Acts, Chapter 21

Please, read this chapter in your Bible.

Verses 1, 2, 3, 4, “After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail. After sighting Cyprus and passing to the South of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. Finding the disciples there we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem”.

‘Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem’. How could they? Was there a deceiving spirit at work? Paul, should he be persuaded by their pleading?

‘COMPELLED by the Spirit I am going to Jerusalem’ (20:22). Where was the misunderstanding? Was it with Paul? Or was it with the disciples? Well, there was no misunderstanding at all. The Spirit that compelled Paul was the Spirit comforting him by the concern of the disciples.

The way of ‘prison and hardships’ was not going to be the most comfortable or quickest way. But it was the way that would bring glory to God and His Son. That’s the reason why Paul chose it. In the year 2010 the disciples of Jesus are still able to read about Paul’s decision to trust and obey the Spirit of God.. The letters Paul wrote, while he was in prison, are still adequate for use by that Spirit, to guide those disciples becoming more and more like Jesus.

Verses 5, 6,: “But when our time was up, we left and continued. All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. After saying good-by to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home”.

Verses 7, 8, 9: “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 (6:5,6)”.

From one town to the other.. And amazingly, in town after town Paul meets up with disciples of Jesus. Hardly sixty years after the day of Pentecost, when the Church came into being,. against floods of hateful Jewish resistance it was established, not only in Jewish towns, but, glory to the Sovereign Lord, also in one Gentile town after the other.. What did the Lord Jesus say? ‘I will build My Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!’ While history has been passing by, the gates of hell have spewed the most horrendous waves of resistance. They never did and never will prevail.. Jesus said: ‘My Church’!.

Verses 10, 11, 12: “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 t his 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”.

They did not understand. They could not. It was a matter, strictly between Paul and his Master. It was perfectly all right for them to weep and to plead.. For Paul to stand alone and be determined. After all, he never was alone. But GOD! Prison and hardships for Paul. Weeping and pleading for the people of God. But glory, eternal glory for God and His Son, Jesus.

Verses 13, 14: “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.’ “

Verses 17, 18, 19: “When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry”

In synagogues, on market places, in public halls and from home to home the servant had carried out the given task. Obediently and diligently he had worked, but he ‘reported in detail what God had done’. What God had done would bring glory to His Name for all eternity to come and blessing to sinners, who were saved by grace.

Verse 20: “When they heard this, they praised God” and must quickly tell their story. “Then they said to Paul: ‘You see brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law”.

Thousands of Jews did believe. But believed only half the truth. The other half, probably the more important half, to them it was still not essential. ‘Zealous for the ‘law’ meant ‘ignorant about ‘grace’. What no other Jew could do, zealous or not, the Lord Jesus did! He totally fulfilled the law. Graciously He did so in order to be gracious to every impotent Jew. By believing in the precious blood of Jesus, every impotent Jew could now be reckoned ‘righteous’ in the sight of a holy God. Instead of being ‘zealous’ for the law, every sinful, impotent Jew may now, needs now, rely on the boundless grace of God.

The elders in Jerusalem continued:

Verse 21, 22: “ ‘They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles, to turn away from Moses (the law), telling them not to

circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come’ “.

Paul, we praise God for the news you are bringing us. But the things you teach the Jews who live among the Gentiles, are not what we teach the Jews who live in Jerusalem. Now you are here, we have a big problem on our hands. What shall we do?”

Verse 23, 24: ‘So do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law’ ”.

They may have been sincere. But they were sincerely wrong. Every Jew who has ever lived, Paul included, time after time, did break the law. It has never been possible to live ‘in obedience to the law’.

Now we are facing a question. Why did Paul fall into line with their suggestion? We can only guess at possible answers.

Verse 26: “The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them”.

The following verses show us that Paul’s efforts were totally useless. The truth would triumph.

Verses 27, 28: “When the seven days (of purification) were nearly over, 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. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place.

Verses 30, 31: “.The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple and immediately the gates were shut,. While they were trying to kill him news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in uproar”.

News travels fast. That rowdy, unruly crowd, may soon draw the attention of that commander. All their ‘running from all directions’ was totally useless. So it is today. Heaping scorn, by people of name, on the Name and Person of Jesus Christ, did never, does never, will never touch the glory of the Commander in Chief.. The everlasting Sovereign Lord is way out of reach to the sad, poor, futile protests of dying man. They were well on the way of killing Paul, but . . . God!

Verse 32: “He (the Roman commander) at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul”.

The everlasting Sovereign Lord cannot be anything else but be faithful to His servant. Make no mistake! While this servant was still peacefully on one ear, his Master already knew what would happen the next day. On Paul, on earth, the blows were already coming down. The Lord in heaven, in His way and time, called it to a stop..

Verse 33, 34: “The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks”.

The mob was fighting furiously, but the commander kept his cool. Quickly he was in control, yes, BUT . . . GOD! Not the violent crowd, not the cool commander, but God!

Verses 35, 36 “When Paul reached the steps the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. The crowd that followed kept shouting ,’Away with him!’ “.

‘Away with him’, they shouted They did not get their will. God did! He had further plans for the unwanted man.

Verses 37, 38: “As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, ‘May I say something to you?’

‘ Do you speak Greek?’ he replied. ‘Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?’ “

Verse 39: “Paul answered, ‘I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. ‘Please let me speak to the people’ “ .

Verse 40: “Having received the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent he said to them in Aramaic: