Acts Study:1:12-26
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Review: the Kingdom is about to happen.
The Holy Spirit is about to be poured out from heaven on God’s people.
They will be God’s witnesses in an already/not-yet version of the Kingdom of God which brings salvation to the ends of the earth, starting in Jerusalem.
Their presence will be a real version of the Kingdom, ruled by Jesus who is now enthroned in heaven… yet not the final version of the kingdom as the disciples may still have been expecting.
Go to Jerusalem and wait...
Verses 12-14: the disciples are ready for God’s kingdom
They go to Jerusalem as commanded, and wait as commanded.
They wait with the right attitude… devotion to prayer.
Jesus’ family seems to be converted/fully on board now.
Application: does this speak to us? How directly?
Waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises: obedience/trust and prayer.
What are verses 15-26 about? One more thing needed to happen before Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on his people… a wound needed to be healed/a missing apostle needed to be restored.
Verse 15: the setting - why be so detailed about the setting?
Could have been translated, “the company of persons in fellowship was about 120.”
It seems that the Jerusalem church already existed at this point in seed form and was keeping track of its membership!
Sometimes we might imagine that the early church was this non-organized, entirely spontaneous entity (George Barna’s portrayal)… but here it appears that those in leadership were keeping track of their sheep and were very aware of who belonged to the fellowship… the implication here also being that this was the whole church.
The setting for this final preparation was the gathered congregation.
Verses 16-20: Judas’ death was a fulfillment of Scripture:
Jesus is the Son of David, the promised heir to the throne of David - King of the Kingdom of God.
David was a type/foreshadow of Jesus.
Judas, as the one who betrayed Jesus, is now the one who was foreshadowed by those who betrayed David.
Thus, we have these psalms originally written about the enemies of David which have a greater fulfillment in describing the enemies of Christ.
First, what happens to the enemies/betrayers of God’s anointed King?
Verses 18-19: they end poorly!
Psalm 69:25 - they are cursed.
Psalm 109:8 - in Judas’ case, they loose their apostleship.
Second, how were the disciples to react to this spectacularly evil betrayal of God’s anointed King?
Given the symbolic importance of the 12 unique witnesses (the apostles), one who was lost through betrayal had to be replaced.
This was shown beforehand in Psalm 109.
The restoration of the number to 12 (same as the number of tribes in Israel) is symbolic of God reunifying Israel (or, true Israel) through the gospel - which is what we see through the rest of the book.
Verses 21-26: Matthias chosen to replace Judas
What should we think about them casting lots?
And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel.
But the land shall be divided by lot. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.
It was a biblical thing to do, given the significance of what they were doing.
It is not a prescription for us since, (1) it is never used again for appointing leaders, and (2) it happened before Pentecost.
Application:
All scripture points to Jesus; both Scripture and history were written by God to point to Jesus.
The seriousness of betraying/opposing God.
Judas’ awful sin was not able to stop God’s Kingdom - the wound of betrayal was healed.
Israel’s sin was not able to stop God’s redemptive work: the 12, symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel, are now poised for the Kingdom of God to explode outward through them.