More Than One Might Guess

Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation                                Acts 1:21 – 22

More Than One Might Guess

by Robert T. Cooper

If you study the Bible for very long, you quickly come to understand that the biblical writers under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit did not record every detail of every incident. Modern writers are mostly careful to give plenty of details in every scene, particularly if one of those details is going to matter later in the story. That is simply not the case in the Bible. Let’s look at a couple of examples.

Let’s start with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. And let’s look at it particularly from the perspective of the Gospel of Luke, since Luke is the one who also wrote the book of Acts. Luke says that when “all the people were baptized, Jesus was baptized too. But Jesus hasn’t been tempted yet. He hasn’t begun His public ministry yet. He hasn’t selected His apostles yet. The women aren’t yet following Him, not that Luke will quickly get around to mentioning them either.

Comparing Luke’s Gospel with John’s, the first two men who would eventually become apostles didn’t start following Jesus until the next time John the Baptist saw Jesus after His baptism.

For the second example, let us consider Luke’s account of the Ascension. The way the Gospel tells that incident, Jesus has just appeared to the apostles (plus Cleopas and Cleopas’ companion) on what we would call Easter Sunday night. We learn elsewhere that Thomas was not with the other 10 apostles that night. The very next thing Luke tells in his Gospel is that Jesus took this group out to the vicinity of Bethany for His Ascension.

The book of Acts begins with the Ascension. In this case, Luke only indicates that Jesus took the apostles (presumably the Eleven) to the Mount of Olives. It was there that He ascended.

Having laid all of that groundwork, let’s look at what Peter says later in Acts 1.

Acts 1:21 – 22 NIV

²¹Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²²beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

Acts 1:21 – 22 NIV

They were going to select someone to replace Judas as an apostle so there would once again be Twelve. To qualify to be a candidate, this person would have to have been with the apostles the entire 3½ years of Jesus’ ministry, just like the Eleven. The candidates would have to have been there for everything from Jesus’ baptism to the Ascension.

What does this mean? It means that all of the original Twelve, the two who were nominated to replace Judas, and presumably some others were present at Jesus’ baptism. It means that the two who were nominated to replace Judas, and presumably some others, were present at the Ascension. It means that the two who were nominated to replace Judas, and presumably some others, were present during virtually the entire ministry of Jesus between His baptism and His ascension, particularly for the post-Resurrection appearances.

Now tell me. When you were reading the Gospels, did you pick up that Matthias and Barsabbas were present at most all of those events? Did you pick up that there were others besides these two who were present at most all of those events? Did you even pick up that the ten besides Andrew and John were present at Jesus’ baptism? I confess I didn’t.

So when you are reading the Bible, understand that we are not getting all the details we would expect from a modern author. But understand that by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we are getting everything we need to know for a proper spiritual understanding of what God is saying to us. Thanks be to God!

Which of these things have occurred to you previously? Which were new ideas to you? Do you indeed have confidence that God is communicating to you all you need to understand for your spiritual benefit? I look forward to reading your comments.