This passage reveals the treachery of the prosperity gospel. The belief that God only ordains health, wealth and prosperity for his children, will ultimately ruin your assurance, for indeed, God often ordains suffering, affliction and imprisonment, as this story reveals.
Does the Holy Spirit send contradictory messages?
Is the Apostle Paul a stubborn fatalist?
These two questions present themselves as we move from Acts 20 to Acts 21. In this chapter we find Christian prophets in Tyre telling Paul, by the Holy Spirit, not to go to Jerusalem, Agabus the prophet telling him, by the Holy Spirit, that he will be bound and imprisoned in he goes to Jerusalem, and his own travelling companions pleading with him not to continue on towards Jerusalem.
Yet in chapter 19 and 20 Paul declared that he was 'constrained' by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem and had determined 'in the Spirit' to go to Jerusalem.
Added to this interesting tension are Paul's words in Romans 15 as he indicates to the church there his intention to go to Jerusalem before turning towards Rome and Spain and then urges them to strive in prayer for him.
While there is some complexity in sorting through these matters, it is clear in the final analysis, that God's sovereignty and Christian suffering fit together. The faithful response of Christians is to trust God and to pray earnestly in the midst of suffering and affliction.
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