Acts 21:10–14

A prophet who came from Jerusalem to Antioch, and foretold a famine "over all the world," which happened in the days of Claudius Caesar (Acts 11:28). He also foretold that Paul would be bound at Jerusalem and delivered to the Gentiles, which also came to pass (Acts 21:10). In the first passage it says that Agabus "signified by the Spirit" that there would be a great famine. In the second he said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit." This plainly shows that the prophetic spirit in man was under the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Prophecy is in a special way characteristic of Christianity. It does not pass down a line of succession. It springs out of close fellowship with God — the opening up of His mind, so as to bring souls into His presence. Prediction was never more than a fairly small and changing part of it. Yet prediction is just what we find in Agabus, on the only two occasions when he appears in the history. He is a prophet of sorrow both times, though of sorrow that God overrules for good.

Notice that Paul had much time on this journey to consider whether he actually ought to go to Jerusalem. Agabus bound his own hands and feet with Paul's belt, and prophesied that the Jews would bind its owner in the same way and hand him over to the Gentiles. This is just what happened to the Lord Jesus, and no doubt Paul thought of this — not in a way that would turn him from going, but the opposite. He would apparently not seek to avoid being treated in the same way as his Lord.

Here then came another warning. It was the last and by far the strongest. Did Agabus really speak by the Spirit? The exact fulfilment of what he acted out gives the answer. The whole company, both his fellow travellers and the believers in Caesarea, began to beg him not to go up to Jerusalem.

Note that the disciples at Tyre told Paul by the Spirit that he should not go to Jerusalem. Once Paul had reached Caesarea, Agabus does not forbid his going to Jerusalem. Did he take it for granted that he was determined to go there? He warned him by the Spirit what awaited him — persecution, and being handed over to the Gentiles.

The Holy Spirit does not usually warn of danger. He leads in the path of the Lord, and if persecution comes, He gives strength to endure it. Here Paul was continually warned. His friends beg him not to go up. He will not be persuaded. They hold their peace, hardly satisfied, and say, "Let the will of the Lord be done." And I have no doubt it was His will. But it served purposes that Paul did not know through the understanding the Holy Spirit gave. He only felt pressed in spirit to go, and ready to suffer everything for the Lord.

This was just like the symbolic way of the ancient prophets, and it filled those who watched and listened with sorrow for the honoured apostle.

Here then came another warning. It was the last and by far the strongest. Did Agabus really speak by the Spirit? The literal fulfilment of his acted prediction supplies the answer.

It is Paul's own belt, however, that binds his hands and feet; that is, it is his own eager service to them that puts him into their hands. The meaning is given to him in the most emphatic way, as a declaration of the Spirit, of the Holy Spirit. In this way He shows His servant the unchanged evil in the hearts of those who once murdered the Saviour, and are now ready to do the same to him.

This is just what happened to the Lord Jesus, and no doubt Paul thought of this — not in a way that would turn him back from going, but the opposite. It seems he would not try to avoid the treatment his Lord had received.

Was He not handed over to the Gentiles too? That likeness was bound to move the apostle, who followed his Master's steps so closely. Yet the Gentile cross they gave Him up to was the very symbol of salvation for men. Paul might argue the same about himself. If this were only a means of striking the slow hearts of Israel into repentance, then such suffering would be light.

It is clear that the apostle did not understand that the Lord meant him to turn away from Jerusalem. He only heard Agabus repeat, as others had so often warned him, what he must suffer there... Paul must surely have concluded that the Holy Spirit spoke, not to talk him out of his dangerous path, but to prepare him in it. That preparation was certainly for prison, and perhaps death.

The apostle did not heed this command. Verse 11 then sets out in detail how his journey would end — a journey in which, as I see it, he was not led by the Spirit. God might, and did, overrule it for the blessing of His servant and of the whole Church... Now, it is a weighty fact that from that moment you never read of the Holy Spirit again in Acts. The one exception is Paul's reference to Him when a prisoner at Rome. History goes on, but the Holy Spirit is not named. Why, I will not venture to say.

Yet the hand of God was over everything that happened. Agabus's prophecy came true. Paul lost his liberty... He knows also how to overrule any mistakes His servants may make. He closes certain lines of service before them, and He opens other lines which may in the end prove even more important. Paul's imprisonment led him to write those inspired letters, which have built up the church for nineteen centuries.

Agabus the prophet added to the warnings others had already given him… This was just the kind of acted-out sign the prophets of old used, and it filled those who watched and listened with sorrow for the apostle they honoured.

It is Paul's own belt, however, that binds his hands and feet. That is, it is his own eager service to them that puts him into their hands… Was not He too handed over to the Gentiles? The likeness was bound to move the apostle, following his Master's steps so closely… So when those around him begin in their distress to beg him not to go up to Jerusalem, he stays firm and settled. Their tears move him, but they do not change him.

There is a real difference between "they said to him by the Spirit" and "the Spirit said." If the Spirit Himself had said it, Paul would have been disobeying by going to Jerusalem. But it seems to us that it was more a warning from the Spirit that he should not go there. It was certainly much more than saying that troubles awaited him.

