All right. Good morning, everyone. We are ready to get back into the Book of Acts. And I think last time we had covered down to verse 8 in Chapter 1. And then there is one other comment that I wanted to make about what is said in verse 8.

Acts 1:8 Where Christ said that "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth."

We covered what that meant last time the Gospel spreading out from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria, the northern region of the ancient land of Israel, and then to the ends of the earth, which could mean any direction of the compass. But some commentators will say it goes all the way out to the Straits of Gibraltar, some say Rome, which is where the Book of Acts will end, India over here, and it certainly could mean down into Africa.

We do know that the Roman Empire had trade contacts as far south as what is present-day Tanzania in East Africa. And so that would have been logical for disciples to have gone in that direction spreading the Gospel as well. But he's talking and speaking to the fact that “they will be witnesses to me”, and that is an important word or concept. Some limit this to just the 12 disciples, the 12 apostles, but the Book of Acts doesn't bear that up, doesn't prove that out, as we will see that a wide variety of people become witnesses of Christ, of the Gospel, and are instrumental by example, and by deed, and by word, spreading the Gospel.

And so doing so makes them witnesses as well. We're going to see, for instance, individuals such as Lydia in the city of Philippi, who is very obviously a key figure of the Church that begins there will be introduced to a woman named Dorcas, who at her death, people are mourning because of the example that she set as a disciple. Peter is going to resurrect her back to life, but she's held up as an example there of a devout and righteous woman. Will even encounter a Roman centurion who already has a very good reputation among the Romans and the Jews, especially, it says, to allow for him to be a witness. In a sense of doing good works, he will get baptized. That'll be a major story that we'll go through.

And then there's going to be the group of people that are disciples who after the martyrdom of Stephen are scattered from Jerusalem. And we will read about a group that goes as far as the city of Antioch way up here in Syria, and they actually begin a church. And it's not the apostles. It is a group of lay members who were scattered up there. That church becomes a significant church and player in the story of Acts. My point is this, that when Christ says, "You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem," He is speaking to the disciples, and that is a wider audience than just the 12 apostles. And we will see that in the Book of Acts.

And that puts an incumbent responsibility upon us to consider what that might mean for us individually to be a witness of Christ, a witness of the Gospel of the kingdom and the announcement of the kingdom, and living as a result of the kingdom of God. And so there's a lot that is packed in here that Jesus is laying out to them. And verse 8 really does kind of set a tone and a theme for the rest of the Book of Acts. So, I don't think it can be overstated. It can certainly be misunderstood if we just limit the application of this. Let's move on to verse 9 now.

Acts 1:9 "When He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their site."

And so they're on the Mount of Olives, which is the mountain to the east of Jerusalem. I have a picture up here on the screens, quite a nice picture of what looks like a sunrise over the Mount of Olives. You see the gold dome or the dome of the rock there on what is called the Temple Mount Area. And a very nice picture here of clouds, but that's the actual site. If you ever go to Jerusalem, you'll go to the Mount of Olives, and it's a wonderful view from there down on the city of Jerusalem. And just to stand on the Mount of Olives puts you right here where Christ ascended.

And it's also, we know from Zechariah 14, the touchdown point when Jesus will return to the Earth and His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives. And so the Mount of Olives plays a very key part and a key role for us to understand so many different events of Scripture.

But He's taken up and a cloud received Him out of their site. This particular picture shows some clouds, maybe those clouds were about in that type of position at that very moment, maybe they were lower. It says that He went up far enough to where they could see Him, and then He was enveloped by a cloud, and they did not see Him. He disappeared, and He was gone. Now, this is the final appearance of Christ, the resurrected Christ to His disciples. We will have the occasion of Christ appearing to Saul on the road to Damascus, but that's an isolated incident there.

Paul will talk in 2 Corinthians about a vision where He is taken up into the third heaven, but that's another isolated situation in terms of Him bodily appearing to His disciples. This is it. And it's 40 days after His resurrection, and He returns to the Father, to heaven, to the third heaven, to the throne of God, all of those indicating that realm of the divine that actually later in Revelation, we get an even more graphic picture in Revelation 4 and 5 give us a detailed vision of the throne of God.

