Eastertide Devotion – The Seventh Sunday of Easter, June 1

The lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. Acts 1:26

Today begins the last week of the Easter season. Of course we know that Easter is never over.  The reason Christians worship on Sunday is to remember that our ultimate hope comes from Jesus’ resurrection.

Following Jesus’ ascension from the Mount of Olives, the disciples returned to Jerusalem as Jesus had instructed them. Jesus had especially selected twelve disciples to be His apostles. With the death of Judas, their number now was reduced to eleven. It was necessary to select a replacement for Judas.

The requirement for being an apostle was that he must have been with them from the time of Jesus’ baptism until Jesus’ ascension.  Since no one today meets this requirement, the church no longer has apostles. Since the authority of the New Testament rests with its apostolic origin, there were no new books added to the New Testament when the age of the apostles was over.

Following prayer, Matthias was chosen to restore the number of the apostles to twelve as Jesus had intended. His main job? To be a witness to the resurrection!

Today we thank God that Jesus’ faithful apostles were diligent in their witnessing to the resurrection. You and I are believers because the apostles have left for us a record of what they had witnessed. When we read the New Testament, the apostles are witnessing to us across the centuries.

The notion that somehow the New Testament is inaccurate because it was translated from Greek to Latin to German to English is silly. It only takes a little bit of research to learn that we have a more complete and accurate text of the New Testament than any other ancient writing!

We know about Jesus’ birth, baptism, miracles, sermons, parables, travels, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension because the apostles left us a record of these things in the New Testament. As you and I have been taught God’s word and have read the New Testament, the Holy Spirit has used their testimony to bring us to faith and keep us in the faith!

Prayer: Thank you Lord for Matthias and all the apostles and their testimony that we still have today in the pages of the New Testament. Grant that I may ever be faithful in the study of your holy word that they have recorded for us. Amen.

St Matthias

Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640

oil on panel (108 × 84 cm) — c. 1611

Museum Museo del Prado, Madrid

http://www.artbible.info/art/large/735.html

God’s richest blessings in Christ,

Pastor Philip Quardokus