Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in the book of Acts.
[00:00:00] You are listening to the Through the Bible Studio Series with Pastor Nate Holdridge.
[00:00:10] Join us as we continue our study through the New Testament book of Acts.
[00:00:15] Here's Nate.
[00:00:18] Well in the Old Testament, after the prophet Elijah ascended to God in the whirlwind or
[00:00:25] the chariot of fire, he left his counterpart Elisha with a work to still accomplish here on earth.
[00:00:34] And that may have been a great foreshadowing of the fulfillment of Christ and the church in the New Testament.
[00:00:42] Jesus, after dying on the cross and rising from the dead and appearing to the church for a period of 40 days,
[00:00:50] ascended to the right hand of the Father and left the church with a work to fulfill,
[00:00:56] a work that continues of course to our present time, to our present day.
[00:01:02] Jesus, of course, would produce the gospel message. His death, his burial, his resurrection.
[00:01:12] But the church would take the message of that gospel throughout the world and not only would they spread it in the preaching of it,
[00:01:20] but they would spread it in the teaching of it as well.
[00:01:23] The apostles most notably would be responsible for unpacking the work of the cross in their teaching,
[00:01:32] but also in their written works, much of which comprise the New Testament.
[00:01:37] A book like Romans would be a great example of this as Paul explained in the entirety of Romans the work of Christ upon the cross
[00:01:48] and gave us all of the beautiful theological implications of what Christ had done there upon the cross.
[00:01:55] And so Jesus here at the beginning of the book of Acts is going to ascend and the church is going to remain
[00:02:03] and the church will have a work to perform.
[00:02:07] Jesus had said in Matthew chapter 28 at the close of his ministry before his ascension,
[00:02:15] he had told the church, his disciples to go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
[00:02:21] baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
[00:02:26] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I'm with you always to the end of the age.
[00:02:33] So Luke with the book of Acts is going to record the initial fulfillment of this great commissioning.
[00:02:43] Mostly this book is going to be concerned with two specific apostles.
[00:02:51] Peter will be the primary apostle of the first half of the book and Paul will be the primary apostle of the second half of the book,
[00:03:00] an apostle who at the beginning of the book of Acts wasn't even saved, wasn't even considered an apostle at the beginning of the book.
[00:03:09] Now Luke is the author of the book of Acts.
[00:03:14] Luke we know was a physician, Paul records for us in Colossians chapter 4 verse 14 that he's called the beloved physician
[00:03:24] and he had become at one point a close traveling companion with Paul.
[00:03:32] In chapter 13 to 28 there are moments where Luke will refer to we beginning in chapter 16 and in those moments he is an eye witness to the events that are taking place.
[00:03:49] But because he was so close with Paul he had access to the principle eye witness of the content of much of this book from chapter 13 to the end of the book of Acts.
[00:04:02] Now he would join Paul in his ministry to Philippi where he likely stayed for seven or eight years and then teamed up with Paul later on
[00:04:13] and eventually traveled with Paul who was imprisoned to his Roman imprisonment when he appealed to Caesar at the end of the book.
[00:04:24] And Luke may have done much of the leg work for this book.
[00:04:28] I mean anybody familiar with Luke and his work both in the Gospel of Luke and here in the book of Acts understands that he was a researcher.
[00:04:37] He spent plenty of time interviewing people putting together the geographical details and making sure that he had a historically accurate document to give to Theophilus and to give to the church.
[00:04:53] It's possible that he did much of the research, much of the leg work for the book of Acts when Paul was imprisoned in Caesarea before he had appealed and actually then traveled to Rome.
[00:05:09] And in the same way that he was very careful and investigative in the book of Luke, he is the same way here in the book of Acts.
[00:05:19] There are 80 geographical references in the book of Acts.
[00:05:22] 100 people are mentioned by name.
[00:05:26] There's the precise naming of locations and provinces and cities and sites and precise political titles are used.
[00:05:35] Consul, tetra, pro-consul and all of these precise namings stand up to years of historical criticism.
[00:05:45] There are 24 speeches that Luke is going to record throughout the book of Acts in these 28 chapters.
[00:05:53] So he has spent time really preparing us to learn the early history of the church.
[00:06:02] Now, Luke is going to end this book very abruptly.
