SENDING OF THE APOSTLES
Canada
“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – (Matthew 10:5-7)
This is a fascinating passage of Scripture that is usually either ignored or misunderstood by the mainstream commentators. It is an outright travesty that some charge Jesus with making a mistake or later changing His mind! Notice, however, that there is really no time limit at all given he re i n Christ’s command to the Apostles. It appears to be a permanent directive that these twelve men were to be dedicated to seeking out and evangelizing specifically the House of Israel, the “lost” Ten Tribes. This was no disparagement of either the House of Judah or of non-Israelites In fact, this particular command was ONLY to these twelve; all other Christian evangelists were to take the Gospel to “the whole world.”
We certainly do not want to be misunderstood as if implying that the Gospel was only for Israelites. It was simply a matter of the twelve Apostles having a more specific mission than other evangelists. The latter were indeed to take the Gospel to everyone of every nation. Here are a just few examples from the New Testament: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world , and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) “Verily I say unto you , Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her” (Matthew 26:13, Mark 14:9) “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:8) “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) Our main website research study, “An Astonishing Truth” will be helpful.
Now specifically to the question about the brief time-period until the death and resurrection of Christ, it was no more than three – and – a – half years – the length of His ministry on earth. Travel was slow in that day, usually by foot, donkey or sailboat. Not much of Europe could be reached and evangelized by only twelve men in that short time period. Yet the only limitation was their on lifespans!
History indeed tells us that the Apostles did go to Europe, and not just for three years. First Corinthians 9:5 tells us that Apostles brought their wives there to Greece. The “lost chapter” of the Book of Acts tells of Paul going to Europe and Spain. The books, “The Coming of the Saints” by John W Taylor and “The Drama of the Lost Disciples” by George F. Jowett (both available at www.migrations.info) give many pages of evidence of the extended evangelism of the twelve Apostles in Europe.
Courtesy of CBIA
