Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 6.djvu/20

14 bought it too. Look how they will answer it, when God shall make inquisition for blood.

(5.) The fulfilling of the scriptures in this, which had spoken so plainly of this, that it must needs be fulfilled, v. 16. Let none be surprised or stumble at it, that this should be the exit of one of the twelve, for David had foretold not only his sin, (which Christ had taken notice of, John 13. 18. from Ps. 41. 9. He that eateth bread with me, hath lift up the heel against me,) but had also foretold,

[1.] His punishment; (Ps. 69. 25.) Let his habitation be desolate. That Psalm refers to the Messiah: mention was made but two or three verses before, of their giving him gall and vinegar, and therefore the following predictions of the destruction of David's enemies must be applied to the enemies of Christ, and particularly to Judas. Perhaps he had some habitation of his own at Jerusalem, which, upon this, every body was afraid to live in, and so it became desolate. This prediction signifies the same with that of Bildad concerning the wicked man, that his confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and shall bring him to the king of terrors: it shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his; brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation, Job 18. 14, 15.

[2.] The substitution of another in his room. His bishopric, or his office, (for so the word signifies in general,) shall another take, which is quoted from Ps. 109. 8. With this quotation Peter very aptly introduces the following proposal. Note, We are not to think the worse of any office that God has instituted, (whether magistracy or ministry,) either for the wickedness of any that are in that office, or for the ignominious punishment of that wickedness; nor will God suffer any purpose of his to be frustrated, any commission of his to be vacated, or any word of his to be undone, for the miscarriages of them that are intrusted therewith. The unbelief of man shall not make the promise of God of none effect. Judas is hanged, but his bishopric is not lost. It is said of his habitation, that no man shall dwell therein, there he shall have no heir; but it is not said so of his bishopric, there he shall not want a successor; it is with the officers of the church as with the members of it, if the natural branches be broken off, others shall be grafted in, Rom. 11. 17. Christ's cause shall never be lost for want of witnesses.

2. The motion he makes for the choice of another apostle, v. 21, 22. Here observe,

(1.) How the person must be qualified, that must fill up the vacancy; it must be one of these men, these seventy disciples, that have companied with us, that have constantly attended us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, preaching and working miracles for three years and a half, beginning from the baptism of John, which the gospel of Christ commenced from, unto that same day that he was taken up from us. Those that have been diligent, faithful, and constant, in the discharge of their duty in a lower station, are fittest to be preferred to a higher; those that have been faithful in a little, shall be intrusted with more. And none should be employed as ministers of Christ, preachers of his gospel, and rulers in his church, but those that are well acquainted with his doctrine and doings, from first to last. None shall be an apostle but one that has companied with the apostles, and that continually; not that has visited them now and then, but been intimately conversant with them.

(2.) To what work he is called, that must fill up the vacancy; he must be a witness with us of his resurrection. Rv this it appears that others of the disciples were with the eleven when Christ appeared to them, else they could not have been witnesses with them, as competent witnesses as they of his resurrection. The great thing which the apostles were to attest to the world, was, Christ's resurrection, for that was the great proof of his being the Messiah, and the foundation of our hope in him. See what the apostles were ordained to, not to a secular dignity and dominion, but to preach Christ, and the power of his resurrection.

III. The nomination of the person that was to succeed Judas in his office as an apostle.

1. Two, who were known to have been Christ's constant attendants, and men of great integrity, were set up as candidates for the place; (v. 23.) They appointed two; not the eleven, they did not take upon them to determine who should be put up, but the hundred and twenty, for to them Peter spake, and not to the eleven. The two they nominated, were, Joseph and Matthias, of neither of whom do we read elsewhere, except this Joseph be the same with that Jesus who is called Justus, whom Paul speaks of, (Col. 4. 11.) and who is said to be of the circumcision, a native Jew, as this was; and who was a fellow-worker with Paul unto the kingdom of God, and a comfort to him; and then it is observable, that though he came short of being an apostle, he did not therefore quit the ministry, but was very useful in a lower station; for, ''Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Some think this Joseph is he that is called Joses, (Mark 6. 3.) the brother of James the less, (Mark 15. 40.) and was called Joses the just, as another person was called James the just''. Some confound this with that Joses mentioned Acts 4. 36. But that was of Cyprus, this of Galilee; and, it should seem, to distinguish them, that was called Barnabas—a son of consolation; this Barsabas—a son of the oath. These two were both of them such worthy men, and so well qualified for the office, that they could not tell which of them was fitter, but all agreed it must be one of these two. They did not propose themselves nor strive for the place, but humbly sat still, and were appointed to it.

2. They applied themselves to God by prayer for direction, not which of the seventy, for none of the rest could stand in competition with these in the opinion of all present, but ''which of these two? v''. 24. 25.

(1.) They appeal to God as the searcher of hearts; "Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, which we do not, and better than they know their own." Observe, When an apostle was to be chosen, he must be chosen by his heart, and the temper and disposition of that. Yet Jesus, who knew all men's hearts, for wise and holy ends, chose Judas to be one of the twelve. It is comfortable to us, in our prayers for the welfare of the church and its ministers, that the God we pray to, knows the hearts of all men, and has them not only under his eye, but in his hand, and turns them which way soever he will; can make them fit for his purpose, if he do not find them so, by giving them another Spirit.

(2.) They desire to know which of these God had chosen; Lord, shew us that, and we are satisfied. It is fit that God should choose his own servants; and so far as he any way, by the disposals of his providence, or the gifts of his Spirit, shews whom he hath chosen, or what he hath chosen, for us, we ought to comply with him.

(3.) They are ready to receive him as a brother, whom God hath chosen; for they are not contriving to have so much the more dignity themselves, by keeping out another, but desire to have one to take part of this ministry and apostleship, to join with us in the work, and share with us in the honour, from which Judas by transgression fell, threw himself, by deserting and betraying his Master, from the place of an apostle, which he was unworthy of, that he might go to his own place, the place of a traitor, the fittest place for him, not only to the gibbet, but to