“So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” (Acts 1:21-26)
The story about Matthias being named as one of the 12 is a very intriguing story to me. You have this little snippet of the disciples in the time between the ascension and Pentecost (about a week and a half), wherein which they (through prayer) decide to select the one to take Judas’ place. Scripture prophesied his office would be replaced and Mathias was chosen by casting of lots.
There isn’t anything wrong or any glaring sin shown in this story – in fact, it comes across as a very normal and expected thing to do. Except for one glaring omission. Throughout the rest of Scripture, we hear nothing of Matthias. I am sure he was around for some things, and who knows, we don’t know the identity of the author of Hebrews (no evidence suggest it was him, just to be clear), but it is hard to make an argument from silence that Matthias’s promotion was anything noteworthy. Maybe that’s just because it wasn’t noted anywhere.
Again, this is nothing against Matthias, but I have always been very curious as to why this story (with no follow-up about him) is mentioned in Scripture, especially when juxtaposed against one of the main characters of the book, Paul. My theory is simple – looking at this book as Acts of the Holy Spirit, Paul is God’s choice to “replace” Judas and be the 12th apostle. However, before the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the 11 disciples jumped in with both feet (as per usual) and acted on impulse, to which God allowed them (it certainly didn’t interrupt His plans any).
With its place in the book (right at the beginning of the sequel of Luke), it appears more to me that Luke places this there to act as a recap of sorts – reminding his readers of how the disciples acted and what power they had before the arrival of the Holy Spirit. This makes a perfect comparison to the strength and power on full display once Pentecost happened. Thus, we see without the Holy Spirit: impetuousness and the same old disciples; and after: POWER.
Why is this important? Because it sets up the main character – the Holy Spirit! His arrival changes everything! With Him on the scene, a dripping faucet turns into a raging river of God’s power flowing through these people and the consequences are on full display – people starting turning to Jesus by the thousands! Friends, we can do nothing on our own power, but by the power of God, there is nothing that can stand against us! Run to Him, dear friends. Run to the Spirit and let it be all Him. “Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).