Sometimes we might speculate, how long did it take Him to get there? Did He fly out to Pluto, hang a ride, and boom, He's gone? "3rd Rock From the Sun" or something like that? I don't think it was very long at all. I think probably as soon as they ceased to see Him, He was there. Understanding the nature of the difference between the physical realm and the divine realm isn't anything that can be described by physics or science. He slipped into that realm just instantaneously is the best way I can understand it personally to speculate on it, and that's what it is, but He was there.

When we look at the morning of the resurrection when Jesus first was seen, Mary couldn't touch Him because He says, "I have not yet ascended to my Father." And then later that morning, His feet were held by the disciples. So, obviously, in the meantime, He had been accepted as a wave sheaf offering, He'd gone to the Father's throne and returned. And again, some time had elapsed there, but to make that trip, so to speak, is something that our human terms really can't begin to explain, but He's gone. They stood there, and they were just watching.

Acts 1:10 Says, "They looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up."

And I think they were kind of, "What does this mean?" I mean, they were looking for something else to take place but there was a pause on their part here, and they didn't move, and then two men stood by them in white apparel. These are angelic spirit beings who then appeared, and in verse 11, said to them.

Acts 1:11 "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?" What are you doing? "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go up into heaven."

It's almost a prod. This is almost a prod to get on with the work. Don't stand around. As they say down South, don't lollygag and dawdle and waste time. It was really a direct statement to them to be busy, to get about what they were to do. It's not that they didn't believe on an earlier occasion in Mark 6. Christ had rebuked them for their unbelief. And they're not unbelieving. I think, if I can use the word, they're kind of stupefied at this point as to what is taking place and what they have been a part of, and what He has told them in this final lesson on the Mount of Olives. And so they're motivated, they're urged.

Acts 1:12 It says, "They then returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey."

So, they then removed from the Mount of Olives back to Jerusalem. And if we move on to this next slide here, this particular picture was taken from the Mount of Olives, looking toward the west over the city of Jerusalem. They would have either descended into what is the Kidron Valley, which separates the Mount of Olives from the Old City of Jerusalem. And then they would have ascended back into the city, or some feel that there was a bridge across the Kidron Valley at that time that they could have walked across. They were somewhere on the Mount of Olives. The village of Bethany where Lazarus and his sisters lived is in the area of the Mount of Olives.

And it says that they returned a Sabbath day's journey. This was about two-thirds of a mile. The rabbinical teachings in schools at the time had a certain course laid out for them as to what would be a Sabbath day's journey allowable by rabbinic standards. Luke uses that just to illustrate that they were a short distance from the Mount of Olives to where they returned into the city of Jerusalem at that point. Very likely they went back to the room that they had leased or rented from the time of the Supper, the meal that Christ had with them the night before He was crucified that we read about in the Gospel accounts where they had prepared the Passover service and that this becomes the scene of what takes place here in the next few verses.

But all of that would have been a very short journey. And the emphasis here is not so much in trying to define what might be allowable for us on the Sabbath to travel back and forth as we look at it from our perspective today as it is I think a marker of a part of the law of God. We will see through Acts that we have references to Sabbath days or holy days. Atonement will be mentioned. Passover and unleavened bread will be referenced. In Chapter 2, Pentecost.

And so Luke uses these markers of the festivals, the holy days, to delineate events and certain scenes that we will see. And he does so in a matter-of-fact straightforward telling. It's not so much to lay out a doctrinal teaching. That's already done. When you go back to Leviticus and Deuteronomy and to the law, we see the law regarding the Sabbaths, for instance. As Luke uses those in the Book of Acts, they tend to be markers of time and events in regard to the Church and what Paul was doing at that point. And again, it's a straightforward telling that I think, and some of the commentators look at it and they can't just kind of dismiss it and throw it out, but they are showing the mindset of both Paul and the early Church. They were keeping those days. And it's just an affirmation that was understood.

