4, 5. (a) How did Jesus show clearly that his followers must also be Kingdom preachers? (b) How effective was the preaching of early Christians?

⁴ Included in Jesus’ work was the training of his followers to share in Kingdom preaching. This, too, was to be their primary work. Jesus indicated this when he instructed twelve of those to whom he had given special training: “As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.’” The Kingdom could be said to have “drawn near” because the designated king of God’s heavenly kingdom, Jesus Christ, was then in their midst. So Jesus told his disciples to call right at the homes of the people with this vital message. He even explained to them how to greet the household and present the Kingdom message. Later, he sent out seventy trained disciples with similar instructions. (Matt. 10:5-7, 11-14; Luke 10:1-11) Even after his death and resurrection, Jesus appeared to his followers to urge them to carry on the preaching.

⁵ To “upward of five hundred brothers,” who had apparently gathered at a postresurrection appearance in Galilee, Jesus said: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations . . . teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” (1 Cor. 15:6; Matt. 28:10, 19, 20) And finally to those disciples who witnessed his departure heavenward, he said: “You will be witnesses of me . . . to the most distant part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) How filled with fervor and enthusiasm were those early Christians after being encouraged by the resurrected Christ! They had the right view of the work, and their zealous Kingdom preaching produced remarkable results. Historian Edward Gibbon, no friend of Christianity, admitted: The “zeal of Christians . . . diffused them through every province in almost every city of the [Roman] empire.”a