12
The Acts of the Apostles
with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach.”
Mark 3:13,
14
.
Look upon the touching scene. Behold the Majesty of heaven
surrounded by the Twelve whom He has chosen. He is about to set
them apart for their work. By these feeble agencies, through His word
and Spirit, He designs to place salvation within the reach of all.
With gladness and rejoicing, God and the angels beheld this scene.
The Father knew that from these men the light of heaven would shine
forth; that the words spoken by them as they witnessed for His Son,
[19]
would echo from generation to generation till the close of time.
The disciples were to go forth as Christ’s witnesses, to declare to
the world what they had seen and heard of Him. Their office was the
most important to which human beings had ever been called, second
only to that of Christ Himself. They were to be workers together
with God for the saving of men. As in the Old Testament the twelve
patriarchs stood as representatives of Israel, so the twelve apostles
stand as representatives of the gospel church.
During His earthly ministry Christ began to break down the par-
tition wall between Jew and Gentile, and to preach salvation to all
mankind. Though He was a Jew, He mingled freely with the Samari-
tans, setting at nought the Pharisaic customs of the Jews with regard
to this despised people. He slept under their roofs, ate at their tables,
and taught in their streets.
The Saviour longed to unfold to His disciples the truth regarding
the breaking down of the “middle wall of partition” between Israel and
the other nations—the truth that “the Gentiles should be fellow heirs”
with the Jews and “partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.”
Ephesians 2:14
;
3:6
. This truth was revealed in part at the time when
He rewarded the faith of the centurion at Capernaum, and also when He
preached the gospel to the inhabitants of Sychar. Still more plainly was
it revealed on the occasion of His visit to Phoenicia, when He healed
the daughter of the Canaanite woman. These experiences helped the
disciples to understand that among those whom many regarded as
[20]
unworthy of salvation, there were souls hungering for the light of
truth.
Thus Christ sought to teach the disciples the truth that in God’s
kingdom there are no territorial lines, no caste, no aristocracy; that
they must go to all nations, bearing to them the message of a Saviour’s