Sometimes it is important to realize as you look at the New Testament, we don't have everything reiterated in the New Testament that's already covered thoroughly in the Old Testament under the laws, especially in the five books of Moses, commonly called the Pentateuch. Not everything is repeated. We will see it there. We see the Sabbath, we see the holy days, we see discussion about tithing. And the resurrection is actually more fully delineated in the New Testament than we have it in the Old Testament, but it's a matter of understanding how all of that fits within the obligations of the people of God in covenant with God. We are under the new covenant today. We're not under the old covenant that was made with Israel at Mount Sinai. We're under a new covenant experience.

And the key is you will learn as you go through so many of our classes here as we study certain of the teachings, especially when you go through the Book of Galatians. You will learn the importance of the law attached to various covenants. And when a covenant expires such as the old covenant, the law doesn't expire. It's not done away. The law had been a part of that covenant. The law of God, the basic law, the commandments is eternal, it is spiritual, and in a sense, can't be done away or destroyed or changed by let's say the sacrifice of Christ or any other command or edict. That law is eternal. And we will see, and we'll show you, I think, very clearly how under the new covenant that law is still there and we are to obey that.

So, as we look at this, that's a long way to go from just a reference to a Sabbath day. I think I'm making the point, don't try to get into a legalistic approach toward defining where we might travel on the Sabbath day or whatever. Obviously, we want to keep the Sabbath day holy and observe it in the right manner and employ the principles and the teaching and the law of God on all of that. We'll cover that on that doctrine. I have, well, many things to talk about when it comes to the Sabbath day. But I think that this is just one of Luke's markers that he lays down here. So, it's a short distance, and they come back.

Acts 1:13 It says, "When they entered, they went into the upper room where they were staying..."

And again, most commentators realize or feel that this upper room is the room where that was leased or rented for what we would call the Passover meal, the last meal that Christ had with His disciples. And they probably just extended it. It's where in the period some of the stories after Christ's resurrection where He appears to them, and it's very likely in that same room. And so they go back there, and it mentions who they are.

Acts 1:13 "...Peter, James, John, Andrew, Phillip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James, the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James."

This is not the Judas Iscariot. He's dead by this point. So, there are 11 of them who return back to this. And so we are in a 10-day period between the ascension of Christ and the events of Chapter 2, which are on the day of Pentecost, which is the 50th day. And Pentecost is the 50th day counted from the morning after the resurrection, Sunday morning, it must fall during the days of unleavened bread. We'll talk about that again when we go through the festivals in more detail as to how we figure that out of Chapter 23 of Leviticus, and primarily verse 16 of Leviticus 23 where the specific instruction as to how to count Pentecost is given, but that takes you to Pentecost. So, they've got a 10-day period here, and they spend it.

Acts 1:14 It says, "They continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and His brothers."

So, there's about 120, we're told in verse 15, of the collected disciples who are remaining and gathering together in this period of time after the ascension, and among them, specifically, are a grouping of women, some of whom have been already mentioned in the Gospels. And specifically, it is mentioned Mary, the mother of Jesus with His brothers. This is the last mention of Mary, Christ's mother in Scripture that we have. She obviously had a larger family. She went on to have more children. We are shown that from the Gospel. And typically, as Luke does, he highlights the role of women in the story. And Luke's emphasis here brings out certainly a very important person, and that is Mary.

I know that you'll go through the Gospel accounts and we'll talk more about Mary. I think sometimes because of the Catholic emphasis on the worship of Mary and the cult of Mary, which, you know, as I showed you the other day when we were talking about the Ishtar in Babylon and how ultimately that becomes Artemis in Ephesus. And a direct line can be brought all the way down into the modern worship of Mary and that cult that has developed within the Catholic Church down through the centuries. We obviously see a perversion of her role and of her place and how she... She's actually worshiped by the Catholics as the mother of God. And she's prayed to and even in some statements you can find in Catholicism she's looked upon as even above God because she's the mother of God. She gave birth to God. And Marianism is quite an involved theology within Roman Catholicism. It's a whole study in itself.

