The disciples pray and replace Judas
Acts 1:12-26 · Vern Peterman · Jan 22, 2017
Acts (2017-18), No. 03
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926546404707

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We'll be stepping our way through the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 1, verses 12 through 26, as Randy just read for us here. And just think of how momentous a moment this is, how pivotal a moment. Jesus had just ascended. He said, wait, stay here in Jerusalem. And so think about this. disciples know at this point in time? What do they know? They're to stay in Jerusalem, right?

They're to wait for the Holy Spirit to be given, and that that would not be too many days away. The Holy Spirit will empower them, so they've been told these things, right? And then the question is, what do they not know? What do these disciples not know yet? They don't know when the Holy Spirit will be given. They're told not too many days, but that could be sooner days and later days, right? So, when will the Holy Spirit be given and what will that look like to them and to others? They don't know.

They hadn't had that explained to them yet. So what will it mean to be witnesses of Christ now? Aside from those, there was a lot they didn't know yet. Almost everything else. There was a great deal that they were yet to learn. So imagine yourself, if you were one of these guys, and that's what you know and understand. We talk about the day of Pentecost, and that's the start of the church, but they didn't know that. They didn't know that.

So what do you do while waiting for the Holy Spirit to be given? How can the disciples be constructively waiting for the Holy Spirit for some days here, anticipating it's going to be several days' wait for the Holy Spirit to come? What do you do in the meantime? You pray together, right? That's exactly what they were doing. You wait for God to act. You be of one mind.

Replace Judas with someone else who is as fully qualified as the other eleven are. in such a way that God has the last word in the choice of this replacement apostle. So you can imagine, Jesus had just ascended, and so it says here in Acts 1.12, which took place on May 14, 33 AD, then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. Now, what's a Sabbath day's journey? That was as far as the rabbis figured that you were allowed to walk during a Sabbath day, right? That was 200 cubits or 3,666 feet, right? That was as far as you could walk, right?

And so, one question we could ask is, were they speechless or talkative? On the one hand, you can imagine just being, wow, what do I say after this, right? On the other hand, you can imagine being very excited about what was going to take place next. Jesus raising up right in front of them was not something that they were prepared for. He didn't say, hey, five minute warning, or five second warning, or anything like that. There was no countdown. Ten, nine, eight, right? None of that, right?

And so here's the first manned flight. Right in front of your eyes, right? Centuries before the Wright brothers. So here's this first man flight into space, and Jesus just up He goes, off into the clouds. He doesn't tell, Dr. Luke doesn't tell us anything about the conversations among the disciples as they walked back to the city of Jerusalem. So we really can't tell whether they were speechless or talkative as they walked.

But you can imagine their minds were very full. Possibilities, questions, they still had lots of questions when Jesus ascended. So possibilities and questions, for all we know, they had a lot to think about, a lot to ponder. And imagine some of them were kind of thinking, what was that? Right? What was that?

All right, you have a map that's I think a half page here, and I think that'll give you a sense. So here's where the Ascension took place, over on the right-hand side of the map there, and on the east side of the Mount of Olives. And so then they walk towards Jerusalem. And the upper room, by its traditional location, which seems that it is somewhere between possible to likely that that's the upper room there. And so they walk between those places. We're going to be tracking the locations of things here just so that as we proceed into the next portion, This is a small area, this is just a thousand foot scale, so it's from here just about maybe a half mile walk from this upper room up to where Golgotha was. The disciples could walk there and see this is where Christ was crucified, this is where he was buried, this is where he was resurrected from. And it's all quite close by here.

And so we'll be taking a look at that. One of the reasons for looking at this and tracking it and keeping track of the dates where we are able to specify dates is just to have a sense of reality. This is real stuff, real people, real events, real time in a real world. This is not the realm of stories. This is not the realm of myth. This is an actual historical event. These guys were eyewitnesses.

Now, so Acts 1, 13a and b, when they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying. Now, there is a tradition that this upper room that is mentioned here is the same upper room where they had the Lord's table. And if that was the case, this room is likely or possible as to being the actual upper room. The roof and column structure that you see was built around the year 1200, but the floor and portions of the walls appear to be original, and there would certainly be enough room for the group that was gathered here, as we'll see later, 120 people fitting into the room. That works.

So here's Acts 1.13, see through I, the last part of the verse, that is Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. So here you have, on top of page two, the four lists of the twelve disciples, and this is the last of them here in Acts chapter one. As a matter of fact, what's interesting is the book of Acts, we call this the Acts of the Apostles, the book of Acts, lists the Apostles here, and some of them we never hear from again. It turns out that we do have some information, varying degrees of reliability, on all of them.

