THE CHOICE! THE TWELVE.

WHY DID JESUS SELECT EXACTLY TWELVE? , NO MORE NO LESS?  THIS WAS A CONSIDERABLE RETINUE FOR A TEACHER TO HAVE. THREE MEN WOULD HAVE BEEN A RESPECTALE FOLLOWING; SIX MEN WOULD ATTRACT NOTICE; TWELVE ARE REMARKABLE. EVERY VILLAGE MUST HAVE TURNED OUT TO SEE WHAT IT MEANT TO BAND TWELVE YOUNG MEN OF CHARACTER AND PURPOSE UNDER ONE HEAD, THE SELECTION OF TWELVE WAS EXTRAORDINARY, BECAUSE FOR A TIME, THERE SEEMED TO BE NOTHING FOR THEM TO DO. NOW THEY HAVE NO OCCUPATION. THEY HAVE GIVEN UP THEIR PURSUITS IN WHICH THEY WERE ENGAGED: THEIR FISHING, THEIR TAX-GATHERING, THEIR AGRICULTURE. THEY CARRY ON NO BUSINESS. THEY SIMPLY WALK BEHIND THEIR LEADER, TALKING TO EACH OTHER, OR TO HIM;  AND WHEN HE SPEAKS TO THE PEOPLE WHO BEGIN TO GATHER, THEY LISTEN JUST LIKE OTHERS. EVERY VILLAGE MUST HAVE TURNED OUT TO SEE WHAT IT MEANT TO BAND TWELVE YOUNG MEN OF CHARACTER AND PURPOSE UNDER ONE HEAD. DR.J. ELDER CUMMING SUGGESTS THAT THE SELECTION OF THE TWELVE
WAS EXTRA ORDINARY BECAUSE FOR A TIME, THERE SEEMED NOTHING FOR THEM TO DO.
 NOW THEY HAVE NO OCCUPATION. THEY HAVE GIVEN UP THE PURSUITS IN WHICH THEY WERE ENGAGED: THEIR FISHING, THEIR TAX GATHERING, THEIR AGRICULTURE. THEY CARRY ON BUSINESS. THEY SIMPLY WALK AROUND AND BEHIND THEIR LEADER, TALKING TO EACH OTHER, OR TO HIM; AND WHEN HE SPEAKS TO THE PEOPLE WHO BEGAN TO GATHER; THEY LISTEN JUST LIKE THE OTHERS. THE ONLY THING THEY DO IS TO GO WITH HIM FROM PLACE TO PLACE.
 THEY ARE IDLE!   AND IT BEGINS TO BE A QUESTION WHETHER IT IS NOT DOING HARM, AND GIVING RISE TO REPROACH, THAT TWELVE MEN ARE BEING KEPT IDLE FOR NO APPARENT REASON OR PURPOSE,  NEGLECTING OBVIOUS DUTIES IN ORDER TO BE  SO. THIS WAS AT THE  BEGINNING OF THE MOVEMENT; AFTER  DISCIPLES. FOR A TIME THEY WERE , " ALSO CALLED LEARNERS," AND THEY HAD TO LEARN BEFORE THEY COULD TEACH, HENCE THEIR OBSERVATION OF CHRIST, BUT WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANT BEHIND THE EXACT NUMBER CHOSEN, AS WELL AS BEHIND THE MEN CHRIST CHOSE?  TWELVE IS THE NUMBER SUGGESTING " GOVERNMENTAL PERFECTION, SO IT WAS NO ACCIDENT THAT HE SELECTED SUCH A NUMBER. DR. SAMUEL SHADWICK SAYS THAT SINCE JESUS APPOINTED TWELVE IS CLEAR ILLUSTRATION TO THE TRIBES OF A NEW PEOPLE,  WHY DID JESUS SELECT EXACTLY TWELVE?, NO MORE  NO LESS?  THIS WAS A CONSIDERABLE RETINUE FOR A TEACHER TO HAVE. THREE MEN WOULD  HAVE BEEN A RESPECTABLE FOLLOWING; SIX MEN WOULD HAVE ATTRACT NOTICE; TWELVE MEN ARE REMARKABLE. EVERY VILLAGE MUST HAVE TURNED OUT TO SEE WHAT IT MEANT TO BAND TWELVE YOUNG MEN OF CHARACTER AND PURPOSE UNDER ONE HEAD.
THE SELECTION OF TWELVE WAS EXTRAORDINARY, BECAUSE, FOR A TIME THEIR WAS NOTHING FOR THEM TO DO.
