“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms “‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, “‘May another take his place of leadership.’ Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” 2 Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles. (Acts 1:20-26)What is a good idea to us in not necessarily a good idea to God.
Jesus chose twelve apostles. Maybe the number had some significance, maybe not. The number comes out a lot in the Bible so maybe so.
But the apostles felt that it was necessary that they keep what Jesus had done. So when Judas died, they felt they had to have another apostle. After all, this was the way they did it in the past, so it was probably necessary.
Lots were cast and Matthias was chosen. He was happy and Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) was not. Maybe he just had too many names and the apostles felt it would be hard to get him on the letterhead. James the son of Alphaeus was bad enough.
So they chose Matthias, had an installation ceremony into the apostles, everybody was happy and shook his hand and he got to sit in a special chair.
And you never hear from him again.
God does what he wants to do when he wants to do it. He doesn’t need us to try to preserve the tradition. If he wanted another apostle, he would have had an alternate appointed already so he could step in.
Later on, he chose Paul, an apostle chosen later (1 Corinthians 15:8) . Then later, Paul even mentions some of the workers and calls them outstanding among the apostles (Romans 16:7). One of them was even a woman,
The thing was, Jesus did not need his people to help him. He could do things well himself and in his own time.
We need to remember that. God does not need out help. God is his Name and Jesus Christ is his only Son.
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