THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH

COME AND WORSHIP JESUS CHRIST


 

The Twelve


There are many who are called apostles meaning they are sent by God. Of them, let us take a look at the twelve early apostles in the light of scriptures. Our Lord Jesus Christ also is called an apostle because He was sent by God (Heb. 3:1).

Our Lord Jesus Christ took human form and came to this world for the redemption of mankind. Jesus Christ appointed twelve apostles to be His witnesses after His ascension, for the redemption to come into effect, to propagate the good religion, to lead the redeemed man to Christ, to build His church on the earth and to teach them His doctrines in order to perform the services in remembrance of Him and His death continually and to prepare His disciples.

He appointed the twelve so that they could be with Him, that He could send them to preach and to have power to heal the sick and to cast out demons (Matt. 10:1-15; Mark 3:13-19). Their names appear in the New Testament at four places and are listed in the table. The Bible refers to them as the twelve (John 6:67, 20:24). In the table, a name that is not mentioned in the first two gospels is found in the book of Luke. In place of Thaddaeus, the name Judas the brother of James is mentioned. Therefore it can be deduced that Judas is also called Thaddaeus. Besides, according to the fourth gospel book, we find that Nathanael is one of the twelve (John 1:43-51, 21:2).

But his name does not appear in the list of twelve. Therefore it is likely that Nathanael is the surname of Bartholomew. Moreover the names of Philip and Bartholomew appear in the same order in the gospel books of Matthew, Mark and Luke. As we see such order in the book of John also (John 1:45-47), it appears that the names of Bartholomew and Nathanael point to the same person.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was concentrating on preparing these twelve alone and not the whole world. He planned to bring order and regulation to the world through them. Therefore he ministered and preached in their midst (Act 1:2). Certain teachings of Jesus Christ were exclusively meant for them (Mark 9:35, 10:32-34). Especially many portions of the book of John deal with the private conversations that Jesus had with these twelve. He prayed for them with special earnestness (John 17th chapter). Only these twelve sat with Lord Jesus in the last Holy Communion (Mark 14:17-18). Among them three were prominent; They were Simon Peter, James and John (Mark 9:2-8, 14:32-33) and even among the three, Peter was the most acclaimed. In the Bible he has been mentioned as the first (Matt.10:2; Mark 16:7; Luke 22:31-32; John 21:3,15-17; Acts 2:14 etc.). As one of the twelve namely Judas Iscariot fell out, they elected Matthias in his place by casting lots. The Bible marks them expressly as the twelve.

Some are under the impression that the apostles had acted in haste when they chose Matthias in the place of Judas and that it was only Ap.Paul who should take the rightful place of Judas after his death. This is a misconception. In Acts 1:26, we find that Matthias was added to the eleven and in Acts 1:14, that Peter stood up with the eleven and in Acts 6:2, we read that the twelve gathered all the disciples together. Just as the seven deacons who were appointed were referred particularly as 'the seven' in the scriptures, these twelve apostles are also referred to as the twelve. There were also other apostles. Ap.Paul and Ap.Barnabas were counted among the apostles. Of them Ap.Paul was more illustrious (Acts 13:46, 14:4,14). Besides, James, the Lord's brother (Gal 1:19), Andronicus and Junia were also apostles (they were notable among the apostles).

If there were only twelve apostles, there should be no room for the controversy over the appearance of false apostles (II Cor 11:13; Rev 2:2). Therefore apostles will continue to appear in the line of early apostles till the advent of Christ. When the Lord promised the apostles, 'I am with you always, even to the end of the age', He knew that the apostles who lived then would complete their ministry and pass away and would not live till the end of the age. Rather what the Lord meant was that till the end of the age, apostles who are raised in the lineage of the early apostles would appear and Jesus promised that He would be with them (Matt. 28:18-20). 'He who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me' (John 13:20)(NKJV).

This article was published by Chief Pastor N. Lazar, New Jerusalem Church

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