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.
