reading please turn in your copy of God’s Word to the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 7, which is 89 verses long, but we’re not going to read all 89 verses. We are going to read verses 1-18. Numbers chapter 7, Verses one through 18. Listen to this. This is the very word of God.
On the day when Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle and had anointed and consecrated it with all its furnishings, and had anointed and consecrated the altar with all its utensils, the chiefs of Israel, heads of their fathers’ houses, who were the chiefs of the tribes, who were over those who were listed, approached and brought their offerings before the Lord.
Six wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon for every two of the chiefs, and for each one an ox. and they brought them before the tabernacle. Then the Lord said to Moses, accept these from them, that they may be used in the service of the tent of meeting, and give them to the Levites, to each man according to his service. So Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon according to their service, and four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron, the priest.
But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because they were charged with the service of the holy things that had to be carried on the shoulder. And the chiefs offered offerings for the dedication of the altar on the day it was anointed. And the chiefs offered their offerings before the altar. And the Lord said to Moses, they shall offer their offerings one chief each day for the dedication of the altar. He who offered his offering the first day was Nashon, the son of Aminadab of the tribe of Judah. And his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering. one golden dish of 10 shekels full of incense, one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a burnt offering, one male goat for a sin offering, and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nashon, the son of Aminadab. On the second day, Nethanel, the son of Zuar, the chief of Issachar, made an offering.
And that’s where we’ll stop the reading, but I want to make the point that The text, the reason it’s 89 verses long is because every single chief of the tribes of Israel came and offered an offering, and he’s listed by name, and listed by his father’s name, and the name of his tribe, and what he brought is exactly the same thing in every single case. And so all those numbers, all those weights, all those items, all those Animal offerings are exactly the same in every single case and if I had been the Holy Spirit and had breathed out these words I would have just said and all the rest of the Leaders of the tribes brought the exact same offering and I would have stopped it at about verse 25, but that’s not what the Holy Spirit did and There’s a reason for that It wasn’t to make the reading monotonous. It wasn’t so that we’d get bored reading chapter 7 of Numbers It’s because God keeps track of is because God knows his people by name. And so he mentioned the name of the chief of each of the tribes and the name of that chief’s father and what he brought, because he had regard for every last tribe, right down to the 12th tribe that offered their offering that day. And that’s going to one other. aside, as long as I’m talking about that.
Did you notice that the tribe, the sons of Kohath, received no wagons? See, they could put all the bases and all the frames for the tabernacle and the tent of meeting and everything on these carts, and the oxen could pull them. And that’s how they could transport all the hardware of the tabernacle as they meandered and they wandered through the wilderness on their way to the promised land. But the sons of Kohath didn’t get carts, and they didn’t get oxen to pull carts, because they were the ones that were supposed to carry the ark, and the altar, and the bread of the presence, the table that the bread went on, and the lamp stand. Those things were not to be put on an ark. And I only mention that because you know the story about how after the Philistines captured the ark of God and that they sent it back to the people of Israel on a cart, Israelites followed the pattern that the Philistines had established and presumed to transport the Lord’s Ark of the Covenant on a cart the way the pagans had done when they knew from the Word of God that they were supposed to carry it, it wasn’t supposed to be transported on a cart. Just thought I’d throw that out. But now turn in your Bibles please to Luke’s Gospel, chapter 6. where we see other names. Luke chapter six in our text is verses 12 through 16.
In these days, Jesus went out to the mountain to pray. And all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles, Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, And Judas, the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. That’s the reading of God’s word.
Let’s ask his blessing upon it. Father, as we read together of the calling of the 12 who became apostles, we ask you to bless us as we come to to reflect on this passage. And as it’s expounded, Lord, we pray that your word would go forth. We pray that your gospel would go forth, not only in word, but also in power. This, we pray in the power of the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
I remember as a student in junior high and high school going to band competitions, going to auditions where kids from schools all over the city and then later all over the region would go and they’d try out to get a seat in the all-city band or the all-region band.
And once any particular group of instruments had finished and everybody who’s trying out for that instrument or on that instrument had played for the judges, then we waited. And then in time, lists were posted. And if you were a flute player, you know, they’d post a list of a certain number of flautists that were selected for this elite band, the all-region band or something like that.
And there are lots of things in life like that, aren’t there? We wait for lists to be posted, like in the military. Each year, they post lists of who got promoted, who got promoted from the rank of captain to the rank of major, or who made the list for Sergeant First Class, things like that.
Or another example would be the NFL draft. It happened just a few weeks ago. Lots of people are really interested in that, who gets drafted by what team. And there are many other examples of things like this. And what all these examples have in common is that they are lists of names, individual names. Now, at this point in the gospel of Luke, as we are, moving through chapter six.
