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.

86. And have the keys of hell and of death. That this signifies that He has the power of saving, is evident from the signification of keys, as being the power of opening and shutting (concerning which, see Arcana Coelestia 9410); and from the signification of hell, as being evils, because all evils are from hell and are of hell; and from the signification of death, as denoting damnation, which also is called spiritual death (concerning which see Arcana Coelestia 5407, 6119, 9008). The reason why to have the keys of hell and of death, denotes also the power of saving, is, that the Lord alone removes the hells from man, and thereby damnation; and when they are removed, then man is saved, for in their place heaven and eternal life flow in. For the Lord is constantly present with man, and desires to infill him with heaven, but evils oppose its reception; therefore so far as the hells are removed, that is, so far as man desists from evils, so far the Lord with heaven flows in. The reason why the Lord here says that He has the keys of hell and of death, is, because in the immediately preceding words it is said, that He is alive unto the ages of the ages, by which is meant that life eternal is from Him. So far also as the Lord is received in faith and love, so far He is in man; and so far as He is in man, so far He removes evils, and thus the hells and eternal death. He alone effects this, on which account He is to be received, as is also evident from the passages quoted just above from the Word.

[2] The reason why by hell are signified evils of every kind, is that all evils are therefrom; whatsoever a man thinks or wills, is either from hell or heaven; if he thinks and wills evil, it is from hell, but if he thinks what is good, it is from heaven; nor is it possible for a man to think and will from any other source.

The man who believes that he thinks and wills from himself is ignorant of this; nevertheless, I can assert from all my experience concerning this circumstance, that everything that a man thinks and wills, is from either one or other of those two sources. This also is the reason why a man who thinks and wills evil, is actually in hell; and where he actually is when he lives in the world, thither also he comes after death; he cannot go to any other place, because his spirit is formed and composed of those things which he thinks and wills, therefore when he thinks and wills evil, he is wholly formed and constituted of evil, so that he is his own evil in form. Hence it is that infernal spirits are altogether the images of their own evil, monstrous and horrible according to the species of evil; but the only means by which a spirit can be formed and fitted for heaven is to receive the Lord in faith and love, for the Lord alone, because He is present in faith and love with man, removes evils, and forms him into an image of heaven, which is an angel.

[3] From these considerations it is evident what is signified by having the keys of hell and of death. The reason why they are called keys is, that all the hells are shut up, and only opened when evil spirits are cast in thither, and when any are taken out, as in the case when evils increase with men. The openings then made are called gates, and because they are called gates, therefore mention is made of keys, by which, on that account, is signified the power of opening and shutting, for the opening and shutting of gates is effected by means of keys. Something similar to this is signified by the keys given to Peter (Matthew 16:18, 19), because by Peter is there signified truth from good which is from the Lord, thus that the Lord alone, from whom is all the truth of faith and good of love, has that power (as may be seen in the small work, The Last Judgment 57).