Scripture must be Fulfilled
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Scripture Must be Fulfilled
Scripture Must be Fulfilled
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. 15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “ ‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “ ‘Let another take his office.’ 21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Today we have a text in front of us that will cause me to have no other choice but to answer one of the great mysteries of the modern church… What could this all important question be? How did Jesus turn water into wine? How did Jesus walk on water? How did Jesus make the winds and waves stop? No that is way too easy… Jesus is God he is divine and can do anything… those are easy questions to answer. But here before us in the end of the first chapter of Acts we have something that has caused us to really struggle… So what is this mysterious question?
Should Christians cast lots or flip coins to make decisions?
I am obviously joking. Yet I will give you my opinions and why I think they are biblically sound, but there is so much more in this text before we can address such a non essential point.
While the text in front of us has some graphic content, there is a lot more there than maybe you realize, let’s get a quick recap and then let’s dive in...
The Apostles have just witnessed Jesus Ascend back up into heaven right before there very eyes, yet just before that Jesus told them to go back to the city and to wait for the promise of the Father. He gave them no specific details other than they could expect to be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
As soon as Christ Ascends before them they are told by two angels that Jesus will come back the way he left. Let’s pick it back up from there...
acts1.
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
We see several things here.
We see the Apostles, the Upper room, One Accord or Unity, and Jesus’ family...
The Apostles
The Apostles
we have named before us 11 of the 12, one name that was left is Judas, which we will get to him in a moment. But what I want to make sure to point out is why there is a focus on these Apostles.
Remember this is a narrative story being told by Luke who was a physician that traveled with the apostles. Luke is reporting what God was doing by his Spirit through these Apostles.
So while it may seem like certain people get all the attention, we will see that there are many other believers and no doubt there could be many stories written of all the amazing things that God did in the life of the people who recieved the Gospel and were saved. yet this is a story about God, the Gospel and his plan to save people from all over. So it was necessary to focus on the Apostles… Why? Well what is an Apostle?
The words Apostles mean - “One who is Sent” or messenger. Yet it implies more than just a sent messenger. An Apostle was someone who is commissioned with authority to speak for or represent the One who sent them. If you think about it, Jesus is the chief Apostle since he is sent by the Father and speaks with the authority of the Father. And just like that, these men were Apostles because they were physically sent by Jesus, being directly commissioned to speak with his authority.
So just like like rejecting Christ means to Reject the Father, rejecting the Apostles meant to reject Jesus who sent them and authorized them. Now we have listed 11 before us here in the text, and we know that they will pick another, and yet there is one more that we will not get to until our second session in Acts next winter… the Apostle Paul, who was commissioned by Christ and confirmed by the other Apostles and authenticated by many miracles, while also maintaining his teachings with the OT and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
What we see later in this text, is the specific qualifications in order to be an Apostle. They must be a man who was a disciple during Jesus’ earthly ministry and a witness to the resurrection. These men were commissioned directly by Christ.
Since Jesus isn’t commissioning people directly any more and these original Apostles are no longer around to confirm any claim that someone thinks they are an Apostle, there are no Capital “A” Apostles alive today.
The Upper Room
The Upper Room
While there is much debate as to where this place was… Some think it is the same place they celebrated the Last supper with Jesus found in , others think it is where they were hiding from the Jews seen in , still some other think it is at the house of a woman named Mary the mother of John Mark because of its proximity to the temple courts and because it seems they continued holding meetings at that place later in Acts.
The Important thing isn’t where this place is, but what was happening in this place.
One Accord
One Accord
What we do know is that all that were together in this place called the Upper room, were in One Accord… meaning they were in Unity of mind, in agreement with each other. There were no divisions among them, they were not distracted and splitting attention from prayer.
These people had taken very seriously the command to go and wait, and there was no better way to wait on the Lord than to be joined together in prayer and devotion to God.
The idea that they were in one Accord is also more important because of of who was with them… it was not just the Apostles who had spent the most time with Jesus these part 3 years. and that is something that is surprising… look who else is there with them...
Jesus’ Family
Jesus’ Family
Scripture here records that women with Mary Jesus’ mother, and his Brothers. The original Greek translation here is sometimes inclusive of both male and female siblings, so it is very possible that both Jesus’ brothers and Sisters are here with Mary his mother.
