 |  |
importance and must therefore be considered. Let us give heed to the word as we
examine the matter. First of all, can we be certain that Peter was right when he said that
the Psalms he quoted referred to Judas? We believe we can. But a few days before the
Lord Himself had said:--
"I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may
be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against Me. Now I
tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He"
(John 13: 18, 19).
Here the Lord not only quoted the Psalm as of Judas, but emphasized the point that He
was informing them before it came to pass in order that their faith might be strengthened
at the accomplishment of the event. Now it had come to pass, and they believed.
In addition to this we have recorded in Luke 24: 44-48 the fact that the Lord not
only passed in review the O.T. Scriptures, including the Psalms, and dealt with those
passages that spoke of Himself, but that He also "opened their understanding, that they
might understand the Scriptures". When therefore Peter said, "This Scripture must needs
have been fulfilled", he was but repeating the lesson of Luke 24: 26 and 46, for the
self-same words there, "ought" and "behoved", are translated "must needs be" in
Acts 1: 16.
Even though it may be agreed that Peter's quotation of the Psalm was appropriate, it is
possible that some may entertain the suspicion that in selecting but two men the apostles
were limiting the Lord. We shall however find upon examination, that there was an
important reason for this limitation. Referring once more to our Lord's own instructions,
we read:--
"But when the Comforter is come, Whom I will send unto you from the Father . . . . .
He shall bear witness of Me, and ye also shall bear witness of Me, because YE HAVE
BEEN WITH ME FROM THE BEGINNING" (John 15: 26, 27).
The apostles were evidently acting with this qualification in mind, for Acts 1: 21, 22
reads:--
"Wherefore of these men which have companied with us ALL THE TIME that the
Lord Jesus went in and out among us, BEGINNING AT THE BAPTISM OF JOHN, unto
the same day that He was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us
of His resurrection."
It was therefore not a matter of piety, learning, or fitness of character: what was
essential was capacity to bear personal testimony.
It is generally taught that the words "that he might go to his own place" (Acts 1: 25),
mean that Judas had been consigned to hell or perdition, but the passage bears another
sense and should read:--