And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared to his disciples and explained that everything written about him in the ancient Hebrew scriptures had now come true. He then gave them a mission: go and tell the world about repentance — turning away from wrong and toward God — and about forgiveness. This message was to begin in Jerusalem, the very city where Jesus had just been crucified, and spread outward to every nation on earth. Repentance and forgiveness weren't two separate ideas but one connected announcement: people can turn around, and when they do, they will find that God has already cleared their record.
God, thank you that forgiveness doesn't start in safe places — it starts exactly where the damage is. Give me courage to carry that message into my own hard rooms, not just with words but with how I actually live. Help me begin where it costs me something. Amen.
Think about what it means to start in Jerusalem. That's the city that had just shouted "Crucify him." Not some neutral city on a hill, not a fresh start in a new place — Jerusalem, where the betrayal was freshest, where the wounds were still visible. Jesus didn't say begin somewhere comfortable. He said begin there. Forgiveness has always worked this way. It doesn't start at a safe distance from the hurt. It starts in the hardest room, with the most complicated history, where trust has been most thoroughly broken. Jesus sends this message into the eye of the storm first — which means the message is for you too, in whatever your Jerusalem is. The relationship that embarrasses you, the pattern you can't seem to shake, the person whose name makes your jaw tighten. That's not the last stop on the forgiveness tour. It might be the first.
Why do you think Jesus specifically said this message should start in Jerusalem — the city where he was killed? What does that choice reveal about how forgiveness actually works?
The verse connects repentance and forgiveness as a single announcement. In your own experience, have you ever found one without the other — and what happened?
Is there a person or situation in your life where extending or receiving forgiveness feels genuinely impossible right now? What makes it feel that way?
If forgiveness is meant to be "preached" — actively announced — how does that change the way you interact with people who don't yet know about it?
What would it look like this week for you to carry this message somewhere specific — a conversation you've been avoiding, a letter you haven't sent, a pattern you haven't named out loud?
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mark 16:15
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Matthew 24:14
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
Isaiah 49:6
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Acts 4:12
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 4:17
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Matthew 9:13
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Matthew 28:19
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:38
and that repentance [necessary] for forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
AMP
and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
ESV
and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
NASB
and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
NIV
and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
NKJV
It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’
NLT
and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations—starting from here, from Jerusalem!
MSG