When Jesus chose his disciples “he ordained twelve that they should be with him and that he might send them forth to preach”. That is why he called them “apostles”, for an apostle was distinguished from a disciple in that he was sent away to preach.
Later, Jesus “gave them power and authority over devils and to cure diseases and he sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick”. We are not told exactly what form their preaching took except that “men should repent”. It could not have included Christ’s atoning work for at that time they did not know that he would be put to death, despite the fact that they were told in the plainest of language—”They understood none of these things for this saying was hid from them, neither understood they the things that were spoken”.
So far as we know the knowledge of the gospel message was imparted to the disciples by Jesus explaining his parables to them. In doing so he said, “It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven”. Although those parables appear in Matthew after the record of Jesus sending forth his disciples they were actually spoken before that event.
The first parable—that of the sower—they did not understand, for they asked, “What might this parable be?” To which Jesus replied, “Know ye not this parable; how then will ye know all parables?” It formed the very basis of his teaching, for the seed was not only “the word of God” but the “word of the Kingdom”.
Then followed the parable of the tares, which again the disciples failed to comprehend, so Jesus explained that “the field was the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom, the harvest the end of the world, and the reapers the angels”. He said, “the Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father”.
As to this promised reward, no doubt there was a reference to the prophecy of Daniel, the only one in the Old Testament which clearly foretells resurrection and reward: “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever”.
Finally Jesus gave the parable of the net that gathered both good and bad fish, repeating the lesson of the tares. He then asked, “Have ye understood all these things?” to which they replied “Yea Lord”. Then Jesus added: “Every scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old”. Scribes were those who expounded the Scriptures; so the disciples had become scribes, able to expound not only the teaching of the Old Testament but also that of the New.
What was new? The “latter days” of the Old Testament had been clarified as “the end of the world” or age, and for the first time it was made clear that the righteous would not be rewarded and the wicked punished until then: and the angels would play a part at that time.
Only very remotely could the disciples have associated these things with the Kingdom they looked for, since they expected the immediate restoration of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, with Messiah as conquering ruler; for had it not been prophesied that he would dash his enemies “in pieces like a potter’s vessel”? and had they not repeatedly witnessed his supernatural powers even to the stilling of the raging seas? One can imagine their breathless exclamation on that occasion: “even the wind and the sea obey him!”.
Here then was the one who could drive out the hated Roman and re-establish God’s Kingdom of Israel in all its glory. Small wonder the people in Galilee tried to take him by force and make him king; small wonder the multitude in Jerusalem cried “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” as he rode into their city.
Before that time the disciples had become increasingly concerned about the position they would occupy in the Kingdom. They asked Christ the pointed question, “Who will be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”; upon which he took a child in his arms and said, “Whosoever shall humble himself as a little child the same is greatest”.
Perhaps the matter was reopened when, in reply to Peter’s question “What shall we have?”, Jesus said, “Ye that have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel”; for shortly afterwards two came to him with the request that they might sit “One on his right hand and the other on his left hand in the Kingdom”.
As this the other disciples were annoyed, causing Jesus to say to all of them, “Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they which are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you let him be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister”.
Two incidents give us an insight into the spirit that prevailed in the circle of the disciples, first when one who cast out devils in the name of Jesus was condemned by them “because he followeth not us”, and later when the Samaritans hindered their progress and the disciples asked “Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did?”. Well might Christ reply, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of”.
We may be shocked that the disciples should have chosen the solemn occasion of the Last Supper to reopen the question of precedence in the Kingdom, where Luke tells us that “there was also strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest”. But looking into the matter we realise why they did so.
After the partaking of the Passover Jesus said, “I will not any more partake thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God”. This, so the disciples must have thought, clearly indicated that the Kingdom would be established before the next Passover; but there was more to follow, for when Jesus handed them the cup, he said “I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom”.
Jesus must often have drunk wine with his disciples, for had he not a reputation with his enemies for being a wine-bibber? So when he assured his disciples that the kingdom would be established before he drank it with them again, they must have assumed that “the Kingdom would immediately appear”.
Later, hopes fell to zero at the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus, but they were revived in no uncertain manner by his resurrection and ascension to heaven, and the plaint “we trusted it would have been he that would have redeemed Israel” became the confident assertion, “this Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses”.
And so the disciples became Apostles when Jesus told them, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel”. But this time they went forth with the full knowledge of all that the Gospel implied, except that they still had to learn the part the Gentiles were to play in God’s scheme of salvation.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One