"BEGINNING IN JERUSALEM!"
After Peter would make the good confession concerning Jesus being “The Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), the Lord would tell “His disciples that they tell no one He was Jesus the Christ” (Matthew 16:20). Why?
The simple answer is that He was not yet crowned as King!
There was still work left to do before he could ascend to the Father and then reign till He put all His enemies under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:25).
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
In this statement, the Lord makes reference to the work He must do before He takes His throne. Even after the Lord would become the Lamb of sacrifice for the sins of mankind; He would arise from the dead and present Himself to over five hundred witnesses (1 Corinthians 15:6). During the forty days He presented Himself among His disciples (Acts 1:1-3), He commanded them to wait in Jerusalem (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4).
There were two reasons that they were to wait in Jerusalem as revealed to them by the Lord:
• To wait for the promise of the Father to them, which they had heard from Him (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5). The promise was the deliverance of the Holy Spirit that had been promised by Jesus to His Apostles after their last meal together (John 14:15-17; 26; 15:26-27; 16:13-15). The Spirit, upon receipt would teach them all things, remind them of all things, bring them to all truth, convict the world of sin, and glorify Christ.• Then Jerusalem was to be the beginning point of their work!
Luke 24:47 “and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem , and in all Judea and Samaria , and to the end of the earth.”
Why Jerusalem?
I always like the simple answers! Because this is where God elected to begin! However, there are some other things we should take notice of, and recognize in the wisdom of God!
Isaiah 2:1-4 “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem .
2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD's house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. 3 Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.”
See also: Micah 4:1-3. As a contemporary of Isaiah, Micah would prophecy exactly the same image of the beginning of God's work of the kingdom.
In this purely Messianic look at the beginning of His kingdom, the Lord's house would set up on the mountains (as above or superior to all others) and the Gentiles (nations) would flow to it. It would not be established by physical warfare or earthly forces. Isaiah would see the word of this kingdom go forth from Jerusalem as a beginning or starting place.
It is also important to note that this is not talking about physical Jerusalem as the kingdom that would be set up. Jerusalem would without a doubt have a place as an origin for the word of the kingdom sounding forth; but the kingdom the message would refer to would not be of this earth. Jesus confirmed this while He was still on earth (John 18:36).
Daniel would likewise emphasize the non-earthly nature of the kingdom that God would establish, note:
Daniel 2:44 “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”
Daniel illustrates the eternal and indestructible nature of the kingdom of God (there is no way to imagine a physical kingdom or city being the image Daniel is depicting). The consummation of the other nations, would take place when the citizens of the new kingdom would come from within the borders of the existing earthly kingdoms. This was an illustration Isaiah would make in Isaiah 49:22-23.
Since the commission of the Apostles of Christ was to testify concerning Him, it should not surprise us that they would begin this work where His work finished.
• It was the chief city in the small area the Lord had conducted His earthly ministry seeking and saving the lost sheep of Israel . Where he had performed His miracles that testified of Him.• It was the place where Jesus was tried, condemned, crucified, and arose. All the evidence was fresh and open. As Paul told Herod several years later that these things had not been done in a corner (or hidden) – Acts 26:26.• If the message of salvation in Christ Jesus could not be proved in Jerusalem , then where?• We see that this was the focus of first Gospel sermon of the kingdom. The Apostle's first sermon on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2; had four evidentiary points:
First, that Jesus of Nazareth was approved by God with signs and wonders (Acts 2:22).
Second, was that He was delivered by lawless hands and was put to death. Basically saying; you Jews killed Him. Something they would not have liked to hear, but also could not deny just fifty days after the fact (Acts 2:23).
Third, was that God raised Him from the dead (Acts 2:24). This was a fact that they testified concerning, as eye witnesses; but also that God testified along side of them through the Holy Spirit by the sign of the Apostles, as uneducated Galileans, speaking to all present in their own language (Acts 2:7; 11; 32-33).
Fourth, the same testimony of the Spirit has declared that this Jesus, that they had killed, was indeed both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36).
These points find freshness in the minds of these people that were not far removed from the events mentioned.
Likewise, as these men who had been chosen of the Lord began this work 2000 years ago in the place of prophesied beginnings and preached the word; that same word resonates to this very day. It has gone out to the entire world and stands as the beginning of God's church in Christ Jesus. Those that heard the word as it cut their hearts believed and obeyed the commands of the Apostles. They became the first of many more that would make up the body of Christ and begin the journey of salvation in the church.
Acts 2:47 “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”
There is only one church (Ephesians 3:10 -11 – God's eternal purpose in Christ; Ephesians 4:4 – only one body of Christ)! It finds its origin in Jerusalem on that Day of Pentecost approximately AD 33, and is still visible in all those who would come to God through Christ Jesus by the power of the Gospel, who trace their origins back to the Lords' beginnings and not to the origins of man made religions. It is found in those who proudly where His name and His name alone!
Romans 16:16 “Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you.”
And in those who give Christ preeminence and obey His word as the only source of authority for His body – 2 John 9.
The Church that Christ built had its beginning in Jerusalem!