But because of that, I think we probably through the years, and I'll be as guilty of this possibly as anyone else, we've not always, I think, correctly brought out what Scripture does tell us about Mary by going through those stories, a story in the Gospel accounts and what we learn there. And it's quite important, and it's quite detailed, and there's instruction there regarding that. I think years ago I did give one sermon on Mary that I probably still have my notes on that, and spent a whole sermon going through the account. It can make a very effective sermon, an expository-type sermon to go through those scriptures there.

Mary, eventually by tradition, she winds up in the city of Ephesus. That's the tradition, way over here where the story has it that John, the last apostle, he winds up in Ephesus, and I think that's true, and he dies there. You can see a marker of his grave in Ephesus. But the tradition is that Mary, who was given to the charge of John, also died in Ephesus. The Catholics have a church, a shrine there in Ephesus. I haven't seen that in a couple of trips I've made to Ephesus. And I'm not really interested. I've seen enough Catholic churches throughout the years and their erection of those churches over various places. And they do have one in Ephesus there that supposedly marks a place where maybe she was buried, I believe. But that's a plausible story that some dispute, but we're beyond... I don't think we need to get too far into that. But this is the last place that she is mentioned in Scriptures. Now, it's what takes place here that we want to now turn our attention to.

Acts 1:15-17 "In those days," verse 15, and that would be within that 10-day period. We don't know if it was three days after the ascension or five days after, but during that period, "Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about 120), and there he said, 'Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.'"

And so here now begins probably the most significant decision that they take during this period from the ascension of Christ to Pentecost. And now they're going to replace Judas. And he says, "He was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry." Now, if you go back to Luke 22. Hold your place here, and let's go back to Luke 22 so we can at least establish a basis for understanding how they came to this conclusion, apart from certainly the inspiration, the lead of God's Holy Spirit.

Luke 22:28-30 Christ told His disciples, "You are those who have continued with me in my trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom just as my Father bestowed one upon me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel."

Here, Christ made a connection to the 12 and this unique office to which they were called, and it was unique, as we will see. It was even different from... Paul will be an apostle. Strong case can be made that Barnabas would have been considered an apostle, too, and likely others, but there was only one group of 12. It's like there's only one first group, a unique group to a particular enterprise.

We had one. The first class of ABC way back in 2000 was the first class. There's only one first class. Not that there's the first class in every case, but they were the first class. I don't have on the tip of my tongue what number you are. You can count the pictures on the wall in the hallway. But there's only one that begins something. And there was only one group of 12. And Christ equates them to the 12 tribes of Israel. So, He makes that connection, and that was huge in the story of Israel. The 12 patriarchs. Twelve sons of Jacob gave rise to the 12 tribes and the nation that was there. That is the foundational story of Israel and of the Old Testament. We'll see that advancing even into the imagery of the Book of Revelation. Here, the apostles are linked to them, and that's why there are 12 as a beginning is made here.

And so there's a continuity from the Old Testament into the New Testament. Did they understand it fully when Jesus said it to them here? My guess is they probably didn't, but by the time we come to Acts 2, they now recognize that they can't just continue on with 11. They have to replace Judas, who is now dead. And they have to come back up to this 12. They understand the importance of it, and they begin this process.

Acts 1:18 Says, "Now, this man purchased a field with the wages of inequity." He betrayed Christ to the Jews for 30 pieces of silver. And I think you know that story largely, and you'll go through it in detail with Dr. Dunkle. But he came back, he threw that money down. "Falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all of his entrails gushed out."

A rather gruesome story here.

Acts 1:19 "It became known," in verse 19, "to all of those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, the Field of Blood."

