The Book of Acts records the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the birth and growth of the church. The overarching theme among believers is obedience beginning with 10 days of prayer as they waited in the upper room.
The first Twelve Apostles were chosen by Jesus. They walked with Him and talked with Him until He was arrested following His betrayal by Judas. Peter explained that David prophesied the replacement of Judas in Psalms 69 and 109.
So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Acts 1:21-26
There were two ways that lots were cast. One would be to throw two stones with markings likened to a “yes” or a “no”. The other was done with a bag of stones. One stone was black. The others were white. The black stone was the determining factor. Acts does not tell us which method was employed in choosing Matthias. All we know is that Matthias was chosen by God who spoke through the process.
It might be easy to pass over these verses thinking that knowing Matthias replaced Judas is enough.
Another important point is the criteria for the office of Apostle.
- Called by Jesus.
- Walked with Jesus from His Baptism by John through His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
This seems to be the primary reason why many outside the charismatic stream so fervently declare,
There are no Apostles today!
“But Matthias wasn’t chosen by Jesus,” you say. The Apostles alone made the choice between the two candidates. Did they?
And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
As it turns out the casting of lots was a carryover from the Priestly Urim and Thummim.
The Urim and Thummim, Exodus 28, are somewhat ambiguous regarding their composition and use. We know they were located in the breastplate and were used in clarifying God’s will where His will was not clear. At first look, the casting of lots might be likened to the contemporary practice of flipping a coin. The difference is that God, not probability, determined the outcome.
The lot is cast into the lap,
Proverbs 16:33
but its every decision is from the Lord.
And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the Lord. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly.
Exodus 28:30
The Hebrew word for Judgment in Exodus 28, mishpat, is the same word for Decision in Proverbs 16. Hence the correlation between lot casting and the Urim and Thummim.
That said, decision-making by casting lots is found throughout the Bible. Land was divided by casting lots in Numbers 26:55. David organized the priests according to lot in 1 Chronicles 24. Sailors determined Jonah had caused God’s wrath to come on the ship in Jonah 1:7.
I should mention that lot casting was also done by pagans as evidenced by the division of Jesus’s clothing while He hung on the cross in Mathew 27:35. The difference is in the prayerful inquiry regarding God’s will.
So why don’t we cast lots today? My best guess is that lot casting was done before Holy Spirit was made available to all believers. We don’t cast lots today because we can come boldly to the throne of Grace. Heb 4:16 If we need confirmation of what Holy Spirit is saying, we can get it by two or more witnesses. 2 Cor 13:1
So then Matthias was the last of the Apostles? What about Paul? He never walked with Jesus. He didn’t see Him crucified, and certainly didn’t witness His resurrection. Paul’s encounter with Jesus began with a rebuke and three days of blindness while on the road to Damascus. That was followed by divine healing and a call to be an apostle to the Gentiles by someone he had never met. As we will see later, that person only knew Paul by divine revelation and obedience to God.
So are there genuine Apostles on earth today? Lots of people claim the office. I am not aware of any scripture that clearly states that none can exist. Quite the contrary.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
Ephesians 4:11-12
Rick Renner points out the fact that the original meaning of the word Apostle was akin to an admiral. These admirals would sail to uncivilized places and colonize them. Hence they were colonizers. They would bring teachers and builders and establish civilization where none existed. New Testament Apostles planted Churches. As we will continue to see, Paul is the one who ultimately defines what is and is not Apostolic. Interestingly he names patience as the first gifting of an Apostle in 2 Corinthians.
Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
2 Corinthians 12:12
In any case,discerning true Apostles from false ones was important enough for Jesus to point out in the letter to the church in Ephesus.
I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false…
Revelation 2:2
We will discuss this along with the other offices in the five-fold ministry as we read more about the foundations of the church in the book of Acts. The takeaway for me this week is that I need to constantly remind myself not to glance over seemingly insignificant details in the Bible.
