The Departure from Pella 

On March 13, 30 CE, Jesus and the apostles left the Pella camp that had been the headquarters for the Pella Mission. For the next two weeks, they visited all the cities in that southern region where Abner and his associates were laboring for the kingdom. Then, they went to Jerusalem for the Passover.

About one thousand of the disciples who had been camped at Pella followed after Jesus. Most of these disciples expected that Jesus would be going to Jerusalem to take his rightful place as the Messiah, claiming the throne of David. This belief that Jesus was the promised Messiah was persistent among Jesus’ disciples to the end.

After Jesus delivered his sermon on "Counting the Cost" at the Jordan ford (Bethabara), about half of the disciples decided to go on to Jerusalem, while Jesus traveled to Heshbon. From the Jordan ford on the road to Jericho, this group then traveled to Jerusalem, while the remainder stayed with the apostolic party, visiting the Perean towns.

The Pella camp was officially closed by David Zebedee, at the direction of the Apostle Andrew, on Wednesday, March 15, 30 CE. There were still nearly four thousand visitors at the camp. One thousand visitors had gone with the apostolic party a few days before. They had been part of the "teachers’ camp," which had been the area where the apostles were based. David, despite his reluctance to do so, sold all the equipment to various buyers and traveled to Jerusalem with the proceeds, which he turned over to Judas Iscariot.

Meanwhile, Andrew directed David to disband his messenger service, which left David without a specific job to do. However, most of Jesus’ followers assumed that the end of the messenger service was an indication that the kingdom would soon become an established reality in Jerusalem.

David arrived in Jerusalem and, while waiting for Jesus and the apostles to arrive, went to Bethany to see Lazarus. Seeing the way that the Pharisees were harassing and persecuting Lazarus since his resurrection by Jesus was very upsetting to him.

David felt he would become a supporter and defender of Lazarus, but before he could follow through on this goal, Lazarus hastily left Bethany because the Pharisees had placed a death warrant on his head. He fled to Philadelphia during the dark days of the crucifixion.

After the crucifixion, David and his mother went home to Bethsaida, where she died soon thereafter. David then traveled to Philadelphia with Martha and Mary after helping them to liquidate their real estate in Bethany. They all joined Lazarus there, and David spent the rest of his days in Philadelphia, working with Abner and Lazarus as overseer of the financial affairs of their mission there.

Philadelphia became the center of Abner's teaching of the kingdom of heaven. From Philadelphia, the missionaries of this center spread throughout Mesopotamia and Arabia until the later times when these uncompromising emissaries of the teachings of Jesus were overwhelmed by the sudden rise of Islam.