John was probably chosen to be a follower of this emerging young, revolutionary rabbi at the age of 12–15 years old. He is portrayed as the youngest amongst the band of disciples. He was the son of the fisherman named Zebedee and the younger brother of James, who also became a Jesus-following disciple. Many believe that Salome, who was at the Cross of Jesus, was John’s mother and the sister of Mary, Jesus’s mother. If this is true, and I believe it to be, although I can’t spend time building this case for you, it would have made this young, itinerant rabbi, Jesus ben Joseph, the first cousin of young John. John and his brother, James, were young fishermen with their father in Galilee and probably were fishing partners with Andrew and Peter. This business was probably quite profitable, as Scripture records that John’s family also owned a house in Jerusalem.  

John was in the closest circle of Jesus’s disciples and friends, as he was often seen alone with the Lord together, with his brother, James, and Peter. You can find these accounts when Jesus raises the young synagogue official’s daughter from the dead, upon the Mount of Transfiguration, and in the Garden of Gethsemane.  

John followed Jesus for three and a half years before the Lord’s crucifixion and was the only disciple of the 12 at the Cross with Jesus, Mary, and Salome. Jesus entrusted His mother’s care to John, who thereafter took her under his care, although he was probably only 16–19 years old at the time. Sometime before the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, John moved to Ephesus, where he spent the rest of his life. He became the lead apostolic presence to all of the churches of Asia minor, which accounts for his being given the revelation and the letters to the seven churches, as recorded in Revelation. He was the apostolic father to those churches and a friend to each of their leaders. History records that Mary died in Ephesus in the home of John.

Church legend records that the Roman Emperor Domitian attempted to boil John in oil to stop his powerful witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. However, according to the writings of the early church fathers, John went unscathed by the process! For a fact, we know that Domitian banished John to the island of Patmos for 14 years from A.D. 81–95. It was there that he epically encountered King Jesus and wrote the Book of Revelation. After his release in A.D. 95, John spent the last five years of his life around Ephesus.  

One of the historical reports toward the end of John’s life was his incredible prayer at the Temple of Dianna, also known as the Temple of Artemis of the Ephesians. Dianna was the most worshiped deity in the Roman and Greek world. Her temples stretched across the empire, but John’s home city of Ephesus was the site of the grand Temple of Dianna, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. A great revival broke out in Ephesus under Paul (see Acts 19) but was squelched as the evil spirit behind the Dianna deity and cult rose and drove Paul out of the city. The revival was suppressed, but a strong church remained. After John was released from his captivity in Patmos, upon his return to Ephesus, John entered the Temple of Dianna, approached the statue of Dianna, and said several sentences to the onlookers, then prayed a very short prayer. According to the onlookers, the following occurred:  

“The altar of Artemis split into many pieces, and all the offerings laid up in the temple suddenly fell to the floor and its glory was shattered, and so were more than seven images; and half the temple fell down, so that the priest was killed at one stroke as the pillar came down. Then the assembled Ephesians cried out, ‘There is but one God, the God of John!. . . We are converted, now that we have seen your marvellous works! . . . And the people rising from the ground went running and threw down the rest of the idol temple, crying out, ‘The God of John is the only God we know; from now on we worship him, since he has had mercy upon us!’” (42-43; trans. Schneemelcher, with adaptations)  

From this account and many others, we discover that John learned things from his friend and Lord that made him quite a man, a mighty apostle, and a deep lover of the Lord Jesus Christ. His insights in the Book of John and other writings are keys to entering into a deeper life in Jesus and authority in His Kingdom that we all desire.

He styled himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” in his Gospel account and is often called “the apostle of love,” as the massive theme of God’s love is unfolded in his writings. This was not the case when you explored his early life more closely. He and James were nicknamed “the Sons of Thunder” by the Lord Himself when they wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume a village that would not listen to them when they announced that Jesus wanted to visit them. “But he [Jesus] turned and rebuked them” (Luke 9:55). John’s true nature was exposed— fiery, radical, zealous, but absolutely loveless! It still amazes me to see this man’s complete and utter transformation as he walked with Jesus for more than 80 years, being transformed from a “Son of Thunder” to “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” May this same miracle occur within us as we walk with John for 30 days.