DURING the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian the persecution of the early followers of Jesus' teaching was very bitter. John, who understood these teachings perhaps better than any other of the twelve, was a source of great concern to those who feared the Christian religion and desired to stop its progress.
Among other attempts to terminate his activity, this loving apostle, we learn from old historical manuscripts not included in the Bible, was subjected to boiling oil by his persecutors. But John had thoroughly acquainted himself with the powerful truth of the words of Jesus (John 17:3), "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent," and he was delivered from the boiling oil.
A great and lovingly revered revelator in our day, Mary Baker Eddy, gives us the explanation (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 243), "The divine Love, which made harmless the poisonous viper, which delivered men from the boiling oil, from the fiery furnace, from the jaws of the lion, can heal the sick in every age and triumph over sin and death."