Why does this matter and why is it important?
It is important because we know from earlier in the gospels that Jesus’ family didn’t believe at first… We have reason to believe that his family thought Jesus was a little off and they were embarrassed by his claims...
21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
Clearly his siblings did not believe that Jesus was God…
5 For not even his brothers believed in him.
Jesus’ family did not start by believing he was the Messiah. They did not trust that he was sent by God or God the Son in the flesh. Yet something happened
They became a witness to this Gospel. They were witnesses to the resurrected Jesus and could no longer deny the message of the Gospel. What we see here is good news about the Good news which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ… and that good news is this...
The Gospel can change Anyone!
The Gospel can change Anyone!
if there was anyone who would not believe that Jesus is God, it was going to be his siblings. The fact that they end up worshipping him as God is proof of the resurrection, because they have the most to lose in reputation if they go from thinking he is crazy to worshipping him as God.
If the Gospel can change them, it can change anyone… No ones heart is too hard for God to Change! This is good news if you have loved ones who refuse to listen to the Gospel, they are not un-savable!
15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said,
Stop for just one moment… remember I said it seems like this story is all about just a couple people because we need to see what God did through his Holy Spirit using these men? Well I just love that Luke included these 120 in total. It encourages me to know that even though there seems to be some who are in the spotlight more than others that they are always surrounded by more believers.
It is funny to me that everywhere in scripture when someone feels alone God always lets them know that they are never alone… remember Elijah at mount carmel when he had his show down with the prophets of ball? afterwards he fled and cried out to God and said he was all alone, and God reminded him that he had thousands of others who were with him.
The disciples no doubt felt all alone after the crucifixion, but Christ is resurrected and some 500 plus people see it… These guys are told to wait in hostile city, but they were not alone, there was 120 in that upper room in one accord. Church we are not alone in this world, God has brothers and sisters in even our city to this day, Amen?!
15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
Please notice that Peter is standing and talking to the brothers… Remember when He denounced Jesus 3 times? Yet God is gracious and re-instates him, and Jesus even commands him to Feed his sheep in john 21:17… Here we see the re-instated apostle Peter feeding and leading the sheep… But he is not showing arrogance in his position, he is pointing them to his sureness of the fulfillment of scripture.
Scripture Must be Fulfilled
Scripture Must be Fulfilled
Peter has a certainty that the Scriptures could be trusted. In fact he speaks about them with a solid hope that he knew they would be fulfilled, and so they didn’t need to worry.
And what is Peter saying about the Scriptures that gives them such a solid hope in their fulfillment?
Peter is asserting that Scripture has both a Divine and human author… they knew they could trust the scriptures not just because of who spoke it and wrote it, in this case King David, but because of who is really the one inspiring the speaking and writing of the scriptures… do you see it? what did he say?
“Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit Spoke beforehand by the mouth of David”
The scriptures are not just a historical account of what men said, but what the Holy Spirit or God is saying by the mouth of these men… we know that Peter believes and teaches this because of what he says later in the NT...
21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Scripture is the product of God carrying men and inspiring them to speak… No scripture is because of how smart men are… ALL of it is because of how Gracious and loving and Smart God is!
And there is no part or portion of Scripture that will go unfulfilled!
Peter stands in front of the brothers and declares, “Scripture has to be Fulfilled”… and even when they are talking about bad things that wouldn’t make sense… Things like Judas betraying Jesus...
These men recognized God was Sovereign over everything good and bad and in his omniscience, (or all knowing), he promised something that would be fulfilled to take into account what seemed unthinkable… Judas betraying Jesus.
And this is where the story is a little graphic in describing what happened, yet it serves as a warning to those whose motives are not right in following Jesus… to those who would claim to be a believer and yet are not… Peter goes on speaking of Judas.
17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
Now even in this account of Judas there may seem to be some contradictions… Judas hung himself according to one of the gospel accounts and another place says he gave the money back to the pharisees after betraying Jesus. Here is how it all fits together.
matt27.5
5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
What happens here is that Judas hangs himself on the piece of land that the pharisees buy. but why did they call it “the field of blood”? Because in Acts it tells us that the corpse of Judas fell from where it was hung and… well it is right there in scripture we really do not have to keep saying it since it is so graphic. So they called it the field of blood. It is more than just irony… it is a grave warning to those who have hidden motives that like to hide among the true brothers and sisters in the church.
