Picture: John, the Beloved Disciple 4TC 277.1
John is known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” John 21:20. He was one of the three chosen to witness Christ’s glory on the mount of transfiguration and His agony in Gethsemane, and it was to his care that our Lord entrusted His mother in those last hours of anguish on the cross. 4TC 277.2
John clung to Christ like a vine clings to a stately pillar. He braved the dangers of the judgment hall and lingered near the cross, and when the news came that Christ had risen, he ran to the tomb, getting there even before Peter. 4TC 277.3
John did not naturally possess a beautiful character. He was proud, self-assertive, ambitious for honor, reckless, and resentful when he thought others did not treat him well. He and his brother were called “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). Evil temper and de sire for revenge were in the beloved disciple, but beneath this the divine Teacher saw the sincere, loving heart. Jesus rebuked John’s self-seeking, disappointed his ambitions, and tested his faith, but He revealed to him the beauty of holiness, the transforming power of love. 4TC 277.4
John’s defects came out strongly on several occasions. At one time Christ sent messengers to a Samaritan village to ask for refreshments for Him and His disciples. But when the Savior approached the town, instead of inviting Him to be their guest, the Samaritans refused to give the courtesies they would have offered a common traveler. 4TC 278.1
Such coldness and disrespect to their Master filled the disciples with anger. In their zeal James and John said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” Their words brought Jesus pain. “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them” (Luke 9:54-56). 4TC 278.2
Christ does not force people to receive Him. Satan and those under his spirit try to compel the conscience. Under a pretended zeal for righteousness, some people who are working with evil angels bring suffering on other human beings in order to “convert” them to their ideas of religion. But Christ always seeks to win by revealing His love. He wants only the willing surrender of the heart under the influence of love. 4TC 278.3
On another occasion James and John used their mother to ask for the highest positions in Christ’s kingdom. These young disciples held onto the hope that He would take His throne and kingly power as the people wanted Him to do. 4TC 278.4
But the Savior answered, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They answered confidently, “We are able.” 4TC 278.5
“You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized,” Christ declared. Ahead of Him was a cross instead of a throne! James and John would in fact share their Master’s suffering—one destined to swift-coming death by beheading, the other, longest of all to follow his Master in labor, in being spoken against, and in persecution. “But to sit on My right hand or on My left,” He continued, “is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.” (Mark 10:38-40.) 4TC 279.1
Jesus rebuked the pride and ambition of the two disciples. “Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave” (Matthew 20:26, 27). In the kingdom of God, position results from character. The crown and the throne are evidences of having conquered self through the grace of Christ. 4TC 279.2
Many years later, the Lord Jesus revealed to John how to come near to His kingdom: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Revelation 3:21). The one who stands nearest to Christ will be the one who has drunk most deeply of His spirit of self-sacrificing love—love that moves the disciple to work and sacrifice even to death to help save humanity. 4TC 279.3
At another time, James and John met someone who was not an acknowledged follower of Christ but was casting out devils in His name. The disciples forbade the man to work and thought they were right. But Christ rebuked them: “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me” (Mark 9:39). James and John thought they were defending Christ’s honor, but they began to see they were jealous for their own. They admitted their error and accepted the rebuke. 4TC 279.4
John treasured every lesson and tried to bring his life into harmony with God’s pattern. He had begun to recognize the glory of Christ—“the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). 4TC 279.5
John’s affection for his Master did not cause Christ’s love for him—it was the effect of that love. Under the transforming love of Christ he became subdued and humble. Self was hid in Jesus. More than all his companions, John yielded himself to the power of that awe-inspiring life. His Master’s lessons were engraved on his heart. When he testified about the Savior’s grace, his simple language was eloquent with the love that saturated his whole being. 4TC 280.1
The Savior loved all the Twelve, but John had the most receptive spirit. Younger than the others, with more of the child’s simple trust, he opened his heart to Jesus. In this way he came more into sympathy with Christ, and it was he who communicated the Savior’s deepest spiritual teaching to the people. John could talk of the Father’s love as none of the other disciples could. The beauty of holiness that had transformed him gleamed with Christlike radiance from his face, and fellowship with Christ became his one desire. 4TC 280.2
“Beloved, now are we children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). 4TC 280.3
