What does Acts 1:21 mean?
Peter is explaining to the 120 Jesus-followers in the upper room that, before the Holy Spirit comes, they need to find a replacement for Judas Iscariot. Peter has shown through Old Testament Scripture that Judas' position needs to be filled (Acts 1:20) in part because Jesus specified that the twelve apostles would judge the tribes of Israel from twelve thrones (Matthew 19:28).Jesus originally chose His twelve disciples knowing that Judas would betray Him (John 6:70). It is consistent in Jewish history for the specific identities of God's chosen to change. Jacob was the father of twelve sons who became the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel, but not in a simple or clean way. Near his death, Jacob adopted Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, leaving Joseph out of the mix but ending up with thirteen tribes (Genesis 48:1–22). During the Israelites' stay at Mt. Sinai, God withdrew the Levites for His own special use, returning the count to twelve (Numbers 1:47–54). When the 144,000 will be chosen during the tribulation, 12,000 from each tribe, Ephraim will be named as Joseph, Levi will be included, and Dan will be strangely absent (Revelation 7:5–8).
Peter sets the qualifications for Judas' replacement. Jesus had said the apostles will be His "witnesses" (Acts 1:8), so they need someone who has witnessed Jesus. Throughout Jesus' three-year ministry, the Twelve disciples followed Him wherever He went, but they usually weren't alone. Regularly, crowds joined them, even when they weren't wanted (Matthew 4:23–25; Mark 3:7–10). Some people would have stayed as long as they could, traveling with Jesus like groupies traveling with their favorite band. Peter's first requirement is that Judas' replacement was a part of this crowd. He goes on to say the man must have been with them from the day of Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist until the ascension. After consideration, the group concludes there are two qualified candidates (Acts 1:22–23).
