Acts 1:23-26

Presented on September 3, 2006

Last week when we stopped we had been studying about how the Apostles have decided to add to their number. Today we will see by what method they decide to choose the man who will take the place of Judas, that "son of perdition".

Read Acts 1:23-26
Having decided that someone must take up the mantle that Judas dishonored, two men of good character and that met the qualifications were named: Barsabas and Matthias.
Note that before proceeding, the congregation went before God in prayer. The prayer is worth noting carefully:
“You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all”
Indeed our God is Sovereign. He can see into the hearts of those whom He has created. He knows, brothers and sisters, our very thoughts. Foolish is the man or the woman who thinks they deceive our God. Many there may be who come to church and play the game, deceiving us every day. But I tell you with full assurance that God is not fooled for so much as one second! He knows the heart of all.

“show which of these two You have chosen”
Do not miss the importance of these words. The Scriptures record clearly here that the gathering was fully aware that one of these men was already called of God. They themselves did not know whom it was…but God did. Not because He knew the outcome but because He determined it.

“to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”
As we discussed a couple of weeks ago, the apostles fulfilled a ministry which no longer exists. At this time, however, their ministry was important to the birth and growth of the Church, and so they were to add another to their number. Note also the words referring to Judas going to “his own place“. Both John Gill and Albert Barnes go to great lengths to explain how the phrase was used by the Jews of antiquity to denote an eternal destination. And since we may be fully confident that Judas’ final destination was not heaven, it has been the natural interpretation of the church that “his own place” refers to that terrible place which we know as Hell. A place that is the natural destination of all of sinful mankind; a place which we are spared only by the merciful grace of a loving God.

Brothers and sisters, in an age of skepticism, there are those who deny the existence of a literal hell. Some may well ask, “How could a loving god send someone to hell?” The more accurate question we should ask, however, is “Why would a holy God redeem any of us from our well earned punishment?” Before we shake our fists at God and shout “how dare you” we should remember that our redemption was purchased by His own blood! Furthermore, let us never forget that God does not owe us our salvation. I pray that nobody in this room thinks they are worthy of it, that they were deserving of the gift that Jesus purchased for us by hanging on the cross and enduring the torture that He did.

So ends the prayer and then they cast their lots and it falls upon Matthias to enter into the fellowship of the Apostles.

Interestingly enough, the casting of lots was considered essential in important decisions for the Jews. And it was not considered what we might think of it today. Casting of lots was a solemn and reverent appeal for direction and guidance from man to God. As Barnes notes, the manner in which Canaan was divided was chosen by the casting of lots (Numbers 26:55).
Before we vent our fury and righteous indignation to this casting of lots…what exactly was it? While the exact manner is not known, a manner of doing so was to write the names of people on stone or wood, along with some blanks, and put them in an urn or bowl from which someone drew a lot, or which was then thrown on the ground and the one that came face up was the one chosen for whatever office or honor was being decided upon.
In its most simple design, of course, we can be sure that the result of any casting of lots is always decided as the Lord wills. To not admit this is to say that God is ignorant of future events…and only the most foolish of men hold that notion. Does this mean, however, that the casting of lots is the best manner by which we decide important spiritual decisions? I would say no. I do not dare to judge these men here…but I would say that unless the Holy Spirit gives you an unequivocal sign that you must rely on the casting of a lot…we should instead turn to other means when faced with important decisions.

The only other thing I want to mention about this is that some have said that the casting of lots was in reality voting. In other words, each man cast a lot for the man he or she chose, and the one with the most lots won. The only problem is that the word for lots is kleros and nowhere in the Scriptures is it used to refer to a vote in the sense that we understand it today.

Let us close in prayer