Acts 1:15-25

Acts 1:15-25

In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

“‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’;

And “‘Let another take his office.’

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.

The experience of being with Jesus and seeing His ascension seems to have had a stabilizing effect on the disciples.  They demonstrate a calm and sense of purpose that is different from the fear and doubt that seems to have plagued them prior to this time.  There are some thoughts and actions expressed in this passage that demonstrate a greater spiritual maturity than we have seen in the past.  Obedience, assurance and patience are a few of the traits we can observe in this passage.

THE DISCIPLES RETURN TO JERUSALEM: Perhaps one of the most impressive things that we see in this passage is the fact that the disciples went back to Jerusalem and waited.  It is important to understand that these me were not from Jerusalem and that they were not exactly the most welcome people in that city.  For their own personal security, it would have been much safer for them to go back to their hometowns, go back to their families and jobs and just move on with their lives.  They did not take the safe or easy road.  Instead, they chose the path of obedience.  They had been given instructions from Jesus to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the coming of the Spirit; so that is what they did.  Their group was about 120 people, which is not exactly a large group, but it was also not exactly easy to hide or simply meet in secret all the time.  God would use these me to revolutionize the world.  He continues to use simple people who are willing to trust and obey to do His work in the world.

THE DISCIPLES REMEMBER JUDAS: As the followers of Jesus gather, Peter reminds them of Judas.  The fact that Judas had been one of them, had served as guide to the arresting soldiers who captured Jesus, and his gruesome death.  Most importantly, Peter reminds them that all of this had been prophesied by David.  The words of Peter in this passage remind us of the words of Jesus.  He looked to the Scriptures to understand the events that had transpired.  Clearly, not every event of our lives will be spoken of in the Scriptures in a direct way.  However, no matter what circumstance we face, we will find comfort, assurance, direction, and hope in the Scriptures. When we don’t understand the things that happen to us, we would do well to go to God’s Word to gain understanding and be able to help those who around us.  Judas was a man who was greedy and hungry for power and influence.  He betrayed Jesus because the fame and power he expected was not forthcoming.  However, when he saw the results of his betrayal, his conscience became unbearable.  Instead of repenting, he killed himself.  We must always remember that Satan’s goal is always to destroy us.  Before we sin, he will try to convince us that everyone else is doing it and that it is no big deal.  He will try to take us as deep as he can down into the pit of sin.  Once we hit bottom and desire repentance and restoration; he tries to convince us that nobody has ever done what we have done and there is no hope of reconciliation.  His hope is to destroy us.  We must learn to ignore the words of Satan and be anchored in the Word of God.

THE DISCIPLES REPLACE JUDAS: There are things that are recorded in Scripture, especially in historical books that accurately describe what happened, but may not accurately represent the norm for all Christians in all times or even God’s will.  The Bible paints it’s characters and recounts the history of God’s people with their failures and flaws.  Many of the things recorded in Scripture are miraculous, so we believe that they happened, but we don’t believe that we should expect them to happen on a regular basis.  We don’t go to the multitudes in India expecting to be able to feed thousands of people with a few pieces of bread and fish.  We don’t try to cross the Amazon River by holding up a staff expecting it to divide or simply walking across the surface.  There will be many instances in Acts where we will see miracles that happened, but we should not expect those happenings to be a normal part of our lives.  There are also events that are performed by the “heroes” of the story that do not line up with what God desires.  The apostles made mistakes and even sinned, and we will be reading about these events in Acts.  We will try to learn from their examples, both negative and positive.  In today’s passage it is hard to know what category the disciple’s actions falls into.  The desire to replace Judas is clearly a biblical desire.  However, we do not see Jesus or the Holy Spirit telling them that they have the authority to select this apostle.  They end up putting forward two men they believe qualify for the position and then, in essence, flip a coin to determine who will be the apostle to replace Judas.  They meant well, but I do not believe that this is what God wanted them to do.  I believe that we will read about who God chose to replace Judas while we take a journey on the road to Damascus.  Nothing against Matias.  He seems highly qualified, which might be a problem, God seems to like to choose those who must go through a transformational process like the other disciples as opposed to those who are “qualified.”  We have no way of knowing if my theory is correct, but I believe it is worth consideration.  Be careful about considering biblical examples as normative.  Take comfort in the fact that God uses flawed people to accomplish His will.

APPLICATION: Have the courage to obey God no matter the danger we are called to face or the difficulty it may represent.  The benefits of following Christ are much higher than those of self-preservation.  Allow God’s Word to be the driving and directing force in your life.  Be encouraged by God’s control over all the circumstances of our lives.  Be careful not to take matters into our own hands that are better left in His.