It is strange that, despite how plain this is, Lechler argues that the Spirit only gave them knowledge of Paul's coming sufferings in Jerusalem, while the plea itself "was not dictated by the Holy Spirit, but was prompted solely by human opinions and affections"… Not a word is said here about sufferings that would follow the visit. What is said is that "they said by the Spirit that he should not" go there. If this was not prophecy — and we know it could not have been — then it could only be guidance.

Paul must have concluded that the Holy Spirit spoke, not to turn him back from his dangerous path, but to prepare him for it — certainly for prison, and perhaps death. The brotherly kindness of others would have shielded him from all that waited for him in Jerusalem, but love goes beyond brotherly kindness.

As said before, his great love for his brothers, his own people, burned in his heart. His desire to be in Jerusalem was so strong that he ignored the voice of the Spirit.

Along the way we are shown the wise course when a difference of opinion cannot be settled. We all have to stay quiet, wanting only that the will of the Lord in the matter, whatever it is, may be done.

Paul clearly must have concluded that the Holy Spirit spoke, not to turn him back from his dangerous path, but to prepare him for it. That meant prison for certain, and perhaps death. The brotherly kindness of others would have shielded him from all that awaited him in Jerusalem. But love goes beyond brotherly kindness. So it was working in the servant, as it had with all perfection in the Master.

He is with a weeping company of believers at Miletus, and in the middle of a loving Christian household at Tyre. These were the greenest spots on earth to a believer, places where the heart lingers and says, Let us build tents here. Could they hold him? No. Even there, the dear, devoted apostle carried a heart completely surrendered to Christ.

To have learned the cross of Christ is the preparation. There He, the blessed Saviour, died for us and bore our judgment; there, too, we died with Him. Faith accepts and feeds on this. Now "death is ours." Having acknowledged this we are fit for the path of testimony to our rejected Lord.

Behind his burning desire to go up to Jerusalem stood the mighty constraint of love for his own beloved brothers. How he did love them, and how his heart, filled with the love of God, yearned over them! This love is so fully expressed in his letter to the Romans. "For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh" (Romans 9:3). "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved" (Romans 10:1).

Here we have a check which brings in new things, the fruit of persisting in going up to Jerusalem despite the Spirit's testimony against it. The more blessed the man, the more serious the loss of firm footing. … It was simply a failure, as it appears to me, to watch against his own love for Israel, and so to set aside the Spirit's warnings. The tears and appeals seem rather to have stimulated and strengthened his desire.

But the truest spiritual desire cannot replace the guidance of God. God knew that Jerusalem would not receive Paul's testimony. This lesson is not easy to learn in practice. It is a most humbling lesson, and the most earnest servants of God need it. … Spiritual zeal is not itself an evil — it is not. But if we depend on it, we shall find it will mislead us.

For Paul it was not death at Jerusalem. It was the hatred that threw him into the hands of the Gentiles, to be for now a prisoner only, not yet to die. In the end what happened to him among the Gentiles was his true glory, and there he suffered purely as a witness for the truth. He had his heart's desire: fellowship in Christ's sufferings, becoming conformed to His death.

Here we see the wise course when a difference of opinion cannot be settled. We all have to stay quiet, wanting only that the will of the Lord in the matter, whatever it is, should be done.

The Holy Spirit does not usually warn of danger. He leads in the path of the Lord, and if persecution comes, He gives strength to endure it. Here Paul is warned again and again. His friends beg him not to go up. He will not be persuaded. They stay silent, though far from satisfied, and say, "Let the will of the Lord be done." I do not doubt it was His will — but for purposes that Paul did not know through the understanding the Holy Spirit had given him. Only he felt pressed in spirit to go, and ready to suffer all things for the Lord.

It is clear that the apostle did not understand that the Lord meant him to turn away from Jerusalem. He only heard Agabus repeat what others had so often warned him of — what he must suffer there... Paul must have concluded that the Holy Spirit spoke to prepare him for that dangerous path, not to turn him from it — certainly for prison, and perhaps death. The brotherly kindness of his friends would have shielded him from all that waited in Jerusalem. But love goes further than brotherly kindness.

At Miletus he stands among a weeping company of fellow believers. At Tyre he is welcomed into the warmth of a loving Christian home. These were the greenest spots on earth to a believer. There, if anywhere, the ladder between heaven and earth seems to touch the ground, and the fond heart lingers and says, Let us make tents here. Could such places hold him back? No. Even there the dear, devoted apostle carried a heart thoroughly surrendered to Christ.

Unless the Spirit taught us better, we would all have said this: no motive could be more worthy than Paul's for going by way of Jerusalem on his way to Rome. But the Lord had not told him to do so. All hinges on this. So at every stage of our journey we must make sure of three things: the word of God for our faith, the service of Christ for our motive, and the Holy Spirit for our guide.

Here we see, in passing, the wise course when a difference of opinion cannot be cleared up. We all have to stay silent, wanting only this: that in the matter the will of the Lord, whatever it is, may be done.

The Lord had entrusted His truth to Paul. He could not, then, let this lapse from grace succeed in its aim. So He allowed His servant to be arrested and, in the end, taken to Rome as a prisoner. At the same time He graciously overruled His servant's failure, and so carried out His own purposes. In prison He had the apostle write the most precious of all his letters — if it is right to compare writings that are equally inspired.