Luke 24:47
“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →The good news of forgiveness is meant to travel to every people on earth, and it begins in the very city that rejected Him.
Context
Jerusalem, the evening of the resurrection, still part of the same conversation. Having shown the disciples that all Scripture pointed to His death and rising (verses 44 to 46), Jesus now tells them what that finished work is for. Luke writes a second volume, the book of Acts, that traces exactly this: the message spreading out from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
What Does Luke 24:47 Mean?
Jesus tells them what their lives are now for. The message they will carry has two halves held together: a turning, and a clearing away. People are to turn back toward God, and in His name their sins are to be lifted off them and let go. And it is for everyone, every nation, no border left as the edge of God's mercy. Most striking of all, it begins at Jerusalem, the city where He had just been condemned and killed.
That starting point is its own quiet sermon. Forgiveness is offered first to the very place that crucified Him. No one is too far gone, no city too guilty, to be where grace begins. This is the heart of what Christ accomplished: His name becomes the name in which the whole world can be forgiven. The disciples standing in that room would carry it out the door, and it has been moving outward ever since, reaching us.
In the Original Language
metanoia (μετάνοια), 'repentance' -- a change of mind and heart that turns the whole person back toward God.
Application
The forgiveness Christ won reaches every nation and every land, and it begins precisely where failure had been greatest. Wherever we have been, and whatever we have done, we are inside the reach of a mercy that started in the hardest place of all.