3 John to  Revelation

A visit written.

A Visit

13I had many things to write, but I do not want to write them to you with pen and ink. 14However, I hope I will see you shortly, and we will speak face to face. 3 John 1:13-14Peace be to you. Our friends salute you. Salute the friends, each person by his name. 3 John 1:14 (3 John 1:13-14 BRB)
12I turned to know the voice that spoke with me and when I turned I saw 7 lamps of gold. 13In the middle of the lamps was, The likeness of the son of man, Q Daniel 7:13 1|7 and he wore a long robe, 2|7 and girded round his breast was a sash of gold, 14 3|7 and his head and his hair were white as wool, as white as snow, 4|7 and his eyes were as a flame of fire, 15 5|7 and his feet were in the likeness of brass of Lebanon, as though they were burned in a furnace, 6|7 and his voice was as the voice of many waters, Revelation 1:12-16 (Revelation 1:12-15 BRB)

There's an interesting effect happening between Third John and Revelation when the characters of the stories are considered. Third John is likely written by the disciple John, or someone using John as their pen name. The text does not identify John directly, but the name of the book suggests John is writing. John identifies himself as the author of Revelation directly. So John writes his friend in Third John to say he really wants to come visit, but John is the one who gets a visit, and that from Jesus, in Revelation.

Some things require a visit to solve, especially things like disputes between people. This is a big part of what the elder begins to discuss in Third John and plans to deal with when he visits in person. So the book is cut short because it might actually become gossip to write about what's going on and the matter cannot easily be solved by writing anyway. In contrast, Revelation is a visit from Jesus that is experienced in private, but ultimately needs to be written so everyone can read about it.

Ryan Eaton 2008-09-10 2010-10-30