God is a God of works. Our Lord said, “My Father is working until now.” And He has a definite purpose toward the realization of which He directs all His works. He is the God “who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” But God does not do everything directly by Himself. He works through His servants. Among the servants of God the apostles are the most important ones. Let us look into the Word of God to see what it has to teach on the matter of the apostles.
In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son into the world to do His work. He is known as the Christ of God, that is, “the Anointed One.” The term “Son” relates to His Person; the name “Christ” relates to His office. He was the Son of God, but He was sent to be the Christ of God. “Christ” is the ministerial name of the Son of God. Our Lord did not come to the earth or to the cross on His own initiative; He was anointed and set apart for the work by God. He was not self-appointed, but sent. Frequently throughout the Gospel of John we find Him referring to God, not as “God,” or “the Father,” but as “Him who sent Me.” He took the place of a sent one. If that is true in the case of the Son of God, how much more should it apply to His servants? If even the Son was not expected to take any initiative in God’s work, is it likely that we are expected to do so? The first principle to note in the work of God is that all His workers are sent ones. If there is no divine commission, there can be no divine work.
Scripture has a special name for a sent one, that is, an apostle. The meaning of the Greek word is “the sent one.” The Lord Himself is the first Apostle because He is the first one specially sent of God; hence, the Word refers to Him as “the Apostle” (Heb. 3:1).
While our Lord fulfilled His apostolic ministry on earth, He was all the time aware that His life in the flesh was limited. Therefore, even as He pursued the work committed to Him by the Father, He was preparing a group of men to continue it after His departure. These men were also termed apostles. They were not volunteers; they were sent ones. We cannot overemphasize this fact that all divine work is by commission, not by choice.
From among whom did our Lord choose these apostles? They were chosen from among His disciples. All those sent out by the Lord were already disciples. Not all disciples are necessarily apostles, but all apostles are necessarily disciples; not all disciples are chosen for the work, but those who are chosen are always selected from among the disciples of the Lord. An apostle then must have two callings; in the first place he must be called to be a disciple, and in the second place he must be called to be an apostle. His first calling is from among the children of the world to be a follower of the Lord. His second calling is from among the followers of the Lord to be a sent one of the Lord.
Those apostles chosen by our Lord during His earthly ministry occupy a special place in Scripture, and they also occupy a special place in the purpose of God, because they were with the Son of God while He lived in the flesh. They were not just called apostles; they were called “the twelve apostles.” They occupy a special place in the Word of God, and they occupy a special place in the plan of God. Our Lord told Peter that one day they should “sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30). The Apostle has His throne, and the twelve apostles are going to have their thrones too. This is a privilege not granted to other apostles. When Judas lost his office and God led the remaining eleven to choose one to make up the number, we read that they cast lots and the lot fell upon Matthias, “and he was counted with the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:26). In the next chapter we find the Holy Spirit inspiring the writer of the Acts to say, “Peter, standing with the eleven” (Acts 2:14), which shows that the Holy Spirit recognized Matthias to be one of the twelve. Here we see that the number of these apostles was fixed; God did not want more than twelve, nor would He have less. In the book of Revelation we find that the ultimate position which they occupy is again a special one-“And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:14). Even in the new heaven and the new earth the twelve enjoy a place of particular privilege, which is assigned to no other workers for God.
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