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."
Acts 1:8
What do Jesus’ words about “Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" mean for us? Most of us have never been to, nor ever will go to Jerusalem. And what is Judea or Samaria to us?
Those places were familiar to the disciples. The city of Jerusalem was the religious center of their world. Judea was the region in which Jerusalem sat. Samaria was not only a neighboring area, it was home to people the Jews didn’t like (more accurately, hated!). The end of the earth to them probably wasn’t very far away since people in those days didn’t travel much, if at all.
For us, those places may not mean much, but what they represent mean a great deal.
Jerusalem is where we live. Our neighborhoods, our cities, or possibly our counties. This is where we live so these are the people we must pray for and witness to in hopes of leading them to Christ. As Jesus said to preach “to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47), where we live is where we must start.
Judea is our region. While we begin with those closest to us, if we would have Jesus’ vision, we must look beyond where we stand. This is why we support regional ministries like the Ventura County Rescue Mission.
Samaria, is where people not like us live, but need Christ. Think of people, whether near nor far who are not like us, and who we may not even care for. I will not give examples, but if you are honest, you can think of people in this category. If we would be like Christ, we must have a desire to see them saved.
The end of the earth is everywhere else, most notably, other nations and peoples. We need to care about the nations. Israel did not. We must. Get a world map and pray looking at it. Realize that everywhere there is land, there are people—people Christ wants to hear the Gospel. While we cannot all go to those places, we can pray for and support those who do go. We can all support missions in prayer, write encouraging words to missionaries, and give financial support to missionary endeavors around the world. We cannot all do a lot, but we can all do something.
Acts 1:8 is every bit as much for us as it was for the disciples to whom Jesus originally spoke these words.