1. Introduction

   1. The word "apostle" means "one who was sent." In these first verses Christ equipped the twelve apostles for their first mission as ambassadors of His kingdom. In the rest of ch. 10, Christ instructs the twelve apostles first about the task of their mission, then He gives them warnings and encouragements. In v. 1 Christ equipped the apostles for their task, and in vv. 2-4 the apostles are introduced by name and designated for the first time a distinct and special group of 12 men.

   2. Outline.

      1. Christ Equips His Disciples v. 1

      2. The Apostles vv. 2-4

      3. Their OT Backdrop & Heavenly Goal

2. Body

   1. Christ Equips His Disciples v. 1. In v. 1 we see that Christ equips His disciples.

      1. Text

         1. And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

      2. Ordination. These men were regular "disciples" first as v. 1 says, but after Christ specially equipped them, Matthew calls them "apostles" in v. 2. Their office and role changed from "disciple" to "apostle" when Christ equipped them. This was the ordination of the twelve apostles.

      3. Time of probation. Notice that Christ required His apostles to undergo a time of probation before they were ordained as apostles. It is not right to ordain a man to a special office of ministry immediately after he becomes a believer. He should first be tested, and then when found faithful he may be approved. (1 Tim. 3:10)

      4. Time of preparation. Before Christ made them apostles, He prepared them for ministry through time spent with Him personally, by teaching them, and giving them the understanding of His word. This is what He does with you! He prepares you for ministry through communion with Him, teaching you the gospel, and leading you to live it out in your life. Christ equips you to serve as His disciples.

      5. Extraordinary gifts. Christ equipped the apostles specially for their task by giving them what we call "extraordinary" gifts. He "gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction." Christ gave the apostles the extraordinary gifts of casting out demons and healing diseases. We can see that these gifts were not common to the ordinary disciples, because they are the gifts which distinguished the apostles as no longer being ordinary disciples. For that reason we call them "extraordinary" gifts, and believe Christ gave them only to the apostles and prophets of the NT in their role as the foundation of the church, and for that purpose—to found the NT church.

      6. Ordinary gifts. Today Christ still gives ordinary, but by no means unimportant, gifts to every member of His church. He gives gifts of salvation, faith, wisdom, teaching, leading, serving, giving, administrating, encouraging, exhorting, and showing mercy. Paul says "Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." (Eph. 4:7) Christ has equipped you for service in His kingdom, and He will continue to equip you for greater service than you have rendered before. This is what He did with His apostles—teaching them in the Sermon on the Mount, equipping, ordaining, and sending them on this first evangelistic mission, and using this mission as training grounds for their future service, for which He would further equip them when He breathed the Spirit of Truth on them before sending them out with the Great Commission.

   2. The Apostles vv. 2-4. Who then were the twelve apostles? Matthew tells us their names and attaches their reputations so we will remember how they served and sinned, grew by the grace of God and bore fruit in founding the church.

      1. Text

         1. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

         2. 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

         3. 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

      2. Their Organization. Notice their organization. They are named by couples, for Christ sent them out two by two, so it would have been natural for Peter and Andrew his brother to travel together, likewise James and John his brother, and so on. "It is an excellent thing, when brethren by nature are brethren by grace, and those two bonds strengthen each other."¹ Two are better than one, and every word should be established by the mouth of two witnesses.

      3. Their Individual Reputations. Notice also their individual reputations. It is an honor to each that their names are mentioned here, but the greater honor is for one's name to be written in the Book of Life, for Judas' name may not be written there.

         1. Unknown. Some of these men remain unknown beyond their being listed here—Bartholomew, and Simon the Cananaean—yet despite their obscurity we may trust they were faithful servants to Christ and His church, as are many obscure ministers today. Simon's designation "the Cananaean" does not mean he was a Canaanite, a Gentile, or a resident of the city of Cana. Rather, it comes from the Aramaic word for the Zealots, a politically and militarily active group seeking to protect the national rights of the kingdom of Israel. This is Simon the Zealot.

         2. Peter. Peter is named first. Because of his bold personality and Christ's naming Peter "the Rock" on which Christ would build His church, Peter was always the most prominent in word and deed among the twelve. Whether he was sinning or serving, Peter made a big splash! But when he was about to sink and drown, it was not Peter, but Christ, who lifted him up. When he cut off the servant's ear it was Christ who reigned Peter in and healed the man's ear. When Peter denied Christ three times, it was Christ who restored him to service. Christ did not give Peter any authority over the other apostles. Rather, Christ took Peter's strong personality and used it in the service of His kingdom, sanctifying Peter's character to eventually give him an enduring boldness by the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

         3. James and John. James and John are listed after Peter, because they were particularly close to Christ; Christ took Peter, James, and John with Him separately from the other disciples to pray, to witness some miracles, and to witness the Transfiguration, and John was "the disciple whom Jesus loved." (John 21:7, 20)

         4. Matthew. Though the other gospels name Matthew before Thomas, here Matthew humbly lists himself in second place to Thomas, adding what the other gospels do not say—that Matthew had lived the despised and sinful life of a tax collector. Humbly remember the sinful life from which God saved you, for He "saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus." (2 Tim. 1:9)

         5. Thomas. Thomas was honest about his fears and doubts. It's better not to call him "Doubting Thomas," because the word Christ uses to describe him is not best translated "doubting," but "unbelieving." "Do not be unbelieving, but believe." (John 20:27) Perhaps Thomas was truly an unbeliever until that point. At least he was a holdout, but Christ finally brought Thomas to faith in the end. Christ's words to Thomas are good for you, "Do not be unbelieving, but believe."