And traditionally, that is a location in the Valley of Hinnom. And I'll just go ahead and roll this over at this point, at least to show you something on the map here. This is the Jerusalem at that time. This is another depiction of it. This is the Kidron Valley. And the Kidron Valley comes down into the valley of what is called the Valley of the Hinnom, or the Hinnom Valley, H-I-N-N-O-M. It kind of runs south and a little bit to the west of the city in Jerusalem. This particular picture here shows some old tombs that are in that valley to this day. And this picture shows more of an aerial view of the Hinnom Valley and the area that this Field of Blood or Akel Dama would have been in. And that red line kind of traces that down through there. But this is the Valley Hinnom today that is on the southern part of the Old City of Jerusalem today.

If you ever go to Jerusalem, usually you would do that on a tour, I dunno, how many of you have been to...any here in this room been to Jerusalem? One has, okay. Did you go to the Valley of Hinnom? You did. All right. A few years ago, Scott Ashley and I were kicking around Jerusalem after a Feast tour, and we toured through Israel for a few days, and we wound up in Jerusalem, and I think we had seen everything we could see at a particular point. And I said, Scott, I said, "Let's do something unique. Let's walk through the Valley of the Kidron and then up through the Hinnom Valley." So, we had a few hours that afternoon, we kind of got over here into this area of the Kidron Valley, and you can actually do this. There's a road that runs down through there, and there's all kinds of churches and cemeteries. And down lower here, there's actually Palestinian villages, Arab villages here. It's called Silwan. And you can walk down there, and then you can kind of see where the two valleys come together, and you can walk up through the Valley of Hinnom. And I told Scott at the time we did that, I said, "We need to be able to go back home and say that we've walked through hell, which is one of the names...Valley of Hinnom being one of the names for hades or hell in the New Testament.

And you can do that today. And it's quite interesting. We actually walked by these old rock tombs that have long since been looted and are empty. I think there were wild dogs living in them at the time. I still have some pictures from that somewhere. And walked up through the Valley of Hinnom, Akel Dama, which is the Field of Blood. And did that. So, this is where Judas hung himself. And when you put the scriptures together, if you go back to Matthew's account in Matthew 27, it says that "He hung himself and the rope broke and he fell." And what likely happened here, to reconcile, verse 18 here of Acts 1 and the account back in Matthew 27, is that he committed suicide, hung himself, and he was just allowed to hang there.

And as the days went by and the body became bloated, at some point, the rope broke and fell. And as it says here, "His entrails gushed out." That's the best way to explain the accounts to reconcile that in his particular death. We don't know if anybody took it any further or any further steps. Scriptures don't record that. This is the record of a very ignominious death for a man who did a very ignominious deed here, Judas Iscariot. But they turned their attention to his replacement.

Acts 1:20 "For it is written in the Book of Psalms: 'Let his dwelling place be desolate and let no one live in it. And let another take his office.'"

Now, verse 20 is interesting, and we should spend a moment on this. They've come to replace Judas. We've already gone back to Christ's statement about equating the 12 apostles, 12 disciples, and their role to that of the 12 tribes of Israel. Now they have to replace it. How did they come to this moment where they knew they had to do it? Well, I think we can take Luke 22, for instance, and certainly that realization. My opinion, and it's only an opinion because I can't turn to a Scripture to explain it is that likely during that 40-day period among the many things that Christ told them. It is highly likely that He instructed them that they would need to replace Judas. And that, to me, is logical, even though it's not recorded anywhere in the Gospels or here in these first verses of the Book of Acts. But they come to that decision.

Now, what I always find interesting about what is recorded here is the scriptures that they quote to explain what is done. Peter is quoting from two different Psalms, locations in two different Psalms here. And what is verse 20, "For it is written in the Book of Psalms: 'Let his dwelling place be desolate and let no one live in it.'" If you have a marginal reference in your Bible, it'll be right there. That is quoted out of Psalm 69:25. I'm not going to turn and read it. And then the second phrase, "Let another take his office," comes out of Psalm 109:8. Two different Psalms that are not specifically talking about Judas Iscariot or replacing Judas Iscariot. One of them's talking about...It's in the context of the wicked and asking God to do something to take care of the wicked. And yet these are the two that are pulled forward under God's inspiration of the event. And as Luke has talked to someone who was there, written it down, because Luke was not here.

