Acts 1:8 shows us the progression that it took to move the Word of God. It was always first to the Jews. It follows that the new covenant was first introduced to Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah. Then it moved out to the countryside of Judah. Then it moved to the capital city of the hated Samaritans. And if that wasn't hard enough for the Jews to accept, it went out to "the utter most parts of the earth": the hated Gentiles. It wasn't God's Will that it took so long for the move of God to happen. People had to rise up and believe to take action on it. The new covenant is not a set of rules to be managed, but a relationship to be lived.