Hi Mike,
Hope all is well with you and your family.

I have a question that was asked of me this morning that seems to be a struggle with my husband. I read the scriptures he questioned and think I understand, but I am not sure. Before Paul went to Jerusalem (Act 21), he was warned not to go by the disciples who spoke through the Spirit, and then again by the Prophet Agabus. I don’t see Agabus actually telling him not to go, just what will happen. So Paul goes anyway, which is the problem. If the Spirit is working through those around him telling him not to go and he goes anyway, isn’t Paul being disobediant to the Lord.
I see it as Paul being tested, because in the end (Act 21:14) those who were there proclaim ‘Let the will of the Lord be done.’
As always we look forward to direction in all of this. It is a joy every morning to take a breath and be humbled with understanding even some.

Your Sister in Christ,
C____

Hi C____,

The Lord certainly is working with you two. You are so right; nowhere does the Lord ever forbid Paul to go up to Jerusalem. Paul was very much aware of these words of our Lord, and He understood them spiritually:

Mat 10:5  These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into [ any] city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
Mat 10:6  But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Paul knew that this was where, as you point out, “the Lord willed” that he go.
I too, for several years, thought that Paul was simply being foolhardy and reckless and got what he deserved for going on up to Jerusalem, even after all the warnings He had been given by the spirit. But then I too, noticed that the brothers in the book of Acts say “The Lord’s will be done,” and once again, my eyes were opened to see that “He works all things after the counsel of His own will.”
As you go through the Revelation notes you will come to a point where we cover Mat 24, where Christ makes this statement:</>

Mat 24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

These ‘nations’ are the same ‘nations of verse 7:

Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

So the so- called “great commission” is greatly misunderstood, and all those nations are within us. We are even told by our Lord Himself:

Mat 10:23  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

This will make God’s words seen completely contradictory until we come to accept this truth for this time:

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Christ is not saying it will never come with observation, but He is saying that the primary coming of the kingdom of God with which He is concerned “is within you.”
Now when we go back to Mat 24 or 28, all of this makes so much more sense if we are given eyes that can see these words of our Lord:

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

“My words shall not pass away,” and “Let him that readeth, understand,” makes us to know that “all these things are within. “All these things” includes “the preaching of the gospel to all nations, then shall the end come” of verse 14, and it includes the abomination of desolation of the very next verse:

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 

1Co 2:13 tells us that “The holy spirit teaches comparing spiritual with spiritual… the natural man cannot receive it because it is foolishness to him.”

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

One of “the things that are freely given us of God” is to realize that “the kingdom is within you” long before we are given to outwardly rule “the kingdoms of this world.” That comes at the seventh and last symbolic trump, and that comes at the “redemption of the purchased possession” which is the resurrection from the dead:

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them [ God’s elect, His “two witnesses”], and t hey stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Rev 11:15  And the seventh [ last] angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Yes, this too, must be fulfilled inwardly before it is completed outwardly, but the inward “sealing of the spirit” simply precedes the “redemption of the purchased possession.”

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also [ trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until t he redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

So Christ word’s are, were and will be applicable from the time they are first uttered until the end of the lake of fire and the consummation of the ages. “This generation shall not pass until all these things are fulfilled. Heaven and earth will pass away, [ as each generation comes and goes], but My words shall not pass away.”
I hope this helps you both to see that Paul knew that he too was sent to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Physical Jerusalem typifies God’s fallen people to whom we are sent, “the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” and we too, have been given that same commission to this very day, and therefore we must have Paul’s attitude:

Act 21:13  Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

Your brother in the Christ of Christ,
Mike