The devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Revelation 2:10.
John had been closely associated with the Saviour during His life of ministry. He had heard His wonderful words and had seen His wonderful deeds, and his testimony was given in clear lines. Out of the abundance of a heart overflowing with love for Christ he spoke, and no power could stay his words....
Like his Master, John patiently submitted to every attempt to put him to death. When his enemies cast him into the cauldron of boiling oil, they thought to hear no more from him. But as the words of satanic origin were spoken, “Thus perish all who believe in that deceiver, Jesus Christ of Nazareth,” John declared, “My Master patiently submitted to all that Satan and his angels could devise to humiliate and torture Him. He gave His life to save the world. He died that we might live. I am honored in being permitted to suffer for His sake. I am only a weak, sinful man, but Christ was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.” John's words, while suffering at the hands of his enemies, had an influence, and he was removed from the cauldron by the very ones who had cast him in.
It was after this that John was sent to the Isle of Patmos, where, separated from his companions in the faith, his enemies supposed that he would die from hardship and neglect. But John made friends and converts even there. They thought that they had at last placed the faithful witness where he could no longer trouble Israel or the wicked rulers of the world....
God and Christ and the heavenly host were John's companions on the Isle of Patmos. From them he received instruction that he imparted to those separated with him from the world. There he wrote out the visions and revelations he received from God, telling of the things that would take place in the closing period of this earth's history. When his voice would no longer witness for the truth, when he could no longer testify of the One he loved and served, the messages given to him on that rocky, barren coast were to go forth as a lamp that burneth. Every nation, kindred, tongue, and people would learn the sure purpose of the Lord, not concerning the Jewish nation merely, but every nation upon the earth.—Manuscript 150, 1899.
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