Thursday Acts 1:12-14

The disciples returned to Jerusalem.

Click here for an online Bible. Acts 1:12-14

After Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples went back into the city of Jerusalem. They gathered together in an upper room and prayed. We are not told specifically where they assembled. Some people believe that it was the same room where they had celebrated the last supper and the same room where Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection. There is no harm in believing that, but we have no concrete information. The place is not really important.

Luke tells us who was present. The eleven disciples were there. Also there were several women. We don’t know who they were other than Jesus’ mother. We could guess that the women included: Mary Magdalene (John 20:18), Mary the mother of James (Mark 16:1), Salome (Mark 16:1), Joanna (Luke 8:3), Susanna (Luke 8:3), Mary and Martha (John 12:2-3), Jesus’ aunt Mary (John 19:25), and others.

Also present were Jesus’ brothers. Notice the difference between this point and John 7:5 where His brothers did not believe in Him. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:7 that Jesus appeared to His brother James after the resurrection. Now His brothers are part of the faithful group in the upper room. Jude was probably there too. James and Jude are brothers of Jesus who became leaders in the early church and wrote books of the New Testament.

The group gathered together and prayed constantly. The picture in my mind is the eleven disciples and a few of the faithful staying in this building pretty much all the time for the ten days between the ascension of Jesus and Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came. There were probably many followers of Jesus who filtered in and out for prayer during that timeframe. The eleven devoted themselves continually to prayer.

We know that there were hundreds of believers. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:6 that during the forty days after the resurrection that Jesus appeared to a group of 500 believers. I suspect that the upper room was a vibrant place of prayer.

What do we do when we are waiting for God? We pray and we do what He has already told us to do. He told us to make disciples.