By this point, opposition to Christ, particularly from the religious leaders, the Pharisees and the scribes, opposition to Christ was intensifying. And as we saw last time, they are already plotting to destroy him. And in that context, Jesus called to himself 12 of his disciples and he designated them apostles. So this is a strategic move, the calling of the apostles, that it happened now, as the opposition against him is growing, as it’s becoming more intense, and as people are actually plotting to kill him, Jesus calls his 12 apostles.
It’s a strategic move at a strategic moment. It kind of brought to my mind watching two chess players And you can kind of try to figure out what they’re doing as they move a piece and then the other moves a piece. If you can think of one player obviously moving in the direction of trying to capture, trying to get his opponent into checkmate, but the opponent is making moves perhaps that the other player doesn’t even really realize, but he’s strategically protecting his king and he’s preparing to take his opponent’s king. So as Jesus’ enemies are plotting his death, Jesus is selecting and he will begin to prepare the people who are going to be leaders in his church long after he’s gone, long after his death and resurrection and ascension to be at the right hand of God the Father.
And before he calls these 12, before he calls them by name, He prayed. He prayed. He prayed all night long. And so Christ arranged for the leadership of his church by prayerfully selecting 12 apostles. That’s what we see happening here. Christ arranged for the leadership of his church by prayerfully selecting 12 apostles. The three points we’ll look at today are, first of all, fervent prayer. We certainly see that in Christ in this incident. Secondly, sovereign purposes. Sovereign purposes of God, of course, and then 12 chosen. So first of all, fervent prayer.
Of all the gospel writers, Luke is the one who gives most attention and speaks most frequently of Christ’s prayer life. Much more than any of the other gospels. Matthew Henry said that this evangelist, Luke that is, takes frequent notice of Christ’s retirements, that is his withdrawing, going away by himself for prayer. Frequent notice of Christ’s retirement to give us an example of secret prayer by which we must keep up our communion with God daily and without which it is impossible that the soul should prosper.
So our text begins with the word, in these days. That’s a very vague time stamp, but you know that’s typical of Luke. Luke wasn’t all that concerned of giving us a specific and detailed and precise sequent of events as he was in grouping these events, these historical events, in a more thematic way.
And it says that Jesus went to the mountain. He went to the mountain for prayer. He went to the mountain to have solitude in his time of prayer. He wanted to be by himself. He wanted to be alone with his heavenly father. And so he went to the mountain for that.
That’s significant in the scriptural sense, because we see so many times that mountains were meeting places for God and his people. The Lord met with Moses for the first time on the mountain. Remember, Moses saw the burning bush on the mountain. It was the very mountain that the people gathered before when they came out of Egypt. And he went back up that mountain. And many of God’s people, over the course of redemptive history, have met with the Lord on the mountaintop.
And so here’s Jesus on the mountain, praying, and a commentator by the name of Robert Stein makes the point that in these two books that Luke wrote, his gospel that bears his name and then the book of Acts, he notes that prayer preceded every major decision or crisis. in the life of Jesus and in the early church. So that’s something that Luke in particular impresses upon us, that when the people of God or when Jesus himself was entering into a time of crisis, his response, his modus operandi was to pray. And it was the same with the early church. Before major decisions or before crisis or in the midst of crisis, prayer was their resort.
And this passage teaches us that Jesus, before choosing the 12, prayed all night. I don’t know what the longest period of time, longest extended, continuous period of prayer you’ve ever spent. I confess, I’ve never prayed all night long. Maybe some of you have, I don’t know. But have you ever prayed for an hour straight? You ever prayed for more than an hour continuously? Jesus prayed all night. And what do you think he was praying? What petitions was he lifting to his father? What desires was he making known to his father? Well, certainly he must have been praying for his father’s blessing, his father’s guidance, as he’s about to choose the 12. Seeking the Lord’s wisdom to guide him which ones to choose.
He was certainly praying for his father’s care and protection over them. And to get a taste of the kinds of things maybe he prayed for them, we could look at John 17 and his high priestly prayer that is recorded for us in Holy Scripture. How he prayed that the Lord would preserve them. He prayed things like this. Holy Father, keep them in your name. That they may be one, he prayed that for them. He prayed, Father, keep them from the evil one.
These are petitions that we can pull right out of John 17. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. Jesus prayed those things for his disciples. No doubt he prayed similar things on the mountain that night. And then. In Luke, Chapter 22, which we’ll get to, Lord willing, in a couple of years.
Remember, as Jesus is interacting with the disciples right before his betrayal, and he says to Simon Peter, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he may sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Jesus is saying, you know how Satan came when the sons of God were presenting themselves before the Lord and Satan appeared and he demanded to have Job. Does Job serve you for naught?
Strike everything, take away everything that he has and he’ll curse you. Touch his body, he’ll curse you to your face. In a similar manner, Satan came before the Lord and he wanted those 12, it’s plural. in the Greek. Satan demanded to have you, you all, you disciples.
He’s asking for you. He wants to sift you. Jesus says, I prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you, singular Peter, when you, Peter, have turned, strengthen your brothers. They’re going to need you. They’re going to need you. So I’m sure Jesus prayed for God’s blessing upon their labors and his blessing upon the church. I wonder how he prayed for Judas because he knew from the beginning that Judas was going to betray him. I wonder how he prayed for him or how he prayed about him. We don’t know. Well, We do know that he prayed, and he prayed all night.
The gospel according to Mark specifies that Jesus chose these 12 specifically for the purpose of sending them out. And that’s where the name apostle comes from. In fact, in Mark, where it says he chose them, that he might send them out, that’s a verb form of the Greek word apostolos, which of course is apostle. Christ was sent And it’s from or by God.
And then he, in turn, was going to send out these apostles. An apostle is one who is sent. It’s a commissioner. It’s someone who goes with the authority of the one who sent him. And that’s what these apostles would be. And that’s why the choosing of them was so massively important. But this passage begins by teaching us about the priority of prayer and the importance of prayer. And if Jesus prayed all night before choosing his 12 apostles, it should lead us to ask, do we give proper priority to prayer? Do we emphasize it? Do we prioritize it enough in our daily lives? Does it have a prominent place in the regular rhythms and routine of your days? And as you reflect on that question, consider the example of Jesus.
Not that we have to pray all night long, but prayer certainly should be important. And consider the example of the apostles as well, and the apostolic church. Because frankly, in our flesh, one of the commentators that I read captured what happens to us so often. He said, sometimes it’s easier to work, to get busy, to get things accomplished instead of praying. When we pray, we feel like nothing practical is getting done, but nothing could be further from the truth. All right, so fervent prayer. Secondly, we see in this passage, sovereign purposes.
And I wanna start with Judas, because in Matthew’s gospel, Mark’s and Luke’s, they all include Judas Iscariot. They place his name last on their list, but they all mentioned his name. And they all mentioned the fact that he was the one that was going to betray Jesus. And yet Jesus chose him and numbered him with the 12.
And he did that because it was all part of God’s sovereign plan. It was part of God’s sovereign plan for Judas to be one of the apostles. We see that if we consult John’s gospel, chapter six and verses 70 and 71, Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you is a devil. He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the 12, was going to betray him. It was part of God’s sovereign plan. It was part of God’s sovereign plan for Judas to betray the Lord Jesus. And so Peter, when he’s speaking to the apostles in the book of Acts after Jesus’ ascension, he said, brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. This is all according to God’s plan.
And it’s not that Jesus was mistaken in choosing Judas. It just happened that, you know, 11 out of 12 isn’t bad, right? It’s not that he made a mistake in one case. No, Judas, and it wasn’t even that Judas was a basically good man who just lapsed into sin at the end.
In fact, in John’s gospel, we also find out that he was a thief. He was the one, he was the treasurer Of the 12, he had charge of the money bag, Gospel of John tells us, and he used to dip into it. John 12, verse six. He was a thief. So Christ’s selection of the 12 is a rich demonstration of God’s sovereignty. It poignantly exhibits the relationship between man’s responsibility, because Judas was guilty. He was accountable for his horrific sin. but it shows man’s responsibility right alongside God’s sovereignty.
So you see, Jesus’ opponents wanted to kill him. They wanted him gone. They were plotting how to destroy him. It was his very mission to come and lay down his life, to give up his life to save sinners. And no one was holding a bow and arrow to Judas’s head, making him, forcing him to betray Jesus. He betrayed and handed over Jesus willingly and willfully. And yet, it was ordained long ago by God.
Scripture says that Psalm 41.9 spoke of Judas. When it said, even my close friend in whom I trusted who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. And even beyond the matter of Judas. The 12, all the rest of them.
And Jesus’ selection of them show the overruling power of God and his sovereign ordering of all things because frankly, These men weren’t Israel’s best and brightest. They weren’t standouts in society. Not that they were inferior, exactly, but they just weren’t impressive. They weren’t the cream of the crop.