[00:06:07] There will be no mention of the outcome of Paul's trial, which is sort of the central theme of the end of this book.
[00:06:15] Paul appeals to Caesar and there is no mention of the end of his life.
[00:06:22] He has left at the end of this book in a Roman prison.
[00:06:27] The book itself covers about 30 years as I said of the early history of the church.
[00:06:36] That should make it obvious then to us that this is not a comprehensive survey of 30 years of the church's history.
[00:06:46] In other words, we're not going to learn of everything that happened for 30 years in the church in Jerusalem,
[00:06:52] nor everything that happened in 30 years in the church in Antioch,
[00:06:57] nor 30 years of history in the church in Galatia or the regions beyond.
[00:07:02] Now, what Luke is interested in is showing us the key and crucial events that led to the worldwide spread of the gospel
[00:07:12] very rapidly from the time that Christ ascended to the time that Paul was imprisoned in Rome.
[00:07:21] How did the gospel spread so quickly during those 30 years?
[00:07:26] Luke is going to give us the details or the events that led to the rapid advancement of the gospel.
[00:07:34] How did the message of the gospel go from being a primarily Jewish message
[00:07:41] to a predominantly gentile message or gentile church within a period of 30 years?
[00:07:49] How was Judaism fulfilled during this time?
[00:07:53] Now this is helpful to us in understanding because we have to remember, I think in our modern time,
[00:08:00] that the Book of Acts does give us a picture or a glimpse into the early church,
[00:08:07] but it is not the only New Testament document that gives us an insight into what the church is to look like.
[00:08:17] In fact, I don't even think that that is necessarily what is in the mind of Luke.
[00:08:22] That the Book of Acts is to be this very specific model that every church should follow.
[00:08:28] If we were to look at it that way, then we'd have to say which church is at the church in Jerusalem,
[00:08:34] the church in Philippi, the church in Corinth, the church in Ephesus.
[00:08:39] Which church should be the model church?
[00:08:42] We can learn something, it seems, from every church that's found here in the Book of Acts.
[00:08:48] But what is given to us in the New Testament are the epistles.
[00:08:52] Specifically, the pastoral epistles written to church leaders, telling church leaders how to lead the local congregations that exist in their midst.
[00:09:04] So we can find some beautiful elements that we would want to emulate and follow in the Book of Acts.
[00:09:12] But we might want to remember that Luke is primarily concerned with the rapid advance of the message of the Gospel.
[00:09:21] So without further ado, why don't we get into the book itself
[00:09:27] and see what Luke records for us in this exciting book of God's Spirit impacting the early church.
[00:09:37] The book begins very similarly to the beginning of the Book of Luke.
[00:09:42] He says, in the first book, Otheophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach
[00:09:48] until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit
[00:09:54] to the apostles whom he had chosen.
[00:09:58] Now, he mentions here that this book is written for a character, a person named Theophilus.
[00:10:06] That name at its base level simply means lover or friend of God.
[00:10:13] And he must have been a man of either financial or political significance because Luke gives him the title in Luke chapter 1 verse 3
[00:10:24] of Most Excellent Theophilus.
[00:10:27] Some people believe that this man Theophilus financed both the writing of the book of Luke and the book of Acts,
[00:10:36] which obviously would have taken some means in order to give Luke the necessary time to go throughout the world,
[00:10:45] interviewing principal characters and sort of building or compiling the information that he'd need
[00:10:53] to be able to then under the inspiration of the Spirit write this book.
[00:10:58] And what he tells us there in verse 1 is so fascinating.
[00:11:01] He says, I dealt with Theophilus all that Jesus began to do and to teach.
[00:11:08] That is Luke's assessment of the book of Luke.
[00:11:12] He writes to Theophilus and says, you know that book, the book of Luke, 24 chapters long,
[00:11:20] that book where I explained to you the birth not only of Jesus but the birth of his forerunner
[00:11:28] and then the birth of Jesus and a little bit from the childhood of Jesus,
[00:11:34] then the public ministry of Jesus, then the death of Jesus and the ascension of Jesus after his resurrection.
[00:11:43] You remember all of those details.
[00:11:45] I gave you the birth all the way to the ascension of Christ.
