*
T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
731
. JULY 22, 1023 JOHN THE APOSTLE Golden Text: “ God is love; and he th a t abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him .” 1 Jn. 4:16. LESSON TEXT Lu. 9:49-56; Jn. 19:25-27; 1 Jn . votional R e ad in g .-^ l Jn. 4:11-21. Time.— Of first selection, A. D. 29. O utline: (1) The Citizenship of John. (2) The Call of John. (3) The Close Fellowship. (4) The Chosen Son. (5) The Consistent Life. In troduction: 1:7, 8. (Read 1, 2 and 3 John .) De- Place.— On way to Jerusalem . Lord (Matt.! 27:55, 56; Luke 8 :3 ; Matt. 2 0 :20 ). It has been suggested th a t she was th e sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and stood w ith her when Christ was crucified (John 19: 25).
John probably received his educa tion in th e schools of Galilee. Had he been brought up in Jerusalem , he would not have been subject to the criticism of Acts 4:13 “ N o w w h e n th e y s a w th e b o ld n e s s o f P e te r a n d J o h n , a n d p e r c e iv e d t h a t th e y w e r e u n le a r n e d a n d ig n o r a n t m e n , th e y m a r v e lle d ; a n d th e y t o o k k n o w le d g e o f th e m , t h a t th e y h a d b e e n w it h J e s u s .” (2 ) THE CALL OF JOHN. John was perhaps 25 years of age when John th e Baptist commenced his m inistry and all th e country was being stirred by his heart-searching and con vincing messages. Jam es and John were attracted to th e meetings of th e P rophet and became his disciples; bu t th e revelation made by th e Baptist th a t Jesus was th e . Lamb of God, and the call of Jesus to “Come and see,” (John 1:39) “ H e s a it h u n to t h e m , C o m e a n d s e e , T h e y c a m e a n d s a w w h e r e h e d w e lt, a n d a b o d e w it h h im t h a t d a y ;” ' convinced them th a t He was indeed the prom ised Messiah and they left John th e Baptist and followed Jesus. “ One of the two” (v. 40) was An drew, Simon P ete r’s brother. The o th er disciple was undoubtedly John, whosd modesty concerning himself is revealed in th e phrase “ the disciple whom Jesus loved.” L ater th e call came to him to ta k e up the definite work of discipleship (Mark 1:19, 20) receiving his commission to become a "fisher of men” (Luke 5:10,11)
A brief sketch of th e life of John, th e beloved of Jesus, can only be g ath ered from the fragm ents of Scripture which speak of him, and yet enough is found to give us some LESSON comprehensive knoy l- EXPOSITION edge of th e character T. O. H orton of th e man whose Gos pel has been recogniz ed by th e church as the last of the four Gospels, and differing from th e other th ree in respect to its g reat purpose, as recorded in John 20:31: “ B u t th e s e a r e w r it te n t h a t y e m ig h t b e lie v e t h a t J e s u s is th e C h r is t , t h e S o n o£ G o d ; a n d t h a t b e lie v in g y e m ig h t h a v e lif e t h r o u g h h is n a m e .” (1) THE CITIZENSHIP OF JOHN. John was probably born in Galilee. His p aren ts were Zebedee and Salome (Mark 1 6 :1 ). His fath e r was engaged in the calling of a fisherman, and the sons— Jam es and John—were employ ed w ith him, Jam es being the elder of the two. T h at the fam ily were in good circumstances is manifested by th e fact of Jo h n ’s touch w ith th e circle of th e high p riest (John 18 :15 ). He seems also to have been connect ed w ith th e family of Caiaphas (Acts 4 :6 ) and evidently had a home in Je ru salem when Jesus comm itted His mother to his care (John 19 :27 ). His mother, Salome, is mentioned many tim es in connection w ith th e godly women who m inistered to our
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker