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.

"And his name is called The Word of God." Revelation 19:13

Additional readings: Isaiah 44:21-28 Psalms 15, Psalm 16

If we believe in God, our Heavenly Father, Who created the world and placed us in it, then we must believe in a Word of God, a Bible, a message from God to tell us what we need to know about Himself and about our relation to Him and about how to live in order to fulfill the purpose of our creation.

A loving parent would tell his children what they needed to know. Still more would our heavenly Father tell his children of Himself and of His love for them and of their nature, in His image and likeness, born for a short life in this world and for eternal development in heaven. He would warn them of the dangers of selfish ness and tell them of the safety and bussing of keeping near to Him and living according to his precepts and commandments.

Consequently there must be a Word, instruction from the Lord to every age and to every people. This Word may be given by perceptions of wisdom from within, by visions, by instruction by angels, as in the early days of the creation of man. At a later date it was given through prophets and took the form of a written and printed Word, to suit the needs of the people. The form may change but there must always be a Word, some message from the Lord to show us the way to a safe and happy life.

In the Writings of the New Church, we are told of an Ancient Word existing and in use long before the days of Moses, written in symbol and parable, as was the custom of speaking and writing in that age. Parts of this Ancient Word are preserved in our scriptures, brief fragments in the books of numbers, Judges, and Samuel, and several chapters at the beginning of the book of Genesis, the first seven chapters verbatim, and the first eleven in substance. Confirmation of the fact of the existence of this Ancient Word is found in the stories of Eden and the flood so like our own which are found in the remains of several nations, especially in those parts of the Near East which were the home of the Church which possessed the Ancient Word.

There has in all ages and with all peoples been a Word of God. We need to note that there are other sacred literatures than the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. These come in part from the same source and bring divine precepts to peoples of a genius differing from our own, but they are mixed with much which is not divine. We should realize that the Old and the New Testaments are the Lord's Word to us. And as they treat of the Lord's life on earth, and as these scriptures are the Word which was made flesh, the Law and the Prophets which He came to fulfill, they are in a unique sense the Word for the whole world to which the command applies, "Go ye, and teach this Gospel to all nations” (Matthew 28:19).

It is indeed a marvel that men can hold in their hands a book which contains a message from God, the Creator of the universe. To some it seems incredible. But God has the power to reach down through all the degrees of the spiritual world and all degrees of the natural. He did reach down through these planes in creating them and still does so in sustaining them. The Word can follow wherever creation goes, for every created object on every plane is an expression of the Divine love and wisdom of the Creator.

Even objects of the lowest natural plane are symbols and types of the Divine spirit within. So comes the parable, heavenly truths clothed in natural terms. In these universal terms God speaks to man, and His Word contains a message for everyone from the highest angel to the lowest man. Everyone hears the message according to his ability to understand, and even in its lowest form, which is the literal meaning, there is Divine light and power, so that it is throbbing with inward life.

"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Matthew 11:15, Mark 4:9). Here is another marvel; the Divine Word can be opened if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. That is why the Lord did not need to set aside the old law, but only to open it in order to reveal the heavenly and Christian message which it contains. He did not destroy the Law and the Prophets, but opened the ancient scriptures and brought forth from them a new light and power for a new age, to meet a new and upward step in the world's development.

And this is the method of His second Coming. For the Word holds at its center the very Divine love, wisdom, and power of God, and has within it love and life for every plane of human life in heaven and on earth, through which it passed to its expression in the language and symbols of this earth.

The New Church is the church of the opened Word, the new light for the new age, revealing the Hebrew and Christian scriptures as the Divine Word for the present day.

That the world has entered a new age we cannot doubt. And this age needs a Word, a message of guidance, protection, and instruction from the Lord. Never was such a message needed more. While those who recognize this need stand doubting, wondering whether to reject the old Word as having served its use—a Word for a crude, unscientific age—and to expect a new Word to fall from heaven or to evolve itself in human minds, the Lord Himself has acted and met the need. He has by a chosen servant showed us that the Word already given has within it Divine love and truth and a message from God to every plane and degree of human development in earth and heaven.

He has opened the Word, the Word which has so endeared itself to men and women in the past and which has proved its power to thousands of heavenward pilgrims of many races. He has opened the word to give what the world needs for its guidance in a new age, a new revealing of Himself, a new revealing of the Christian law in its application to individual life and to the larger social life, a new revealing of what He has done and is doing in heaven and in earth for the establishment of His kingdom.

Out of the old Word, the Word long tried and loved, the new light shines, opening before us the path of the New Age. In the march of progress One goes before us, and the host of heaven follow, and the host of heaven follow, and the host of men and women who work for the progress of the heavenly kingdom, who are ready to give themselves, head and heart and hand for the uplifting of humanity, who are willing to give their lives to make men better and the world happier. "And his name is called the Word of God."