To the Ends of the Earth

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." -Acts 1:8

I have a couple thoughts on this passage of the Bible, so I decided to break them up into two posts, because who wants to read one long posts when you could read two short ones?

Missionally speaking, this just might be one of the most heavily quoted scriptures in the Bible. I have often heard pastors preach about how this passage is about how we should be witnesses in our homes, or maybe even our home towns, and then we should move out to our prospective counties and be witnesses, and once we've done that, maybe our prospective states, then our country, and then we should be witnesses to the rest of the world. Among a few other concerns that I have with it (of which I will not discuss now), I believe there is one fundamental problem with this teaching.

For that to have been true, it must have also been true of Jesus' audience as well. So, who was Jesus talking to...to whom did He give this command? Jesus was talking to His disciples, who were not from Jerusalem, but from Galilee. So if Jesus was teaching in Acts that we should be witnesses in our home towns and work out, why did Jesus start with Jerusalem and not with Galilee?

I believe that Jesus was giving His disciples a missions strategy. If you look at a map, you will find Jerusalem at the center of the world, and, at the time that Jesus said this, Jerusalem truly was also very much the center of the world as far as trade and modern civilization at that time. Doesn't it just make sense then, why Jesus said to start there? As the word of God spread throughout Jerusalem, people also came in and out of Jerusalem for trade and travel, and were able to take Jesus' name with them as they went, thus, the name of Jesus was more readily able to be spread to the ends of the earth.

Is there a Jerusalem-type location in your sphere? A central place where the word of the Lord can more readily and easily be taken out to the ends of the earth? A city? A business? A country? If there isn't, are you willing to find it, and "be His witness in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth"?