Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
The application for Apostle included a caveat concerning late arrivals. Those who jumped on board after the baptism of John did not meet the minimum requirements of the position. Also, any who were there for the baptism of John, but left before the ascension were excluded for consideration. In other words, those who heard the Father confirm the Son at His baptism and persevered to see the Son ascend to the Father's right hand were the only ones considered to fill the void left by Judas' forfeiture of his office. Judas was there for the baptism, but not the ascension. He exited stage left and gave up his office by giving up his ghost to guilt instead of giving it to the Savior.
An apostle was one who had seen it all through and had been present and accounted for through it all. He didn't miss anything and was never found missing.
No comments:
Post a Comment