Chapter One
The Prayerful, Purposeful, and Particular
Choice of the Twelve Jesus is calling in accents of tenderness,
Jesus is calling, my brother, to thee, Just as of old, by the waters of Galilee,
Fell from His lips the command, Follow Me!
Approaching the fact and features
of our Lord's choice of the twelve
apostles, an evident truth that must
be emphasized is that He called them
to follow Him, not because of what
they were in themselves when He
met them for the first time, but because
of what, under His tuition, and
by His power they would become.
Like Michelangelo, the famous
sculptor, Jesus saw the angel in the
rough, uncut marble. Such a vision
and decision is found in His declaration
to Peter, "Thou art Simon the
son of Jona: thou shalt be called
Cephas . A stone" (John 1:42).
To the outward eye it seemed as
if the Divine Potter had chosen very
common clay indeed out of which to
fashion His witnesses and mighty
workmen. If there was anything extraordinary
about them, it was visible
to His omniscient eyes for He alone
"knew what was in man." And so,
"because he knew all men" (John 2:
24,25), He chose peasants from the
village, provincial townsmen, and
toilers of the sea as His first disciples.
While most of them earned their
livelihood by ordinary handicrafts,
and were evidently respectable men
from the moral point of view, with a
religious bent in their character, there
was nothing about them to give one
the slightest indication of exceptional
qualities or fitness for the remarkable
service they were to render. But
the whole world came to know what
the example and equipment of Christ
made them - twelve of the strongest,
noblest, and most fearless and serviceable
men (except for Judas Iscariot)
who have appeared in human history.
The transformation of the twelve was
not the least, it was almost the greatest
of Christ's miracles.
The Master, then, chose twelve obscure
men to be His apostles for His
mind was not upon their immediate
ministry, but upon the mighty things
they were to accomplish after His
ascension to heaven. They were to
certify the facts of their Lord's life,
death, and resurrection (see Luke
1:1-24; John 15:27; Acts 1:1-3; II Pet.
1:16; I John 1:1-3). As there are no
facts of history more irrefutable than
those relating to Christ, and the establishment
and expansion of His
Church, it was necessary to have
eye-witnesses whose testimony would
be overwhelmingly convincing. To
them had been granted "many infallible
proofs" of their Leader's resurrection
from the dead, and it was for
the purpose of certainty and certitude
of such a dynamic Gospel that He
chose the twelve, and prepared them
in every way for their gigantic task
(Luke 24:48, 49; Acts 1:8; 2:1-5, 32,
33).
The application for our hearts in all
this is that it is not what we are, in
ourselves, when we hear and respond
to Christ's call, but what by His grace
and power He can make us as we
company with Him. When Jesus
called those first disciples, He said,
"Follow me, and I will make you" - and
there are no self-made Christians
in His service; they are all Christ-made.
Self-made men are usually not
made up of good material, and they
can be wrapped up in a very small
parcel. But those whom the Lord
wants and wins, are those He is able
to fashion into human books to tell
the story of His love and grace. As
did those He gathered around Him in
the days of His flesh, disciples today
begin their apprenticeship by following
Christ, daily learning of, and
from, Him (Matt. 11:29). Then, as
they grow in grace and knowledge,
they become more fitted to represent
the Savior in a world of sin and need.
There are several aspects, noteworthy
and profitable to ponder, arresting
our attention in respect to the
Lord's choice and appointment of the
twelve. Notice that their first meetings
in life contained the elements of
future destiny. The decision made at
such points of experience colored and
controlled the course of after-years.
They are the mysterious birth-times
in personal history, and often in world
history. It was thus with those who
rose up and followed Christ.
1. The Choice Was o f His Sovereign
Will and Plan
We read that Christ "calleth unto
him whom he would" (Mark 3:13).
Those called were not consulted beforehand,
nor did He seek anyone's
advice upon the qualifications of those
He was to call. The choice was of
His own sovereign will and purpose.
