The Book of Acts: Chapter 21 (pt 4 of 18)

Okay, getting back to Paul, from what we read in Acts 21:4, it almost seems like all the believers in Tyre prophesied in the Spirit that Paul shouldn’t set foot in Jerusalem. However, Luke’s account of the events in Caesarea in Acts 21:8-14 paints a different picture:

On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. (He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied).

While we remained there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’” When we heard this, both we and the local people begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Because he could not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done” —Acts 21:8-14

So, we see at least four people in Caesarea who were known to be prophets (to be more precise, prophetesses), and they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem. These are the four unmarried daughters of Philip. But when God spoke, He did it through Agabus, a prophet who came down some 60 miles from Jerusalem to Caesarea. My point here is that God didn’t prophesy about Paul’s troubles in Jerusalem through those who were present (as verse 4 might appear to indicate). Indeed, God didn’t even foretell Paul’s troubles in Jerusalem through all the available prophets in Caesarea. God apparently spoke through one prophet—Agabus. When Agabus prophesied of Paul’s sufferings in Jerusalem, then virtually every Christian responded by urging Paul not to go. Even Luke urged him not to go, along with Paul’s other traveling companions (Notice the “we” in Acts 21:12).

Look at verse 4 of our chapter in the light of verses 8-14. I believe that at Tyre, only one prophet revealed virtually the same message that we find in Acts 20:22-23 and 21:8-14: imprisonment and persecution awaited Paul in Jerusalem. Okay, so in response to this divinely-inspired prophecy, the saints in Tyre, just like the saints in Caesarea, tried to convince Paul not to continue on to Jerusalem, and avoid the suffering that awaited him there.

I don’t believe Paul is rejecting any direct words of divine prophecy. Huh? That’s right. I think He is rejecting an improper interpretation and application of what God had revealed. Certainly both  you and I know that it is possible to misinterpret and misapply Scripture, well, it’s also possible to misinterpret and wrongly apply prophecy. Notice that when Paul insisted on going to Jerusalem, everyone who had tried to stop him from going on, quit their resistance with the words, “The Lord’s will be done” (Acts 21:14). Now, you can take that a couple of ways. We can figure they were exasperated and simply threw up their arms, “Well, there’s no sense arguing . . . the Lord’s will be done.” Or, did they see that Paul was steadfast in his conviction that the Lord said, “Go . . .,” and they started thinking, “Hey, maybe we’re wrong here . . . well, the Lord’s will be done.” It is possible that they had mistakenly discerned God’s will for Paul’s life, and that his sense of God’s guidance prevailed. As I told you before, Prophetic words must confirm what God has already told you in your own spirit. You are responsible to follow the guidance in your own heart. There may be times that a prophetic word could indeed contradict the leading in your heart, but that is something YOU must discern, not the person giving the prophetic word. Any time I have a “word” for someone I always admonish them to judge my message in their own spirit.

Now this issue regarding Paul, if you read the prophetic word again, see if you notice something . . . Agabus told Paul what was going to happen—he didn’t tell him what to do with that information. Did you catch that? Agabus said, “the one who owns this belt is going to be imprisoned and suffer . . .” Which was the truth. However, he did NOT say, “The one who owns this belt will be imprisoned and suffer, so he should stay away from Jerusalem.”

I could give a prophetic word to you saying, “You are going to go to the store and buy milk . . .” And you may very well go to the store and buy milk. You may even buy butter and cereal. I didn’t say anything about those things in my “word” to you, did I?

Now that is just one thing to think about. I want to look at a few more things that convince me Paul was indeed following the instructions of the Lord.

If interested, you can download the entire study of The Story of Acts

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