Upper Room

23 June 2019

Dear Phyllis,

If I had the opportunity to attend any assembly that ever happened on this planet since the day Adam first opened his eyes in the Garden, what would that be? I believe it would be the prayer meeting in the Upper Room (Act 1:13) after Jesus returned to heaven. What would it have been like to fellowship with those people? Who was there? The Bible gives us the names so we can identify 24, but using imagination and speculation I would like to suggest a few more.

Of the known participants, first of all we know that there were the 12. Actually that is incorrect but the scripture uses that term to designate their position rather than the actual number, because we know there were only 11. Secondly we know that Jesus family was there. Mary had at least seven children – five boys and at least two girls (Mk. 6:3), “The family” would have been Mary, the four boys and at least two sisters. Acts 1:14 simply says “with the women”, but I believe it is safe to say that these were “the women” who visited the grave resurrection morning and we know one of them was Mary Magdalene. Right there we have 24 identified.

The Bible tells us very little about what Jesus did after He rose from the dead. We only know He spoke to Mary Magdalene, the two Emmaus disciples, and the Apostles on multiple occasions. But Paul tells us that He also appeared to more than 500 at one time (1 Cor. 15:6). If He appeared to over 500 it is safe to say that He spoke with the 24 that are identified here. And I would like to suggest that He probably had appeared, if not personally spoken to, some of the 120 that were gathered in the Upper Room for that ten day prayer meeting. Who else was in that 120?

Firstly, I would like to suggested that there was a timid man who had been a member of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish congress). John mentions him three times and called him “Nicodemus who came by night”. But we know that he cashed in his political, and religious position to be one of the two who took Jesus off the Cross and buried Him. If John mentions him three times by name it is unthinkable that he wasn't one of the 120. And I am sure his partner, Joseph, was also there. But there is another brother that I want to put in the crowd. A little over eight weeks before then he had been a blind beggar in Jericho and had been healed. I say he was probably there because, apart from the Apostles, he is the only man in the gospels identified with his father's name as the son of Timaus.. For this reason I strongly believe he was a well known evangelist after Pentecost. And when the Bible says “he followed Jesus”, I believe that means he was in Jerusalem for the Triumphal entry, crusifiction and resurrection. And I believe he must have been one of the 120 in the Upper Room. I can't be too adamant but I would also like to suggest Jairus was there because he was the only man involved in a major miracle who is identified by name. When Jesus raised his daughter (Mk. 5:22-43), I believe he was one of the inner gang. Then there were the brother and two sisters from Bethany – Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Jesus had stayed with them until the last night when He was captured and killed. This brings the number up to 31. And I believe it is reasonably safe to suggest that Jesus probably had spoken to most these people.

I would like to consider what it would have been like to be one of those people when Jesus spoke to them after the resurrection. We know about Mary Magdalene, the Emmaus disciples and the Apostles. But I consider it impossible that think that Jesus didn't speak with His mother and brothers. We know that His brothers weren't saved until after the resurrection (Jn. 7:5) and later His brother James became the head of the church in Jerusalem and Jude, later wrote a book. What would it have felt like when Jesus spoke to His mother after the resurrection? Oh my goodness, who could describe it? And what did Lazarus, Martha, and Mary think if He had visited Bethany again after the resurrection? I'm speculating about these extra-biblical examples, but I strongly believe these are part of those books that should be written that John mentioned (Jn. 21:25). If He didn't personally speak with these close friends it is safe to believe they were at least part of the 500 that He appeared to and part of the 120 in the Room.

Let's keep in mind the time line. It was only 50 days (seven weeks) from the resurrection to Pentecost. For the Apostles it was only ten days since the last time they spoke with Jesus. For the rest it was only a month or less since the last time they had seen Him. Man howdy, I would have been fun to be in that room and fellowship with those people who were gathered there for that ten day prayer meeting. What would it have been like to talk with Lazarus, Nicodemus, and Bartimaes?

To get a better view we have here we must go back to John 14 and what Jesus had told them 53 days before in another upper room. He said, “I'm going away, but I am coming back to be with you.” (Jn. 14:18,19). In John 14:3 Jesus is talking about His second coming, but in verse 18 and 19 He is speaking about Pentecost. In verse 19 He says, “You will see Me but the world won't”. Very clearly He is speaking about the Holy Spirit. It has been correctly said that Pentecost was to the Holy Spirit what Bethlehem was to Jesus. What was Bethlehem and Jesus? Bethlehem was when God came to live in a physical body on this earth for 33 years. Pentecost was when God came again to live in another physical Body. The only difference is the Bodys. The first Body was indebted to Adam for the Body but it didn't have a drop of Adam's Blood in it. The Blood came from the Holy Spirit. The other Body is millions of human bodies that all have Adam's blood; but it is still the same Jesus that lives in both.

We all know that in talking with somebody that the real person is not the outer body that we are looking at but the person who is living inside that outer body. In several references the Bible identifies the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. What would it been like to be there when the Spirit of Christ descended and Martha and Mary said, “It is Jesus! He has come!” Not to sit at a table to eat with them but to live inside them. Oh, you talk about a good meeting – it can't get much better than this. What we have now - with the very Spirit of Christ living inside us - is infinitely better than the Jesus who sat at a table and had supper with Martha, Mary,,and Lazarus.

I said it is the same Jesus living in two different Bodies. But one had Adam's blood in it and the other didn't. One had an Adamic nature and the other didn't. One was perfect, and the other is flawed. I believe we have the perfect example of this in chapter one of Acts.

The meeting in the Upper Room hadn't been going on long before Peter noticed that there was one empty chair. He stood up and said we have to get a replacement to fill that chair. They wanted to make sure that the Lord made the decision so they decided to flipped a coin to see who it should be. First they had a committee meeting to select two candidates. Then they flipped a coin, and tails won, so Matthias took Judas' place. Peter's message before then was remarkable. He spoke from the Psalms what was obviously a prophecy by the Holy Spirit that there would be someone to take Judas' place, It is hard to imagine that an uneducated fisherman could speak so eloquently without being Spirit led. I doubt that Peter was that smart. But there has been a debate for two millenniums whether or not Mattias was actually Judas' replacement. I would like to put in my two cents.

In Revelation 21:14 we see that the foundation of the Wall to the New Jerusalem are the names of the 12 Apostles. It is difficult for me to believe that the name of the premier apostle of the first century, the man who wrote 14 of the 27 books of the New Testament, and founded most of the pioneer churches, that his name would be absent and we would find Mattias written there. History tells us some of what happened to several of the other 12 but nothing is mentioned of Mattias. I would like to suggest that Peter was in the flesh in his endeavor to fill an empty chair. Margret Dominic once said to me, “It is a strange phenomenon to sit in a service listening to a message that is clearly of the Holy Spirit and then the speaker lapse in and out of the flesh.” I believe she was dead right. In our dispensation we see a strange mixture of the Holy Spirit ministering from the mouth of men who occasionally get in the flesh. Very clearly what we have, is Jesus living on our hearts, but sometimes we get in the way.

Oh for the day when Jesus comes back to receive us unto Himself to be with Him where He is (Jn. 14:3). Jesus made that request in John 17:24 when He prayed, “Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory.”. Oh,my goodness! I believe that the Father will give His Son that request. Oh, what a future! And there we will have it minus the flesh. That will be a great improvement. Praise the Lord.

                                                         bill