Father John

“ John has been presenting to us from the beginning of his Gospel, of a Word who was with God and was God, of a Son who had come forth from the Father to reveal His grace and truth to men, of a Son who was returning to that Father as to His proper home. All is consistent from first to last; all has been divine, and all human. No clashing of the one with the other; but the human showing forth the divine as the perfect light from which it has been derived; the human leading on to the divine as that in which it is satisfied.
Hitherto this prayer has had no special reference to the disciples. ”

“ Could they say, then, that the love of Christ was a partial love, that it was not directed to mankind, that it was not the expression of a universal love? St. John is the especial witness against these heresies. He declares that God loved the world; and Christ came to do His Father's will in saving it. What, then, might be—what has been—the effect of the name, 'the disciple whom Jesus loved,' upon the Church? It has been felt that the story of Judas needed this foil. The dark, solitary, separate man must be brought into direct contrast to a man who lives only on trust. ”

“ Welcome Jesus Christ as John did; and, as to John, so the whole wonder of the Godhead will be made known to thy heart. Thou wilt hear the Father bearing witness to his Son; thou wilt see how clearly the Son reveals the Father, and achieves redemption; thou shalt know what it is to stand beneath the open heaven and behold and participate in the Divine anointing. Of what good is it to reason about the Trinity if thou hast no spiritual appetite for the gifts of the Trinity? ”

“ John habitually considered the miracles of Jesus as “signs” or object lessons, in which the spiritual mind might read unseen truth. They were intended to present to the eye a picture of the similar but greater works which Jesus wrought in the region of the spirit. He heals the blind, and therein sets Himself before men as the Light of the world. He gives the hungry bread, but is disappointed that they do not from this conclude that He is Himself the Bread sent by the Father to nourish to life everlasting. ”

“ Here, in the most solemn manner, Jesus makes the same assertion to His disciples. The works that He did upon earth were only the beginning of what He would do—the signs, as St. John has expressed it so constantly, of a power to be more completely exerted, of a purpose to be fulfilled. His returning to the Father is to be the crisis and commencement of a new life to the world,—the pledge that all the influences for health and renovation which the Son of Man had put forth, instead of being exhausted, were to go on proving their vigour and winning their victories from generation to generation. ”

“ Christ has established the Church as His kingdom upon earth with the bishops and priests as its teachers and rulers. Hence St. John says to the bishops, his co-laborers in the Church: We have been made kings and co-heirs of His kingdom; we have been chosen priests to render glory to His eternal Father. To Christ also belongs equal honor through all ages because he is God, equal to the Father in all things.
Those to whom St. John writes are priests and rulers in the Church. This proves that St, John does not write directly to the different churches but to their bishops. ”

“ That promise we find in John's record:—"I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever." "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, shall teach you all things." " He shall testify of Me." In the fulfilment of that promise, the disciples were to find the preparation to "go" and "preach." For that preparation they were to "wait."
Jesus then reminds them of the assurance given by John the Baptist concerning Himself:—"He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost." ”

“ But He who had sat by the well did not ask this proof of her desire for reformation. 'Woman,' He said, 'believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.' All she had asked—all that most Samaritans or Jews would have disputed about—was where they ought to worship. The thought upon which Jesus fixes her mind, is the Being to be worshipped. That new name, which John said the Son was come to reveal, is now proclaimed in the ears of a separatist and a sinner. He speaks not of the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, but of the Father. ”

“ This is the first time John thus speaks of himself. He never uses his own name. His place was at the right of the Lord. There he reclined during the meal, once changing his position, as we shall see. Judas was probably next to Jesus on His left. This allowed them to talk together without others knowing what they said.
John begins his story of the upper room as a supplement to Luke's record of the contention. He first tells two things about Jesus,—His knowledge that His hour "was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father," and His great and constant love for His disciples. ”

“ John has been speaking of a race born, not of flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of men, but of God. Christ here declares that He has founded such a race upon the earth. He prays His Father to keep it in the world, not to take it out of the world; to keep it by His word, His quickening, uniting word, which a world that is divided and is seeking death must hate; to keep it in the confession of Him who is not of the world, but is the Son of God ”

“ John's view broadens over the whole world beyond the limits of the comparatively little group of believers whom his words at that time could reach. The Incarnation and Atonement have been before his soul. The Catholic Church is the correlative of the first, humanity of the second. The Paraclete whom he beheld is ever in relation with, ever turned towards the Father. [154] His propitiation is, and He is it. It was not simply a fact in history which works on with unexhaustible force. As the Advocate is ever turned towards the Father, so the propitiation lives on with unexhausted life. ”

“ So the declaration meant more to him than to any other who heard it. Yet it had a fulness of meaning which even he could not fully know. Jesus' life on earth was finished. He had perfectly obeyed the commandments of God. The types and prophecies concerning Him had been fulfilled. His revelation of truth was completed. The work of man's redemption was done. On the cross He affirmed what John said He declared in the Upper Room to His Father: "I have glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work Thou hast given Me to do." ”