We know from scripture that Judas was not only one of the disciples who was closest to Jesus but he was the treasurer in charge of money. He had a problem with Jesus being generous, he had strong political views with obvious ulterior motives for following Jesus…
And yet God being gracious allowed Judas to hear all of Jesus’ Sermons, see all of the healings, and share even in the ministry… like when Jesus sent them out to heal and proclaim the Kingdom. Judas was there for that. But he had other motives… he could fool people but not God who sees the heart.
Judas throws it all away for money because of his frustration with Jesus not doing what was on his agenda.
Paul Washer made this comment, “If you want to follow Jesus because he will give you a better life, that’s Idolatry… Follow Christ for the sake of Christ!”
What am I meaning to say? hidden motives and agenda in following Jesus are not new to the North American Church, and god has been judging it since Judas.
Please hear the plea of Scripture today to not forget Judas. Instead let us repent daily and check our hearts often. We have a tendency to drift and be tempted, yet God is Gracious to us and calls us to repent. Do not for get Judas as a warning.
Al Mohler said it this way, “We betray Christ when we make any created thing of higher priority than him.”
Lord forgive us of doing such things.
back to the text, peter is now having to lead in spite of Judas. SO how will he be able to do that?
20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “ ‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “ ‘Let another take his office.’
Now Peter quotes from two places in scripture… and
What is the big deal about that? this may seem like just any other place in the NT where the Apostles quoted scripture, but if we would pause for a moment and think about it we will see something truly significant...
Before this moment these men had Jesus with them (outside of the few days between the death and resurrection), and after this scene they will have the Holy Spirit poured out on them. So what???
Well this is the only gap between Christ and the Holy Spirit for the Apostles… SO the question is - How do the Apostles function without Jesus or the Holy Spirit? How does Peter Lead without Jesus or the Holy Spirit? What is there only help????
God’s Word! Scripture! it is sufficient, God breathed and useful… What am I getting at? Since it would seem like they are alone without god and waiting on the Holy Spirit?
God never leaves us Alone - He gave us his Word
God never leaves us Alone - He gave us his Word
Now we have the Holy Spirit and His Word… But these men were in a unique moment of time where one could make the assumption that they were alone, Yet God’s word is what gives them instruction and guidance.... God’s word gives them hope to make sense of Judas and to know that God has a plan to help them in even this season.
How important is it that they knew God’s word? How important is it that we Know God’s word?!
Now they are not just sitting around waiting and praying here either they are needing to do something about replacing Judas… They need to have confidence that they can trust God to help them. And think about it, they didn’t know what it would be like when the Holy Spirit would come, since they hadn’t experienced that yet, so they did all they knew how to do… They looked to the Scriptures for guidance, because that is God speaking to us and assuring us that he is in control.
SO with confidence in God using his word they proceed...
21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”
acts1.21-2
SO there you have it, there are other men who were with them all this time and even though they may not have been there for every little thing like they were, there was some who were there from the beginning till the resurrection. And Peter set forth this as the Qualifications for the an Apostle.... Some one who was a witness to the resurrection. why is that? think about it… what is more profound for someone who is sent to carry a message than to actually be an eyewitness to the message they carry?
This message of the death burial and resurrection is of first importance for the message ...
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
so this message has to be proclaimed and the resurrection is of first importance… but why?
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
If the resurrection hasn’t happened then we are still in our sins…
In my commentary on Acts AL Mohler said this...
“without the resurrection of Christ, we can have no confidence that God has accepted Christ’s sacrifice. Without the resurrection of Christ, we can have no confidence that the new creation has dawned and will one day come to fullness. Without the resurrection of Christ and his Ascension, we can have no confidence that he is interceding for us at the right hand”
The resurrection is God showing he has accepted the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf and now death which is the result of sin has now been beaten because we are forgiven and delivered from the eternal price of our sin.
And here we see that an Apostle needed to be a witness to this resurrected Jesus.
23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.
acts1.
So of all the people who were around there are only 2 that qualify by being with them from the time of Jesus’ baptism until his resurrection.
