Wouldn’t life be simpler if the Holy Spirit let you know your future? If God gave you the gift of prophecy, telling the future. Wouldn’t there be so much less stress? So much less conflict with others? The way forward would be clear for everyone to see. We would all agree much more. We would all see, ‘Yes, God is clearly telling us that we must do this?’ Parish Council’s would turn into prayer and praise meetings. No emotional upheaval, anxiety, stress, disagreement and conflict. At last, unity, a sense of joint purpose, a clear way forward. Because we wouldn’t have to work things out. God has told us the future, by his Holy Spirit.
Well, this thinking might seem reasonable and logical. But it is not what actually happens. What happens when the Holy Spirit lets his people know the future? If Acts is anything to go by, it leads to more conflict, more tears, more stress, more pressure, more uncertainty. The prophetic didn’t bring peace, but stress. For this is what we see happens for Paul, Luke, and their colleagues and friends.
We pick up the story of Act at the end of Paul’s 3rd missionary journey. Paul spent three years, mainly in Ephesus and Asia, in modern day Turkey. During that time, he ducked over to Greece. He wanted to again see the congregations planted during his 2nd missionary journey. How were they going? Were they continuing trusting Christ and living his way? And anyway, he loved them like a father his children. So he wanted to see them.
But now it was time to go home. Home was Syria, and it’s capital Antioch. That was Paul’s sending church. But he also wanted to visit Jerusalem. That was where James, Jesus’ brother, and the elders were. He wanted to get to Jerusalem. He wanted to tell James and the elders how the gospel had been received by the Gentiles. Tell them what God had done. And give them the money the gentile Christians had sent to them.
But that’s not all that’s on Paul’s mind. Paul is keenly aware that trouble awaits. Sure, he has seen trouble before. He has been slandered, bashed up, whipped, hauled before judges, imprisoned, mistreated, all for preaching Christ as King and Lord. But during that time, he also experienced great freedom of movement. Paul was mainly free, with little imprisonments.
He could go forwards and backwards between Greece and Turkey. He spent about stretch 2 years in Corinth, and 3 years in Ephesus. But now suffering and persecution of a far greater order awaits him. He spoke about it when he farewelled the Ephesian elders. Acts chapter 20 verses 22-24:
"And now, compelled [lit, bound] by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-- the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." (NIV)
In city after city, the Holy Spirit has a message for Paul[1]. It is a true message. It is an important message. That is why Paul is getting the message again and again, in every city which he visits. But it is a teasing message. Imprisonment and suffering lies ahead.
Imagine you get a call to see your doctor. He is an excellent doctor, a professor, a world renown specialist. He’s never got a case wrong. And when you go in, he invites you with a somber face to sit down. And he says to you. ‘I have some very bad news for you indeed. You are going to have a terrible lingering illness. You will be in agony. You will be in hospital for quite a while, I’m afraid. Thanks for coming, there’s the door, come back next week.’ And then he walks out without another word.
And next week, the professor rings you and says the same thing. The same warning, agony and hospitalisation awaits. And then leaves.
And the next week. And the week after that. In fact, this professor sends you emails, notes, phone calls. You try and get away from, him, to get away from the relentless bad news. And he sends you an SMS. As you change addresses in different cities and suburbs, he seeks you out, knocks on the door, and says: ‘You will suffer and be hospitalized. Goodbye’.
This isn’t prognosis. This is stalking. You would want to get an AVO out on such a creepy doctor.
This is what the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, in fact, it is what Jesus, is doing to Paul in every city. Everywhere Paul goes, he gets the same prediction: Hardship, imprisonment, then silence. No more information. Nothing else with which to fortify himself. So Paul can say, ‘I don’t know what will happen to me in Jerusalem’ (Acts 20:2). No when, no what, no how long, no word about the outcome.
Most important of all, nothing about what should Paul do about it? Should he go to Jerusalem, should he not go to Jerusalem? The Holy Spirit has not given Paul any guidance whatsoever about what he should do about it. On such incidental and insignificant details, as to what to actually do, the Holy Spirit is annoyingly silent. The Holy Spirit only says to Paul, Get ready to suffer, get ready for trouble, get ready for prison.
Sure, we know why all this is happening to Paul. It’s because of Jesus’ words. Spoken when Paul first became a Christian. Acts 9:16:
I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. (NIV)
And now it is about to come true. But the prophecy does not give any guidance whatsoever. Just bad news.
Sometimes we get a hankering for prophecy. Boy, life would be so much better if God spoke to us straight by his Holy Spirit. We would get such encouragement, such strengthening. Well, that might be true, but Paul’s experience was a continual reminder of the pain and suffering he would face. So perhaps blissful ignorance might be preferable.
