Why you cannot go and the 12 Disciples

Q: What does Jesus mean when he says to his disciples where I go you cannot come? Why did Jesus choose 12 Disciples to follow him?

A: Thank you for your question. In John 13:33 Jesus says, "My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. " Jesus was telling His disciples that He would soon return to His Father in Heaven. And of course, being God that is where He is from. That is why, just a couple verses later, Jesus tells Peter, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later (John 13:36)." At this time in His ministry Jesus had not yet died on the cross nor had He been raised from the dead. Therefore, it was impossible for any man to go to Heaven with Jesus. It was not until He had paid the penalty for our sins, by dying on the cross, and restoring the life of God, through His resurrection, that we could go be with Him in heaven. Remember, at the time Jesus said these things all His disciples were still spiritually dead in their sins. They had not yet received the Spirit of God that was restored to them on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:3).

"Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (2 Corinthians 5:5)." The Holy Spirit, which now indwells every believer, is God's promise that we will one day go to be with Jesus in Heaven. The reason that is guaranteed is because there is no sin that can cause God to remove His Spirit, His very life, from a believer because all our sins have been paid in full for eternity by the death of Jesus Christ. And because we have the life of God indwelling us for eternity we can now say, "our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20)." That is something that the disciples could not say prior to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, He promised them that one day they would go where He was going. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:3)." The hope of new birth in Jesus Christ is that we are guaranteed to be with Him for eternity.

The Bible is not clear as to why Jesus chose 12 disciples and not some other number. The number may not have any significance at all. However, the number may correlate to the 12 tribes of Israel. In Matthew 10:2-4, we are given the names of the original twelve disciples. "These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him." There was nothing overtly special about the selection of these men. Although, they may not have been men of significance in their earthly surroundings, here we are nearly two thousand years later talking about their significance in the Kingdom of God. Of course, after the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot, Matthias was added to the disciples (Acts 1:26). And we cannot forget the Apostle Paul who became an apostle in Acts 9.

One thing that is interesting is the type of disciples, or apostles, that were selected by Jesus and how He chose them, in as much as the number selected by Him. Peter and Andrew were fisherman that Jesus saw while walking when He simply said, "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:19)." Paul, at the time known as Saul, was on his way to persecute Christians when He was confronted by the Lord. "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me (Acts 9:4)?" Besides two average fishermen and a hostile Jewish Pharisee being selected by Jesus, you had a tax collector in Matthew and a Guerrilla fighter in Simon the Zealot. This is encouraging because it shows that God does not need our ability, He only needs are availability. Furthermore, in the case of Paul, it reminds us that who we were does not factor in what God wants us to be. The 12 disciples were ordinary people that God used to do extraordinary things. It is not any different with the Body of Christ today. We are an organism of Jews and Gentiles, who are one in Christ, sharing His Gospel whenever and to whomever God puts in front of us. Grace and Peace to you.