And as you’ve read, I’m sure, and as you go through the gospels, throughout the earthly ministry of Jesus, the disciples were continuously misunderstanding him. They were slow to believe, slow on the uptake of what he was teaching. And the gospel writers don’t make any effort whatsoever to gloss over their deficiencies, their shortcomings, their foibles. And it’s very telling that there are slight variations in the various apostles’ lists when they named the 12 that Jesus chose.
But Peter’s always the first on the list. And Peter denied Jesus, denied he even knew him. In a moment of trial and temptation, he denied that he ever knew Jesus. Judas is listed in all the lists as well. He’s listed last. He’s the one who betrayed him.
And yet Jesus and his sovereign power, his sovereign, holy will chose both of these men. And there’s a couple of takeaways for us in this. First of all, through the weakness of the apostles, God shows his power. And secondly, it shows us, and this is ought to, be of some encouragement to us. It shows us that the 12 were like us. They weren’t superheroes. They weren’t exceptional. They’re pretty ordinary people and God can use ordinary people. In fact, he does all the time. God called. Christ called and used them. And Christ can use you too. He loves to use weak vessels. Praise God for that.
Well, then finally, uh, the third point, the 12 are chosen says in verse 13, when day came after he’d prayed all night long, when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them 12 whom he named apostles. So Jesus had many disciples at this time. And we talk about the disciples. A lot of times what we mean is the 12, but he had hundreds, even thousands of followers. And he chose 12 of them to be apostles, 12 that he called apostles. And that number is highly significant. One writer described them because Christ specifically chose 12. He said these 12 were the nucleus of a new people of God.
They’re referred to as the new Israel. Or perhaps better, the restored Israel. Now our dispensationalist friends don’t like language like that. But consider with me the fact that in Revelation 21, in the new heavens and the new earth, when the new Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven, it says that there are 12 gates.
And over the gates were the names of the 12 tribes of the people of Israel. And the city was on a foundation made of 12 stones. And on the 12 stones, the foundation stones, were written the names of the apostles of the Lamb. One city with the tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles named together as one people, as one building, one spiritual building built up by God, And that’s why in John’s visions of the worship services that he saw in the Revelation in the early chapters, how many elders were sitting around the throne?
24. Representing the unification of God’s old covenant people and his new covenant people into one flock. If I may borrow Jesus’ words. So the number of the apostles was significant.
And as the names are listed, there are, as I said, there are variations. It’s the different gospel writers list them, but they’re always in three groups of four. And even though the orders differ within the groups, it’s always the same four in each of the three groups. So the first group, you got two pairs of brothers, Simon Peter, his brother, Andrew, and then you got James and John, both sons of Zebedee. Simon, whom Jesus named Peter, was obviously the best known of the apostles. We hear from him more than any other in the Gospels. He had a prominent leadership position in the early church, of course. He was also probably the oldest of the apostles.
He was married. He had a home. Many of the others might have been a good bit younger than Peter. But then you’ve got Andrew, Simon’s brother. He was actually the first to follow Jesus. If you look into John’s gospel, chapter one, he heard Jesus call to discipleship, and he went and got Simon Peter, his brother, and said, you’ve got to see this guy. You’ve got to meet him. So it was actually through the instrumentality of Andrew that Simon came to Jesus. Andrew was always bringing people to Jesus.
And then James and John. James was probably the older, and that’s probably why when they’re listed in the Gospels, it’s always James and John, not John and James. James was probably the older of the two. And he was the first apostle to be martyred. At least the first one that we read of. In Acts chapter 12, Herod put James to death. And then John, his kid brother, he’s the one that in John’s gospel, probably the one in John’s gospel who’s referred to as the disciple whom Jesus loved.
So Jesus had disciples, he had multitudes of them. He called this group of 12 to be his apostles so that they could be with him in a more close-knit way, in a more intimate way, that they could learn from him, he could teach them, and then send them out. So from the massive disciples, you’ve got the 12.
Then within the 12, you’ve got this inner circle, Peter, James, and John. And of those three, Humanly speaking, in terms of emotional attachment and closeness, John was probably Jesus’ best friend. So there’s James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Now, in the second group, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, and Thomas. Philip is one of the earliest disciples also. He gets a lot of press in John’s gospel. We don’t hear much from him at all in any of the others. But in John’s gospel, Philip appears and speaks and acts on several occasions.
He’s the one that recruited a disciple that in some gospels is called Nathanael, but in Luke, he’s referred to as Bartholomew. And if Bartholomew and Nathanael are the same people, which seems pretty apparent, same person, it seems pretty apparent that that’s the case. Bartholomew is the one that Jesus said, here is an Israelite indeed. And then you’ve got Matthew. We’ve met him already.
