Whose Name will be on the Twelfth Foundation of New Jerusalem’s City Wall?
Who? / When / Why? / Where? / What?
Today, we are continuing our quest to see what the Bible says about the twelfth apostle’s name that will be on the New Jerusalem’s City Wall with Part 2.
Who?
In reading and discerning the Scriptures, the importance of recognizing punctuation marks and knowing who is speaking, and to whom is being spoken to, cannot be overemphasized. Take notice that to whom the risen Savior is speaking are the chosen eleven:
Mark 16:14-18 14Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
When?
After the Lord’s ascension the eleven disciples returned from the Mount of Olivet to Jerusalem.
Acts 1:12-17 12Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. 13And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. 14These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers, 15And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, 16“Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; 17for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”
Who does Scripture quote above in Acts 1:16-17? God’s pure truth tells us it was Peter who stood up, and said…
It needs to be taken into account that Peter was speaking prior to him and the other disciples receiving the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:4-5 4And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Recall, Peter had a reputation of making spur of the moment, snap decisions, reacting before thinking things out. For example, cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant (John 18:10); denying three times that he was one of the Lord’s disciples (John 18:17, 25-27); requiring three attempts to answer the Lord Jesus when asked if he loved Him (John 21:15-17). It is likely that Peter, at this juncture, had tasted the Spirit (John 20:22; Heb. 6:5) but had not yet fully absorbed the Holy Spirit. Moreover, since God brought about the prophecy:
Psalm 109:8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office. (KJV)
Since God’s Word prophesied the event, it seems most likely that God Himself would already know who would take Judas Iscariot’s office.
The Lord Jesus is quoted speaking of the need for the prophecy to be fulfilled:
John 17:12b “and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
It is doubtful that the Father and Son needed any human intervention.
Peter continues speaking:
Acts 1:20-21 20“For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it’; and ‘Let another take his office.’ 21“Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,”
Peter mistakenly said in verse 21, that other men accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us. John chapters 13 to 17 describe the Lord Jesus, being alone with His eleven chosen disciples in the Upper Room Discourse; clearly alone with them in His intercessory prayer in John 17; and again, alone with them the night of His capture in the Garden of Gethsemane where He told the captors:
John 18:8b-9 8b“Therefore, if you seek Me, let these [the eleven] go their way,” 9That the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, “Of those whom You gave me I have lost none.”
Peter
Continuing with Peter addressing the group:
Acts 1:22-26 22“beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” 23And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Mathias. 24And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen [Take note that they comprehended that the Lord knows the hearts.] 25to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” 26And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Mathias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
God’s Mind
Was it the Lord’s will to answer the disciples’ prayer? We should ask, “Did God answer that prayer by agreeing with their choices?” Peter and the other ten disciples, in Acts 1:24 admitted that God does know the hearts of all, but they did not remember God saying that His thoughts and ways are not the same as ours. Do we know God’s mind?
Isaiah 55:8-9 8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (NIV)
Acts 1:23 and 26 are the only two times and the last we hear of Mathias in God’s Word. However, Mathias could possibly have acted as an apostle, either permanently, if God so approved, or he could have served until God might have replaced him after Paul was converted in AD 37. Then Paul spent three more years away (Galatians 1:17-18), and returned to Jerusalem in AD 40. We point this out because Paul was not yet considered to be one of the twelve who had seen the Lord Jesus during the 40 days (Acts 1:3) following the resurrection in AD 33. Mathias might have been considered to be one of the twelve:
1 Corinthians 15:7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
God Knows
Only our Sovereign God knows whether or not He answered the disciples’ earlier prayer to consent to the lots they had cast. The Lord’s answer to prayer is sometimes “Yes”, sometimes “No”, and other times “Wait”. If He had assented to their prayer, then Mathias would be included with the term all the apostles. Only God knows the answer.
To avoid confusion, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 5 needs to be clarified. The verse having to do with Mathias is 15:7 above. It is the relevant verse having to do with Mathias. Here in verse 5, the term the twelve, refers to the 11 chosen disciples. (John 20:24) Not ordained yet as apostles, they are recorded in John 20:19-29 to have seen the Lord Jesus in that closed-door room:
1 Corinthians 15:5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
It is noteworthy that the Day of Pentecost had not yet come, and the Holy Spirit had not yet indwelt the disciples nor the others gathered in that house—not until the next chapter’s first two verses. So, when they prayed for God to show them which one He had chosen, they had not yet received the Holy Spirit:
Matthew 3:11 “I [John the Baptizer] indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Repeated in Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33)
When?
When was the Holy Spirit poured out? Fifty days after the Lord Jesus was resurrected, after having been dead for three days, the day of Pentecost was upon the disciples:
Acts 2:1-2 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
[Then and there they had absorbed the Holy Spirit!]
Example of Absorbing the Holy Spirit
Upon trusting God’s truth, repenting and believing the fact that Jesus shed His blood to forgive us of our sins, and died and was raised back to life three days later; we then, with the baptizing power of the Lord Jesus Christ, absorb the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit, even onto an assembled body of believers, comes from the Lord Jesus Christ:
Acts 19:1-6 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. 4Paul said, “John baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues [languages] and prophesied [preached the Gospel Message]. (NIV)
Verse 6 calls for an explanation: in the earliest days of the Church Age, there were four times in the Book of Acts when the Holy Spirit was received:
1) In Acts 2:2-4, the Day of Pentecost,
2) In Acts 8:16-17, when Peter and John laid hands on the Samaritans,
3) In Acts 10:44, at the home of Cornelius, while Peter was still speaking these words [The Gospel Message], the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.
4) In regards to Acts 19:6, William MacDonald points out: “By giving the Holy Spirit through the laying on of Paul’s hands, the Lord forestalled the possibility of a charge being made later that Paul was inferior to Peter, John, or the other apostles.”
Today, with the completion of the Scriptures, MacDonald explains:
“The moment a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, he is sealed by the Holy Spirit; he receives the earnest of the Spirit; he receives the anointing of the Spirit; and he is baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ.”
(End of the parenthesis.)
-to be continued-
To be continued in 2 weeks with Part 3.
“Stephen and Saul! and Why would the Lord Jesus consider Paul?”
A Personal Note:
We published these 6 posts in a small book! In case you don’t want to wait for Part 3 to 6 over the coming weeks, you can download an e-copy here or order the book through our website.
Please pray that people will come to the saving knowledge of the Truth before it’s too late, and love their children to teach them the Truth.
Thank you for reading and God bless you!
Other Blog Posts to Check Out:
Why did Jesus Christ die on the Cross?
Who is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last?
What is a Believer? What is an Unbeliever?
The Decision – Is it only for Self?
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“How to Receive Eternal Life” Posts
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Receiving Eternal Life as easy as A-B-C-D
Why do I need the God of the Bible?
Resources:
Check Out these Interesting Resources:
The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. Inc.
Gospel Folio Press – William MacDonald – Believers Bible Commentary
Warren Henderson Publishing
Christ-centered Books and Messages to Enhance Your Spiritual Growth
Uplook Ministry – Fireside Friday by Jabe Nicholson
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version, unless stated otherwise. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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