As He foresaw the whole path
stretched before Him, so He instinctively
knew the kind of men He
needed as trustworthy witnesses of
the entire sacred drama of His life,
death, resurrection, and ascension. It
is this distinctive feature that makes
the story of the twelve so memorable.
Their appointment was carefully foreordained,
deliberate, and momentous
and far-reaching in results. In connection
with our Lord's foreknowledge,
the problem of the inclusion
of Judas Iscariot in the apostolate is
fully dealt with in our cameo about
the betrayer.
2. The Choice Was Made After a
Night of Prayer
It is Luke who informs us that
"[Jesus] went out into a mountain
to pray, and continued all night in
prayer to God. And when it was day,
he called unto him his disciples: and
of them he chose twelve, whom also
he named apostles" (Luke 6:12, 13).
The number of the disciples from
whom a selection of the twelve was
ultimately made, we are not told, nor
are we given any hint of the method
of choice. We do know that for
some eighteen months Jesus made,
taught, and watched those who followed
Him, as only He could, with
that perfect intuition of His. Faced
with the necessity of laborers to help
Him gather in the harvest, few prayers
left His holy lips more frequently or
fervently than the one for heaven's
guidance in regard to the selection
of the apostles from among His disciples.
Thereafter, His intercession
focused on the twelve whom He
chose, that they might be separated
from the world and unto Him, and
bring forth fruit (John 15:16-19).
Even in His great intercessory
prayer in the upper room, when the
treachery of Judas was unmasked,
Christ's conviction was unwavering
and unruffled. Listen to His tone of
assurance, "Thine they were, and thou
gavest them me none of them is
lost, but the son of perdition; that
the scripture might be fulfilled" (John
17:6, 12).
In the light of this assertion, it is
clearly seen that the defection of
Judas-so far from showing an error
of judgment on Christ's part in His
choice of Judas-is but the unfolding
of events which were comprehended
in the divine will, and the endorsement
of an age-long prophecy (Zech.
11:12, 13). The most remarkable
prayer ever prayed in the upper room
was but an echo of that night with
God spent on the mountain, before
Christ's choice of the twelve was
made. Can we say that all our decisions
in life are preceded by intense
and prolonged prayer for guidance?
3. The Choice Was Limited to Twelve
Why did Jesus select exactly twelve,
no more, no less? This was a considerable
retinue for a teacher to have.Three men would have been a respectable
following; six men would
attract notice; twelve men are remarkable.
Every village must have
turned out to see what it meant to
band twelve young men of character
and purpose under one head. Dr. J.
Elder Cumming suggests that the selection
of twelve was extraordinary
because, for a time, there seemed to
be nothing for them to do.
Now they have no occupation. They
have given up the pursuits in which
they were engaged: their fishing, their tax-gathering, their agriculture.
They carry on no business. They
simply walk on around and behind
their leader, talking to each other, or
to Him; and when He speaks to the
people who begin to gather, they listen
just like others. The only thing
they do is to go with Him from place
to place. They are idle! And it begins
to be a question whether it is not
doing harm, and giving rise to reproach,
that twelve men are being
kept idle for no apparent purpose, and neglecting obvious duties in order
to be so. This was at the beginning
of the movement, after the disciples
had been chosen.
For a time they were disciples, or
"learners," and they had to learn
before they could teach; hence their
observation of Christ as they began
to follow Him. But what is the significance
behind the exact number
chosen, as well as behind the men
Christ chose? Twelve is the number
suggesting governmental perfection,
so it was no accident that He selected
such a number. Dr. Samuel Chadwick
says that the fact that "Jesus
appointed twelve is clear illustration
to the tribes of a new people, another
peculiar people." He came as
the Messsiah and was cut off that He
might bring a spiritual nation into
being (Isa. 11:6-10). Before Him, no
other rabbi had dared to assert such
a claim.
(Continues.)
