He Gave His Life to Twelve Men
While the country argued over who He was, Jesus kept twelve men close: he ordained twelve, that they should be with him (Mark 3:14). When He went back to heaven, He would leave no building, no book in His own hand, no school, and no money. He would leave a small company of people He had spent about three years with, and He would tell them to reach the world. That was not poor planning. That was the plan.
He had preached to crowds, and crowds had walked away (John 6:66). So He gave the heart of His time to twelve men. They were slow to understand, and they argued over who was greatest. One sold Him, one denied Him three times, and all of them ran (Mark 14:50). A few weeks later Peter stood up in Jerusalem and preached Christ to the city (Acts 2:14), and the rulers could not explain it, except for this: they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).
This story shows the heart of Jesus toward people who fail. It also shows how He means His church to work. Making disciples was no side project. It is what He left us to do (Matthew 28:19–20).
A learner and committed follower of Jesus. The Greek word means a pupil, and in the Gospels it covers many people besides the twelve.
One sent with authority. Jesus chose twelve from among His disciples, whom also he named apostles (Luke 6:13). All apostles were disciples, but not all disciples were apostles.
Israel had twelve tribes, and Jesus promised these men twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28). Their names stand on the foundations of the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:14). Beyond that we should not press the number further than Scripture does.
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For Deeper Study
- The Training of the TwelveAmazon A. B. BruceThe classic nineteenth-century study of Jesus and His disciples, by a Scottish Presbyterian. We differ on baptism and church government.
- The Master Plan of EvangelismAmazon Robert E. ColemanA short classic on how Jesus trained the twelve, from a Wesleyan background, where we differ.
- Twelve Ordinary MenAmazon John MacArthurReadable portraits of each apostle by a dispensational, Reformed-leaning pastor. We differ on election and on his lordship teaching. Treat what he reports from tradition as tradition.
- The Fate of the ApostlesAmazon Sean McDowellAn evangelical scholar's careful, academic weighing of the evidence for how each apostle died.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The I Am Sayings
In John's Gospel Jesus says I am with seven pictures of what He is to us, and at the height of one argument with no picture at all: Before Abraham was, I am. His hearers understood that He was claiming to be God, and every person must decide what to do with Him.
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