[00:11:49] Well in Luke's mind he says that was simply a record of all that Jesus began to do and teach.
[00:11:57] In other words, as Luke sits down to write the book of Acts in his mind this season in the church's life,
[00:12:06] these 30 years of rapid, the rapid advancement of the gospel, this was simply a continuation of Jesus' ministry.
[00:12:16] Sure, Jesus ascends in chapter 1 and he's no longer physically on the scene,
[00:12:22] but the way that the church and the way that Luke felt about the things that were happening through the church,
[00:12:29] through the leaders, through the different prophets and evangelists and pastors and apostles and church members.
[00:12:37] The things that were happening through the church were simply a continuation of what Christ had begun
[00:12:44] in the days of his earthly ministry as recorded in the gospels.
[00:12:51] And this is so helpful to us because this helps us understand that the Lord is still working and moving today.
[00:12:58] And as we gather, as we spread the message, Jesus is continuing to do and teach.
[00:13:05] Then he goes on in verse 2 and says,
[00:13:08] Until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
[00:13:17] And Jesus poured into the apostles during those 40 days after his resurrection.
[00:13:24] And it might have even been during that time that as Luke records, he had given them commands.
[00:13:31] Perhaps he had even given them incredible insights and teaching into the Old Testament during that season.
[00:13:38] Luke records in verse 3 that he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs,
[00:13:46] appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
[00:13:53] This is the only time that this word proofs is used in the New Testament.
[00:13:59] And it's a word that doesn't only mean, you know, an evidence,
[00:14:03] but it means the kind of evidence that only comes through touch or sight or feel.
[00:14:11] It's not just a, you know, evidence that as you total it all together, you come to a conclusion.
[00:14:20] No, this is radical experiential eye-witness testimony.
[00:14:25] And that's the kind of interaction that these apostles had with the resurrected Christ.
[00:14:31] There was an absolute conviction, an absolute certainty within their minds,
[00:14:38] which of course they were going to need because they would, for the most part,
[00:14:42] go to their deaths because of their confession in the resurrection of Christ.
[00:14:48] And so Jesus graciously gave them deep, abiding, wonderful demonstrable evidence of the resurrection.
[00:15:02] And while staying with them, verse 4, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem,
[00:15:07] but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard from me.
[00:15:12] For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
[00:15:20] So this moment came, Luke tells us, that Jesus told his disciples, you know, not to leave Jerusalem.
[00:15:29] And this was, of course, fascinating because as we read in Matthew 28 already,
[00:15:35] the Lord told his disciples also to go into all the world and to make disciples.
[00:15:40] But first, before they would go, they needed to wait.
[00:15:44] And specifically what they needed to wait in Jerusalem for was this event called the promise of the Father.
[00:15:51] And now Jesus clarified what that meant.
[00:15:54] He said, you heard about that from me.
[00:15:57] John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
[00:16:05] This was true.
[00:16:06] John the Baptist, he had baptized with water.
[00:16:11] There actually was a moment in John's ministry where he shouted out to the crowds,
[00:16:17] perhaps standing waist deep in the waters of the Jordan River.
[00:16:21] And he said, there comes one after me who is mightier than I,
[00:16:26] the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
[00:16:30] I, John said, have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
[00:16:39] You know, John is a baptizer.
[00:16:41] The substance that he would immerse people into was water.
[00:16:46] And so they would climb into the Jordan River.
[00:16:49] They would go in dry and they would come out wet.
[00:16:53] Jesus now is presented by John as one who would baptize into not the substance of water.
[00:17:01] And of course Christians should be water baptized and we're going to see that throughout the book of Acts.
[00:17:06] But that water baptism is different than what Jesus is telling these early apostles to do.
[00:17:13] He's saying, wait in Jerusalem for me to baptize you into the Spirit.
[00:17:20] You know, you must be drenched with the Spirit of God.
[00:17:25] This is not as some suppose the Spirit baptizing us into the body of Christ.
[00:17:32] That is something that happens to every believer.
[00:17:35] 1 Corinthians 12 verse 13, in one spirit we were all baptized into one body.
[00:17:42] When you become a Christian, you receive the Spirit of God.
[00:17:45] The Holy Spirit immerses you into the body of Christ.
