II John and III John

In these second and third letters John writes, he refers to himself as John, the elder. Why do you suppose that is? Was it because he outlived all of the other apostles? Did he have a son name John, making him John the elder or senior? Was it just because he was an old man at the time he wrote the letters? We may never know.
This John is the author of the Gospel of John, I John, II John, III John, and Revelation. This is the same John who wrote John 3:16 – For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Of course, John didn’t name these books we are studying today. They were real letters written to real people. In the case of II John, he wrote to “the chosen lady and to her children whom I love in the truth.” In III John, he wrote to “Gaius, me dear friend, whom I love in the truth.”
What do you suppose he meant by “chosen” lady? Could this have been Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was chosen by God to bear the Savior of the World?
I thought it was interesting that in both letters, John indicates he has “much more” to say to them, but doesn’t want to write it in pen ink. Instead, he planned to visit and talk about it face to face.
There are only four more days in this year and we’ll finish it out with book of Revelation. Imagine we will try to condense that important, very complicated book into four days. Yikes!
Tomorrow we’ll read Revelation 1 – 5.
I arrived safely at my brother's. The trip was uneventful except that at one point it took me 1 and 1/2 hours to travel 10 miles. A pretty good-sized truck smashed and burned, melting a good part of the pavement.
Until next time…