The Rock in a World of Sand
It may be the most overlooked aspect of the gospel. It probably doesn’t sound like especially good news, but just history — the lives of a few ordinary men. Maybe, though, you’ll marvel with me at the wisdom of God.
Jesus recruited twelve men, and gave the bulk of his time and energy during his ministry to developing and preparing them for leading the church after he was gone. Think about that. Twelve men. Have you ever paused to consider whether he might have done it another way?
Or put the question this way: Why have the risen Christ appear “not to all the people” but only to the apostles? That’s how Peter said it in his first gospel sermon to Gentiles: “God raised [Jesus] on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses” (Acts 10:40–41).
Why not have the risen Christ appear to all the people, to countless thousands in Jerusalem and beyond? And why not appear bodily to Christians today? Why the apostles first, and so prominently, even though he also appeared to “more than five hundred brothers at one time” (1 Corinthians 15:6)? Why focus his appearing to such a limited group in the first century? And what makes it good news for you and me?
