“And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.”
My Notes
What Does Acts 1:13 Mean?
The list of names in this verse is more powerful than it first appears. Jesus has ascended. The disciples have just watched Him disappear into the sky. And now they walk back to Jerusalem and go upstairs. Eleven men in a room — waiting for something they don't fully understand.
The names are deliberate. Peter, who denied Jesus three times, is listed first. Thomas, who doubted the resurrection, is here. Matthew, the former tax collector. Simon Zelotes — a zealot, a political revolutionary. James the son of Alphaeus and Judas the brother of James, men so obscure we know almost nothing about them. The group is diverse in temperament, background, and failure history. And they're all in the same room.
The absence is notable too: Judas Iscariot is missing. The twelve are now eleven. The betrayer's empty seat is a silent testimony to what happens when proximity to Jesus doesn't produce loyalty. Eleven stayed. One didn't.
"They went up into an upper room, where abode" — the word "abode" (katamenontes) means they were staying, dwelling, remaining. This wasn't a brief visit. They moved in. They committed to the wait. The upper room became headquarters — the place where the church was born in prayer before it was born in power at Pentecost.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Are you in an 'upper room' season — waiting between a promise and its fulfillment? What does it look like to stay rather than force the next step?
- 2.The disciples were a mismatched group of failures and unknowns. How does that challenge the idea that God needs impressive people to start something?
- 3.Judas is absent. What does his empty seat say about the difference between proximity to Jesus and genuine commitment?
- 4.What does faithful waiting look like for you right now — not passive, but actively present in the gap between the ascension and the Pentecost of your situation?
Devotional
Eleven ordinary men in an upstairs room. That's how the church started. Not with a stadium or a strategy. With a room, a list of names, and a willingness to wait.
Look at this group. Peter, who failed publicly and spectacularly. Thomas, who needed to touch the wounds before he'd believe. A tax collector and a zealot sitting side by side — men who, in any other context, would have been enemies. Obscure disciples whose names barely appear elsewhere in Scripture. This is the leadership team Jesus left behind. And they went upstairs and waited.
The upper room is the space between the ascension and Pentecost — between Jesus leaving and the Spirit arriving. It's a gap. An in-between. And what the disciples did in that gap was simply stay. They didn't launch a marketing campaign. They didn't elect a charismatic leader. They abode. They remained. They stayed put and prayed.
If you're in an upper room season — between the promise and the power, between what God said and what God does — look at the company you're keeping. Peter's in there. Thomas is in there. People who failed, doubted, and came from backgrounds that shouldn't have fit together. The upper room isn't for the polished. It's for the willing. The ones who will stay in the room when there's no visible reason to stay.
The Spirit falls in Acts 2. But the staying starts in Acts 1. And the staying is the part nobody celebrates — the obedience of sitting in a room with imperfect people and waiting for something you can't control.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
"Into it", as the Arabic version reads; that is, into the city of Jerusalem, and into some house in that city; but what…
Were come in - To Jerusalem. They went up into an upper room - The word ὑπερῷον huperoōn, here translated “upper…
They went up into an upper room - This was either a room in the temple, or in the house of one of the disciples, where…
We are here told, I. Whence Christ ascended - from the mount of Olives (Act 1:12), from that part of it where the town…
And when they were come in i.e. into the city, from the open country where the Ascension had taken place.
they went up…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture