Informal thoughts on Acts 21:1-16
Paul was a great man, but he was not a superman - he wasn’t made out of superdust, but ordinary dust just like you and me - which means he could sin, he could make mistakes just like we can - in this section of Scripture, we see him make an error in judgment that bothered him for the rest of his life -
4] (They) landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo. 4 And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem - Luke tells us this was the counsel of God for Paul - his friends were begging him through the Spirit not to go - this wasn’t the counsel of men, the advice of men, this was counsel from the Holy Spirit -
To cinch it, the prophet Agabus came down from Jerusalem - he had prophesied many years earlier that there would be a worldwide famine, and that’s exactly what happened in 46 AD during the days of the Emperor Claudius - so everybody knew that when Agabus brought a word from God, it was golden, it was the real deal -
8] We came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him - Philip was one of the first deacons of the church, who helped to manage the food bank at the church in Jerusalem when the Greek speaking widows were getting the shaft, getting overlooked in the daily distribution of food - so he was a man of tested character and substance -
While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands - pretty dramatic, everybody wondering what is he up to with this - and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” So Luke makes it clear a second time that this was the voice of the Holy Spirit, this was the counsel of God -
12] When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem - That’s Luke in the “we” there, and the rest of Paul’s ministry team, all of them spoke with one voice and said, Paul, this is a mistake, we know you are fearless but that can make you impulsive and it can prompt you to run out ahead of God, and to be unable to recognize the counsel of God and the path of wisdom - and that’s what’s getting ready to happen here -
So Luke and all the believers in Philip’s house church were begging Paul not to do this thing - wasn’t one person in his inner circle, not one person in the church at Caesarea telling him to plow ahead -
Remember Acts 16:10 - after Paul’s vision of the man from Macedonia: we concluded - Paul took the vision to his whole team, and together they decided how they needed to respond - but in this case Paul didn’t do that - he just plowed through all the yellow lights, then plowed through all the red lights -
13] You have to admire his courage and his bravery, but even Paul later admitted that this was a mistake - when he appeared before King Agrippa - 26:28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Can you persuade me in such a short time to become a Christian?” 29 “Short time or long,” Paul replied, “I wish to God that not only you but all who hear me this day may become what I am, except for these chains.”
14] since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, Let the will of the Lord be done - I’ve had this experience, trying to talk someone out of what you can see is a disastrous decision, and they just don’t get it, are determined to pursue the course they’re on - no matter how much you urge, persuade, plead, it doesn’t do any good - you can see where the road they’re on will end, but they either can’t see it or refuse to see it -
This was a fateful decision on Paul’s part - he spent virtually the rest of his life in prison and maybe didn’t need to -
At some point, you just have to let it go - after a point you’re just beating it into the ground - and place the whole thing in God’s hand, entrust the people you care about to the care and discipline and direction of the Lord, and say what Paul’s friends said, Let the will of the Lord be done -
I've wondered about this often...from his chains and captivity Paul still served Christ and bore abundant fruit, albeit in hardship. IF Paul had taken the other road, would we still have his books? Would the church have been established in Rome? TRUE the Holy Spirit warned of chains and hardship, but the prophet who receives the Word of the Spirit interprets it according to what Father God has given HIM...I'M THINKING OF THE OLD TESTAMENT MAN OF GOD WHO TURNED ASIDE TO GO WITH AN OLDER 'PROPHET' DESPITE A CLEAR WARNING/INSTRUCTION FROM AN ANGEL (1 KINGS 13)... Paul knew very well how the Spirit was instructing him, and refused to be turned aside by others including prophets who spoke a discouraging word to him. The Apostle Paul nearly always had the foresight and the perspective of Almighty God, that the temporal is only temporary, but the Eternal is Father God's Dwelling Place and our ultimate hope despite Earthly tribulation. It may be that rather than this being a disobedient mistake, it was the Apostle Paul's greatest act of worship and the reason his works in honor of the Lord Christ have been preserved...in the light of his loving obedience to even a Word that was as threatening as walking the path to the cross can sometimes be. In our Sunday Bible study in heaven we will surely he given the answer to all these things! In the meantime, really good background info and thank you brother Bryan!