After Jesus ascended to heaven, and the 2 angels gave words of admonition and encouragement to the 11 apostles, these men then returned to Jerusalem from Mt. Olivet, just as Jesus had instructed them to do. The 11 apostles (with the conspicuous absence of Judas Iscariot) spent considerable time in prayer gathered in an upper room. They were joined by other faithful disciples, including women, namely Mary the mother of Jesus, and even Jesus’ half-brothers.
In Acts 1:15, Peter arose as a spokesman among this gathered group of 120 believers, declaring to them that the events concerning Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and Judas’ subsequent demise were in fact fulfillments of Old Testament prophecy, specifically David’s writings in the book of Psalms. David was the mouthpiece for the Holy Spirit, for Scripture has been spoken by the Holy Spirit through human mouthpieces. And Judas had certainly had a real place among the Twelve before his desertion.
Luke then inserts his own comments in Acts 1:18-19, explaining to his readers what happened to Judas. The 30 pieces of silver were used to purchase a field on Judas’ behalf. Judas hung himself after throwing this blood money at the feet of the chief priests, and the grotesque description of the “falling apart” of his body clearly signaled that Luke viewed his death as a man dying under the judgment of God. And the purchased field became known as a field of blood, representative of the blood money that had first been used to bring about Jesus’ betrayal and then to purchase a place that would be used to bury ceremonially unclean foreigners.
Resuming his speech, Peter then joined together 2 separate Old Testament citations from Psalm 69 and Psalm 109 to take David’s prophetic words (which had real temporal meaning for the experiences of David’s life) and to now draw their ultimate application as being applicatory to Judas. Psalm 69 prophesied the desolation of Judas, the enemy of God; and Psalm 109 declared the absolute necessity for Judas’ office to be replaced. Peter proclaimed that it was necessary to take one man from their ranks and install him into the office as the 12th apostle. Such a man needed to be an eyewitness of the whole of Jesus’ ministry.
The 2 men, Joseph and Matthias, were put forward as 2 suitably qualified candidates. The gathered believers implored Jesus in prayer to reveal to them whom He had chosen as the 12th apostle, trusting that He had already called this man just as He had called the eleven remaining apostles. In faith, they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, who was then gladly accepted as God’s choice for the office. The Twelve were now reconstituted!
You can listen to this teaching on Acts 1:12-26 by clicking on the following link: Acts 1:12-26