And so let's go through that. John, the Apostle John, was brother to James. James was the first one to be killed in the only death of an apostle recorded in Scripture. That's in Acts chapter 12. John, on the other hand, lived on until about 96 AD, just after he had written the book of Revelation. And so here's John and James kind of bookends, the first and the last ones, if you will. And then their brothers, and then Peter and Andrew are brothers. The rest of them appear to be unrelated.

And, of course, the one thing that we notice here is Judas Iscariot is replaced by Matthias. And we'll be getting to that in verse 26. And so here's the list of these twelve apostles, except for James, who was killed by the sword, as recorded in Acts chapter 12. all the rest of the apostles ended up going to other sometimes far-flung countries to take the gospel into those places. Some ended up in Rome, some ended up as far east as Madras, India. And so really astounding. That's Thomas, the one who was doubting Thomas, right? So he ended up in Madras, India. And you had others dying in North Africa.

OK, so here's Acts 1.14, these all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. Now, so these all, as we'll soon see here, totaling about a hundred and twenty here, included the eleven disciples, a number of the women, and likely most, if not all, of the 70 that Jesus had sent out that we studied in Luke chapter 10. And so they're all gathered here in this upper room and praying together.

They hadn't received the Holy Spirit as yet that they said would come, but they were still one-minded. and they were continuing to pray and to wait to receive the Holy Spirit as they were told. They stayed in Jerusalem and to just wait. The Lord would pick the timing and the circumstances. He had a reason for them to stay in Jerusalem and the reason for the timing, as we'll soon see.

Now, this here is a very special place, Acts 114. This is Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there praying with the rest of them. Now, this is the last mention of Mary by name in the New Testament. This one right here. She's not mentioned by name. Paul will write born of a woman, but not even mention her name. So this is the last time she's mentioned.

Of the four Gospels, Dr. Luke actually had written the most about Mary. more so than the other Gospels and so Luke chapters 1 & 2 address what goes on with Mary there starting from before the birth of Christ when she had first gotten the news from Gabriel that she would bear the Messiah and then continuing on to the birth of Christ now this is extraordinary this is really extraordinary Jesus' brothers What's even more remarkable is that Jesus' brothers were there praying and of one mind with the others and waiting for the Holy Spirit to be given. Why is that? John 7, 1-9 says that Jesus' brothers, first of all, did not believe in Christ and they even hated Him, even to the point where they wanted Him dead. They loathed and despised Him.

But you can imagine that. You can imagine growing up hearing, how come you're not perfect like your older brother, right? I mean, that's got to be really, you know, grating on the nerves after a while, you know. He always does everything right, right?

So, but Jesus appeared to James after he was resurrected. That's what we get out of 1 Corinthians 15, 7. And can you imagine James, you're just delighted that your brother's been killed. You like it, that your brother's been killed, and here he shows up again.

Absolutely stunning. So here is Jesus appearing deliberately to James after he's resurrected. James' heart was turned from unbelief to belief, and was turned from hatred to love. Really an amazing event. This speaks of the reality of the resurrection. It really did happen. Because to have such a radical change in this guy James.

So as to turn from unbelief to belief, to turn from hatred to love. And James eventually gave his life for the Lord. That's in about 62, Josephus records in 62 AD. that James was pushed off the temple mount at the same corner where Jesus was tempted, that Satan tried to get Jesus to jump off the edge. James was pushed off the edge there. And so he went from, I want you dead, to I'll die for you, right?

Here's the family tree of Jesus' family, with notes about each. You're probably going to find it easier to read on page three of your handout. It's a little bit larger, unless you just happen to bring your binoculars. In which case, that's fine. Look up here. What you have is a family tree. It shows Joseph and Mary, and then Jesus, and then James, Joseph, and Jude. names of the brothers on the excuse me Simon as well and that's given in Mark 6 3. Now we have, in addition to those four names, James, Joseph, Jude, and Simon, we also have Salome and Mary.

Now Mark 6.3 just says, and his sisters. So this Salome and Mary identification is by a document outside the New Testament and has less reliability. It may be accurate, but we don't know.

Nonetheless, you have Jesus here, four brothers, and this gives the names of two of the sisters. Now, since Jesus was born of Mary as a virgin, Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, so properly, Jesus was properly a half-brother to all of his siblings, right? A half-brother to all of his siblings, because Joseph was not the biological father. Jesus' brothers, as we mentioned, didn't believe in him until after Christ was resurrected. and in fact just hated him, wanted him dead.