So, later on, years later when he's gathering his history, Luke would have gotten this from an eyewitness account. And here's the two verses that stand as the justification, the scriptural explanation which...you know. Something of this magnitude, you want to turn to Scripture, right? We turn to Scripture for a lot of our decisions in the Church, you know, that are important ones. We want to be sure that it's in accord with Scripture either explicitly or implicitly. But here is the beginning of something that is important to note. And we'll see it continuing through the Book of Acts, and you'll see it as you go or taken through the epistles. And that is where Scriptures from the Psalms and other Old Testament Scriptures are cited in sermons and in the writings of Paul, the sermons of Peter or John, or Paul. And a different meaning is drawn from it.

Now, I haven't talked with you about that yet in doctrines, I don't know if Dr. Dunkle has, but this is what we call a very, very bad exegesis. Anybody know what an exegesis is? Has that been discussed already? All right. That's where you draw the meaning out of a verse, and you want to be sure you draw the correct meaning out of a verse. The opposite term is what is called eisegesis, which means that you read something into the verse that is not there. We don't like to do eisegesis. You should not do eisegesis in your study of the Word of God. You want to do a very good exegesis as you draw the meaning out, the ex from the Latin, to exit or to go out, to bring out.

And what Peter is doing, according to the Jewish scribes that he's going to run into in a few verses here, he's doing a very, very bad exegesis because the Jewish scribes and Pharisees, Sadducees, and all the teachers of the law, they know these scriptures in their heart. They could have repeated them verbatim without rolling the scroll out. And if they've been there and heard Peter quote this and apply it to replacing Judah, they would have raised their hand and say, "No, no, no. That's not what that verse means." But Peter went on anyway. And this is something that we see. It may be bad exegesis by the Jewish standards, but we look at it as part of the Scripture in the Acts of the Apostles. It is God-inspired, and it is the teaching through the Holy Spirit.

And Peter and the others have been led either explicitly, perhaps as Jesus taught them, or now as God's Spirit is working with them to draw this out, they come to this conclusion. Now, we're going to see that ultimately as they take the Old Testament Scriptures, preach them as illustrating and having been predictions of Jesus Christ, which is at the heart of the preaching of the Gospel in the Book of Acts, that will bring them into conflict with the Jews because the Jews say, "Those are our scriptures. You unlearned Galileans, why do you think you are able to take that and draw this meaning out of it and apply it to this Nazarene whom we killed and you say has been resurrected?" And that sets up the conflict in the Book of Acts and the early Church between now the Church and the Jewish leadership. But it kind of begins right here.

And it also brings a point that we should understand and see it as it is done in Scripture. You'll see it in Paul's writings in many different places. And Christ has already taught them that back in Luke's account with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. That account explicitly says that Jesus explained the scriptures out of the law in Moses that they applied to Him. So, Jesus has already used that method to explain Himself to His disciples post-resurrection. And again, that runs counter to the ways the Jews thought about it.

Now, you want to hold that thought because when it comes to our prophetic understanding in the Church today as we understand the teachings of the promises to Abraham, the blessings foretold to be fulfilled in the time of the end, we see those Scriptures having an application to the end time events and to an end time fulfillment, even in this age, among the English-speaking peoples.

And I think that we have to allow that God's servants, even today, can gain enhanced understanding through God's Spirit on certain matters to be able to explain and understand prophetic Scriptures. And so this principle is an important one, and it comes down to, let's say, the understanding and the application of Scriptures into the current world. And we'll talk more about that as we go through certain prophetic matters. But this is what has happened here.

Acts 1:21-22 It says, "Therefore, all of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection."

And so this is the criterion then that is laid down for the selection of this individual to replace Judas. Number one, he must have been with them from the baptism of John, that's John the Baptist. That's the earliest parts of Christ's ministry. And so among those who were the disciples, "until He was taken up from us," which we just read about at the end of 40 days.

