Immediately after the Lord ascended into heaven, the apostles returned to Jerusalem. They gathered together in the upper room with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and the brothers of Jesus. The ascended Lord was gathering together His church.

Six weeks earlier it had looked very bleak. The crowds had quit following Him. Even the small group he had been left with had abandoned Him. Mark wrote those most bitter words about what had happened when the soldiers had arrested the Lord: “And they all forsook Him and fled.” The Shepherd was left without a single sheep. He died a leader with no followers.

When He arose, He had to search for His scattered flock. Two had left for Emmaus. Mary was crying in the garden. Judas had committed suicide. Ten disciples hid in a locked house, scared out of their wits. Thomas had given up. He was nowhere to be seen.

But Christ brought them together. He sent the two back from Emmaus to Jerusalem. He sent Mary to the disciples. He appeared to the Eleven. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that He also appeared to His brother James. Here, in Acts 1, we can see the fruit of His labour. His church is gathered together in the upper room, praying.

Luke mentioned them by name. Peter, who had denied his Lord three times, was there. John and James, the two brash sons of Zebedee who had once had the audacity to ask for the two best places in the kingdom of God, were there. Doubting Thomas was there worshipping his Lord and his God. Matthew the tax collector was there. He had not returned to his old well-paying job of ripping off his fellow citizens as he collected taxes for Rome. Simon the Zealot was there too. He had once belonged to a violent liberation movement which was trying to establish the kingdom of God by murder and revolt. Simon the Zealot now saw that Jesus Christ would establish the kingdom, and not through murder, but by the power of God. The other five disciples, about whom we know very little, were in the upper room too.

Then there were “the women.” These were the wives of the apostles who had married. As well, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, the women who had followed the Lord and had provided for Him out of their own means, were there too. And there was Mary, the mother of Jesus. He had gathered her in as well. She now worshipped her son as her Lord and her God.

Finally, his own brothers were in the upper room as well. At first His brothers had thought Him mad. They had not believed in Him. But there they were – James, Judas, Simon. They believed in Him. He gathered them into His church. All three would become leaders in the church.

There were more. Verse 15 tells us that very soon there were about a hundred and twenty persons. The ascended Lord had gathered together His church of a hundred and twenty, men, women and children.

The ascended Lord is still busy gathering, defending, and preserving for Himself, a church chosen to everlasting life. He is busy throughout the world in the midst of the nations. And we believe that we are and forever shall remain living members of that church, right?