James and Jude, and it's funny how we've taken it over in English, it's properly Jacob and Judas. But it's come across in English more commonly as James and Jude. They were the authors of the New Testament books by their name. And so the names James, Joseph, Jude, and Simon are given there in Mark 6.3, and the fact that Jesus had sisters, although they're not named there. So, of Jesus' brothers, James is the one about whom the most is recorded. including, and I list several passages there from John 12, 17 all the way to Jude 1, and in the writings of Josephus, James is always also mentioned.

There is an ossuary that is a bone box that has been found. Initially the fellow who owned it got charged with a crime that went on to a very expensive ten-year-long trial, and in the end They decided to drop the charges. They couldn't prove that it was fraud. And so it has all the appearance of saying, James, or actually Jacob, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus. And that was found in the town of Silouan, right across from where the Pool of Siloam was located. So very interesting. And each of those names is not unusual, but to have the brother of Jesus together and to have James and Joseph and Jesus, that's unusual. That's very rare. OK, so here's Acts 1, 15 through 17.

At this time, Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, a gathering of about 120 persons. was there together and he said, Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry. So as we look at this, we here see Peter. Peter is now standing up And he is stepping into the ministry. Of course, the Holy Spirit would be given shortly after this. Peter would be the spokesman for the Apostles. And so this is the same Peter who just a little bit more than a month before had sworn that he didn't know Christ. This is the same Peter. The Lord restored him, as the Gospel of John records. So here you have Peter stepping into this. He makes reference to David and he's going to quote David shortly here. So Acts 1, 18 and 19.

Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out and I didn't show any pictures of that. And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem, so that in their own language that field was called Hakodamah, that is, field of blood. Now if you'll refer to your map there on page one, the field of blood is shown here. at the kind of the bottom left of the screen, at least as it is traditionally identified. There are some questions about it, however, and so I'd have to say it's probably doubtful. There are a number of rich persons' graves in that area, and it doesn't seem to fit the description here. So the truth is, we probably don't know where the field of blood was located.

So here we have, including Acts 1, 18 and 19, and then Matthew 27, 3 through 10, we have the rest of the story. Some people have seen them as conflicted, but actually when we put it together, we get the full account. So Matthew 27, 3-10 tells us the rest of the story about Judas. Tells us Judas felt remorse when he found out that Christ was condemned to death. He somehow had this idea that this wasn't going to end up with Christ being condemned to death and him getting involved in that.

So he went and tried to give back the money. Give back the money. So he was very distressed and wants to give back the money and give it to the Jewish leaders that gave it to him. They refused it, so he threw the money in the temple, just tossed it in there. The Jewish leaders took that and bought a field, right?

And so we get the picture between Matthew and Acts here, what the account is saying. Judas tried to hang himself, apparently breaking the branch, so that his body was broken open. He'd go and run off a cliff where there was a tree hanging over, and instead of having a hard jerk that would break his neck, instead he breaks the branch and ends up being dashed on the rocks below. So this is the account.

Here's Acts 1.20. Here's Peter speaking again, for it is written in the book of Psalms, let his homestead be made desolate and let no one dwell in it and let another man take his office.

So Peter quotes from Psalm 69.25 to provide insight into the removal of Judas from among the twelve since he betrayed Jesus for money and was now dead by his own doing.

Then Peter quotes from Psalm 109.8 in order to say that another man should replace Judas among the twelve disciples, soon to be apostles. So Peter had been fully restored by the Lord here.

So here's Peter stepping into this leadership role and seeing what needs to be done and essentially getting things ready for that day when the Holy Spirit is given. So Acts 1, 21 through 22, Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning with the baptism of John until the day that he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. So this is somebody who has been there since the very beginning when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, just right kind of at the outlet of the Sea of Galilee, there at the north end of that section of the Jordan River. And so this person would have been present then all the way along up till the time of Christ's ascension and having seen Christ resurrected. So, that's the qualifications that Peter comes up with. So, Peter lays that qualification out as being essential. Peter said that the man who is qualified and chosen should be counted among the twelve to serve as a witness with them of the resurrection of Christ. I was with Christ through all this time. and even witnessed Christ being resurrected, or Christ after his resurrection.