And so whoever is going to be the replacement must come from that grouping. So, those are two scriptural requirements. "And one of these must then become a witness with us of His resurrection." So, fulfilling those two requirements, he would have seen the resurrected Christ. And that speaks to the real key to the Gospel and to the preaching that we're going to find beginning in Chapter 2 and 3 as they are witnessing of His resurrection and the power of that resurrection. And that is a very, very important principle of teaching and preaching that we find in Acts and the epistles of Paul, especially, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the importance of that. We will not underemphasize that. We cannot overemphasize that. As Paul says that without that key event, our faith is in vain, 1 Corinthians 15. So, I'll leave it at that point for later clarification and description. But that is a key to the Gospel.

Acts 1:23 "And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias."

So, Barsabas or Joseph and Matthias are the two that they then among themselves called out.

Acts 1:24-26 "And they prayed and they said, 'You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they cast their lots, and the lots fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the 11."

And so they chose two, according to the criteria that they understood had to be there, and then they left it to God. I understand that by winnowing it down to 2, the 11 had come to in their mind not only that the two qualifications were met, but that they now also could work with either one. They appealed to God to make the final decision, but they were more than willing and ready in their heart of hearts to accept God's decision. They could work with either one of them. You know, that's important to kind of understand. It's implied here. These men had been a team working together for all these years. And they were unique.

And you know, frankly, today the same principle operates. If you have to replace a team member on a job or in some endeavor, that person who's coming in a little bit later has got to be able to fit, right? And they can't come in and be such a, you know, burr in the saddle that they just upset the harmony and the unity. So, the 11 had come to a point where they were able to do that. And so they cast lots. Now, this is an ancient practice. Got a couple of examples here of lots. Here are some Egyptian and Roman period dice is essentially what they are, and you can see them. But they go all the way back to that period, used in gambling and used, in some cases, even by casting out numbers-wise to determine certain matters. This was a way by which this was done. Was this how they did it here? We don't know. This is just one method that was available. Here's the die.

And then here's another method. These are shards of pottery that have names written on them. In this case, they are priestly families. They come from the ancient city of around about the seventh century. But what these were are lots. A name of an individual would have been written on a piece of pottery, thrown into a pot box or whatever, and out of it either drawn or shaken and thrown out, and in some way, the determination would have been made as to whose name would have come up. The ancient Greeks did this as they chose leaders of their cities in the period of Greece. And they would write the name of the candidates on pieces of broken pottery, which is what these are, called shards, or Ostraca is a technical term for it.

And the Greeks would draw out who they would choose for their leader, and those that were not drawn out basically had to leave the city. And in the Greek culture, they had to leave the city for 1 year, 5 years, sometimes 10 years, and that gave rise to the term ostracized. You ever heard that term a person is ostracized? Well, that comes from the Greek practice, and that's why they call these Ostraca to determine this. Was this how they did it? We don't know here in Chapter 1, but they appealed to God, and the lot then fell on Matthias, and he became the 12th. He became the replacement for Judas.

Now, we talked about earlier. A question had come up about why we don't do this in the church today. And just for the sake of the recording and those watching this later, we don't do it because we don't see it in the Book of Acts after Chapter 1. With the giving of the Holy Spirit in Chapter 2, we see and we will see other instances where people are selected. We'll see six deacons chosen in Acts 6, and we will see Barnabas and Saul chosen by the members, or some of the leading members in the city of Antioch in Chapter 13 and sent out to evangelize. And we don't see lots being done there.

So, we take that or conclude that with God's Spirit among the people and upon the Church, that is our guide, along with prayer and fasting and following Scriptural principles and teaching of men of character, wisdom above reproach to make selections for the office of a minister, servant within the Church, or specific duties that are maybe given to them as they go out.

So, this kind of brings us down finally to the end of Chapter 1. It's taken us a couple of classes to do so, indicative of how I teach the Book of Acts. I try to get everything in. There's a lot to cover as we go through that, which leaves us with a compliment now of 12, and the disciples are ready to begin what is the Church. We'll see that in Chapter 2 of Acts as the Day of Pentecost comes on that 50th day. So, we'll pick that up in the next class beginning with Chapter 2, and go on to discuss the Day of Pentecost.