[00:17:49] But what Jesus is talking to his disciples about here is something altogether different from that.
[00:17:55] In fact at this point Jesus had already breathed on his disciples according to John and said,
[00:18:01] receive the Holy Spirit.
[00:18:03] Now what is happening here isn't the Spirit putting us into the body of Christ.
[00:18:09] It is Jesus Christ immersing his disciples into the Spirit.
[00:18:14] He is going to cause the substance of the Spirit to be dripping off of them.
[00:18:20] This was the kind of power that they were going to need in that day and age.
[00:18:25] They were going to need the Holy Spirit flowing not just in their hearts but from their lives for power in the work.
[00:18:34] I believe that we still need the Holy Spirit to come upon us to make us strong for the work that he's called us to.
[00:18:43] In verse 6, when they had come together they asked him,
[00:18:47] Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
[00:18:51] He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
[00:19:00] Now this is an interesting little dialogue because the disciples assumed
[00:19:07] that this baptism with the Spirit that Jesus just talked to them about, that John had promised,
[00:19:13] they believed that it was closely connected with the coming kingdom.
[00:19:18] You remember they were still waiting for Jesus as the Messiah to establish and fulfill the Old Testament promises of God.
[00:19:27] And God had promised in Ezekiel 39 amongst other places
[00:19:31] that he would pour out his Spirit upon the house of Israel.
[00:19:35] So they were wondering, well you just told us that the Spirit would come upon us,
[00:19:40] that we'd be baptized with the Holy Spirit. When is that time coming that you will restore the kingdom to Israel?
[00:19:46] When are you going to sit on that Davidic throne?
[00:19:50] And as they wondered when this would occur, Jesus did not correct them for a wrong understanding of the kingdom as some would suggest.
[00:19:59] He did not say to them, oh you don't understand the kingdom has been forever perpetually stripped from Israel
[00:20:06] and a new thing is occurring in the church.
[00:20:09] No he just said to them, it's not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
[00:20:17] In other words the day is coming but you're not to know when it will come.
[00:20:22] But you, verse 8, will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you
[00:20:28] and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
[00:20:37] This is where their focus needed to be.
[00:20:39] They needed to think about the moment when the power of the Holy Spirit would come upon them
[00:20:46] and they would be strengthened to be witnesses, to testify, to simply speak of what God had done in their lives
[00:20:52] and what they had witnessed with their eyes in the life and death and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[00:20:59] And what he tells them is when the Spirit comes upon you, you'll receive power
[00:21:05] and that power will flow through you and you will take this gospel message all throughout the world
[00:21:13] starting in Jerusalem going on out from there into Judea, Samaria and eventually to the end of the earth.
[00:21:20] This is a great outline really for the entire book of Acts.
[00:21:24] They'll begin in Jerusalem, eventually they'll spread out further going to Judea then Samaria
[00:21:31] and there will be a bit of a struggle but they'll eventually get the gospel out to the end of the earth.
[00:21:38] Now when he said these things, verse 9, as they were looking on, he was lifted up
[00:21:43] and a cloud took him out of their sight and while they were gazing into heaven as he went,
[00:21:48] behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said,
[00:21:52] Men of Galilee why do you stand looking into heaven?
[00:21:56] This Jesus who has taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
[00:22:04] So in a way that is similar to the tomb of Jesus, here you have two men in white robes, angels like at the tomb
[00:22:15] who as the disciples watched Jesus ascend came and spoke with the disciples.
[00:22:22] They were just gazing into heaven almost as if they were waiting for his return right then and there
[00:22:28] and they announced to the disciples, look a new day has come.
[00:22:33] Why are you standing looking up into heaven?
[00:22:38] It's time to get to work basically
[00:22:41] and what they announced to them is he will come in the same way.
[00:22:46] Revelation 1 verse 7 says, behold, he is coming with the clouds
[00:22:52] and the coming of the Lord when he returns will be a visible not invisible event.
[00:23:00] So the disciples here, they're beginning to learn that it's getting to be time to work.
[00:23:06] So we first learn from the rest of the New Testament that the Holy Spirit would not be poured out upon all flesh
[00:23:13] and not be poured out upon the church until Christ had ascended.
