The
disciples of Jesus -- some of whom became the chosen twelve – were
not rabbis or biblical scholars. They were ordinary men who were
called to an extraordinary task for the Lord. The chosen twelve
would be the foundation stones of God's Kingdom with Jesus as the
Chief Cornerstone and the Capstone – the beginning an the end.
Luke
6:13: When morning came, He called His disciples to Him and chose
twelve of them, whom He also designated as apostles. Jesus
personally chose these twelve men out of His multitude of disciples
to begin preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and advancing His
kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. The advancement of His kingdom
hung on this small remnant of ordinary men who were chosen and
empowered at Pentecost with the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus
starting small would pour Himself into these chosen ones teaching,
training and equipping them to establish His Kingdom on earth.
Most
of the early disciples were from Galilee, not Judea. Galilee was a
fertile agricultural region where trade routes intersected and where
both Jews and Gentiles lived. Jesus often retreated there when being
threatened in Jerusalem and Judea.
John
the Baptist has paved the way for Jesus by preaching confession and
repentance, and baptizing those who responded. John the Baptist's
sole purpose was to preach repentance, baptize and point people to
Jesus. John the Baptist had a large following that reached even
beyond Israel. He had tremendous influence on multitudes, yet John
the Baptist had no problem stepping aside and telling his disciples
to follow Jesus. God had introduced John the Baptist to Jesus while
they were both still in their mother's womb. They were connected
Spirit to Spirit in their mothers' wombs. John had been waiting for
Jesus to come for years.
Andrew
and Simon Peter
Andrew
and Peter were brothers. John
the Baptist planted the seed of truth and stirred the hearts of some
of his followers – in particular Andrew and John. When Andrew and
John heard John the Baptist say that Jesus is the Lamb of God, they
believed their respected teacher and eventually left John with his
blessings to follow Jesus. After believing in Christ, Andrew then
went to find his brother Simon to share the good news that he had
seen the Messiah.
The
Apostle John writes about their initial conversion to Jesus through
the witness of John the Baptist, but the other gospels tell of the
time that they left everything to follow Him. It seems that after
their initial acceptance of Jesus, Andrew and his brother Peter
returned to their trade as fishermen, because the other gospels say
that Andrew and Peter were casting their nets into the sea and
cleansing their nets to catch all types of fish when Jesus said to
them, “Come,
follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.”
Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17 Jesus
will take their natural ability and use it in the supernatural. In
the gospel of John, Andrew and Peter had met Jesus, but in Matthew
and Mark they decided to leave everything and follow Him as His
disciples.
Andrew,
Peter, Philip and John lived in Bethsaida, a village on the shore of
the Sea of Galilee. Bethsaida means the “house
of fish.” Jesus
would take these four and use them to be fishers of men who would
become the House of God.
Jesus
made it clear that his early disciples didn't choose Him, but that He
chose them. (see
John 15:16)
Jesus knew all of their imperfections but chose them anyway,
including Judas. Jesus who is all-knowing knew that Judas would
betray Him, yet still chose him because Jesus knew that Judas would
be instrumental in carrying out God's plan of redemption through His
death and resurrection. Throughout the 3 ½ years that Jesus
ministered on earth, He who is all-knowing treated Judas the same as
He treated all of the others even knowing that Judas would betray Him
in the end.
John
the Baptist had Andrew and John with him when he announced a second
time upon seeing Jesus, “Look,
the Lamb of God. John
the Baptist had already told these two disciples how he knew that
Jesus was the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
God had told John the Baptist that the “man
on whom the Spirit comes down and remains is the One who will baptize
with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and testify that this is the Son
of God.” John 1:23-24 When
the Baptist's two disciples heard this, they believed and followed
Jesus. In biblical times, disciples would follow behind their Rabbi
as they walked from place to place. The Rabbi was their leader.
Andrew and John were following behind Jesus when Jesus turned around
and asked them, “What
do you seek?” They were seeking the truth. They said, “Rabbi (which means teacher), where are
you staying?” By
calling Jesus Rabbi, it meant that He was their Master and Teacher.
These two disciples were following Jesus to learn of Him and from
Him. They didn't want just a passing, casual relationship with Jesus. They wanted to know where He was staying and abide with Him.
Jesus
responded to Andrew and John, “Come
and you will see.” In
other words, “walk with Me and you will see.”
So they went and saw where He was staying and spent that day with
Him. vv38-39
While they were abiding with Jesus through the day, no doubt they
were asking Him many questions. His responses made Andrew see that
Jesus was the True Messiah so he hurried to find his brother Simon to
let him know that he had seen the long-awaited Messiah. Simon was
not impressed. There
had been many men coming to the Promised Land claiming that they were
the Messiah, so Simon thought it was just another false messiah that
Andrew had met. In response to Peter's skepticism and doubt, Andrew
tells Simon to come and see for himself! People can bring us to
Jesus, but ultimately we must see Him for ourselves.
Change
of Name
Jesus
immediately recognized Simon and called him by name. “You
are Simon, son of Jonah. You will be called Cephas (which when
translated is Peter).” v42 A
change of name indicates a spiritual calling. In biblical times, a
person is identified by who his father is or by what region they are
from – i.e. Jesus of Nazareth or Simon of Cyrene.
Simon
is Cephas in Aramaic but translated Peter and means a
rock or stone. Peter
is his God-given name (spiritual).
Jonah means “dove.”
Jesus
will take this bold, impatient, sometimes impulsive and violent man
and transform him into a living stone in His temple who will be a son
of the dove (Holy
Spirit).
The fact that Jesus knew Peter's name and his father's name probably
removed any doubt that Peter had regarding Jesus being the Messiah.
Peter
and Andrew were eventually chosen by Jesus as apostles. Jesus gave
them the power of the Holy Spirit to do supernatural things. - Andrew was a soul-winner and one who meets needs. He brought his brother to Jesus, the boy with the 5 loaves and 2 fish and with Philip brought some Greeks (gentiles) to Jesus. Andrew was a fisher of men. He had fished for all kinds of fish in the sea of Galilee, but in the supernatural he became a fisher of all kinds of humans and brought them to Jesus.
- Peter eventually became a mighty and bold evangelist. He too was a fisher of all kinds of humans. He began witnessing of Christ to the Jews but then also went to the Gentiles.
At
Pentecost, Peter was so overcome by the Holy Spirit that he began to
preach with fire to the crowd and 3,000 people believed in Jesus and
were saved.
It
was Peter by the power of the Holy Spirit who identified Jesus as the
Christ. (see
Matthew 16:16) It
was Peter who had the courage to step out of the boat by faith in
Jesus' Word. (see
Matthew 14:28-33) Peter
was a risk-taker. Peter also dove out of the boat in John
22 when
he saw the resurrected Lord on the shore. Peter was willing to leave
the safe and comfortable place to come to the Lord.
Andrew
and Peter's ministry were very different, but each were important to
the Kingdom of God. Jesus loved them equally even though He may use
one in a more visible role. In spite of the fact that Andrew was the one who brought Peter to Jesus, he never showed any jealousy toward his brother. He was willing to take a back seat. Many times Andrew is referred to as Peter's brother and still Andrew showed no resentment or jealousy. Honor and precedence meant nothing to Andrew. All he wanted to do is serve Jesus well.
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