I first saw the phrase used in the title in a sermon outline book. It was the title for a sermon. The title intrigued me.
The meaning of the phrase is not an actual call to return to the city of Jerusalem but a call to return to the word of God.
Specifically, it is a call to return to the word of God as it was described in Acts 2:42 which occurred in the city of Jerusalem. That verse reads as follows:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42 NIV)
The teaching of the apostles is the teaching they heard from Jesus. We have Jesus’ words given to us in the words of the apostles recorded for us in the New Testament. We are to abide in those words.
John, one of the apostles, gives this warning.
Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
(2 John 1:9 NIV)
So, we in fact move forward in our walk with Jesus when we go back. Go back to the words of Jesus. Go back to the Bible. Forward, back to the Bible.