It is evident from the Scriptural account that the Eleven were acting without due warrant and authority in selecting Matthias to be the successor of Judas. They had been instructed to tarry at Jerusalem and wait for enduement from on high by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and it was during this waiting period and before they were endued with power, that they mistakenly cast lots and chose Matthias. The Lord did not reprove them for this undesigned meddling with His arrangement, but simply ignored their choice, and in His own time brought forward the Apostle Paul, declaring, "He is a chosen vessel unto Me." There can be no question but that the Lord arranged that there should be but twelve Apostles, and in evidence of this note how the Lord particularly chose those twelve, calling to mind the prominence of the number twelve in sacred things pertaining to this election. And we cap the climax by pointing to the symbolical picture of the glorified Church furnished in Rev. 21:1. In the picture the statement is most distinctly made that the twelve foundations of the City are precious, and in them were written the names of the "twelve Apostles of the Lamb . . ."–no more, no less.
Ap Paul claimed to be an Apostle, specially called of God, who saw Jesus, and that the choice of Matthias to be the successor of Judas, by the Eleven, was before the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, are we to consider him (Paul) as the successor of Judas, remembering that there were to be but twelve Apostles, and that Matthias was not afterward heard of?
2015-06-30T01:48:01+00:00August 1st, 2014|Bible and Bible Characters, Miscellaneous Bible Questions|