The Apostle John was one of the twelve disciples being the son of Zebedee and Salome. He was a fisherman by trade who worked on the Sea of Galilee and was called to discipleship by Jesus along with his brother James who was also a fisherman. John is often said to be the beloved or friend who Jesus loved best. He was one of three disciples who were closest to Jesus being with him at the transfiguration when Jesus was shown in the full light and glory of God and in the garden of Gethsemane just before his crucifixion.
He is also said to be the most brave and loyal because he was present at the trial of Jesus at the house of the high priest Caiaphas and was the only one of the twelve recorded as being at his crucifixion when all the others had scattered for fear of arrest by the Roman authorities. It is most likely to be John to whom Jesus entrusted the care of his mother Mary whilst he actually hung on the cross. Johns loyalty sometimes veered into un-forgiveness and earned him the nickname 'Son of thunder' as earlier in the ministry of Jesus when the Lord had been rejected by the people in a Samarian village John asked the Lord if they should call down fire from heaven to destroy the village. John was yet to understand the forgiving nature of the Lord and his equal Love for all people as John had also asked for a favourable place in the Kingdom.
But through the teachings of Jesus his understanding grew so that he was able to write five books in the Bible. The first being the book of John which is one of the four Gospels and written later than the synoptics of Matthew Mark and Luke. It gives an overview of the three gospels and although it omitted certain events recorded in the others it gives insights thought to have been written to explain clearly who Jesus really was and to counter the ideas put forward by Greek philosophers and a group called the Gnostic's, who were a mystical group whose teachings were contrary to those of Jesus. John also wrote three epistles John 1,2 & 3 which common to all of Johns writings has a strong emphasis on the power of Love both for God and one another, that nothing has the power to overcome love, not even death and that Jesus and his Holy Spirit were all that believers needed.
John also wrote the book of revelation, written while on the island of Patmos to which he had been exiled and where he experienced a vision of Jesus, who instructed him to write these things down. The book is prophetic in style, predicting events at the end of the age when Jesus would come again. The language is difficult to understand and there is a lot of discussion about how near the end times we are and what the various symbols mean in actual history, but its underlying message is to keep the faith despite persecution and the various difficulties being experienced. This was particularly so in the early church but the message is that in the end our faithfulness will be rewarded, by the promise of a place in Gods kingdom, the triumph of good over evil and that the whole of creation will be renewed. It is about victory in the great spiritual battle.
After the ascension John served in the Church at Jerusalem for many years fearlessly preaching the Gospel despite beatings and imprisonment and later moved on to Ephesus where he died in old age around A.D.98 having outlived all the other disciples and the only one not to have been martyred. John’s writings leave us with some of the most beautiful words in the bible and some of the most memorable verses.