[00:23:18] He actually said in John 16 that it was advantageous for the church if he went away
[00:23:24] because if he did not go away the helper would not come.
[00:23:28] And we learn in Ephesians chapter 4 that when he ascended he gave gifts
[00:23:33] and those gifts that he gave partly were apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers
[00:23:38] which of course are made that by the power of the Holy Spirit upon their lives.
[00:23:45] Well it says in verse 12 that then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet
[00:23:52] which is near Jerusalem a Sabbath day journey away.
[00:23:57] A Sabbath day journey simply meant that that was as far as was considered lawful for a Jew to travel on the Sabbath day
[00:24:06] without it breaking it as a day of rest before the Lord.
[00:24:10] It was a distance that they calculated to be about half a mile
[00:24:15] so they were on the mount of Olives when Jesus ascended
[00:24:20] and they traveled about a half a mile back into Jerusalem.
[00:24:24] And when they had entered they went to the upper room where they were staying.
[00:24:29] It appears that there was this larger room in someone's home
[00:24:36] and perhaps this was even the same room that they ate the Passover meal in
[00:24:42] and it was barely large because we'll see 120 people that are gathered together there
[00:24:48] and so they go back into this upper room where they were staying.
[00:24:52] Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas Bartholomew and Matthew
[00:24:57] James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the zealot and Judas the son of James
[00:25:02] all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer
[00:25:07] together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers
[00:25:13] so you have this beautiful moment where they're there gathered together
[00:25:18] they're crying out to God in prayer they're waiting for the Holy Spirit
[00:25:22] to come upon their lives.
[00:25:25] Now there's a few things to mention and to notice here.
[00:25:29] First of all we have a mention of Mary Jesus' own mother gathered there
[00:25:35] after his ascension in this early prayer meeting in the church.
[00:25:40] This is the last mention of Mary in the Bible and we know that Luke was fascinated
[00:25:47] with her because he records so much detail about the prophecies that were
[00:25:53] given to her and the pregnancy and the birth of Jesus and so you know Luke
[00:25:58] records that she was there at that prayer meeting.
[00:26:01] Also another note is that the brothers of Christ were there.
[00:26:06] We learn in John chapter 7 that they were antagonistic to Jesus
[00:26:11] while he conducted his earthly ministry sort of taunting him a little bit there.
[00:26:17] It tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 7 that after Jesus rose from the dead
[00:26:24] he bodily appeared to his brother James so the brothers now who had become prominent figures
[00:26:31] in the early church are also a part of that prayer meeting.
[00:26:35] Now in those days verse 15 Peter stood up among the brothers the company of the persons
[00:26:41] was in all about 120 and said,
[00:26:44] Brothers the scripture has to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit
[00:26:49] spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas who became a guide
[00:26:53] to those who arrested Jesus for he was numbered among us
[00:26:57] and was allotted his share in this ministry.
[00:27:01] So Peter is a prominent man in the church, a real leader of sorts.
[00:27:07] He stands up and he begins to lead this 120.
[00:27:11] He immediately refers to the scripture indicating their high view of the Bible
[00:27:18] and he says that it had to be fulfilled and he begins to talk about
[00:27:23] the death of or the betrayal of Judas and his subsequent death.
[00:27:29] He says in verse 18,
[00:27:31] Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness
[00:27:35] and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out
[00:27:39] and it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
[00:27:42] so that the field was called in their own language,
[00:27:45] the Nakal Dhamma that is field of blood.
[00:27:49] So Luke gives us a little parentheses concerning the death of Judas.
[00:27:58] Now this is interesting because Matthew 27 tells us that Judas went out
[00:28:03] and hanged himself here.
[00:28:05] Luke records for us that Judas fell headlong and burst open in the middle
[00:28:12] and all his bowels gushed out.
[00:28:14] Some people think that there's a contradiction between the two events
[00:28:17] but when you put them together there's a couple of possibilities.
[00:28:22] Perhaps there hanging, after hanging himself he became swollen
[00:28:27] and distended and burst it open
[00:28:30] or perhaps he died or was dying and the branch broke
[00:28:35] and he fell off of a cliff and burst open in the middle
[00:28:39] and his bowels gushed out.
