Luke 6:13 When day came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he named apostles:
It's interesting that Jesus focused on a group called disciples. In these passages here, we see that he goes up on a hill to pray. He spends the night there. When He returns the next morning,He chooses 12 guys who will be with Him.
What we must understand that He had disciples all around Him, most of the time. In fact, Jesus constantly put out a call and an invitation for people to join Him as His disciples. now that was nothing unusual in those days, because the pharisees had disciples and so did John the Baptist. So, coming down from His night in prayer, Jesus approached a bunch , maybe ranging in the hundreds of His already following disciples, to choose 12 to be with Him.
Let's understand that Jesus was the pattern Son, reflecting His Father in nature and example. Jesus said if you saw him you had seen the father. That's what he told Phillip at one point. Jesus never operated independently. He always followed the pattern that had been set by the scriptures and represented the God of heaven, His Father, in everything.
A question I asked myself many times was, why 12? Why not 10 or 13? What was so significant about the number 12?
We know the number 3 speaks of Trinity, 4 Earthy, 5 Grace, 6 man, 7 Perfection, and 12? ...Government.
Not only that, there were 12 tribes of Israel, 12 loaves, 12 stones, 12 governors.
Jos 4:3 and command them to take twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests were standing. Tell them to carry these stones with them and to put them down where you camp tonight."
Jos 4:9 Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, where the priests carrying the Covenant Box had stood. (Those stones are still there.)
1Ki 4:7 Solomon appointed twelve men as district governors in Israel.
1Ki 4:27 His twelve governors, each one in the month assigned to him, supplied the food King Solomon needed for himself and for all who ate in the palace; they always supplied everything needed.
Eze 48:30 There are twelve entrances to the city of Jerusalem.
1Ki 18:30 Then Elijah said to the people, "Come closer to me," and they all gathered around him. He set about repairing the altar of the LORD which had been torn down.
1Ki 18:31 He took twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes named for the sons of Jacob, the man to whom the LORD had given the name Israel.
1Ki 18:32 With these stones he rebuilt the altar for the worship of the LORD.
There must be some significance to this number. So much so that Jesus felt the need out of all those following Him to choose 12. But Jesus knew the pattern. He invested Himself in these 12, putting His vision and character into them. They were the one's who would carry His vision and goverment to the nations. In fact, we are the result of those 12 men's lives and ministries.
These 12 were the "foundation" of all that He would do while on the earth.
Mar 3:14 and he chose twelve, whom he named apostles. "I have chosen you to be with me," he told them. "I will also send you out to preach,
Mar 3:15 and you will have authority to drive out demons."
These men were more than just helpers or assistants or 'staff'. No, they were to be the very foundation of all His 'building'. His investment.
Luk 7:11 Soon afterward Jesus went to a town named Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a large crowd.
Even though Jesus did minister to the crowds and other followers or disciples and they would travel with Him, he did choose and minister specifically to these 12 men, imparting to them not just a knowledge but a practical outworking of who He was and what He did. he called them "apostles" meaning ambassadors or governmental representatives. they would be the one's who would be able to represent fully the government of Jesus Christ to the earth.
To build any Christian work effectively, we should follow Jesus' pattern and though we minister to the crowds and the disciples who come because of our teaching and instruction, we find the '12' in whom we can invest the character and vision of the Kingdom of God, not only in knowledge but in practice. 12 who will carry out the 'work' and the vision to the generations.I don't believe this is something unique or 'way out' idea, but just a following of the Master and how He did it, how He built what the Father sent Him to do. I believe it was very effective, don't you?
So, even though we we may be making disciples of those we instruct are we investing, like Jesus, into the lives of a few that the Father shows us, for a duplication and multiplication of the work we have and the vision we carry.
Mat 28:18 Jesus drew near and said to them, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
Mat 28:19 Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Mat 28:20 and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age."
This was Jesus' last and final commission to those disciples and eventually to us.
Because he has ALL authority, we should be "going" and doing the same as he did. That is what this greeting to them actually means. And because he is with us ALWAYS, we do not have to fear in doing what He has has commissioned. In fact, we CAN do it.
This is what we as the church need to be actively involved in, making disciples.
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