Acts Bible Study: Day 31
Today’s passage: Acts 21:1–36
Focus verse: When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. (Acts 21:12)
As Paul and his entourage make their way to Jerusalem, the ship they’re traveling on docks at Tyre. While the crew unloads, Paul and his friends seek out the disciples there. Through Holy Spirit insight, they urge Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
This contrasts with the instructions the Holy Spirit gave Paul. As Paul had told his friends in Troas, he felt the Holy Spirit compelling him to go to Jerusalem. Once there he would face imprisonment and endure hardship.
In this, a key difference stands between Paul and the people in Tyre. Though Paul feels he must go to Jerusalem, the people in Tyre feel he must not. These insights both come from the Holy Spirit.
Despite their opposite perspectives—or perhaps out of respect to Paul—they don’t try to dissuade him from going.
Once they share what they heard from the Holy Spirit, they accept Paul’s decision to move forward regardless of what he will face in Jerusalem.
Seven days later, Paul and his crew resume their voyage. They go to Ptolemais, and the next stop is Caesarea. After they’ve been in Caesarea a while, Agabus the prophet arrives.
Giving a visual demonstration, he takes Paul’s belt and ties his own hands and feet with it. “The Holy Spirit told me that the owner of this belt will be likewise bound and handed over to the Gentiles.”
In this instance, Agabus has Holy Spirit insight into what will happen to Paul, but there’s no hint the Holy Spirit told Agabus that Paul shouldn’t go. This contrasts to what the Holy Spirit told the people in Tyre.
Knowing what Paul will face when he arrives in Jerusalem, the believers in Caesarea plead with him not to go.
Although the Holy Spirit told Agabus what will happen to Paul, it seems the people’s own conclusion is that Paul shouldn’t go to Jerusalem. But this is from their human perspective, not based on what the Holy Spirit said.
Paul’s response to their plea for him to stay away from Jerusalem is straightforward. “No worries. Don’t cry. I’m willing to suffer and even die for Jesus.”
When they can’t talk him out of going, they give up and say, “May God’s will be done.”
Paul arrives in Jerusalem and is minding his own business when some troublemakers rile up a crowd to near riotous proportions. The Romans arrest Paul and put him in chains.
This sends him down a path of imprisonment and hardship, just as the Holy Spirit warned.
Questions:
- How should we react when we hear one thing from God and a trusted friend hears something different?
- How can we best discern the truth?
[Discover more about the Holy Spirit through the writings of Paul in Romans 5:5, Romans 15:13–16, 1 Corinthians 6:19–20, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 4:30, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 2 Timothy 1:14, and Titus 3:4–7.]
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