THE TESTIMONY OF THE APOSTLE JOHN IS TRUE
By Ps. Paulus Budiono
Lemah Putro, Sunday, 26 January 2020
Shalom,
What is the best offering we can give to God? It’s our faith because any best offering without faith is useless before God. Example: we invite Jesus to attend a service but we don't trust Him.
We have read the Gospel of John, do we believe all the verses in it? Indeed, the Bible that we have is complete, we will not get bored if we study it seriously. Besides faith, the other best offerings are our hope for God's promise and our love for Him. Aren’t there only three things left: faith, hope and love; the greatest of which is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). We have received all from Him including faith, hope and love. Let us return it to Him because we also belong to Him – from Him and for Him forever.
The author of the Gospel of John exhorts us to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by faith we can live in His Name (John 20:31). The Apostle John concludes his writing by saying, “This is the disciple (John - Ed.) who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." (John 21: 24-25)
Note that verse one and the other verses are one and related. That is why we should not favor one verse more than the other verses; otherwise, it’s the same as dividing the whole body of Christ. Did not Jesus – the Word – became man (John 1:14) and the Gospel of John is included?
The patriarchs believed that the Apostle John is the writer of the Gospel of John, 1-3 John and Revelation. So, he not only testified (orally) but also wrote books that we can read and have been translated in various languages. Many books in the Israeli museum prove that the writings (testimonies) of the Apostle John are true.
Illustration: A scientific work must be tested by a team of examiners to get a formal recognition whether it is true and acceptable to the public.
Jesus was born in ± 4-6 BC and died in AD 29. John followed Jesus for ± 3½ years. 61 years later, John wrote the Gospel of John (AD 80-90). Can we count his writings trustable as he wrote them at his very old age (90 years old)? Who acknowledges the testimony of the Apostle John is true? His fellow disciples of Jesus. But not everyone can accept the writings of the Apostle John.
The Apostle John wrote, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” This shows his close relationship with Jesus and he had been witnessing the work of his Master for 40 days after His resurrection. The Holy Spirit guided him to record/write the works of Jesus which he had witnessed even though not all of them were mentioned in John's Gospel.
The Apostle John wrote about many events proving that people rejected Jesus and did not believe in His word. Who were they?
♦ The Jews. When a man who had been ill for 38 years was healed by Jesus, he testified to the Jews that Jesus had healed him. However, the Jews got angry and tried to persecute Jesus because He did that on the Sabbath (John 5: 3-16). At that time Jesus explained that He did not bear witness of Himself (vv. 31-32). Who was the other person who testified of Him? The Heavenly Father who sent Him (John 8: 12-14, 17-18).
Jesus was also a Jew, He came to His people but they did not accept Him (John 1:11).
Introspection: Do we believe the writing of the Apostle John in the Gospel of John? Other religions also acknowledge that the Bible is the Christians’ scriptures. Is the Word of God merely a religion philosophy? Absolutely not! Therefore, we should value the Word of God more than anything; nevertheless, it does not mean that we need to treat the (physical) Bible with extra care and keep it in an extraordinary place.
♦ Jesus' disciples (John 6: 34-37, 60, 63-64).
Jesus fed 5,000 men and the next day the crowd sought Him. Jesus said that they came to Him because they were full of bread. Jesus further explained that He was the Bread of life that descended from Heaven; hearing this, many of His disciples said that His words were harsh, and they no longer followed Him since then.
♦ Judas Iscariot, Jesus' disciple, who had been following his Master for ± 3½ years, eventually betrayed and sold Jesus despite having received the power to cast out demons together with the other disciples (Mark 3: 15-19). Jesus was not satisfied when the disciples rejoiced for conquering demons for His Name for they should only rejoice if their names were registered in Heaven (Luke 10: 17-20).
Evidently Judas Iscariot did not like living in heaven because he preferred money to Jesus. Obviously he did not believe in Jesus from the beginning.
Application: If we truly love God's Word that has satisfied our hearts, we will not be lazy and ashamed to testify about Jesus who has saved us.
♦ Jesus' brothers (John 7: 1-5).
Approaching the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus' brothers told Him to go to Judea to demonstrate His works for His disciples to see because even His brothers did not believe in Him. Ironically, they seemed to motivate Jesus to be popularly known but they (the insiders) themselves did not trust Him. Fortunately, James and Judas (Jesus' brothers) believed in Jesus and died as martyrs.
Be aware, words and motivations made by people who do not believe in Jesus are dangerous and may cause us to plunge into sin.
Introspection: We have been adopted as Jesus' brothers (Hebrews 2: 11-17) and He is the firstborn (Colossians 1:15). Do we believe in what He said?
♦ Peter, who denied Jesus three times even though he had experienced the power (miracles) of his teacher. His denial proves that he did not believe in his Master even though he had lived with Him for 3½ years.
♦ Eleven disciples who left Jesus and fled when they saw Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:43, 48-50).
One of the reasons why Peter, John and James also escaped is because they did not stay watchful and pray. Jesus had reminded them when they were invited to the Garden of Gethsemane prior to his arrest (Mark 14: 32-42). Pay attention, our prayer attitude will make us believe or not believe in Him; our attitude toward God's Word will make us love or reject His Word; likewise our attitude may influence the Holy Spirit’s willingness in helping us.
♦ The church denominations (among others: Jehovah's witnesses) that do not acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God – this is the same as not acknowledging God because Jesus is the Word became flesh (John 1:14) and the Word is God (v. 1).
After Jesus rose from the dead and breathed the Holy Spirit on His disciples (John 20:22), the Apostle John still lived for another 60 years and was still filled with the Holy Spirit (Revelation 1: 9-10) even when he was suffering. When do we receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit? Does the Holy Spirit still talk to us to comfort and remind us? Do not grieve the Holy Spirit! Don't misinterpret the use of the Holy Spirit for greatness and miracles only, then we easily judge people in suffering accusing them of lacking of faith or prayer.
The Holy Spirit consistently filled the Apostle John (90 years) when he was living in exile on the island of Patmos. Empowered by the Spirit, he saw a person sitting on the throne in heaven surrounded by 24 elders who sat on the throne and 4 animals who offered praises, respect and gratitude to Him (Revelation 4: 1-9). In the Spirit he was also taken to a large, high mountain and shown the holy city, Jerusalem, descending from Heaven from God (Revelation 21: 9-10, 1-2).
We often unknowingly grieve the Holy Spirit and even put out the subtle movements of the Holy Spirit. The more we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, the more careful we are to speak and act. The Holy Spirit does not work rudely and He does not make people fall down unconsciously. By the Holy Spirit, we can increasingly glorify Jesus, the Son of God, and do not deny Him.
The Apostle John along with the other apostles saw, heard, witnessed and felt the Word of life that had existed from the beginning and wrote it for us. They preached about eternal life so that one day we can have fellowship with them together with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. God is light and in Him there is absolutely no darkness (1 John 1: 1-5).
Application: If we fellowship with God in His Word, we will be able to fellowship with others.
We have heard and read the true writings (testimonies) of the Apostle John that have been canonized by the patriarchs into the Word of God. Let us trust His Word and preach Jesus, the Savior of the world and the Heavenly Bridegroom, and share about His matchless wonderful works to others, so that they would also be saved from the eternal and terrible perdition. Amen.