“The Lord’s will be done.”
Paul had set his face toward Jerusalem. It was a place in agitation. He was warned that his presence could be something of a trigger to the populace. To friends and fellow-laborers, his planned visit wasn’t worth the risk.
Agabus, known as a prophet, bound up himself with Paul’s own belt to illustrate what was in store for the apostle. His words indicated that likely Roman arrest awaited Paul.
This man said the words he spoke of Paul were given to him by “the Holy Spirit.” Those present begged him to reconsider.
How could he not listen? Why would Paul wade into dangerous waters after such a warning?
Paul stood firm. His convictions were solid. His determination was expressed, with a decisive edge I am sure: “… What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).
It seems that Paul had a stubborn, stiff-necked streak in him. He refused to bow to the sentiment that ruled the room that day.
The interesting element here is that the setting for this scene was the house of Philip the Evangelist, one of the original seven deacons chosen by the congregation and prayed over by the Apostles in Acts 6.
Who else was numbered with Philip among those seven men? Stephen, that’s who — the man who died for his faith in Jesus. And Paul was eyewitness to the whole thing.
Being at Philip’s table perhaps steeled Paul for what was ahead for him. He was not a man given to naivety. His decades of ministry had surely taught him to expect difficulty and opposition.
“The Lord’s will be done.”
Paul was going to do what Paul was going to do. Those with him set aside their anxiety and enjoyed a meal, maybe a last supper of sorts, with the man who’d done so much to spread the Gospel.
The man knew how to hear from God. It was how he got started in this enterprise in the first place. Jesus shined down him. Visions came here and there to keep him on the path the Lord purposed for him.
Another Decision
Passages like these show us how down to earth the Bible is. Not all things described are tidy and neat – there are loose ends left for us to contemplate as we read the Scriptures.
Was Paul right to disregard the counsel given to him? Should he have chosen to play it safe?
We really don’t get an answer here in the text provided by Luke. This is good, sound journalism at work in these words. The writer told the story straight and true. Nothing is skewed; no biases are revealed.
The passage continues and follows the lines of Paul’s travels right to his arrival in the holy city at the time of Pentecost. “When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly” (Acts 21:17).
Paul kept moving and Luke tagged along, notebook in hand obviously. Soon after, we see another group of people got hold of him and this time he bent himself to their suggestion.
Things started well once Paul got into town. He visited with James, the brother of Jesus and leader of the Jerusalem council and assembly. He shared the record of success that the Spirit had brought through his ministry to the Gentiles.
Gentiles – there’s that loaded designation again. The Gospel touched and redeemed any heart open to the message it delivered. The growth and power of the movement was evident.
Still, some of the earliest believers in Christ struggled with the fact that followers of Jesus were not “required” to become Jewish in practice. A group in Jerusalem saw Paul’s presence as an opportunity to score points with Jews who remain “zealous for the Law” (see Acts 21:20). He was asked to perform a ritual with a crew of Hebrew believers and show everybody that following the Hebrew customs was quite all right.
The Gospel touched and redeemed any heart open to the message it delivered. The growth and power of the movement was evident. Share on XPaul did follow the traditions he learned from a child. He just didn’t force his ways and the ways of his people on Gentiles. He proved a fierce opponent to those who operated as legalists in pretense and prejudice. He even faced off with the Apostle Peter in Antioch: “… I opposed him … when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas [Peter] before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?’ ”(see Galatians 2:11-14).
At this point, as I see it, Paul was also committed to the revelation that the Lord was tearing down the wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles to create “in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace” (see Ephesians 2:15). He wrote this to the Corinthians: “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law” (see 1 Corinthians 9:20).
This must have been Paul’s reasoning when he agreed to the plan. He took the men to the Temple and helped them to initiate their Nazarite vows. He even financed the ritual for them all.
It almost worked. The whole process was nearly complete. A public relations coup de grace was within reach.
And then Jews on pilgrimage from Asia caught sight of Paul and seized him, “crying out, ‘Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place’ “ (Acts 21:28).
Under Arrest
A riot ensued. Paul was dragged from the Temple and was about to be torn apart when Roman centurions intervened and took him into their custody. Another Jewish rabble rouser was what the authorities took him to be – just a random disturber of the peace.
The prophecy of Agabus was realized. Paul was shackled and carried toward the barracks for examination and likely torture, which was the Roman way of getting to the bottom of an uprising.
Questions arise in our hearts as we read this. Was this wisdom for Paul? Why didn’t he keep his distance?
Questions can tell us more than answers ever do. That’s a line from a Michael Card song.
The secret things belong to God. Attempting to accumulate knowledge was the essence of Man’s original sin. God supplies information to us on a need-to-know basis. And Paul had what he needed for even this moment, in which his own decisions may have caused the whole setup.
In trouble again, Paul doesn’t flinch. He refuses to panic. He has learned to rely on the Word in every situation. We read this in Psalm 119 – “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm 119:71).
Yes, troubles do present opportunities to live by the will of God. The Lord’s decrees are perfect – His Word is what really counts. His will gets done on earth as it is already done in Heaven.
Take your questions to God. Job got an audience with the Lord once he ran out of questions and came to the end of himself.
Paul’s story continues in the coming chapters and we will see that the predicament he may have gotten himself into was worked together for the good that God intended to do.
The Lord knows the way that we take and He is right there with us in all that happens. The words of Jeremiah we must take to be ever true:
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11).
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