There is a great difference, carefully marked out in the Scriptures, between the ministry of John and that of Paul and Peter. The ministry of Paul is stated in Col. 1, and had a twofold character, corresponding with the two Headships of Christ. It was first that of the gospel which was preached in the whole creation under heaven, flowing from Christ's preeminence in creation, and second that of the Church, the body of Christ, as connected with Him as its Head.
The ministry of Peter, on the other hand, was confined to the circumcision. While he touches on the Church as a spiritual house, which was being built up of believers as living stones on Christ as the Living Stone, and as guided by the Holy Spirit, he yet views believers in the character of pilgrims on their way, with Christ risen as their living hope "to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:4, 54To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:4‑5).
John holds a different place. He does not enter on dispensations (though once or twice stating the fact as John 13:1; 14:1-3; 17:24; 20:171Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. (John 13:1)
1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1‑3)
24Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24)
17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20:17)); nor does he take the saint, nor even the Lord Himself, up to heaven. Jesus for him is a divine Person, the Word made flesh manifesting God and His Father, eternal life come down to earth.
In addition to this, another kind of ministry was committed to him by the Lord after His resurrection, though at the moment mysteriously, in the words addressed to Peter concerning John, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" John 21:2222Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. (John 21:22). There can scarcely be a question that the book of Revelation is the fulfillment of the mission for which he was thus designated.
It may be said, moreover, that a closer examination reveals an intimate connection between the last two chapters of the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation. In chapter 20, in addition to the setting forth of the assembly as gathered with Christ Himself in the midst, there is the conversion of the Jewish remnant of a later day. This is typified by Thomas who believed when he saw. (See also Zech. 12:10-1310And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; (Zechariah 12:10‑13).)
John 21 gives the gathering in of the nations in the millennium, shown in figure by the disciples letting down their net on the right side of the ship at the command of the risen Christ, and not being able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. There are therefore three epochs in these chapters:
1. The Church;
2. The conversion of the Jewish remnant which will take place at the Lord's appearing;
3. The ingathering of the nations after the kingdom has been established in power.
The book of Revelation contains these three epochs, presented in a special way after the vision of the Son of man recorded in chapter 1, together with the events in heaven and the judgments upon earth. These are connected with and precede the appearing of Christ as the rightful Heir to take His power, to make good in government all that God is as revealed in relation to the earth, and to reign until all enemies are put under His feet. The eternal state, in all its beauty and perfection, closes the subject of the book—that wondrous scene wherein God is all in all.
The reader will be the better prepared to study the book intelligently if the special aspect in which the Church is presented in it is considered. It was Paul's mission to unfold the truth of the Church as the body of Christ, and as the habitation of God through the Spirit. (See, for example, Eph. 2 and 3 in addition to Col. 1 already cited.)
John's ministerial testimony as to the assembly views it as the outward assembly on earth in its state of decay—Christ judging this—and the true assembly, the capital city and seat of God's government over the world at the end, but in glory and grace. It is an abode, and is where God dwells and the Lamb. In a word, the Church as seen by John (Rev. 1-3) occupies a candlestick position, and is thus regarded as God's light-bearer, His responsible witness in the world. It is in this character that the Church is subject to judgment and rejection, as recorded in chapters 2 and 3.
E. Dennett