He was a tax collector, and he’s the one who wrote the gospel that bears his name. And then Thomas, the one that we sometimes refer to as Doubting Thomas. He’s the one that didn’t happen to be there the first time Jesus, after he had risen, appeared to the disciples. And they told Thomas, and they were so filled with joy, and Thomas said, I don’t believe it. I won’t believe it, unless I put my finger in his hands and put my hand on his side.
Now this third group, James, Simon, Judas, and Judas. You’ve got James, the son of Alphaeus. Elsewhere, Matthew is described as the son of Alphaeus. And some people say that’s two different Alphaeuses. And so these were not brothers, but there is a possible argument that they were. So you may have had multiple, even more than just two sets of brothers amongst the 12. We don’t know for sure. But James, the son of Alphaeus, is the one we sometimes refer to as James the Less, to distinguish him from James, the son of Zebedee, who was more prominent.
Then you’ve got Simon the Zealot, important here. The movement and the group known as the Zealots didn’t get really, really organized and then deliberate in their opposition to the government of Rome until after Jesus had ascended. In other words, they became a particular and organized party a little bit later, before 70 AD and actually helped precipitate the events of 70 AD through their rebellion. But Simon the Zealot was probably an early member of groups out of which, or a group out of which the Zealots were formed. A Zealot was someone who was an extreme nationalist. He’s very patriotic. He loved his country, and he wanted to get rid of Rome. He wanted Israel to be free and independent again.
And then you’ve got Judas, the son of James, to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot. He’s also, in other Gospels, referred to as Thaddeus. And depending on which version you’re using, maybe also referred to as Labaius. And then we’ve got Judas. Judas Iscariot. And Iscariot probably means man of Kiriath. That’s a town in Judah.
He’s the one, of course, that betrayed the Lord Jesus. And each of these individuals, whose names we have here, were chosen by Christ, chosen by name, after he prayed. Let me point out, too, that amongst the 12, you had Simon the Zealot, who hates Rome and loves Israel and wants to get rid of Rome. And you got Matthew, the tax collector, who is a servant of Rome.
Now, it might not seem very bright for Jesus to call these two guys to serve on the same team, but they did. And it teaches us that the gospel has power to unite people across any demographic you can possibly imagine. And then we also see that from this point of application, point of doctrine, perhaps, that we could take is that training and the study of the word are essential for one to take up the Christian ministry.
The 12 were chosen after a period of learning from Jesus. They were chosen from among disciples who had been following Jesus, who had been learning from him. And then Jesus designated them, these 12, as apostles. And then they continued to follow him and continued to learn from him for about another year. before he then sent them out to preach.
So ministerial training should always have a high priority in the church. And in our circles, it does. I’m thankful for that. And we should be praying for laborers, be praying for Joshua and be praying for Jack and others that God is raising up for ministry, that he would send them out into his harvest. And pray for our seminaries, where men go to receive the training that they need for ministry and pray that the Lord would keep them faithful. You know, Yale was founded as a theological seminary because Harvard was going liberal. And then Princeton was founded because Yale went liberal. This is a pattern. It’s a bad one.
That’s why we need to pray for our seminaries, that they would remain faithful. So these 12 called to be apostles, they were called by name, they’re listed here. By name. From among Jesus’ disciples, he called their names. Imagine that. Jesus prayed all night, then he goes out and he calls all of his disciples, and they’re gathered, and then he starts calling names. Simon. Andrew. Can you imagine being one of those 12 and hearing your name called? And then going to be with Jesus and to follow him? And to become one of his apostles? Imagine it.
He does that for you too. He does that for each of us. He calls us. By name. And we need to. We need to hold on tightly to the doctrine of the church, and we need to realize that as we come to Christ for salvation, we’re being brought into a body. We’re being brought into a church, a collective, but he calls us individually. He calls us by name.
Think of those words from Isaiah, fear not for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. You know, and someone might object, well, but that was talking about Israel. It’s a collective reference. It’s talking about the people. Yes, yes, I understand that.
But as a principle, it even applies to each one of us under the gospel individually. And Jesus said, didn’t he? that the shepherd of the sheep calls his own sheep by name. He calls each of you by name. He records individually all those who have been born in Zion. Yes, the church is one body, but it’s made up of individual parts. It’s It’s a spiritual house, but it’s made up of individual living stones of which each of you are.
Jesus knows your name and each person who has trusted in him will hear him call them by name on the last day. You look forward to that during Jesus call your name as he gathers us to himself. I do. Let’s pray. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your grace, and thank you that you have graciously called us by name. Call many, many others, we pray, and bring in all of your elect, and then send your son back to take us to himself. We pray this in Christ’s name, amen.