John the Beloved, also called John the Revelator, was one of the twelve apostles of Christ and is named in three latter-day records. In Nephi’s vision an angel showed him a man in a white robe and said, “Behold one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Behold, he shall see and write the remainder of these things; yea, and also many things which have been,” and that he should also write “concerning the end of the world.” The angel said the things this apostle would write “are just and true,” and that some of what Nephi saw, John was ordained to write rather than Nephi. Nephi then records that the angel named the apostle: John (1 Ne. 14:19-27).
When the resurrected Christ appeared at Bountiful in the land of promise, three of the Nephite disciples desired to tarry on the earth, and Christ likened their request to John’s: “Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me” (3 Ne. 28:6). John had desired to remain in mortal ministry until the Lord’s coming.
Moroni, abridging the Jaredite record, wrote that John’s revelations were sealed until the latter days: “And then shall my revelations which I have caused to be written by my servant John be unfolded in the eyes of all the people. Remember, when ye see these things, ye shall know that the time is at hand that they shall be made manifest in very deed” (Ether 4:16).