FIVE SMOOTH STONES - The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherds Bag

FIVE SMOOTH STONES — The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherd’s Bag

Almost everyone is familiar with the twelve apostles whom Jesus called when He was upon earth. These twelve were chosen from among the disciples who were following Jesus. The scripture tells us that the Lord went off to a solitary place to pray and when He returned He chose twelve to be apostles. Luke 6:12 “ Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the moun- tain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles .” These twelve were with Him for His entire earthly ministry. One of these, Judas, betrayed Him and was replaced by Matthias 3 . Between the ascension of Jesus and the day of Pentecost Matthias was chosen to replace Judas. The requirements given for Judas’ replacement are given in scripture. Acts 1:22 " 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. " Therefore, Matthias was to have been with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry at the baptism in the Jordan by John, all the way to the resurrection, and also be chosen by the Spirit of the Lord. It is evident that there are none alive today that could ever again fulfill the requirements to have been on earth with the Lord from His baptism to ascension. Now some mistakenly believe that these twelve were the only apostles4. But this is not the case. These twelve certainly were, and are, special and are granted a unique place both in history and in heaven. They are called the Apostles of the Lamb (Revelation 21:14) and the Lord said that they would sit on twelve thrones and judge the nation of Israel (Matthew 9:28). There will never be another Apostle of the Lamb. But the Lord did call others to be apostles after these. Most everyone recognizes that the man who formerly persecuted the Church who was converted miraculously on his way to Damascus by the name of Paul was also an apostle. It has even been suggested in some circles that the apostle Paul really was called to be the twelfth apostle, not Matthias. This, of course, could not be true, because Paul

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