In the beginning, the Church was birthed in the Galilee, and then moved to Jerusalem after Jesus’ ascension. I know this is contrary to what is traditionally taught by most Christian scholars, that it started at Pentecost, but this is an opinion not supported by Scripture. It was Jesus Himself who began to form the Church when He called His disciples, appointed apostles, and sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven. The apostles were filled with the Spirit (John 20:22), active and sent before the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2. Disciples gathered not only in homes but also in synagogues throughout Galilee and Judea. What began as a grassroots movement around the Sea of Galilee was soon to impact the nations.
From Jerusalem a small remnant of Jewish believers, empowered by the Spirit and commissioned by the risen Messiah, carried the flame of the Kingdom into a dark and fragmented world. They were not many, but they were willing. What followed was a movement of unprecedented power, persecution, and expansion. What began as a gathering soon became a scattering. And so the Gospel spread, carried by Jewish apostles and early disciples into Judea, Samaria, and eventually into the Gentile world.
That was the first Church age. It ended right before the destruction of the Temple and the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. But today, the Spirit is showing us that the last Church age, the one we now find ourselves in, is not merely a continuation of the first. It is its mirror.
The early Church was a season of scattering. The last-days Church is a time of ingathering. In the beginning, the Lord sent out twelve Jewish apostles, rooted in Torah and covenant, proclaiming that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. In time, other apostles were added: Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and later Gentiles, who carried the message into the Nations and established spiritual foundations far from Jerusalem.
Now, in these last days, we begin not in Jerusalem, but in the Nations, then to the rebuilding of His church in the Galilee. The Gospel has gone out to the ends of the earth. Gentile apostles, prophets and teachers have labored for centuries, albeit few in number and never for consecutive generations. Some faithfully, others with mixture, but the Lord is not finished. He is not closing history with a Gentile Church alone. He is turning His face once again to Israel and Jewish believers in Yeshua.
We are now witnessing the reverse of the Book of Acts. We began this last Church Age with the Gentiles; now God is restoring the Jewish apostles and prophets and teachers. Not to be separate from the Gentiles in the Church, but to complete it. Not to dominate, but to align. In this divine inversion, apostolic teams and companies are forming, Jew and Gentile together, joined not by ethnicity but by covenant and commission. This is the emergence of the One New Man Paul spoke of in Ephesians 2, not as an abstract doctrine but as a functioning, Spirit-led reality.
Because this will bring the Lord’s power and purpose, and yes, persecution, Satan must do anything and everything he can to prevent its fulness. Satan can’t stop it, so he must try to limit its effectiveness. To do this, he will continue to bring the counterfeit to deceive and confuse the church. While he has always deceived many, he cannot deceive all. And those not deceived must be the ones to lead the way with spiritual warfare, mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.
In the early days, persecution scattered the believers from Jerusalem, and what seemed like tragedy became divine strategy. In these last days, we see the opposite: the Lord is gathering. He is drawing together those that see His Father’s vision for the Church, Gentile believers from every tribe and tongue, and Jewish believers from every nation and back to the Land. He is assembling His Church, prepared to walk in maturity, power, and unity.
The order is reversed, but the pattern is the same. In the beginning, the apostles, prophets and teachers were all Jewish. Then came the “times of the Gentiles.” Now, in the end, we begin with Gentile apostles, prophets and teachers and add the restored Jewish ones, forming apostolic teams and churches that reflect the fullness of God’s purpose. It is no longer either/or. It is both. It is not the Church replacing Israel or Israel separated from the Church. It is the One New Man, standing as a prophetic witness to the world.
We are not trying to return to the Book of Acts. We are fulfilling it. What was scattered will be gathered. What was partial will be full. What was a seed will become a harvest.
This is not a movement of individuals. It is the formation of apostolic companies and elder-governed churches. Jewish and Gentile, male and female, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, walking in the power of the age to come. The last-days Church is not weaker than the first. It is its reflection, matured. Messiah will not return for a divided body, but for a unified Bride, spotless, radiant, and walking in the authority of heaven.
As in the first days, the command goes forth again: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. The King is coming. Let the One New Man rise to meet Him.