Mark 3:13 Commentary and Bible Study

From this point on Christ is preparing the disciples and the church for his own kingdom and final return. At the start of this is the appointment of the twelve apostles out of the greater number who are following him. The Lord goes to a hill, a mountain, and, according to Luke, remains there all night in prayer. This appointment is going to be of such crucial importance and Christ must pray about it earnestly, going without sleep in order to continue in prayer all night. What did he pray for? He surely prayed for each one he was going to appoint and that they would be able to do the work now and in the future. He prayed knowing what would happen to them, just as he later prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail knowing in advance that Satan desired to sift him as wheat. He also prayed knowing all the Scriptures that must be fulfilled, including the prophecies surrounding the betrayer. Following this prayer he chooses the future apostles, the twelve disciples. They were not volunteers. Of course they responded freely and in a sense they responded voluntarily, willingly, but they did not decide to be apostles. He called and appointed them, and so it is with those who are saved. He calls his servants, whether it is the twelve apostles at the start of the church age, or whether subsequently it is evangelists, preachers, and ministers who are called to serve him. Says the apostle Paul of himself, that he was the one born out of due time, ‘called to be an apostle.’ It is God's appointment; it is Christ's appointment. He called twelve. What an interesting number! Why twelve? Because there had been twelve tribes; because it was Israel that was appointed to look for him and expect him, with whom God had a special covenant until the time of Messiah; it was numbered by twelve tribes, and so there were twelve disciples. Even the symbolism is rich. In Revelation 4 and 5 we read of the twenty-four elders; that is the term used when the church of the Old and the New Testaments is spoken of as one – twelve tribes and twelve apostles. Now the Jewish-Gentile international church of Christ has taken over from the Old Testament church. The Jewish flag has been run down and the flag of the Jewish-Gentile Gospel age church has been run up. This is the new Israel, the church of Jesus Christ, which would be the family of the redeemed. Therefore, corresponding to the old order which was numbered by twelve, there are twelve disciples or apostles.