The 'word' for this week is the phrase "upper room". There are two different Greek words translated "upper room" in the New Testament. The first is found in these verses:
Mark 14:15 And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. 16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. KJV
Luke 22:12 And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. 13 And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. KJV
These are both the Greek word "anogeon". Strong's Concordance says: above the ground, the second floor of a building or the balcony on the upper story. Thayer's Greek Lexicon says: anything above the ground, a room in the upper part of a house. This room would have been large enough for JESUS' traveling party to fit and to share the Passover meal together. The second phrase is found in only one place in the New Testament. Acts 1:13-14:
Acts 1:13 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. 14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. KJV
This is the Greek word "huperoion". Strong's Concordance says: a higher part of the house, an apartment in the third floor. Thayer's Greek Lexicon says: the highest part of the house, a room in the upper part of a house, sometimes built upon the flat roof of the house. This 'upper room' was different than the first in that at least 120 people fit in this room. We see that in verses 14-15:
Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. 15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) KJV
This room was large enough to accomodate those who had heard JESUS tell them to gather here and wait to be "endued with power from on high" (Acts 1:4-5 & 8)! When we toured Israel, one of the places that they took us to was said to be the Upper Room, but in 70AD Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, so the original room is no longer there. Now that Holy Spirit lives IN us, we have our very own personal 'upper room' and we can be the 'upper room' for others as we allow Him to operate through us. That is the essence of this new song from Hillsong Worship on there "Awake" album called, of course, "Upper Room"!
This Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!