Now, we have actually all the necessary qualifications to be an apostle, and this is just simply one of them, and most of them are by the hand of the Apostle Paul. One, to have success in evangelism, and three of Paul's letters lay that out. I had to have the capacity to suffer patiently to persevere in trial. One of the things that is happening to you, you'll have occasionally people who claim to be an apostle in our modern era, and this is not one that they tend to warm up to, right? The capacity to suffer patiently.

But again, it's Acts 9.16, we'll encounter that, and again, Paul's letter to 2 Corinthians.

In addition to that, received his gift and office by the sovereign decision of God. And actually what we're going to see is that's actually going to happen with Matthias here shortly. And then had to have been an eyewitness of the resurrected Jesus Christ. And this Paul gets because the Lord appeared to him after he had ascended from the Mount of Olives. and then endowed with power to perform signs, wonders, and miracles. And so the Apostle Paul writes this again in 2 Corinthians, but also the book of Hebrews chapter 2 speaks of this as well. So these are all the necessary qualifications.

The one we're looking at here is this one in Acts 1.22 that Peter has laid out. So here's Acts 1, 23-25. So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas, who is also called Justice, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which of these two you have chosen to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. It's funny, this guy is Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was also called Justice. Reminds me of the Beatles song. Her name was McGill. She called herself Lil, but everybody knew her as Nancy. Anyway, this guy has got several names.

Pick one. And they prayed and said, You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen to occupy this ministry. And apostleship, from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. So you have Joseph equals Barsabbas equals Justice or just simply Matthias. How about that? Complex or simple, right?

So they chose these two men from among them. It sounds like they were present there. We get that impression they were present there. They were two men that met the qualification that they had been there from the time Christ had been baptized by John the Baptist all the way up to the time of the Ascension. And they'd been there right along during that time and were able to fulfill the requirement that they could testify about Christ's resurrection. So then they prayed. That's the next thing. They prayed for God to show them which of the two men was God's choice. to take his place among the apostles so as to replace Judas the betrayer, now dead by his own doing." I think you call that suicide.

Here's Acts 1.26, "...and they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, and he was added to the eleven apostles." Now, they drew lots. I have several granddaughters that draw lots, right? They draw lots. This is sometimes also called casting lots, okay?

And the typical way it was done is to put a name on the stone, right? So they'd write the name on the stone. And so for two guys, you'd have, you know, two stones with the names of the guys on there. And then they'd put them in a jar and kind of shake the jar around until one of the stones comes out. Two of them come out, no, that's no good. Until one comes out and the one that comes out is the one that is chosen then. So that's what they would have as casting or drawing lots. That was their practice.

And here's Proverbs 16.33. The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. So there's actually biblical leading for that.

Drawing lots was done among the priests to assign duties. They would actually draw lots and, okay, you get to go and do this, and they'd have another name come out, okay, you get to do that, and they'd go down a sequence like that to figure out which of the priests got to do certain things. So that was the pattern. One of the things as we kind of looked through this passage, Now we've seen the confirmation of Matthias was the one to be added.

I think there's some things that stand out. One is, just Jesus' brothers went from hating Christ to the point they wanted Him dead, all the way to praying with the disciples, who are soon to be apostles. It radically changed. Did you realize that was just a little over a month? A month's time? They went from, I sure want my brother dead, to loving him and believing him. Imagine what shock that was.

But this is proof of the radical change and the reality of the resurrection. Peter was restored to service after he denied even knowing Christ. At one point in time, they met eyes there at the trial. And we see Peter here taking Christ's words of restoration to heart. Peter, do you love me? Tend my lambs. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. We see Peter stepping up here being fully restored. The Lord put him back into service and restored him after that really big downfall that he had.

This also was apparently the last time that the Apostles drew lots. Once the Holy Spirit was given, there didn't appear to be any more need for that. So very interesting. If you're thinking of using drawing lots to try to decide something, that may not be the best thing to do, because the Holy Spirit is able to guide you and lead you and carry out His ministries among you.

And so as I look at this, just an amazing chapter, but the next one is even more phenomenal. Just amazing what's ahead of us here. To see how the Lord reveals things to these people and we can see them learning as time goes on. And that'll be a great adventure for us.

Let's pray. Lord, we do thank you for your word. We thank you for how we see you working in these men's lives to have James and his brothers go from being ones who hated the Lord and didn't believe in him and wanting him dead to indeed believing in him and loving him and being willing to lay their lives down for for him. And Lord, we just thank you for that. We thank you for this beautiful restoration of Peter, how you fully restored him and put him into service. And we'll see Peter growing as we move our way through the book of Acts. And we thank you in Jesus name. Amen.