Acts 1:23-26 And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.… God does not predestinate man to fail. That is strikingly told in the history of Judas. "From a ministry and apostleship Judas fell, that he might go to his own place." The ministry and apostleship were that to which God had destined him. To work out that was the destiny appointed to him, as truly as to any of the other apostles. He was called, elected to that. But when he refused to execute that mission, the very circumstances which, by God's decree, were leading him to blessedness, hurried him to ruin. Circumstances prepared by eternal love became the destiny which conducted him to everlasting doom. He was a predestined man — crushed by his fate. But he went to his own place. He had shaped his own destiny. So the ship is wrecked by the winds and waves — hurried to its fate. But the wind and waves were in truth its best friends. Rightly guided, it would have made use of them to reach the port; wrongly steered, they became the destiny which drove it on the rocks. Failure — the wreck of life, is not to be impiously traced to the will of God. God will have all men to be saved, and come to a knowledge of the truth. God willeth not the death of a sinner. (F. W. Robertson.) Parallel Verses KJV: And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.WEB: They put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. |
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