(2) The second reason is found in Luke 24:44:

`These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you,

that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of

Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me'.

A -- These are, certainly, weighty arguments in favour of your

B -- I have not finished yet.

After making this statement concerning

Himself, Luke 24:45 -48 continues:

`Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the

Scriptures.  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it

behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and

that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name

among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  And ye are witnesses of

these things'.

You will see that not only did these men have an opened Bible during

that wonderful forty days (Acts 1:3), but they had an opened understanding

also.  When Peter said `This Scripture must needs have been fulfilled', he

was echoing the words of Luke 24:26 and 46, where `must needs' is translated

`ought', and `behoved'.

A -- I begin to realize what a great responsibility rests upon those

men, who, so many centuries after the event, with so much tradition between

themselves and the beginning, have so lightly presumed to be the critics of

Peter, James and John.

B -- So you may.  Yet there is more.  These same correctors of the

apostles tell us that Peter limited God to the two men Joseph and Matthias.

Now let us see whether this is so.  Peter's words are:

`Wherefore of these men which have companied with us All the time that

the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of

John, unto that same day that He was taken up from us, must one be

ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection' (Acts 1:21,22).

A -- What was Peter's authority for making this stipulation?

B -- The Lord's own words in John 15:26,27:

`But when the Comforter is come, Whom I will send unto you from the

Father ... He shall testify of Me: and ye also shall bear witness,

because Ye Have Been with Me from the Beginning'.

This is confirmed by Luke's statement in Luke 1:2.

A -- This stipulation would rule out the apostle Paul then!

B -- Yes, and it testifies against all those who seek to place Paul

among the twelve, for his knowledge of Christ did not commence until after

the resurrection.  Let us briefly indicate one or two further points in

favour of Peter's action.