The Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles

The Lord left his apostles with instructions and with great gifts. The instructions are listed in several distinct places, but the the gifts are more scattered, both in the four gospels and in the book of Acts later, being given as the apostles needed them.

First, about the apostles... just to clarify, here I'm referring to "the disciples" as including anyone who has followed along to hear the Lord, and "the apostles" to mean the twelve men that the Lord recruited specifically, as listed in Matthew 10, Mark 3, and Luke 6.

Who were the apostles? From the lists in Matthew and Mark, which are the same, we have: Simon (Peter), James and John the sons of Zebedee, Andrew (Peter’s brother), Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew (the publican), Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, (as is Matthew, so they are brothers, too), Thaddeus, (also known as Libbeus), Simon the Canaanite (also called Simon the Zealot), and Judas Iscariot. Bartholomew is almost undoubtedly another name for Nathaniel, see John 1. The list in Luke includes another Judas, "Judas the brother of James" and doesn’t have Thaddeus.

The stories of how they were individually chosen differ, especially in the gospel of John, but that these twelve were appointed by the Lord is clear. A point of interest is that - other than Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot they are all from towns around the sea of Galilee - and perhaps those two are as well. These twelve have their names inscribed on the twelve foundations of the walls of the holy city New Jerusalem, in Revelation 21:14 in which there are also the twelve gates. These men were chosen to represent all the different states of the natural human being that can be receptive of the Lord. They are from Galilee because Galilee represents that natural state of the human mind. The number twelve in the Word represents all possible states of mankind.

What is indicated here is that all people, everywhere, can be saved or regenerated if they repent and turn to the Lord in their lives. No one is "outside" of His reach. We are born natural, everyone is, but we are so formed that our minds can be raised to what is higher, called spiritual for our conceptions of Divine truth, or Celestial for our perceptions of Divine good. But we all start in a natural state and can only move upward by listening to the Lord’s teachings in His Word, and following Him as those Apostles did.

Not all of our natural states are states of good; they can be selfish, domineering, and cruel. But the Lord said that He came "not to save the just but to call sinners to repentance". Perhaps this is why Simon the Canaanite and Judas were two that He called. Simon is little known, but in some places in the Word, "Canaan signifies an external worship without a true internal worship". (See Arcana Coelestia 1060). Can the Lord work with that - with external worship that's internally barren? Yes, as a starting point. And, even Judas, who betrayed the Lord so terribly, we are told, repented of his betrayal of the Lord. (Matthew 27:3-5)

The Lord's Instructions to the Apostles

The two most comprehensive sets of instructions are in Luke 10:1-17 where seventy Disciples are sent out two by two, apparently to a specified list of cities that Jesus intends to visit, and then in Matthew 20:1-19 where the chosen twelve Apostles are sent out to all Israel. Later, as recorded in different epistles, the Apostles go out further, through a wide region.

The basic instructions were to preach that the kingdom of heaven is near, that all should be led to repent of their sins, and that all who wish should be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles should not take any money or extra clothing along, and they were to depend entirely on the Lord’s providence with no doubt that they shall be welcomed, fed, and sheltered. If they were welcomed, they should stay and preach the good news about the risen Lord and His teachings, and if they were not, they should shake from their feet the dust of that place and go on to a place where they were welcome. See Matthew 10, 28, Mark 13, 16, Luke 9, 10:24.

There are several assurances for the twelve. The Lord has told them to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit is sent to strengthen them, and in John 20 where the ten are gathered it is said that He breathed on them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit". Also, in his long talk with them in John 14, 15, 16) He assures them that his crucifixion and death are necessary to his mission and they should even rejoice that it is coming. He shows them from scripture that it has all been prophesied from long ago, (see Mark 4:34) and that what seems to them a tragedy, is truly His glorification and the end of the work He came to do. They, His twelve, are in the same steam of providence and will be protected. "Don’t be anxious," He tells them, "I will put into your mouths what you are to say, I will bring into your memories the incidents to tell to the people".

Here is a listing of the chapters and verses in John where such things are said: John 14:1-3, 10, 16-18, 26-28, 15:11, 16, 26-27, 16:7, 13-15, 22, 26-27, 33. Or simply read the three chapters and pick out your favorites.

A marvelous gift is mentioned in Matthew 10:13, "But blessed are your eyes for they see and blessed are your ears, for they hear…".

In the book of Acts, the Lord vividly shows the apostles that when they speak in their Galileen dialect every listener will hear their words as his own language in his ears; not gibberish, but Arabic to the Arabs, Greek to the Greeks, and Latin to the Romans.

When Peter starts to preach to a gathering of sympathetic Jews he speaks clearly and unafraid, saying that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God and that people should worship Him openly and repent of how they might have felt earlier. Peter’s talk in Acts 3 and 4 is a bold and powerful one. No more hiding behind locked doors.

The early history of the Christian church shows just how well all this worked out. You know what? The Apostles preached to the peoples in the Near East 2000 years ago, and their preaching is just as relevant today as it was then: "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Being at hand has nothing to do with the date or the state of political history in the world, it has to do with the inside of your mind. The Lord is just as close to you now as He was then, and He never turns away, though we might turn away from him. Remember that He said "behold I stand at the door and knock and if anyone hears and opens the door He will come right in." This hasn’t changed nor will it ever change, but He leaves us in freedom to ignore His knocking, if that is what we want. We have to make the choice, but He is always ready if we choose to open the door.

806. Whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb. That this signifies [acknowledgment] by all those who have not become spiritual from the Lord by regeneration is evident from the signification of names, as denoting their quality. For by name, in the Word, is signified the quality of a thing and a state, because, in the spiritual world, persons have not names as in the natural world, but every one is named there according to his quality (concerning which see above, n. 676); and from the signification of being written in the book of life of the Lamb, as denoting to be in love and faith in the Lord (concerning which see above, n. 199, 222, 299); thus also to become spiritual by regeneration from Him. For those who are in love and faith in the Lord from the Lord become spiritual, their love and faith being spiritual; and they are also those who are called regenerate, meant by those whose names are written in the book of life of the Lamb. Hence it is evident, that by names written in the book of life of the Lamb is not meant that their names are there; but that such is their quality, to wit, that they become spiritual by regeneration from the Lord.

[2] It has been shown in the preceding article, what the faith is that is accepted by the general body in the church - that God the Father sent the Son in order that by Him there might be propitiation, mercy, redemption, and salvation. Also, that the Son of God bore our iniquities, that He intercedes for us, and that His merit is granted to those who pray for it with trust and confidence; all these are empty phrases, in which there is nothing of truth, according to the opinion of the learned, and consequently nothing of salvation, as has been expounded in an article above. That these are empty phrases in which there is nothing of truth, is evident from the Word, where the reason for the Lord's Advent and His suffering is treated of - that the Lord came into the world to save the human race, which otherwise would have perished in eternal death, and that He saved them by subjugating the hells that infested every man coming into the world and going out of the world, and, also, by glorifying His Human, for thereby He is able to keep the hells in subjection for ever. The subjugation of the hells, and the glorification of His Human, were accomplished by means of temptations admitted into the Human which He had from the mother, and by continual victories obtained therein. His passion in Gethsemane, and on the cross, was the last temptation and full victory.

[3] That the Lord came into the world for these two reasons, and that He thereby saved the human race from eternal death, is evident from this fact, that the hells before the Lord's advent were not in order; consequently there was no equilibrium between hell and heaven; but hell prevailed on its part over heaven. And yet man is placed in the midst between heaven and hell. Wherefore whatever flowed in with man out of heaven before the Lord's Advent was intercepted by hell owing to its superior power. In order, therefore, that the equilibrium which was destroyed might be restored, it pleased the Lord to come into the world, then to accomplish a last judgment and subjugate the hells. By this means the Lord secured to Himself the power of saving men who have faith and love in Him and from Him.

These things could not have been effected unless the Lord had assumed the Human. The reason is, that God brings about such results from primaries by means of ultimates; for to act from primaries by means of ultimates is to act in fulness. The very strength of the Divine power is in ultimates; consequently it belongs to the Lord in His Human, because this is in the ultimate. This was one reason why the Lord came into the world. The other reason was, that He might glorify His Human, that is, make it Divine; for by this and no other means He is able to keep the hells for ever in subjection, because He thereby acts eternally from primaries by means of ultimates, and thereby in fulness; for thus His Divine operation extends to ultimates in the world; otherwise, it would reach only to the first in heaven, and mediately by them, and by the next following to the last, who are men. If therefore these should give way - as was the case immediately before the Lord's Advent - the Divine operation among men would be at an end, and consequently they would have no means of salvation. The Lord's Divine operation by means of the Human assumed in the world is called His immediate influx even to ultimates.

[4] These are the two means whereby man has salvation, which is called redemption. The reason why this was called redemption by His blood was, that the subjugation of the hells, and also the glorification of the Lord's Human, could be effected only by means of temptations admitted into Himself from the hells, the last of which temptations was the passion of the cross.

From these things it is now evident, that the Lord did not come into the world to propitiate the Father and move Him to mercy, nor to carry our iniquities and thereby take them away, nor that we might be saved either by the imputation of His merit, or by intercession, or by immediate mercy, consequently not that we might be saved by a faith in those things, still less by the confidence inspired by that faith, because such confidence confirms things that are not true, thus that do not belong to that faith. He who knows why the Lord came into the world, and why all are saved who believe and do the things that He taught by Himself, and also by the Father in Him, and not by the Father separate from Him, may see clearly, that many of the things which the rulers of the church teach concerning redemption are to be understood in a way different from their explanation of them.

[5] That the Lord subjugated the hells, He Himself teaches when the passion of the cross was at hand, in these words in John:

"Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (12:31).

Again:

"Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (16:33).

And in Luke:

"Jesus said, I saw Satan like lightning fall from heaven" (10:18).

And in Isaiah also it is written:

"Who is this that cometh from Edom, marching in the multitude of his strength, mighty to save? Mine arm hath performed salvation for me: therefore he became to them a Saviour" (63:1, 5, 8, see also 59:16-21).

Because the Lord subjugated the hells, therefore He gave the seventy disciples "power over demons" (Luke 10:17-19). That the Lord also glorified His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last temptation and full victory by which glorification was effected, is also taught by Him in John:

"After" Judas "was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God shall glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him" (13:31, 32).

Again:

"Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee" (17:1, 5).

Again:

"Now is my soul troubled; Father, glorify thy name; and a voice came out of heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again" (12:27, 28).

And in Luke it is written:

"Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" (24:26).

These things are said concerning His passion. To glorify is to make Divine.

It is now evident that unless the Lord had come into the world, and been made man, and, by this means, delivered from hell all those who believe in Him and love Him, no mortal could have been saved. Thus it is to be understood that without the Lord there can be no salvation. This now is the mystery of the Lord's Incarnation.