“ John points is the loftiest of all the moral and spiritual emotions which belong to the sentiments of man. Its archetype is in the bosom of God, in the eternal relations of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. "God is love." Its home in humanity is Christ's heart of fire and flesh; its example is the Incarnation ending in the Cross. ”

“ For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) he left Judæa, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. ”

“ He that is constant to the practice of religion in trying times gives good evidence that he is born from above, from the Lord Christ. The Lord Christ is an everlasting Father. It is a great privilege and dignity to be born of him. Those that are so are the children of God. To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, John i. ”

“ We now declare to the world that this part of the visions of John has been fulfilled; that the angel has come and appeared to man upon the earth, conferring upon him this heavenly charge, namely, the responsibility of opening up a new Gospel dispensation; and we declare that God himself took part in it, and that Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, accompanied him, both of whom appeared to Joseph Smith, upon which occasion the Father, pointing to the Son said, "This is my beloved Son, hear him." Following this the Gospel was to be preached to every nation. ”

“ The holy man descended, opened his chrism box, and donned his stole, but the boy had been confirmed already. The father wanted to change the boy’s name; it would bring him luck. The bishop, horrified at such paganism, asked the boy’s name. When he heard that it was John he was furious. “John, a Hebrew name for God’s Grace. How dare you ask for a better one? Do you want him called ‘hoe’ or ‘fork’? For your foolish request, take a year’s penance, Wednesday’s Lenten diet and Friday’s bread and water.”6 ”

“ He was the cousin of the Lord Jesus. And before John's birth, an angel told his father, Zacharias, that his name was to be John, and that he should be great in the sight of the Lord, and should preach in the spirit and power of Elijah, and make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
It was John the Baptist who, you remember, had the great honour of baptizing the Lord Jesus; and it was he who uttered one of the most wonderful sentences in the Bible: "Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world."
PROPHECY OF CHRIST'S BIRTH.
Isa. ”

“ John the younger answered them: "He sees salvation only in God the Father. He has converted many people to His view, but just those whom He loves best will not listen to the tidings of the Kingdom of Heaven."
Jesus lifted up His voice and cried: "He who desires to be My disciple, and his parents and brothers and sisters do not believe in Me, he must forsake his parents and brothers and sisters in order to follow Me. He who has wife and child, and they despise My tidings, he must forsake wife and child and follow Me if he wishes to be My disciple. ”

“ When Christ was about to leave the world he made his will. His soul he committed to his Father; his body he bequeathed to Joseph, to be decently interred; his clothes fell to the soldiers; his mother he left to the care of John: but what should he leave to his poor disciples, that had left all for him? Silver and gold he had none; but he left them that which was infinitely better, his peace. ”

“ So, when my body dies, shall angels guide
My happy soul to my dear Father’s side:
To meet me at the gate shall angels throng,
With joy shall tune their harps and raise their song.
LESSON LI.
JOHN.
Rev. i. 9-19; iv. 1-5; xxii. Almost all the twelve disciples were killed by wicked men at last. When Peter was old, some wicked men crucified him, because he loved Jesus. Now he is in heaven with Jesus, clothed in a white robe, and all his tears wiped away. His dear Lord Jesus is always near him, and this makes him happy.
John lived till he was very, very old, indeed. ”

“ They seize hold of a great truth and misapply it, and from the mis-application, they extract comfort. "If any one sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one." This is said by John to those whom he styles his "little children." ”

“ Combine the Lord’s prayer in John, the request of the devil in Luke, the sorrowfulness unto death, and the protest against sleep, followed by the command, Sleep on, in Matthew and Mark, and all difficulty disappears. The prayer in John, in which He commends the Apostles to His Father, explains the cause of His sorrowfulness, and the prayer that the cup may pass away. It is not from Himself that the Lord prays the suffering may be taken away. He beseeches the Father to preserve the disciples during His coming passion. ”

“ Who has controlled and managed the affairs of the world from its creation until the present time? The Great I Am, the Great Eloheim, the Great God who is our Father. We bow before him. Is it a hardship to reverence the Lord our God? ”

“ Even his domestic sovereignty was to cease, when the time came for one to leave father and mother. After this separation, all paternal rule ended, and the only bondage which continued was the yoke of affection. Man rules in his family by the grace of God, which says, "children obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with a promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long in the land." ”

“ The first help is our only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 1 John 2:2. He is our advocate, and pleads our cause before God, when we are hardly able to express what we want. He is therefore called the Logos, or the eternal Word of the Father, because God by him has discovered his will to us; as He is also called the Mediator, because He pleads our cause before God. A type of Him we have in Moses, the mediator of the Old Testament; to whom the people, flying from the face of God in Mount Sinai, said, “Speak thou with us” (Exod. 20:19) . ”

“ God stands in no such attitude to the world, nor Christ to Him. The Lord Jesus is not contending with the Father upon any such principle. There is no antagonism between them. They agree in one; and what God conceived is committed to the Son to execute. The world is not reconciled to God; nor has it the least disposition for reconciliation upon any other principles than it has itself decreed. ”