365 Days in the Gospels and Spirit of Prophecy
March
Jesus Chooses His Disciples — March 1 [Description]
Bible discovery
7 But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea 365D 60.2
8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him. 365D 60.3
9 So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. 365D 60.4
10 For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. 365D 60.5
11 And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of God.” 365D 60.6
12 But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known. 365D 60.7
13 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. 365D 60.9
14 Then He appointed twelve, [d] that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, 365D 60.10
15 and to have [e] power [f] to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 365D 60.11
16 [g] Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; 365D 60.12
17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”; 365D 60.13
18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; 365D 60.14
19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house. 365D 60.15
12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 365D 60.17
13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: 365D 60.18
14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; 365D 60.19
15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; 365D 60.20
16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor. 365D 60.21
Spirit of Prophecy Reading
The Desire of Ages pp.290-293: 365D 60.22
This chapter is based on Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:12-16. 365D 60.23
“And He goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto Him whom He would: and they came unto Him. And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach.” 365D 60.24
It was beneath the sheltering trees of the mountainside, but a little distance from the Sea of Galilee, that the twelve were called to the apostolate, and the Sermon on the Mount was given. The fields and hills were the favorite resorts of Jesus, and much of His teaching was given under the open sky, rather than in the temple or the synagogues. No synagogue could have received the throngs that followed Him; but not for this reason only did He choose to teach in the fields and groves. Jesus loved the scenes of nature. To Him each quiet retreat was a sacred temple. 365D 60.25
It was under the trees of Eden that the first dwellers on earth had chosen their sanctuary. There Christ had communed with the father of mankind. When banished from Paradise, our first parents still worshiped in the fields and groves, and there Christ met them with the gospel of His grace. It was Christ who spoke with Abraham under the oaks at Mamre; with Isaac as he went out to pray in the fields at the eventide; with Jacob on the hillside at Bethel; with Moses among the mountains of Midian; and with the boy David as he watched his flocks. It was at Christ's direction that for fifteen centuries the Hebrew people had left their homes for one week every year, and had dwelt in booths formed from the green branches “of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook.” Leviticus 23:40. 365D 60.26
In happy contrast to Philip's unbelief was the childlike trust of Nathanael. He was a man of intensely earnest nature, one whose faith took hold upon unseen realities. Yet Philip was a student in the school of Christ, and the divine Teacher bore patiently with his unbelief and dullness. When the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples, Philip became a teacher after the divine order. He knew whereof he spoke, and he taught with an assurance that carried conviction to the hearers. 365D 60.27
While Jesus was preparing the disciples for their ordination, one who had not been summoned urged his presence among them. It was Judas Iscariot, a man who professed to be a follower of Christ. He now came forward, soliciting a place in this inner circle of disciples. With great earnestness and apparent sincerity he declared, “Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.” Jesus neither repulsed nor welcomed him, but uttered only the mournful words: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” Matthew 8:19, 20. Judas believed Jesus to be the Messiah; and by joining the apostles, he hoped to secure a high position in the new kingdom. This hope Jesus designed to cut off by the statement of His poverty. 365D 60.28