Among the many books that I am “in process” of reading, one is “The Normal Christian Church Life” by Watchman Nee. Anyone who hasn’t heard of Watchman Nee might want to check him out. From my tradition he is hailed as one of the classic Christian authors, along with such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a minister in China in the early 20th century, and he spent (much like Bonhoeffer) the last 20 years of his life in a Chinese prison (1952-1972).

The First Apostle

The first apostle was, of course, Jesus Christ. He did not come to earth of his own initiative; He was appointed and set apart for the work by God. He was not self-appointed, but sent. Frequently we will see Jesus referring to God as, “Him who sent Me.” Actually, the meaning of the apostle in the Greek is “the sent one.” Jesus is the first apostle, because He was the first one specially sent by God, and is referred to as “the Apostle” in Hebrews 3:1.

The Twelve

While Christ was completing his apostolic ministry on earth, He was aware that His time was limited. Therefore, as He was persuing the work committed to Him by the Father, he was also preparing a group of men to continue it after He left. These men were also expressly called apostles. They were not volunteers, they were sent. Christ chose them for the work.

These apostles occupy a special place in the Scripture, and they also occupy a special place in the purpose of God because they were with Jesus during His earthly ministry. They were not just called apostles, they were called “the twelve apostles.” Jesus told Peter that the twelve apostles would one day “sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30). Thus, Christ has His throne, and the twelve apostles will have thier thrones as well. This is a privilage not granted to other apostles. Judas lost this privilege with his office, which is why Matthias was “counted with the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:26). In Acts 2 we see that Scripture states, “Peter, standing with the eleven” (v 14), which shows the Holy Spirit to recognize Matthias as one of the twelve. Thus we can see that God fixed the number of these special apostles at twelve. We can see this again in Revelation 21:14, which states, “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Even in the new Jerusalem the twelve apostles will have a specific place.

But that doesn’t mean that they were the only apostles….(to be continued)