         6. Judas. Judas Iscariot is always named last, because as Matthew notes here at the first mention of Judas' name, at the beginning of Judas' service as an apostle, that this Judas betrayed Christ. This is the one Jesus intended when He said "One of you is a devil." (John 6:70) What the disciples only knew in the end Christ knew from the beginning. As a faithful shepherd sent by Christ to guard His flock, Matthew wants you to know Judas' evil character from the outset so you will not be devoured by this wolf amidst the eleven other sheep. This is a warning to you! Even among the twelve apostles there was a wolf in sheep's clothing, a false teacher misleading God's people, misusing His money, and one day seeking to crucify the Savior. Even today there are unbelievers in the church, even unbelievers who will never repent and be saved. Of these Hebrews says "it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt." (Heb. 6:4-6) The reprobate in the church today follow the pattern of Judas, coming so close to Christ, but never receiving Him; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Pray that God will save you from being one of these, and pray He will overcome their influence in His church.

   3. Their OT Backdrop & Heavenly Goal. The twelve apostles are part of God's plan of salvation from the beginning of time to the end of history. Consider the apostles' OT backdrop and their heavenly goal.

      1. Their OT Backdrop. First, their OT backdrop.

         1. Angels & Prophets. In the OT God sent His angels and prophets to bring His word to His people. The word "angel" means messenger; one who carries news.

         2. The Shaliach. God's people in the OT would sometimes send a representative, called a "shaliach," which comes from the Hebrew word "sent" just as "apostle" comes from the Greek word "sent." A shaliach spoke with the full authority of the person who sent him, and could act on that person's behalf, as Eliezer did when Abraham sent him to find a wife for Isaac.

         3. Malachi – The Messenger of the Covenant. In Malachi, the last book of the OT, whose name means "My Messenger," God promised "Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts." (Mal. 3:1) God promised to send Jesus Christ as the messenger of the covenant. The one of whom the Father would say, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him." (Matt. 17:5) God spoke to the fathers "at many times and in many ways...but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son." (Heb. 1:1) In the OT God prepared the way for us to listen to Jesus Christ, and in the NT God sends forth the gospel of Jesus Christ for all to hear. Above all else it is this communicative function founded in the Old Testament which the apostles served in the New. The apostles founded the church by living, preaching, teaching, and applying the gospel of Jesus Christ.

      2. Their Heavenly Goal. But there is another way in which they were the foundation of the church. They were not only messengers. They were also the first members of the church. The first people in it. The first of the many living stones from which the whole church is built. The message and the messengers of the OT and the NT aim at the heavenly goal of bringing people into the church, and finally into glory. Into the church triumphant, the heavenly Jerusalem in the New Heavens and New Earth.

         1. Their Number. It is in terms of this heavenly goal that we see the significance of Christ choosing 12 apostles. Matthew Henry writes, "Their number was twelve, referring to the number of the tribes of Israel, and the sons of Jacob that were the patriarchs of those tribes. The gospel church must be the Israel of God; the Jews must be first invited into it; the apostles must be spiritual fathers, to beget a seed to Christ. Israel after the flesh is to be rejected for their infidelity; these twelve, therefore, are appointed to be the fathers of another Israel. These twelve, by their doctrine, were to judge the twelve tribes of Israel, Luke xxii. 30."² And as their ministry, these twelve would unite the faithful remnant of the twelve tribes with God-fearing Gentiles from every tribe and tongue and nation into one new people, the church, the true spiritual and covenantal heirs of the twelve tribes, the true Israel of God, and following Christ would lead them into glory! God's word will not return void, but will accomplish all for which He sent it: "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Not one of all the saints is lost. The twelve tribes find their fulfillment in the apostles and the church, and our final life in heaven. The twelve apostles were "typified by the twelve precious stones in Aaron's breastplate, the twelve loaves on the table of show-bread, the twelve wells of water at Elim." These are "the twelve stars that made up the church's crown (Rev. xii. 1): the twelve foundations of the new Jerusalem (Rev. xxi. 12, 14)."³

         2. Rev. 21:9-14 says this,

            • 9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb."

            • 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,

            • 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

            • 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed-

            • 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.

            • 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

3. Conclusion

   1. Through the twelve apostles God has brought His message of salvation to you. And by that gospel you who believe are now numbered among the sons of God.

Blessed are the sons of God,

They are bought with Christ's own blood;

They are ransomed from the grave,

Life eternal they shall have:

With them numbered may we be,

Here and in eternity.