[00:28:41] Either way it's not hard for us to imagine how both events occurred.
[00:28:46] There was a hanging, there was a breaking open of his body
[00:28:49] and then grotesquely Luke records for us that his bowels gushed out.
[00:28:54] Now the reason that Peter is referring to all of this
[00:28:58] is because he believes that Judas must be replaced.
[00:29:02] He says,
[00:29:03] For it is written in the book of Psalms
[00:29:06] may his camp become desolate and let there be no one to dwell in it.
[00:29:11] This is from Psalm 69 and from Psalm 109
[00:29:15] let another take his office.
[00:29:17] So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time
[00:29:20] that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us
[00:29:23] beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us
[00:29:27] one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.
[00:29:33] So again Peter felt that Judas should be replaced.
[00:29:39] Now that's interesting because when James died in chapter 12
[00:29:44] they didn't try to replace him
[00:29:47] but probably a big part of this was just understanding that Judas was one of the 12
[00:29:53] and Jesus had made a very significant deal about the fact that there were 12 apostles.
[00:30:02] He said in Matthew chapter 19 that in the New World
[00:30:05] when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne
[00:30:08] you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones
[00:30:12] judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
[00:30:14] So 12 not only is it a big deal in the Old Testament
[00:30:18] but it's a big deal in the New because of statements like that from Jesus.
[00:30:23] So you can understand why after Judas gave up that office and that throne
[00:30:29] why the apostles would have thought that they needed to replace that throne
[00:30:36] and that someone else needed to be able to fulfill that role and position.
[00:30:41] Now Peter's requirement for the selection
[00:30:45] was that someone had to have accompanied them from the very beginning
[00:30:51] from the baptism of John until the day that Christ ascended.
[00:30:55] So these are the requirements for apostleship which in the mind of Peter at least
[00:31:00] which obviously no one can fulfill in our modern world
[00:31:06] that we've seen the Lord at the very beginning of his ministry
[00:31:10] through his resurrection until the time he ascended.
[00:31:14] They put forward to verse 23 Joseph called Bar-Sabbos
[00:31:19] who is also called Justice and Matthias
[00:31:22] and they prayed and said you Lord who know the hearts of all
[00:31:26] show which one of these you have chosen to take the place in this ministry
[00:31:31] and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place
[00:31:35] and they cast lots for them and the lot fell on Matthias
[00:31:39] and he was numbered with the 11 apostles.
[00:31:43] Now some people will point to this story and say that it was an erroneous decision.
[00:31:52] You know that we should never take only two options
[00:31:56] and hold them out before the Lord like they did here with Joseph and Matthias
[00:32:03] but and then as well they cast lots in the making of their decision
[00:32:10] and that seems to be a very old covenant way of making a determination
[00:32:16] about God's plan and God's will.
[00:32:19] And of course it does seem that Paul operated like the 12th true apostle
[00:32:28] and that might be the case but there is no mention of this being an error
[00:32:34] and Luke wrote this years after the fact.
[00:32:38] He had the luxury of perspective and could have mentioned that this was some kind of error.
[00:32:46] Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles really not predominantly to the Jews,
[00:32:54] the people of Israel and just because Matthias is never really heard of again
[00:33:01] doesn't mean all that much because most of the apostles aren't heard of ever again either.
[00:33:06] They just weren't the focus of the book of Acts.
[00:33:09] They're not what Acts was about.
[00:33:11] Luke is tracing Peter to get to Paul so that he can trace Judaism into being fulfilled
[00:33:20] and taking the Gospel to the Gentile world.
[00:33:24] So of course in the new world there will be a little bit of a decision
[00:33:29] that needs to be made.
[00:33:31] Will Matthias be that 12th apostle whose name will be on the foundations there
[00:33:38] in the new heaven and the new earth?
[00:33:41] Or will it be Paul the apostle and we'll have to wait and see what the Lord does.
[00:33:50] But here we have the beginnings now of the early church.
[00:33:54] The spirit has not yet poured out upon them but they are waiting in anticipation.
[00:33:58] They now have 12 in their midst.
[00:34:01] They are ready for the preaching, the advancement of the Gospel from Jerusalem, Judea,
[00:34:08] into Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
[00:34:11] God bless you and amen.