John 21:20-25 John concludes his record of
Jesus' life on earth, not with the ascension that is recorded elsewhere, but
with an autobiographical footnote, which is pretty much self-explanatory. Jesus
did not allude to the possibility that John would be carried into heaven by a
direct bodily ascension without tasting death, (c.f. 2 Kings 2:11)
although He could have. Rather, in His sovereignty, he could have made John
continue to live on in the body until His return, the second coming, of which
John would later have a tremendous vision recorded in the Apocalypse
(unveiling) of Jesus Christ. But Jesus' point, which John here emphasizes, is
nothing of that sort. How Jesus chooses to deal with each of His disciples is
unique, and not normative for His relationship with any other disciple. If we
compare how The Lord has blessed us, or how He has blessed others, or what He
called them to and what He calls us to, we miss the point. He wants a
one-on-one direct relationship with each of us. He will speak to each of us,
and lead each of us down the path He has chosen for each of us.
John closes with the author's
testimonial. This is an eyewitness account. Jesus did many wonderful things, but
John attests that he has recorded the things that he personally witnessed. The
total scope of everything Jesus did is beyond the ability of people in this
world to record.
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