Jesus and his disciples met in the "Upper Room" for the Last Supper the night before He was betrayed, arrested, tried, and later crucified. Luke records these events.
The day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed, coincided with the events surrounding Jesus's crucifixion. This was to align Jesus as the Passover lamb and show His people that He had become what God had provided in Egypt on the night of the Passover. He was their escape from bondage and enslavement. He was their Passover lamb.
Jesus told Peter and John to go and prepare for them to eat the Passover. They asked Jesus where He wanted this to occur. He told them to enter the city, and a man carrying a jar of water would meet them.
He told them to follow the man to the house he enters and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks: "Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"' Jesus told them the man would show them a large room upstairs, all furnished. He told them to prepare there for His time with them.
It turns out Jesus was right, as always.
They made the preparations as Jesus told them to, and when the time came, they reclined with Jesus at the table in this Upper Room. What a strange story.
Why the Upper Room?
Why did Jesus choose the Upper Room as the place He ate the Passover Meal with the disciples? What was so special about this place? Why did He pick it as the place they would meet to enter into such a sacred time that would give way to the Most sacred time in the history of humanity, the crucifixion of Jesus, and yes, the eventual resurrection?
The Upper Room was the top, the roof of this house. Why did Jesus choose it? In the first century, "upper rooms" were places to gather with guests, host parties, and enter into extended times of prayer, meditation, and even fasting. These places also served as social contexts for the family and community of the family at large.
When important meetings were needed, they would happen in the Upper Room of a house. Jesus knew this and wanted to have a place built for the sacred moment He was entering with His disciples. He wanted a private context to prepare His men for the public reality that awaited them at the cross He would soon die on for them.
The Symbolism of the Upper Room
The Upper Room provided privacy and significance, but it also provided symbolic meaning. Going all the way back to the time of the prophets and kings in the time of Elijah, he stayed in the upper room of the widow's house in Zarephath.
While Elijah was staying with the widow in Zarephath, her son died. Elijah took him to the upper room where he was staying and brought him back to life from the dead. This is where the Bible records in 1 Kings 17 that God listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child came into him again. The Upper Room in this passage was the place of resurrection. It was the sacred place of revelation where death gives way to life.
The Upper Room in this passage was a foreshadowing of the significance of the upper room in which Jesus would eat the Passover meal with his disciples. The Upper Room became the place of miracles, healings, resurrections, and the place where God turned death into life. It was also the place where Elijah was declared by the widow of Zarephath that he was a true prophet of God and that the Word of God was in his mouth.
These are all the things that were true of Jesus in the Upper Room as well. He would not raise the dead soon; He would soon be raised from the dead, Himself. He would speak the Truth of God as Elijah did and would declare to them words that they would later remember and cause them to believe Him to be the One True Prophet of God, the Savior of all humanity.
Elevated Significance
The upper room's elevated position within the house symbolized its proximity to the throne room of God.
This harkens back to Psalm 91, which tells us that those who dwell in the shelter of the Most High abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Throughout the Bible, God's prophets, like Moses, would go to the highest place they could in the area where they were to meet with the Lord. Even the Devil tried to "fool" Jesus by taking Him to the highest place and promising Him all the Kingdoms of the earth. High places denote closeness with the Throne Room of God.
Post-Resurrection Appearances in the Upper Room
The Upper Room is the location where Jesus first met with His disciples after His resurrection.
The Gospel of John 20:19-23 records Jesus' first interaction with the disciples after his crucifixion. It is believed they were back in that same Upper Room, and Jesus came to them and said, "Peace be with you." This was the moment in which Jesus connected all the dots for the disciples and prepared them for the mission and purpose for which He had been preparing them for the past three and half years.
Eight days later, Jesus appeared again to them in the Upper Room because Thomas was not present the first time. This became the final moment in which Jesus appeared to all of them suddenly before the declaration of the coming of the Holy Spirit and Jesus's departure back to heaven in Acts.
A Place of Transformation
The Upper Room, no doubt, became a place of remembrance, a sacred holy place to which they probably returned time and time again for inspiration, recalibration, and re-centering of their lives back to the calling Jesus had placed on them as they carried out the Great Commission He had entrusted to them.
The Upper Room became their recommissioning room when they needed a reminder and encouragement to stay faithful and carry on the mission Jesus had entrusted to them, no matter the cost.
The Upper Room holds profound spiritual significance as a place where Jesus prepared His disciples for the monumental events of His crucifixion and resurrection, and where they later found renewed strength, clarity, and purpose to carry out the Great Commission. Its historical and symbolic importance, from Elijah's miracles to Jesus' resurrection appearances, highlights its role as a space of transformation, remembrance, and connection to God's divine plan.
