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Now, right after Easter, might be a good time to devote some time to thinking about and learning more about the Apostles.  

What must it have been like for the Apostles before, during and after the death of Jesus and his resurrection? We all know that death is an experience that takes its toll regardless of whether we knew it would happen or not.  Imagine then how the disciples must have felt, each individually and as a group, during this time. After the crucifixion, they must have felt all was lost.

Jesus told his disciples that he would be betrayed, arrested, and crucified and that he would come back to life three days later. Did they believe it?  We know that Peter could not even envision denying Christ once let alone three times, yet he did, just as Jesus had predicted.  What a strange feeling it must have been. 

Then to see Jesus betrayed at the hands of Judas Iscariot, just as they had been told.  It must have been quite frustrating when Jesus told them not to intervene when he was arrested. Perhaps some of them rationalized after Jesus' arrest that he would prove to the authorities that he was the Son of God by performing a miracle and be let go. As the agonizing minutes and hours leading up to the crucifixion transpired, surely their faith must have wavered and their hopes began to die.

On the first Easter, there were in fact only 11 Apostles. Overcome with the results of his actions, a despairing Judas Iscariot committed suicide.  The remaining eleven who were present at the Last Supper, all saw the words of Jesus become a reality that reaffirmed their faith once and for all.  From that time to the end of their lives, they spread the good news and refused to deny Christ's resurrection, even when faced with death.

While skeptics and historians have investigated accounts of Jesus' death and resurrection for centuries, none can come up with any explanation for this phenomenon and the fact that these men converted many to the true word against incredible odds.

More Resources:

New Testament: Acts of the Apostles

Easter Enigma by John Wenham.  The author lived in Jerusalem in 1945 and takes the reader on a mini-tour through the city and a chronological account of the Last Supper through the the first Easter, giving one a much deeper understanding, almost "through the eyes" of the apostles.