Prayer: Lord, we worship You for Your mercy and Your sovereignty. We ask You to visit us. Your presence is all that we need. Lord, we consecrate ourselves to You. We pray that You would speak to us, touch our heart, and unveil to us everything on Your heart. Lord, we need the covering of Your prevailing blood. We hide ourselves in You. In these days of warfare we are not fighting for anything of ourselves but for Your kingdom. Therefore, we ask You to cover our shortcomings and weakness. We look unto You for Your living word.
We will first consider God’s administration. Our God is a God of purpose. He desires to accomplish something. In order for God’s purpose to be carried out, there is the need of His administration, His government. In spite of the apparent differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament, the divine concept concerning God’s administration is the same throughout the Bible. Christians generally say that God’s administration in the Old Testament was first the priests, then the kings, and finally the prophets. However, just as in the New Testament, God’s administration in the Old Testament involved apostles, prophets, and elders. On the human side these three groups are the main constituents of God’s administration.
The word apostle is an anglicized Greek word referring to one who is sent with a commission and implies that the sending one has authority. Thus, apostles in the Bible are those sent by God, who is the One with authority. Although the word apostle does not appear in the Old Testament, there was such a person. Moses was sent by God to deal with Pharaoh. Exodus 7:1a says, “Jehovah said to Moses, See, I have made you God to Pharaoh.” This shows that Moses was sent as an authority to Pharaoh.
In Genesis 20:7 God spoke to Abimelech concerning Abraham’s wife, saying, “Return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet; and he will pray for you, and you will live.” This is the first time that the word prophet is used in the Bible. Thus, according to the Bible, the first prophet was Abraham. Most people think of a prophet as one who predicts, or foretells, future events. However, this is not the main meaning of the word prophet in the Bible. In Exodus 3 and 4 God called Moses and sent him to deal with Pharaoh and to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. However, Moses somewhat shrank back, saying that he was not a good speaker, which compelled God to use Aaron to speak for Moses (4:10, 16). In Exodus 7:1b Jehovah said to Moses, “Aaron your brother will be your prophet.” Aaron was Moses’ spokesman. Thus, the main meaning of the word prophet in the Bible is not one who predicts but a spokesman. A prophet is God’s spokesman, one who speaks for God. However, Aaron was a prophet not for God but for Moses.
With Moses and Aaron we can see the difference between an apostle and a prophet. According to Hebrews 3:1-2, Moses was a type of Christ as the Apostle sent by God. Therefore, Moses was the first apostle; he was one sent by God. As the apostle’s spokesman, Aaron was a prophet. Actually, Moses and Aaron should be considered as one. Aaron is not separate from Moses; he is actually a part of Moses. We know this because Moses and Aaron were always together when they went to see Pharaoh and when they spoke to the children of Israel. The oneness of the apostles and prophets continues in the New Testament. Ephesians 2:20 says that the church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” Ephesians 3:5 says that God’s New Testament economy “has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in spirit.” Thus, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, the divine concept is that the apostle and the prophet are one. Nevertheless, the apostle and prophet represent two different functions. The apostles stand mainly for God’s authority, or administration, and the prophets stand mainly for God’s speaking. Apostles also speak, but the term apostle primarily refers to the administrative aspect, and prophet refers to the speaking aspect.
The term elder literally means an “older person.” In most families the father is the oldest person; therefore, the father is the elder of a family. According to the Bible, the community of God’s people is formed of many families, and among these many families there are older ones called elders who take the lead. In Exodus 3:16 God said to Moses, “Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me.” Thus, the concept of having elders among God’s people is not unique to the New Testament. Actually, the New Testament follows the Old Testament in this regard. The elders existed even before Moses was called and sent as the first apostle. From Exodus onward, we see that God deals with His people through the elders. In preparation for the passover, God went first through Moses to the elders of the children of Israel (12:21). Thus, the elders are crucial because they are the leading ones among God’s people, and they represent God’s people. Those who are directly involved in God’s administration are of only three categories—apostles, prophets, and elders.