing." Acts 19:20.
The Lord Jesus Christ presents His judgment concerning the seven
churches in Revelations activities and their spiritual condition. It is
interesting that there are no churches from Israel. The first Christian
church formed in Jerusalem and from there churches (all house-churches) spread out
from there in the Judean area, and to Galilee. Perhaps that accounts for the
Roman-Jewish War.
REVELATIONS
1:4 John, to the seven
assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from God, who is and who
was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne;
5 and from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his
blood;
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6 and he made us be
a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
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7 Behold, he is coming
with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him.
All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.
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8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the
End," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come,
the Almighty."
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9 I John, your brother
and partaker with you in oppression and kingdom and perseverance which are in
Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God`s Word and the
testimony of Jesus Christ.
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10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord`s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet
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11 saying,
"What you see, write in a book and send
to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis,
Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."
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12 I turned to see the
voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.
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13 And in the midst
of the lampstands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest.
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14 His head and his
hair was white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.
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15 His feet were
like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters.
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16 He had seven
stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword.
His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.
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"Don`t be afraid. I am the first
and the last, and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
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Write therefore the things which you
have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lampstands are seven assemblies.
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