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How a 60-Year Rumor Spread Among the Early Brethren (John 21:23,24) · (Un) Common thoughts of Christ

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: For nearly sixty years after our Lord Jesus went to heaven after his resurrection, a mistaken interpretation of the Lord's words about John circulated among the early brethren.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: At the close of his gospel, the aged apostle carefully corrects that narrative, reminding us how easily observation can turn into assumption when the exact words of Christ are not spiritually discerned.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: In the closing verses of John's Gospel, we read these words.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: But if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: To understand why John inserted these words, we need to go back to the moment when the Lord first spoke them.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was after the resurrection.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: The disciples had gone fishing on the Sea of Galilee.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: At daybreak the Lord Jesus stood on the shore and called to them.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: After the miraculous catch of fish, they came to land and ate the meal the Lord had prepared.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord turned to Peter.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Three times he asked him, Lovest thou me, restoring Peter after his denial.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And after that restoration, the Lord revealed something about Peter's future.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: When thou shalt be old, another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: The Spirit tells us this signified by what death Peter would glorify God.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Peter then turned and saw another disciple following, the disciple whom Jesus loved.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And Peter asked the Lord, Lord, and what shall this man do?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was a natural question, but the Lord's reply gently corrected Peter's curiosity.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Follow thou me.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord was not revealing John's future.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: He was teaching Peter a deeper lesson.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: The path of another servant was not Peter's concern.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: One disciple may suffer early, another may serve many years.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: One path may be short, another long.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: But the responsibility of every disciple is the same.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Follow thou me.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now here is where the background becomes especially important.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Those words were spoken shortly after the resurrection, likely around AD 30.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: But John's Gospel appears to have been written near the close of the first century, somewhere around A.D.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: 90 to 95.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: That means nearly 60 years had passed between the moment when the Lord spoke those words on the shore of Galilee and the moment John wrote them in his gospel.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: In those decades, much had changed.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: The church had spread across the Roman world.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Persecution had come.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Many of the apostles had finished their course.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Peter himself had been martyred many years earlier.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yet John was still alive.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And as the years passed, a saying began circulating among the brethren.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Some concluded that the Lord had meant John would never die before his return.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: It is not difficult to see how the thought developed.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: People observed what was happening.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: They saw that John remained alive long after others had passed away.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Peter had died.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Other apostles had fallen asleep.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: But John remained, and from what they observed, a conclusion formed.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: The saying spread among the brethren that the Lord had promised John would not die.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: What had begun as a misunderstanding gradually became a rumor, not because believers were insincere, not because they intended to change the Lord's words, but because they interpreted what they could see outwardly, rather than carefully holding to what Christ had actually said.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: They saw the circumstance, but they had not been there on the shore of Galilee.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: They had not heard the tone of the Lord's voice.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: They had not stood close enough to understand the moment.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: But Apostle John had.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: He had leaned upon the Lord's bosom at supper, he had stood near the cross, he had run to the empty tomb, he had walked with the risen Christ.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so when the rumor spread, John does something very beautiful.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: He does not defend himself, he does not rebuke the brethren, he simply returns to the exact words of Christ.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Not unto him, he shall not die.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, do not turn what was observed into something the Lord never said.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: How easily that can happen! When outward circumstances are interpreted without spiritual discernment, a misunderstanding can grow into something widely repeated among sincere believers, and so John quietly corrects it.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Then he adds another statement.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is the disciple which testifieth of these things and wrote these things.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: It is as though the gospel closes with its own seal.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: The beloved disciple, the one who leaned upon Jesus at supper, who stood by the cross, who ran to the sepulchre, and who recognized the Lord on the shore.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: This very disciple bears witness and writes these things down, and those around him confirm it.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: We know that his testimony is true.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel therefore does not end with speculation about John's future.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: It ends with assurance about the truth of the testimony concerning Christ.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And when we gather the lesson of these closing verses together, three reasons stand out for why John included them.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: First, to correct a misunderstanding that had spread among the brethren.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, to preserve the exact meaning of the Lord's words, so that no inference would replace what Christ actually said.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And lastly, to confirm that this gospel rests upon eyewitness testimony, the witness of one who had walked closely with the Lord Himself, and over it all still echoes the Lord's voice from that morning by the Sea of Galilee.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Not curiosity about another disciple's path, not conclusions drawn from outward circumstances, but the simple call from a loving Savior and Lord of our lives that settles every disciple's heart.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Follow thou me.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Even so come Lord Jesus.