The story of Acts 21 is Paul travelling down the Mediterranean coast, from the Agean cities in modern Turkey, to the Mediterranean cities in modern Lebanon and Israel, and the Holy Spirit’s message to Paul is still the same. You will suffer. You will be imprisoned.
So, for example, Paul arrives by ship at the port city of Tyre. He hunts out the disciples. And what do the disciples tell Paul? Chapter 21 verse 4:
Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. (Acts 21:4 NIV)
They kept[2] on at Paul, not once, but all week. Don’t get on that boat. It’s going to Jerusalem, and there is trouble.
And notice it is ‘through the Spirit’. This is prophecy, but prophecy mixed with human interpretation. For we know that the Spirit has been saying in every city that trouble and imprisonment awaits (20:22).
It seems that the well-meaning Christians in Tyre added their own interpretation. Don’t go, Paul. Don’t set foot on the boat. They love Paul, it’s clear. They even accompany Paul to the boat, with their wives and children. Perhaps repeating their plea. Don’t go. But Paul goes.
Paul eventually travelled South to Caesarea and stayed with Philip the Evangelist. He was one of the seven men, traditionally identified as deacons, looking after the Greek speaking Jews in Jerusalem (Acts 6). But it seems that, like Stephen, waiting tables didn’t stop him preaching the gospel. So the deacon was also an evangelist, as all good deacons should be. For the best way to serve and help people is to tell them that Jesus died for them, is risen from the dead as king of the universe. Philip was given the ‘deacons’ job long ago because he was filled with the Spirit. And he had 4 unmarried daughters. And like father like daughter, his four unmarried daughters were prophets.
Paul, Luke, and their companions stayed at Philip’s house. And into this prophetic hothouse of the Spirit comes Agabus. We’ve met Agabus before in Acts. Agabus was a travelling prophet from Jerusalem. Agabus came to Paul while Paul was in Antioch around 12 years earlier[3]. Previously, Agabus told Paul and the church about the famine that was coming[4]. And now he turns up with some more bad news.
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. (Acts 21:10-12 NIV)
Again, the Holy Spirit has the same message. The Holy Spirit brings it to Paul in every city. Arrest, imprisonment, suffering. And this time, all these Spirit filled people make the rationale, logical inference.
Philip the Evangelist, the four unmarried prophetesses, Agabus the renowned prophet, Luke our narrator, Trophimus the Ephesian, and who knows who else is with Paul, they all say, ‘Paul, if you are going to get arrested, then stop. Don’t go.’
Isn’t the message of the Holy Spirit clear enough to you! If you go there, you will get arrested. All of us here agreed. Do we not have the Spirit of God?
See how these prophecies and the revelation of the Holy Spirit has not given guidance. They have given information, not guidance. In fact, the prophetic message again and again has made guidance more difficult. The Spirit has just said what’s going to happen, not what to do about it.
What is Paul to do, in the face of the reality that lies before him? Should he dash straight into it, should he run away from it. In all of this Paul has to use his God-given wisdom.
However, he makes his response known in the most unambiguous terms. Acts chapter 21 verses 13-15:
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." After this, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. (Acts 21:13-15 NIV)
Stop all your blubbering. I am not going to bow to this manipulation. You are making it harder for me to do what I must do. I have made myself ready. I don’t know what is going to happen in Jerusalem. But I am going to Jerusalem all the same.
It reminds me of King Theoden of Rohan at the must of the Rohirim. Not enough riders have come. 6000 spears will not defeat the armies of Mordor. No, they wont. But we will meet them in battle none the less. That is the sort of determination Paul has.
The Spirit hasn’t said whether Paul will die in Jerusalem or not. In fact, Paul won’t die in Jerusalem. He is alive at the end of Acts. And the end of Acts is not the end of Paul. Paul will be released from this imprisonment to travel to the churches he has planted, and to visit new territories, such as Crete and Spain. But here, before his first Appeal to Caesar, he has made himself ready to die.
Paul doesn’t know the detail about the Lord’s will. But he is prepared to walk into whatever lies ahead. To live is Christ, to die is gain. So suffering and death for Paul is just the process God sends us to press us into the mould of Christ. Suffering and death means we become more like Jesus. Because that’s what happened to Jesus. He suffered and died. And he came through it OK – in fact, he was better off for it. And so suffering and death will turn out for our betterment, too. Paul knows this.
Paul has submitted himself to the Lord’s will. In this he is like Jesus when he was on earth. Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane, on the night before he died, Jesus looked full in the face of death, and came to the same conclusion as Paul’s companions. Luke 22 verse 42:
"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." (NIV)
I don’t want to die. But I want your will to be done. Not my will, but yours be done.
Paul learnt from experience that all people can do is kill the body. Torture and kill. That is the worst thing men can do. And after that, glory! We get to see Jesus Christ our redeemer and God our Father. Paul says to Timothy in the last year or so of his life:
You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings-- what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted… (2 Timothy 3:10-12 NIV)
Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It is just part of being a Christian. Jesus himself says the same thing.
