Jesus spent a brief three and a half years in ministry here on earth, before going back to be with His Father in Heaven. During those years, Jesus preached to great crowds, and touched the lives of countless individuals. However, after His time on earth was complete, there were only one hundred and twenty followers left, meeting in an upper room.

It must have been an incredible sight, watching Jesus enter into Jerusalem presenting Himself to them as their King. A great crowd had gathered around Him even before He made it to the city. By the time he was only a short way down the road to the Temple, people were coming from everywhere. It must have felt as if the entire city was on the street with Him.

Of course, that same jubilant crowd, only a short time later turned on Jesus. He had come as their King, but that meant something completely different to them. They looked for a deliverer from Rome; Jesus promised deliverance from sin. Fueled by the hatred of the scribes and priests, the crowd that had hailed Him started to cry, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him!’

After Jesus’ body was taken down from the cross, the disciples who had initially fled, drifted off to wonder how their Messiah had allowed them to kill Him. Many had still not fully understood the mission with which Jesus came in the first place. His death on the cross had been planned long before He came. It would be an act of selfless love for mankind. Without it, man would be left to suffer the consequences of his sin forever.

Jesus showed Himself to His disciples for forty days after His resurrection. During that time, their hearts were once again stirred, and their resolve strengthened. When Jesus ascended into Heaven, telling them that He would return soon, the meager band gathered were now ready for whatever was to be asked of them. We read of them in…

Acts 1:15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

Of course, we know that the Holy Spirit fell upon them in the upper room, and they went out in the fullness of His power and turned the world upside down for Christ. That small gathering of believers, those few who had determined to remain faithful, were used to spread the Gospel around the world.

The impact of the church of Jesus Christ is now felt around the world, and has been for the last 2,000 years because of those few committed disciples of Christ.

We must not fall for the lie that our numbers are insufficient to make a difference for the cause of Christ. As we commit ourselves to the work of Christ, and yield our hearts to the Holy Spirit’s control, we could be used to make a lasting impact on our world, beginning in our little corner of the world.

Let’s determine to be more like those who chose to gather in the upper room; hopeful and dependent upon God for each step they would take. Let’s allow God to use us as well.