7th Sunday Of Easter, Year B. Series

Acts 1:15-17, Acts 1:21-26, Psalm 1:1-6, 1 John 5:9-13, John 17:6-19.

(A) MATTHIAS CHOSEN.

Acts 1:15-17, Acts 1:21-26.

When Jesus appeared to ‘the eleven’ and the rest of the Upper Room assembly after His resurrection, He demonstrated the need for His death and resurrection from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, viz. ‘the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms’ (cf. Luke 24:44-45). I wonder which Psalms Jesus mentioned: there are so many which speak more-or-less directly about His Messianic work.

When the assembly met again after the ascension, one strand of teaching from the Psalms was particularly in Peter's mind when he suggested that the now dead traitor Judas Iscariot must needs be replaced (ACTS 1:15-16).

In Acts 1:20 Peter quoted two Messianic Psalms to explain the need to replace Judas. Peter personalised the imprecation of Psalm 69:25, ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it,’ and applied it to Judas. Peter also applied Psalm 109:8 to Judas, ‘Let another take his office.’

Peter said of Judas, “he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry” (ACTS 1:17).

Numbered with whom? With the twelve, who had now become the eleven. They were appointed by Jesus, and named ‘apostles’ by Him, and their names are given in the Gospels (e.g. Luke 6:12-16). In Acts 1:2 the eleven are entitled, ‘the apostles whom He had chosen,’ and it was to the Lord's choice that the church submitted themselves for a replacement for Judas (ACTS 1:24-25).

One of the qualifications of Judas' replacement was that he should be one of those who had accompanied the disciples from the very beginning of Jesus' ministry right through to the ascension. He was also to be a witness with them to the resurrection, so it was imperative that he should have seen the risen Lord (ACTS 1:21-22).

The church chose two candidates (ACTS 1:23). They prayed for the Lord's choice between them, and drew lots (ACTS 1:24-25). Remember that the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon them: this is the last time in the Scriptural record that this Old Testament device was used. The lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven (ACTS 1:26).

It is important to recognise the foundational nature of the Apostleship of the twelve. On the gates of the New Jerusalem are written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and on the foundations of the wall of the city are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (cf. Revelation 21:12; Revelation 21:14). There is a continuity between Israel and the Church, and the use of the number twelve is thus significant.

The twelve were chosen and commissioned by Christ, walked in and out with him from the baptism of John to the ascension, and had a personal post-resurrection encounter with Him (ACTS 1:21-22). The twelve were promised, and later received, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We may not all be apostles, but we all have a role to play (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:27-30; Ephesians 4:11-12).

(B) THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED.

Psalm 1:1-6.

The Book of Psalms begins with a benediction. Psalm 1 then proceeds to declare who are the righteous and who the wicked, along with their separate destinations.

Psalm 1:1.

The blessing is literally, “Oh the happiness!” We are put in mind, of course, of the Beatitudes taught by Jesus in Matthew 5.

Yet the happy man is not seen first in what he does, but rather in what he does not do. The contrast with the wicked is intended from the very beginning.

People complain that God’s commandments are full of negative commands: ‘You shall not…’ However, the usual state of man since the Fall of Adam is one of disobedience to God. It is only natural that we should use man in his estate of sin and misery as a contrast to what man should be, and what the “righteous” man is.

We see the blessed man refusing to enter into the postures of the wicked. Whether he walks, stands, or sits, he is not numbered with them in their negative attitudes. They are without God, and God has given them over to sin. Their “seat” is the chair of bold irreverence.

Psalm 1:2.

The righteous man is described as one who delights in the law of the LORD. This is to place our confidence in the Scriptures of God, and in the God of the Scriptures.

Psalm 119:1 gives us a description of the happy man by way of another benediction: ‘Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.’ Here the character of the righteous is seen to be based firstly in his being ‘undefiled.’

Who are undefiled but those whom God has declared righteous in Jesus Christ? We cannot begin to walk this way without Him. But when we are clothed with Christ, God looks upon us and sees not our sins, but the very righteousness of Christ.