About nine years ago, I read a short piece from BibleGateway.com that showed estimated dates when New Testament books were published. One thing struck me then and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The Gospel of John was published fifty years or more after the Crucifixion of Christ! I could not stop wondering what John did all those years? Where did he live? Why did it take so long to write the fourth gospel?

My fascination with the life of the Apostle John led me to seek answers to these questions and, ultimately, to create this series of Christian historical novels about him.

The Last Disciple Of Christ

Many years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Gospel of John appeared like a bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky. John, the son of Zebedee, shared the untold story of Jesus. The story only he knew.

John had followed Jesus as a disciple for three years. He saw the Son of God sacrifice his life on the cross; he entered the empty tomb after Jesus rose from the grave.

But what had he done since the days of our Lord? How had he survived all those years? How did it come to pass that John would be the last disciple of Christ?

Introduction: The Last Disciple: Gospel of John

There are four published books in the series. These three shown below and the latest, The Last Disciple: Gospel of John which is shown further down.

John Waited For Fifty Years

John had to have been well over seventy years old when the Gospel of John came out. He waited for decades before he felt ready to tell the story of Jesus. Though he got a late start, he was prolific once he got going. Here are the books he wrote:

• The Gospel of John
• The Letters of John
• The Book of Revelation

John Was Loyal

Of all twelve disciples, John was the most loyal. Peter wanted to be loyal, but his human nature led him to deny knowing Jesus. Three times.

Judas Iscariot, of course, betrayed Jesus and paid the price for his disloyalty with his life. But the other disciples all scattered, presumably out of fear. They were nowhere to be found when Jesus was tried, tortured, and crucified.

John was the only one present at the trial and the Crucifixion. That may be why Jesus placed his mother Mary under John’s care and protection. Here is the moment when Jesus demonstrated his trust:

But standing by Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” ²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.

John 19:25-27

Early church historians agree, and it seems likely, that John would have faithfully cared for Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Was John A Cousin of Christ?

I don’t know about you, but when I read this verse above, questions popped up in my feverish brain. Of the four women mentioned, one is not named. Who was the one called ‘his mother’s sister’ and, if she is his mother’s sister, then she must also be Jesus’s aunt.

I think the woman referenced in this mysterious phrase (‘his mother’s sister’) is none other than Salome, John’s mother. If she is Jesus’s aunt, then John must be his cousin, right?

Maybe that’s why Jesus was so close to John. They were cousins. And John was the only disciple brave and loyal enough to watch the trial and death of his leader and his cousin.

Final Mention of John In Acts

Other than in the books John wrote himself, the last account we read of him is in Acts.

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.

Acts 8:14 NIV

This trip to Samaria occurred a few years after the Crucifixion. But then that’s it for John. Early church historians talked of John, but the Bible was largely silent on his later life.

Research Resources Used In The Series

Because there was very little Biblical information abou the later life of John, I decided to create a series of novels about John and his later life. To accomplish I have had to spend years digging into research about John and the early Christians. The Bible has some information, but I had to use other sources too.

As all the following publications are available on Amazon.com, I did not include links. In general, I read them in Kindle editions. In one case I had to read a book on Google Books. I’ve listed a much longer list of sources used in the back of each of the books. Here are a few examples:

• New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to John. William Hendriksen. Baker Book House
• A History of Antioch in Syria, Glanville Downey, Princeton Legacy Press
• Josephus Flavius Complete Works, Flavius Josephus, Translated by William Whiston, Annotated Classics
• Saint John and the Close of the Apostolic Age (Illustrated), Constant Fouard (Author), Gustav Dore (Illustrator), Lex de Leon Publishing
• St. Polycarp of Smyrna, Greg Gordon, Early Church Father Series
• The Church History of Eusebius, Translated by the Rev. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, Ph.D, First published by W. B. Eerdmans publishing Company, in 1890. Copyright © Arthur Cushman McGiffert. This edition published in 2019. Beginning and End Press
• The Search for the Twelve Apostles, William Steuart McBirnie, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

The Latest In The Last Disciple Series

Discover the Untold Story of the Last Disciple to Witness the Miracles of Christ

Witness the life of Jesus through the eyes of the Beloved Disciple. John watched the Son of God sacrifice his life on the Cross. He entered the empty tomb after Jesus rose from the grave. 

Go back in time with John to old Jerusalem as he describes the fateful meeting in which Christ spoke to Nicodemus, giving us the most beloved passage in the Bible: 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Now that book four has been published, I’m going back to my research and writing for book five–The Last Disciple: Sharing the Gospel. The focus of book five will be on the incredible effort it took to share the gospel message once it had been written. For example, in those days of laboriously-written papyrus scrolls, just creating a copy of the Gospel of John would have been very difficult and expensive.

My goal is to bring the joys and sorrows of early Christians to life in a series of carefully-researched Biblical novels. I hope you enjoy reading them.

Yours in Christ, Kurt

For more on Book Four in the series, click here.

KurtBrouwer.com