Acts - Lesson 35

Today we start with the first verse of the twenty-first chapter of Acts. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem even though many prophecies have made it clear that it will not be a happy journey. Paul is going to Jerusalem because he is obeying God and the act is a testimony to the early church.  

Acts 21:1-3 … And when we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo.

They were running along the west edge of Asia Minor and sailing almost directly to Syria. Passengers seem to have been mostly an afterthought. We are the ones with vacations and a travel industry. Paul and his companions were piled on after the cargo and you were going were the cargo was going. However, finally, Paul is headed back to Jerusalem.

Acts 21:4-6 … And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

It is important to realize that Paul was not being disobedient to the Holy Spirit. He knew that God was leading him to Jerusalem. He had heard enough prophecies to realize that he was not going to Jerusalem for a Sunday School picnic. However, for the Body of Christ, this was a testimony that they needed to see and hear about.

It has been a while now but in 1955 Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian went to reach the Hauorani Tribe and were all killed by the tribe. They went in spite of the danger and the book written by Elisabeth Elliot took its title (Through Gates of Splendor) from the hymn “We Rest on Thee” that they sung before they left. They sang:

   We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender.
   Thine is the battle, Thine shall be the praise;
   When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
   Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.

In 2000 years we’ve seen that things don’t always go well according to our standards. God is sovereign and, in the Book of Acts, He is going to use Paul’s imprisonment to reach many people. In Ecuador, he used the deaths of those 5 missionaries to begin a work in the lives of those tribe members. It is very hard not to second guess God. The best medicine against second guessing God is to remember that He is God.

Acts 21:7-16 … When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied. While we were staying for many 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, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ” When we heard this, we and the people there urged 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 imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge.

Philip was one of the original seven deacons and he was living and ministering here on the coast. Agabus was also mentioned earlier (Acts 11:28) as a prophet in the Church. Here he travels to give a specific prophecy. This is a very strong warning for Paul regarding the Jews in Jerusalem. Was Paul being stubborn? He was accompanying an offering from the non-Jewish churches for the church in Jerusalem. He was concerned about a fracture between ethnically Jewish and ethnically Gentile Christians. James Montgomery Boice is convinced that Paul is about to make a mistake. In fact, Boice is convinced that Paul is just being stubborn in returning to Jerusalem. I think we need to give Paul the benefit of the doubt but I think Paul is about to make a mistake. One characteristic of Scripture is that often mistakes are reported without commentary. Also, as we discussed earlier, just because something goes wrong in our eyes doesn’t mean that it is out of control of our Sovereign God. So what I’m indicating is that there is some ambiguity in this portion of Scripture. We don’t want to be too dogmatic from this historical text but we also need to remember what the didactic or teaching portions of Scripture have taught us.

Acts 21:17-21 … When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.

Well things start well. Paul gave a report from the mission field and presumably delivered the offerings for the Christians in Jerusalem from the new churches. Then things start to take a bad turn. The leaders of the Church in Jerusalem, including the apostles, tell Paul that he has an image problem with the ethnic Jews who are Christians. Was Paul telling folks on the mission field not to circumcise or stay kosher? Well he was telling them that they were not obligated to circumcise and stay kosher in order to be righteous. So the accusation was a half truth with enough truth that it wasn’t a quick answer when it was given as an accusation. So they are Paul’s brothers and they want to find a solution.   

Acts 21:22-25 … What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law. But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

So here is the solution proposed by the leaders of the Church. They suggest that Paul participate in a ritual as these four men finish a Nazirite vow. They tell Paul to do this so that everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told about Paul. But there is something! Paul knows that Christ was the end of the Law for righteousness sake. And then this statement of the Eldership on the Gentiles is a restatement of what produced at the Church Council in Jerusalem and it shows that they have a two-tier system of Christianity. This is bad. These are the leaders and they still haven’t grasp the work of Jesus on the Cross in relation to the ritual law of Moses.

Acts 21:26 … Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.

Paul, who called out Peter for essentially the same sin, now agrees to ritual purification and schedules the animal offerings for each man. Three animals are offered for each man. I can rationalize the Peace Offering. It is worship and the priest gets some and you get some and some parts are offered to God in fellowship. I can make excuses for that one. But the burnt offering is for atonement and the sin offering is for unintentional sins. Paul can’t be part of that. Neither should the Jerusalem Christians but they had not learned the sin in offering any other offering for sin. Paul is on a razor edge here (especially appropriate for the Nazirites). His intention is sinful. If he does what he intends to do, given the revelation given to Paul, then he will be in sin.

Acts 21:30 … When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

God stopped Paul from going through with the animal sacrifice. At the last moment the situation blew up in Paul’s face. I don’t know what Paul was thinking. I suppose he was wishing he could be thrown in prison for doing the right thing and not the wrong thing. God was merciful to prevent the sacrifice. In part I think God was patient with Paul as God was being patient with the church in Jerusalem.

Hebrews 10:1-4 and 10:12-14 … For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. … But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Eventually the Church heard the Holy Spirit say that animal sacrifice did not perfect or even remove sins. It pointed forward to Christ who by a single offering has justified us for all time as we are being sanctified. The ethnically Jewish Christians couldn’t hear the prophecy of Christ that every stone of the Temple would be cast down. The clock was ticking on the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. It is a sad time for those who were ethnically Israel. Paul loved the nation but the Temple in Jerusalem was no place for a Christian to be seeking forgiveness or a sacrifice for sin.

Acts 21:31-36 … And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, for the mob of the people followed, crying out, “Away with him!”

The Romans just don’t like anyone exercising the means of violence except the Romans. The tribune was over the centurions so he commanded hundreds or even thousands depending on the size of the “cohort”. People were accustomed to behaving when they saw the Romans so they stopped beating Paul but nobody could get the story straight on what the problem was. So the tribune “extracted” Paul in chains and took him to the barracks and actually had to carry Paul to get him through the crowd. Now Paul could have gotten to this point simply by preaching the Gospel. He didn’t need to try animal sacrifice, see God mercifully prevent his plans, and then get saved by the Romans from the wild mob. But he’ll get a chance to preach after the arrest this time. 

Acts 21:37-40 … As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?” Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.” And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying:

Next time (in 3 weeks) we will continue and hear Paul’s testimony repeated for this group in Jerusalem. The tribune isn’t even clear on who he arrested at this point. Paul asked for permission to speak. I suspect the tribune thought that might calm the crowd down when they found out Paul was a Jew. However, it wasn’t going to work that way.