Title Acts 01:4-5 Gather in Jerusalem
Contents
In April 1852, an American serving as consul in Tunisia died, and 31 years later, in 1883, the US government sent a warship to return his remains to the United States. The day his remains arrived in New York Harbor, the largest crowd in American history gathered in New York Harbor. The remains were taken by special train to Washington, DC, paraded on Pennsylvania Avenue, welcomed by President Chester Arthur, and buried at Oak Hill Cemetery National Cemetery.
What's very interesting is that he didn't have any great achievements that deserved such treatment, but because of the songs he wrote. “In a pleasant place, you may ask me to come, but the only place for me to rest is my small house, my house is where flowers bloom and birds chirping.” This is ‘Home Home Sweet Home’. Because it made the American people realize the importance of family. His name is John Howard Payne. After her mother died at the age of 13, she left her hometown and wandered around the world without ever having a home. The place where he wrote the lyrics for this song is also a dreary place in Europe.
Just before he left his disciples and ascended to heaven, Jesus made promises and commands. He promised the baptism of the Holy Spirit and commanded him not to leave Jerusalem. They believed that Jerusalem was the center of the world. Jerusalem is where the temple of God's presence resides.
Finally, Jerusalem is the palace of the king of the people, and the place of the king. They call Jerusalem the “City of the Great King.” Jerusalem appears in two-thirds of the 39 books of the Old Testament. What does it mean to not leave Jerusalem? It is the paving stone of Jesus to unite the disciples. What if I left Jerusalem? it's nothing. We have strength when we come together.
After a few weeks of scattering and mingling with the crowd, three years of training is nothing. But people want to avoid gatherings. It's probably because you're tired and busy. It is because they do not know the value of meetings and the meaning of small groups. And if you go to a meeting, you get hurt. If you go in a small group, you get hurt. 'A wound was found'. God heals the wounded. Because we are all people with wounds, life is to bind up our wounds, comfort them, and serve them. “Abide in me, and I in you; just as the branch cannot bear fruit of its own accord unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4).
When the disciples were told not to leave Jerusalem, the place where the disciples gathered was the house of Mark. ‘Tarakbang’ in Acts 1:13 is understood as the upper room in the house of Mary, the mother of Mark, in Jerusalem. We gathered at Mark's house and prayed and received the Holy Spirit. A meeting in a Christian's home can be said to be a meeting in heaven. It is very significant that the early Christians chose the home as the meeting place.
I will build a church Church is never used in the New Testament to mean a building. It is a gathering of disciples, a gathering of Christians gathered at home. Jesus can also give the Holy Spirit to the disciples when they are scattered in each household. You can give it when you are gathered in the temple or in the synagogue. However, the Holy Spirit was given when we were gathered in one family. “Let us not refrain from assembling, as is the habit of some, but exhort us, and all the more as we see the day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25).
Jesus' movement was a small group movement. Gathering at home, this is an important command. The early church worked hard to gather together in the temple every day, broke bread at home, and ate food with joy and pure heart. The church, the community where this joy is restored, is what the early church looked like.