Of all the men who have grace the pages of history, very few men have influenced the world as the men that were personally trained by the Lord Jesus himself. These men left a mark. Few men or women ever have the opportunity to change the world as they did.
By their first appearances, who would have ever thought that their mission could ever succeed. They had never gone to seminary or any other theological school. In fact, they were not really academic in any way at all.
They had no real social standing to speak of. A few of them had money - James, John, Peter, and Andrew had a fishing business; Matthew was a tax collector - but the rest were just common people. On top of all this, their leader was a man who was born in poverty, lived most of his time in obscurity, and died in almost complete rejection.
We often think of the apostles as being older men - perhaps in their 40s or 50s. But the truth is, they were most likely fairly young. If we can trust church tradition or the writings of the first century believers, most of the apostles lived well into the last half of the first century. In fact, John, the last living apostle, is known to have lived into the second century. They were young but they changed the world.
How many of us have ever imagined what it must have been like to walk with these men, to see what they saw, to feel as they felt, and share in their experiences? These men were partakers of a blessed privilege that they alone would experience. The rest of the world would have to read the Bible and learn second-hand of their time with the Saviour.
And this is one reason why it is so interesting to study the character and lives of these special men. It truly is the only way we can really grasp what they must have experienced. And as we look at their lives, their experiences, their interactions with the Lord, no doubt, we will get a glimpse of ourselves. And as we see ourselves, we will also learn more about how we should interrelate with Christ.