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“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
In China, when
we read the above verse, we didn’t know what “to the ends of the earth” meant.
The way this Scripture is written almost makes it sound like the earth is flat
and it is possible for believers to reach the very end of the world before it
drops off into space! We prayed and meditated on this verse, asking God to show
us what He means by it.
Gradually the
Lord opened our minds to understand that what he was referring to was a
geographic progression of the advance of the Gospel throughout the world. When
Jesus first gave this promise he was standing on the Mount of Olives, just
outside Jerusalem. (see Acts 1:12). The mount is located on the east side of the
old city, and the central hill was approximately 60 meters (200 feet) higher
than the temple area in Jerusalem. Therefore, when Jesus spoke the words of Acts
1:8 to his disciples, he was looking down on the city and his words showed a
natural progression: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem” (the city
down below where they were standing), “Judea” (the province west and
northwest of Jerusalem), “Samaria” (the province north of Judea), “and
to the ends of the earth.”
Could it be that
Jesus was showing his disciples that the fire of the Gospel would first start to
burn in Jerusalem, before spreading out into the countryside west and north of
the city, then further into the lands bordering the Gentile world, and onward
into those nations where God’s name was not known?
God helped the
Church to spread the Gospel to the Gentiles. Even the location of Jerusalem was
perfectly placed at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa.
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of
the nations, with countries all around her.’” Ezekiel 5:5
In the Book of Acts this is exactly how the Gospel did spread. After the Holy Spirit fell upon
the believers with great power, Peter raised his voice and addressed the crowd:
“Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem…” Acts 2:14. The Holy
Spirit anointed Peter with such authority that
“Those who accepted his
message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that
day.” Acts 2:41
What a wonderful moment in history! The glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ was just commencing its
long and blessed journey throughout the world. Just as every parent longs to be
present when his or her child takes their first step, surely all the angels
watched and heaven stood still. The launch of the Church brought life and
salvation to 3,000 people that very first day, in stark comparison to the
introduction of the Old Testament Law, which had brought the death of 3,000
people on its first day (see Exodus 32:27-28).
Those who had started to obey the Lord’s command were doing a great job with stage one:
Jerusalem. Indeed, soon the high priest complained to the followers of Jesus
that they had “filled Jerusalem with your teaching.” Acts 5:28
Within weeks the Bible states, “So the word of God spread. The number of
disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became
obedient to the faith.” Acts 6:7
It seems to be an unfortunate characteristic of many Christians that when things are going well
we like to stop, make ourselves comfortable, and enjoy our successes. The Gospel
had already saturated Jerusalem but it seems the disciples were starting to
forget the other stages of the Great Commission. To help them remember, the Lord
provided some persecution! On the same day that Stephen became the first martyr
of the Church, “a great persecution broke out against the church at
Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and
Samaria.” Acts 8:1
Philip was used mightily in Samaria, with many miracles and signs and wonders accompanying his
ministry, and many people came to faith in the recently-ascended Christ. Soon
after, God decided to reveal himself to one of the chief persecutors of the
church, a man named Saul. The fourth stage in God’s plan of world salvation
would be implemented by the efforts of this man, who would come to be known as
the Apostle Paul. Immediately after he dramatically met Jesus on the road to
Damascus (the capital of Syria), the Lord said about Paul, “This man is my
chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings…” Acts
9:15
The rest of the
Book of Acts records how the fire of the Gospel spread throughout the Roman
world, to Rome itself and to many areas along the Mediterranean Coast. The Lord
lovingly yet firmly helped the Church obey his command, and in a short time the
Jews said of Paul and Silas, “These men who have caused trouble all over the
world have now come here…” Acts 17:6
The words of Jesus in Luke 24:46-48 were being fulfilled: “This is what is written: The
Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and
forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
As we meditated on how the Gospel had spread around the world, we saw that generally speaking,
the fire has spread in a westward direction. From southern Europe it spread into
central, northern and Western Europe. The fire also blazed into the southern
Mediterranean countries in North Africa, giving birth to some of the great
leaders of the early Church such as Augustine (from present-day Algeria) and
Tertullian (c.155 - 220 AD), who made the following statement to the political
leaders of his time which resonates among the Chinese house church Christians
today:
Go zealously on, good presidents, you will stand higher with the people if you sacrifice
the Christians at their wish, kill us, torture us, condemn us, grind us to
dust; your injustice is the proof that we are innocent…. Nor does your
cruelty, however exquisite, avail you; it is rather a temptation to us. The
oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of
Christians is seed.
In China we understand what Tertullian meant. The government in China has come to view the
house churches like the Egyptians viewed the Israelites in captivity, “the
more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so that the
Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.” Exodus 1:12
We have numerous testimonies of powerful revivals that have broken out in places where Christians
have spilled their blood and endured many hardships for the Gospel. In some
difficult areas where there exists much opposition to the Gospel, it seems God’s
children must suffer and bleed before the power of the demonic powers are broken
and people can see the light of the Gospel.
Many centuries later, as adventurers and missionaries started exploring the world by ship, the
fire of the Gospel spread to central and southern Africa, to the Americas, to
hundreds of islands in the South Pacific, to Australia, New Zealand, and parts
of Asia on the Pacific Rim. Around the beginning of the 20th century revival broke out in places like Korea, the Philippines, parts of
eastern China and Southeast Asia.
Of course there were many exceptions to this pattern. Indeed the Apostle Thomas is credited with
taking the Gospel to India just years after he had touched the wounded hands of
the resurrected Savior. But generally speaking, we can see that the flame of the
Gospel has moved in a westward direction.
Beginning around
thirty years ago, genuine and sustained revival came to the Chinese house
churches. We found ourselves on the frontline of this worldwide fire of God’s
blessing, and many tens of millions of people have come to faith in Christ.
After God
renewed our vision for Back to Jerusalem, we came to the realization that
practically all of the remaining unevangelized and unreached areas in the world
that have never been penetrated by the Gospel are situated west and south of
China. We believe God has given us a solemn responsibility to take the fire from
his altar and complete the Great Commission by establishing God’s Kingdom in all
of the remaining countries and people groups in Asia, the Middle East, and
Islamic North Africa. When this happens, we believe the Scripture says the Lord
Jesus Christ will return for His bride.“…We who are still alive and are left
will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with
these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18
We believe the
furthermost point in the world the Gospel can travel from Jerusalem, therefore,
is to circle the entire globe and come all the way back to where it all started
– Jerusalem! When the fire of the Gospel completes its circuit of the whole
globe the Lord Jesus will return! “For the earth will be filled with the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14
This is how the
name "Back to Jerusalem" was created to explain the missionary vision of the
Church in China. We have just shared some of the Biblical basis for the Back to
Jerusalem movement, and some of our understanding about how the Gospel has
spread around the world throughout history. Now let us recall some of the early
efforts of pioneer Back to Jerusalem missionaries…
Continue to "The BTJ Evangelistic Band"
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