The Persecution of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem:
The Acts of the Apostles details the initial evangelism performed by the 12 Apostles and the many disciples who, with the assistance of God’s Holy Spirit, worked in and around Jerusalem and throughout the region of the Levant (the area of Greater Canaan). They gave the accounts of what they each had personally witnessed. They walked throughout the region and worked to help with the rapidly growing mostly Jewish “Sect of the Nazarene,” which soon became the nascent Christian One, Holy, Apostolic and Universal Church.
The Martyrdom Of The Apostle James The Greater in Jerusalem
In Jerusalem the sudden and dramatic increase in the persecution of the mostly Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem stimulated the missionary journeys of those apostles who had not already begun their travels away from Jerusalem. The Apostles Andrew and John had both left the Jerusalem “cloister” six years earlier in AD 38.
The local and regional focus of the Apostles radically changed in AD 44. After 11 years of evangelism, teaching and service in and around Jerusalem, the Church was well-established throughout the Levant region.
In the spring of AD 44, just prior to the Jewish Festival of the Passover, the Romanized, ethnically Jewish king, Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great, arrested James the Greater, and he put James through a public show trial and then had him executed by beheading Acts 12:1-2. The martyrdom of James changed everything.
The Great Apostolic Dispersal in AD 44
Herod apparently had James killed because he wanted to please the powerful and influential Jewish Pharisees and Sadducees who controlled the Second Temple in Jerusalem, which had been extensively rebuilt and expanded by his grandfather.
He also arrested the Apostle Paul, and planned for his execution after the festival was completed. Paul was subsequently released from jail by an angel of God. Paul then warned the Christian leadership in Jerusalem and fled the city Acts 12:5-19.
James the Just was Seated as the First bishop of Jerusalem
The ever-brave, courageous, and God-trusting James the Just, the half-brother of Jesus, and the author of the Book of James, and of the archetypal, important and influential Liturgy of Saint James was then confirmed and seated as the first Bishop of Jerusalem, where he continued to serve the Jerusalem Christians for roughly two more decades.
Demographics of the Roman Empire
Secular historians estimate the population of the Roman Empire at the time of Christ to have been around 45,000,000 people. They estimate the total population of Jews in the Roman empire as having been 4.500,000, and they estimate that some 500,000 of them lived in the Levant (the Greater Palestine Region, near enough to Jerusalem to have been able to pilgrimage there for the mandatory festivals). That means the population of diasporic Jews inside the Roman empire was around eight times greater than those living in the vicinity of Jerusalem.
The same group of academics estimate that by AD 100, there were at least 1,000,000 Christians living within the Roman Empire. The Apostolic dispersion must have been very evangelically effective.
Neither of these demographic estimates address the number of Jews or Christians living outside of the Roman Empire, which by AD 100 had also become a substantial number..
The Nefarious King Herod Got His Divine Comeuppance
By the way, shortly thereafter Herod the blasphemer, was eaten to death by worms Acts 12:23! Secular historians record the death of Herod Agrippa I as occurring in AD 44, so James’ martyrdom and Peter’s flight must have also occurred in the spring of that year.
Satan Meant It for Evil, But God Used It For Good
As is always the case, Satan meant it for evil, but God used it for good.
Satan meant the execution of Jesus to be a victory for him and for his selfish human “beasts” (the nefarious government authorities Revelation 13:1-4), and “the harlot who rides on the beast” (the atheistic and/or apostate religious leaders Revelation 17) who all worked in tandem together against God.
Instead, Satan’s actions wound up serving a far more important divine purpose. The Death of Jesus Christ was a prelude to his Divine Resurrection. Likewise the beheading of the Apostle James also served a greater purpose for God.
After the martyrdom of James and the flight of Simon-Peter from Jerusalem, many of the Apostles and disciples of Christ are believed to have begun leaving Jerusalem and the Greater Palestine region as well. One by one or in small groups they embarked on whatever distant missionary journeys the Spirit of God led them.
Many of them embarked to other places in The Roman Empire. Some of them traveled well beyond that empire, sojourning and spreading The Gospel far and wide.
Again, Satan may have meant Herod’s actions for evil, but God used them for the good of His kingdom.
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