NOW THEY HAVE NO OCCUPATION. THEY HAVE GIVEN UP PURSUITS IN WWHICH THEY WERE ENGAGED: THEIR FISHING, TAX GATHERING, THEIR AGRICULTURE. THEY CARRY ON NO BUSINESS. THEY SIMPLY WALK AROUND BEHIND THEIR LEADER (JESUS), TALKING TO EACH OTHER OR HIM; WHEN HE STOPS TO TALK TO THE PEOPLE WHO BEGIN TO GATHER, THEY LISTEN JUST LIKE OTHERS. THE ONLY THING THEY DO IS TO GO WITH HIM FROM PLACE TO PLACE JUST LIKE OTHERS. THEY ARE IDLE! AND IT BEGINS TO BE A QUESTION WHETHER IT IS NOT DOING HARM, AND GIVING RISE TO REPROACH, THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE MOVEMENT AFTER THE DISCIPLES HAD BEEN CHOSEN. FOR A TIME THEY WERE DISCIPLES, " OR LEARNERS,"  AND THEY HAD TO LEARN BEFORE THEY TEACH.
HENCE THEIR OBSERVATION OF CHRIST AS THEY BEGAN TO FOLLOW HIM. BUT WHAT WAS THE SIGNFICANCE BEHIND THE EXACT NUMBER CHOSEN, AS WELL AS BEHIND THEMEN CHRIST CHOSE? TWELVE IS THE NUMBER SUGGESTING GOVERMENTAL PERFECTION, SO IT WAS NO ACCIDENT THAT HE SELECTED SUCH A NUMBER., BY "JESUS APPOINTED TWELVE IS CLEAR ILLUSTRATION TO THE TRIBES OF A NEW PEOPLE. HE CAME AS MESSIAH AND WAS CUT OFF THAT HE MIGHT BRING A SPIRITUAL NATION INTO BEING ISA.11: 6-10). BEFORE HIM NO RABBI HAD DARED TO ASSERT SUCH A CLAIM. A.B. BRUCE SAYS: IT HAPPILY EXPRESSED IN FIGURES WHAT JESUS CLAIMED TO BE, AND WHAT HE HAD COME TO DO, AND THUS FURNISHED A SUPPORT TO THE FAITH AND  STIMULUS TO THE DEVOTION OF HIS FOLLOWERS. IT SIGNIFICANTLY HINTED THAT JESUS WAS THE DIVINE MESSIANIC KING OF ISRAEL, COME TO SET UP THE KINGDOM WHOSE ADVENT WAS FORETOLD BY PROPHETS IN GLOWING LANGUAGE, SUGGESTED BY THE BALMY DAYS OF ISREAL'S HISTORY, WHEN THE THEOCRATIC CONSISTED IN ITS INTEGRITY, AND ALL THE TWELVE TRIBES WERE UNITED UNDER THE ROYAL HOUSE OF DAVID. THAT THE NUMBER TWELVE WAS DESIGNED TO BE SUCH A MYSTIC MEANING, WE KNOW FROM CHRIST'S OWN WORDS TO THE APOSTLES ON A LATER OCCASION, WHEN DESCRIBING TO THEM THE REWARDS AWAITING THEM IN THE KINGDOM FOR PAST SERVICES AND SACRIFICES, HE SAID, " VERLY I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT YE WHICH YOU HAVE FOLLOWED ME, IN THE REGENERATION WHEN THE SON OF MAN SHALL SIT IN THE THRONE OF HIS GLORY, YET SHALL ALSO SIT UPON TWELVE THRONES, JUDGING THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL" ( MATT. 19;28).THE RELIGOUS LEADERS OF THE TIME EAGERLY SCANNED THE PROPHECIES AND PROPHETS WITH  MINDS ALERT TO THE LATEST SIGNS OF THEIR TIMES (JOHN 1:19). AND IT WOULD SEEM AS IF CHRIST WAS MAKING A DIRECT APPEAL TO THEIR IMAGINATION AND FAITH, WHICH THE TWELVE SHARED. SO BY THIS NUMBER THOUGHTS WERE DIRECTED, NOT ONLY TO THE PATRIARCHS, BUT ALSO TO THE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY," THE BOND OF ONE WITH WHOM IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO LIE. THIS WAS TO BE THE ANCHOR OF THE TWELVE ENABLING THEM TO OUTRIDE THOSE STORMS WHICH LATER, WHICH, LATER, WERE TO BREAK ON THEM WIH HURRICANE FORCE.