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12 NIV)
Paul does come to Jerusalem. He greets the elders and the church there. He tells them what God has done among the gentiles (Acts 21:17-19). And the elders are happy. But there are complications. Paul’s work in Ephesus has come back to bite him in Jerusalem. It is only a matter of time, and then we read, Acts 21:27-28:
…some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, "Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. (NIV)
Paul has enemies. They are Jews from Asia. And now they’ve caught up with him. For Paul has told both gentiles and Jews that circumcision doesn’t save. The law of Moses doesn’t save. The temple in Jerusalem doesn’t save. Only Jesus saves. And that has made Paul many enemies among the Jews. And they want to kill him.
Just like Jesus, Paul has set his face to Jerusalem. Just like Jesus, Paul is arrested and handed over to the gentiles. But while Jesus was silent and didn’t open his mouth, not so Paul. He went into the temple and consented to perform a very public ritual. Thus Paul shows his freedom. He is free to live as a Jew and still be a Christian. And that is why he agrees with James’ and the elder’s proposal. That Jewish Christians can still live as Jews, performing Jewish customs. In the end, James’ and the elders’ suggestion doesn’t work as it intended. They hoped Paul by publicly doing the Jewish thing would keep him and other Jewish Christians safe. As such, it was a hopeless failure. But at another level, it was a great success.
For Jesus said of Paul when he converted him: Acts 9:15-16:
But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." (NIV)
And so the mob violence is an opportunity. Paul carries Jesus’ name before the people of Israel, as the soldiers carry him over the crowd. And Paul suffers for Jesus’ name, as the mob attempts to murder him. Twin privileges for Paul.
The high point of Paul’s defence speech is verses 17-22. For the first time we learn about Paul’s vision in the temple. This happened three years after Paul’s conversion.
"When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking. 'Quick!' he said to me. 'Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.' "'Lord,' I replied, 'these men know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.'"Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'" The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!" (Acts 22:17-23 NIV)
Well, letting them know ‘Jesus spoke to me’ calmed the crowd down, didn’t it! Again, as the closing speech of a defence lawyer, what Paul says is a hopeless failure. Before, Paul spoke, the crowd wanted to kill him. After Paul spoke, the crowd wanted all the more to kill him.
At this point, the crowd thinks they are being the loyal Jews, and Paul the apostate. They think Paul going away from Jerusalem and temple was a sign of unfaithfulness to his Jewish roots. But here Paul is being faithful to the promise in Isaiah: Isaiah chapter 49 verse 6:
"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." (Isaiah 49:6 NIV)
For the rest of Acts, Paul is a prisoner. There will be no more miraculous escapes for Paul. No longer does he have liberty to move from country to country, crossing land and sea. Now, he will appear before judges and kings, indeed, the emperor himself. But while Paul is chained, the gospel is not. And Paul will use the opportunity afforded by the necessity of presenting a legal defence to testify to Christ. In fact, Jesus Christ will hijack Paul’s court case to testify to judges and kings through the Apostle Paul.
Paul’s experience of prophecy has not stopped him either having to be bold or having to exercise his own wisdom. The fact is, the various prophecies he received en route to Jerusalem troubled his hearers and encouraged them to stop Paul from going any further. As I have said before, Acts is descriptive, not prescriptive. It tells us what happened, not what should happen. But it does show us that prophecy or words of knowledge received directly from God do not necessarily make guidance easier, but harder. They might set believer against believer as they struggle for guidance. And in the end, the Holy Spirit may simply have a message of suffering and hardship for us, not comfort and ease. So much for the prosperity, health and wealth gospel, that Jesus Christ promises unending victory, success, wealth and abundance, that everything you touch turns to gold if you just follow this 8 step plan.
Paul’s Spirit led path led to beatings, floggings, arrest, imprisonment, shame, suffering, and being hated. Rid the earth of him, he is not fit to live. That is the way of our Lord, and the way of the Christian life. Now, not everyone needs to endure exactly what Paul endured. And God knows each of his children. May God strengthen us by his Spirit to endure the journey he has set before each of us.
[1] My translation of verse 23 is, ‘except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that “chains and trouble await me”.’ Examples of the Spirit’s testimony are Acts 21:4 (Tyre) and 10-14 (Caesarea). The warnings occur in every city, not the trouble. The Holy Spirit gives only general information to Paul and all who happen to be present at the time. Thus Paul can say he doesn’t know what will happen to him: Barrett, 2:971. However, Paul’s foreknowledge that he will suffer enables him to show his determination to finish his ministry
[2] Cf NASB; this seems to be the force of the imperfect.
[3] F F Bruce, ‘Paul in Acts and Letters’, Chronology DPL
[4] Acts 11:27 - 12:1 27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.