If you are like me, you think… why have I never heard of these guys before? How come they didn’t have a role in all of this? Clearly they believed in Christ, which means they had seen and heard some incredible things and God was working on their heart. What am i saying here… The gift of Salvation is amazing no matter who receives it, whether they go on to be a famous preacher or not, it never discount that awesomeness of our God working in the lives of people.
We can not discount that fact that God has saved literally millions upon millions of people for thousands of years that no one knows about… Just because there isn’t scripture that include them doesn’t them or us not important, it just further proves that the Bible is a story about God… it is a revelation of God to his creation and some people he decided to include in an effort to show his glory to us.
People are included in scripture to point us to God not to them. Its never about their faith, but it is always about the Object of our Faith… God!
So how will they discover who to choose? What is the first thing they should do?
acts1.24
24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”
Notice they immediately turn to prayer!
They didn’t have these guys sell themselves and give a special pitch to see which one is the most charismatic speaker. There is no indication that they even cared about anything they did or said, rather they turn to God and appeal to his Wisdom.
Prayer can be an appeal for God’s wisdom
Prayer can be an appeal for God’s wisdom
When we need to make decisions… when we need guidance… we can pray and appeal to God for wisdom.
And what were saying in prayer that helped them trust God?
Show us which one you have Chosen… Again there is an idea of God being all knowing and having knowledge of already choosing people. This is just another way we see the the foreknowledge of God and predestination working in the lives of believers.
These men trusted God had already worked this out and would reveal his will to them. So what will they do?
26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
And now finally the verse that some have wanted to use as a formula for their decision fatigue. I am joking, but seriously the question people would rightly ask is, “Should we as Christians cast lots of flip coins to make decisions?” Casting lots was like rolling dice or like I said flipping a coin. There was a deep belief that God can do anything and that God can guide the roll of the dice and flip of the coin so why not let him do what he will do anyway? So, should we still do this?
Clearly we can see it in scripture as being used here. So here are some thoughts for those who actually want an answer to this question.
First off this is not a prescriptive text, there is no text that says, “if you do not know, then cast lots and God will show you.”
SO why is it acceptable for them to and not really for us to do the same? I mean there is no text that says we shouldn’t, right?
2 things…
We need to remember to interpret scripture according to its own historical guideline… Here is what I mean… as we see God’s plan for redemption move through different times and season in scripture, we also see a different expectations on God’s people. And most important for us is to remember where in redemptive history we are...
Since we live after - The coming of the Holy Spirit - which is God living inside of us guiding and reminding us, sanctifying us and convicting us, loving us and helping us… AND...
we live after the cannon or completion of Scripture… We as Christians should make decisions based on the Spirit’s guiding and the teaching of scripture.
Simply put...
We do not cast lots because we have the Holy Spirit and the completed Scriptures
Now at the completion of this first Chapter what we see is the God’s people being united in prayer, seeking Him for guidance and his word for instruction.
We see people included in this group who some may have thought they would never be Christians, and yet God’s Gospel is powerful enough to change the hardest of hearts.
We see the last time Mary, Jesus’ mother is ever mentioned in scripture… And we see the one and only time Matthias is ever mentioned in scripture… yet it is important because it is part of God fulfilling his word. And all of this is important for us to hear because it reminds us that no matter how small of detail (Matthias), or how devastating of an event (Judas’ betrayal) God will Fulfill his word!
God will fulfill His Word
God will fulfill His Word
And his word tells us this Gospel.
We are broken because of Sin and we are lost without hope in this world left to our own. Yet God did something to ensure we would not have to be left alone… He sent his Son Jesus who lived this life perfectly and did what we couldn’t do, follow all of God’s law. Jesus then willing sacrifices his life in order to take our sinfulness upon him. He suffers and dies in order to take your sin and my sin away from us. But God the Father Raised God the Son from the dead and Jesus is Alive. Jesus went physically back into heaven to complete the work and allow a time for people to hear and believe in him for salvation until the time comes for judgement on this world.
This is really good news that we call the Gospel, and if you believe it then you will Repent of Sin and produce fruit in keeping with repentance until he takes you home or comes back.
We will see next week How God Graciously gives us His Holy Spirit on the inside of us and this Gospel is now a message that cannot be stopped, but for today we can trust that this word will to be fulfilled to everyone he is saving.