The Seven Assistants to the Quorum of the Twelve are Chosen

Today I read Acts 6 which is very short and is the story of how the Apostles chose 7 assistants to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The reason this was necessary is that the temporal needs of the church was falling by the wayside. So the Apostles said that it is not meet that they should leave of preaching the word of God to wait tables so they were to choose 7 men of good report, full of the Holy Ghost to assist them in the more secular tasks.

Now, the Apostles did not say this to be mean or because they did not care about the widows who were going hungry. Rather they said it because their main charge always has been and always will be the preaching of the word of God. That is what they have been charged to do by Jesus. And given the day and age they lived in without television, telephones, radio or satellite, the only way they could preach the word is by physically going there and spreading the Gospel. That was their main task and focus.

But they recognized that the needs of the people were important too and needed tending to. At this point I do not believe they had bishops, just the Twelve Apostles. I may be mistaken about that but it is clear that the temporal needs of the members were not being met, especially the widows. So they appointed the seven assistants to the Quorum of the Twelve. This sets the precedent that continues even through today. The Melchizedek priesthood is responsible for the spiritual welfare of the church and the Aaronic is responsible for the temporal needs of the members. It is the bishop in the ward, which is the head of the Aaronic Priesthood in each unit, that is in charge of the temporal welfare of his ward. The Melchizedek priesthood assists but it is the Aaronic priesthood that has the primary responsibility.

Now one of the seven that are chose is named Stephen. We don't know much about Stephen, he does not appear in the scriptures prior to this point and he is stoned to death in the very next chapter. But we know that Stephen was a man who knew the scriptures very well. He stands before the Sanhedrin with boldness declaring the word of God to them how all the prophets and scriptures have prophesied of Jesus Christ. We know he is a man that was full of the Spirit. He could contend with all who came to him and did not like his preaching. He was in several synagogues teaching the word of God which did not sit well with the leaders of those synagogues and so they brought him before the Sanhedrin to be tried. While he is there it states his countenances was like that of an angel. The chapter heading of this chapter states that he was transfigured in front of the Sanhedrin. We will talk tomorrow about what he said to them.

It is interesting to me that the Sanhedrin had such a problem with the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, I can kind of understand why that is, I mean the Jew's past is checkered with them apostatizing and going after strange Gods and these men are probably just trying to make sure that they are protecting their congregation and making sure this new "fad" as they thought of it, did not corrupt the church. They thought they were doing God's will. Even Paul, before his conversion felt he was doing what God would have him do. That is so foreign to me to think that God would want us to kill those that don't agree with us, but that is exactly what the Jews had been taught for thousands of years. That is what the law of Moses taught them. That was what they knew. It's not that they were bloodthirsty, they were following the law as they knew it.

What was unfortunate, is that they were following the law and the traditions that they had created to such an extent that they could not hear the Spirit testifying of the truth when they heard it. These men were so in love with power and the authority they had that they could not open their hearts to the possibility of another way. And that's sad really. Unfortunately with power comes pride usually. And that was the downfall of the Jewish nation in the time of Jesus Christ, spiritually speaking of course. If the Sanhedrin had not been so prideful and in love with their power they had enjoyed, they might have been able to humble themselves and accept Jesus. Perhaps not, but I guarantee it was their pride that stopped them from accepting it. It is the same pride that stops people from accepting it today. The most important message they will ever hear in their lives and they reject it out of the pride of their heart for any number of supposed reason but it all comes down to pride. I thank Heavenly Father that I was born into the Gospel and did not have to find it on my own. It has been such a blessing in my life and I don't know what I would do without it. Until tomorrow.