28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 John 2:28-29 (NASB)
There are two types of people in the world. There are God’s children and everyone else. One of the reasons I love to read the Gospel of John 1, John 2, John 3, and Revelation is that John, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 21:7), wrote very profound words that have no gray areas….
Of course he wrote as the Spirit breathed these words through him, but God used this man’s entire makeup in that process. John was very pastoral, but he was also a Christian apologist of the highest order. He was one the three Apostles who made up the inner circle closest to our Lord during His earthly ministry. Before Jesus called him to be his disciple, he was a disciple of John the Baptist along with Andrew, Peter’s brother. Jesus called him and his brother James “Sons of Thunder.” John had great faith but like most of us he could become full of himself. He would focus inward instead of being humble and lining up with our Lord’s will alone.
John loved the Lord. Tradition says that he was the only one of the remaining eleven Apostles who was not martyred. He endured persecution and exile for his faithfulness to the gospel and our Lord. When he wrote Revelation he was on an island called Patmos having been exiled there for his faith. He walked as close to Jesus as Peter. When Jesus was dying on the cross He commanded John to take Mary, His mother, into his household to care for her. Jesus trusted John for this task more than His own earthly brothers. (John 19:26-27)