Acts 21:7-14 (NIV)
We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for a day. Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'”
When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”
Paul and his companions traveled south along the coast from Tyre until they reached Caesarea, where they stayed for a while with Philip the evangelist. It had been several years since Philip had settled in Caesarea after his encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:40), and in that time he had married and had four daughters, all unmarried at that time, and all of them prophets.
At this point Agabus reentered the narrative. The last time we had heard from him, he had prophesied a famine during the reign of the emperor Claudius (Acts 11:28). This time he prophesied the arrest of Paul in Jerusalem.
For some time now, Paul’s companions had been troubled by the sense that disaster was brewing for him in Jerusalem, a foreboding that was increased by several people they met along the way warning Paul of the trouble ahead. And now, Agabus graphically demonstrated Paul being arrest, tied up, and led away. This was too much for them to simply reason away, and they urged him to change his plans and stay away from the city.
But Paul knew what he had been called to do and would not be deterred. Even though he himself already had a strong idea that trouble waited for him in Jerusalem, it was where the Holy Spirit was leading him, and he knew that if the Spirit was leading him someplace, the Spirit would be there with him, and would guide him through whatever lay on the horizon.
Father, some might call Paul foolish for marching into a place where he knew that his life would be in danger, but he was just being obedient. Sometimes obedience looks like foolishness to outsiders. But it is in the midst of that obedience where the greatest blessings of presence, power, and provision are to be found, even if the way ahead is full of danger and hardship. Paul knew that. He also knew that, even if he ended up being killed in Jerusalem, he would be fine, transitioning seamlessly into Your presence. Help me to be like Paul today, Lord, following You wherever You may lead with that same confident obedience. Amen.
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