And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.' " Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. Acts 21:10-12

Agabus was a first century prophet, gifted by God to see into the future. What Agabus saw concerning Paul’s travels—and Paul’s eventual arrest in Jerusalem—was correct! It really was going to happen and it really did happen.

What would you or I have done had we known that if we went to a certain place we would be arrested? We would probably avoid that place and avoid being arrested. In fact, the people with Paul thought that is exactly what he should have done (v.12).

What did Paul do? He headed for Jerusalem. Wasn’t that what Jesus did when He made His last trip to Jerusalem, knowing the cross was ahead? "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify…” (Matthew 20:18-19)

So why did Paul do that, and what should we make of the prophecy?

Paul apparently took the prophecy as a warning of what to expect, not a warning of how to avoid arrest. So he went. It is not wrong to avoid persecution if we can while continuing to obey God’s will. But what if it was God’s will for Paul to go to Jerusalem and to be arrested? As always, we must be discerning regarding God’s will, even if we know that obedience will result in suffering. After all, God did not promise believers freedom from persecution. Rather, He promised that persecution is often part of following Him (John 16:33, 2 Timothy 3:12).

But what if everyone around us is urging us to avoid persecution and trials? Next time…