Acts 21 - The Beginning of the End
Notes
Transcript
As we continue our study In Acts, We have 8 chapters remaining. These chapters chronicle Pauls final Journey to Rome. His missionary journeys are over his fourth and final journey will be to Rome. Paul’s death is not recorded in Scripture...But we do have some very reliable historians who chronicle his martydom.
Tertullian reported that Paul died by beheading, comparing his death to that of John the Baptist.
Caius of Rome identified the Ostian road as the location of Paul’s martyrdom.
Jerome provided the most specific dating, stating Paul was executed on the same day as Peter, being beheaded in the fourteenth year of Nero’s reign (A.D. 68), and buried on the Ostian road.
So we have three substantial hostorians write about Paul’s death.
Today we are going to see where his capture and pending death was prophecied.
When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and after greeting the brethren, we stayed with them for a day.
On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entering the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him.
Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses.
As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”
When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem.
Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, “The will of the Lord be done!”
Here we come back to Philip the evangelist. We met him all the way back in Acts 8.
Here we learn that Philip has 4 daughters, prophetesses.
I have always had a hard time distinguishing between a prophet and a preacher. So I did a little deep dive into this found something interesting.
What is the different in the prophet and the preacher?
The fundamental difference here is the SOURCE and AUTHORITY of the Message.
The Prophets Words are God’s Words
The Preachers words are not God’s Words.
In the OT...God originally spoke to His creation face to face. Then after the fall, used Angels, vision, whispers and signs, burning bushes...and Phophets to speak. He called his Prophets to Speak on His behalf. These are the words of God. He used men like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, Jonah, Nehemiah, Malachi...
But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
In the NT...After Jesus became the Word of God. The Ultimate Prophet. He is God, therefore is the Word of God.
After Jesus died, the Disciples received the Holy Spirit. We have witnessed in our study through Acts...everyone who believes, receives a gift. The first thing we receive is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
So now we have the Holy Spirit...who speaks what He hears...from God.
So now we have direct access through the Spirit...directly to God.
This is God’s gift to us.
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
So the Pastors (Preachers), Teachers, Evangelists, Apostles, Prophets. Five different gifts of the Spirit.
Apostles - Delegates - Messengers
Evangelists - Brings of Good News. Preach the gospel.
Pastors - Shepherds of the Flock.
Teachers - One who teaches concerning things of God.
Prophets - Spontanteous Utterances. (Whereas preaching involves study, prayer, digging in. Reading - Preparation)
That leads to the second quetion.
What is the difference in the office of Prophet and the gift of prophecy?
The Office of Prophet was OT...God called men, chose men, appointed men to be prophets. It involved warningpeople about things that would happen in the future. Fore telling.
The Gift of Prophecy is a NT gift of the Holy Spirit.
Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.
But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.
One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church.
Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying.
But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. And edifies the church.
So there could be many of you with the gift of prophecy...and it does not neccessairly involve telling the future. It is not being a pshyic or fortune teller.
It is brining edification, consolation, exhortation.
What are the Three things that believers are to be about...Faith, Hope, and Love.
Edification - Pertains to Faith. Edification is when we learn a new skill in the development of our faith. OOr the confirmation of the truth in faith.
(When Ella was younger she took gymnastics. And ever time we were there...the teachers would would stop and say NEW SKILL ALERT! And everybody would turn their attention to the young gymnast and they would perform thier new skill. Maybe we need to start doing that...EDIFICATION ALERT!
Consolation - Hope! To console means to soothe, to put pain to sleep. to comfort in distress. To bring Hope to a Hopeless situation.
Exhortation - Love. Encouragement. Motivating people towards obedience. Why do we do this...out of Love.
So the person with the gift of Propecy will edify the church by being an encourager, a consoler, or an edifier. Do you know people like this?
So that was a long rabbit trail, but I thought it would be worth it. Philip had 4 daughters who were prophtessess. Not 4 preacher daughters...but 4 daughters who encouraged believers in theri faith, who consoled, who edified.
v10. A prophet names Agabus...here is another encourager, consoler, edifier...but this man is bringing a message. A warning. The Holy Spirit reveals to him a warning for Paul.
v11. The man that owns this belt will be captured and bound in Jerusalem.
v12 - The Local residents begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
v13 - Paul’s reposnse - What are you doing? breaking my heart. I am ready to be bound, I am ready to die for the name of the Lord!
v14 - The will of the Lord be done.
By our nature, we don’t want bad things to happen. We don’t want people hurt. We dont want people killed. I think that is the image of God shining through in our life. We want good things, we want life. we want everything ot be OK.
But we know that it is not always going to work out that way. There will be tragedy. There will be crisis moments. There will be injustices. As long as we live in this sinful world...bad things will happen.
Paul was resolute. Im ready. For whatever comes. I am ready. If it is chains...bring them on. If it is death...I get to be with Jesus. Bring it own.
So what happens next? Paul goes to Jerusalem.
When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him,
crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.
While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.
At once he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done.
But among the crowd some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.
When he got to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob;
for the multitude of the people kept following them, shouting, “Away with him!”
As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek?
“Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”
But Paul said, “I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.”
The prophecy is fulfilled...Paul is captured and bound in Jerusalem.
The INDICTMENT
crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
Preaching against the Jews, Preaching against the Temple(Synagogue), Bringing Gentiles into the temple.(Defilement)
The INJUSTICE
Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.
While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.
The INTERVENTION
At once he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done.
But among the crowd some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.
When he got to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob;
for the multitude of the people kept following them, shouting, “Away with him!”
As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek?
“Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”
But Paul said, “I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.”
The Commander actually saves Paul from the unruly mob. What happens next we will examine over the next 7-8 weeks.
But to summerize this passage...I know we chased a rabbit with that Prophet thing...but here is the message for Today.
GOD’s WILL BE DONE.
That is the attitude we need to have everyday. God’s will be done. Not what I want, not what you want. But what God wants.
This life may not be easy. You may experience pain, grief, discomfort, uneasiness, injustices, unlawfullness. You may experience all kinds of trials and tribulations on this earth. Things may not turn out eactly like you think they will. But God is in control. God meant for Paul to go to Jerusalem. He meant for him to spend this time in prison.
He spent 2 years in the Roman prison. You know what he did while under house arrest in Rome? He shared the gospel. He wrote Ephesians, Phillians, Colosseans and he wrote Philemon.
Do you think that was a waste? Do you think that was torture? Or do you think Paul used everything for the Glory of God?
He used his pain
He used his grief
He used his punishment
He used his imprisonment for the glory of God.
So what are we going to do?
Remember that show COPS...I used to love watching that show...criminals getting chased down by the PoPo. Getting locked up...dragged of to jail.
Remember the theme song...Bad boys, bad boys, Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you. Bad boys bad boys.
Whatcha you gonna do? If they come for you? You what Paul did...we will find out next neek!
