Was It the Will of God or Not, for Paul to Return to Jerusalem Considering All the Prophecies Along the Way That He Should Not?
1) Direct Answer
Yes. It was God’s will for Paul to go to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit bound him to that path; the prophecies along the way warned of suffering, but did not forbid the journey.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Acts 20:22–24: “I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem… the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me… that I might finish my course.” The Spirit bound him; the Spirit also warned him what awaited.
- Acts 21:11–14: Agabus prophesied Paul would be bound. The saints wept and begged him not to go; Paul answered, “I am ready… to die at Jerusalem.” Then they yielded: “The will of the Lord be done.” The prophecy revealed what would happen; the pleading was their human response.
- Acts 23:11: After Paul was arrested, “the Lord stood by him” and said, “as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” God confirmed Paul was on the appointed road.
- Acts 19:21: Paul had already “purposed in the spirit” to go to Jerusalem and then to Rome.
- Acts 9:15–16: From the start God told Paul he was a chosen vessel and “I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” Suffering was part of the commission.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- The Holy Spirit does not contradict Himself. He cannot bind Paul to go (Acts 20:22) and at the same time forbid him to go. So what were those “don’t go” appeals? The Spirit revealed the danger; loving believers, feeling the weight of that revelation, urged Paul not to go. The warning was divine; the prohibition was human.
- If Paul had stepped outside God’s will, would the Lord have stood by him in the prison and commissioned him on to Rome (Acts 23:11)? No. God’s approval there shows Paul was walking in the path appointed.
- This follows the pattern of Jesus: He set His face to go to Jerusalem knowing suffering awaited (Luke 9:51; 18:31–33). When Peter tried to turn Him aside out of love, the Lord rebuked it (Matthew 16:21–23). Human love often tries to spare God’s servant from a cross that God has already willed as the very road to fruitfulness.
- You see, prophecy often prepares the heart for trials, not to divert the obedient servant from God’s plan.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice, the Spirit’s warnings steeled Paul, the brethren’s tears tested him, and the Lord’s visitation in custody sealed him. Therefore, Paul’s journey to Jerusalem was in the will of God.
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Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The Queen of Sheba
60-0401E §1
[Pastor introduces Brother Lamsa.] ... he speaks the language and can read the language and read the original documents in which the New Testament was written. So with him, it is so wonderful that he can read directly from the original script the very words that Jesus and the disciples spoke and wrote. He felt that these translations that we have are not always correct and true. And that's where the criticism comes in, because he criticizes the King James version, and some people think that St. Paul preached from t...
There is only One Way provided by God for anything
63-0731 §47
Unless God can get you a prisoner... Paul become a prisoner. You can't look at what you think, you can't look what somebody else thinks, you got to go just what He says do. You're a prisoner. Paul knew that he was pressed in the Spirit to go a certain place when he didn't want to go. He knowed that the Spirit forbid him to go certain places. He knowed he had to hold his peace at many times. There was a little old fortune-teller run out after him, one day, hollering around behind him, and Paul ... that Spirit of God...
Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ
63-0717 §44
Now, he could not go certain places that he wanted. Because why? The Spirit forbade him. You remember many times that Paul was trying to go some place, thinking, "There is where I could have a great meeting," but the Spirit would forbid him. Now, does that clearly state and prove that Paul was a prisoner? A prisoner to Jesus Christ---harnessed to his Word by the Spirit. Oh, I like that. He was bound. He was bound by a chain, by fetters of love to do the will of God and that only. He was a prisoner. He was in the fe...
It shall be even as it was told me
50-0818 §15
And I thought of--of... Here come... When Paul was passing through by Philip's house, it was... He had four daughters, and they were prophets. And when they went in, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, this man will be bound when he gets to Jerusalem." I thought of Agabus, a vindicated prophet of God, came down from Jerusalem, seeing Paul, perhaps standing in the yard there, and walked over, and pulled the latch girdle string from around him, tied his hands, and said, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, the man that this has bound will be bou...
Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ
63-0717 §46
Paul was correctly a prisoner. He wasn't making any wrong statements. He was trained by the Holy Ghost again to wait on the Word! Now, he had been trained one way, but God had trained him another way, now. He was trained by the Holy Spirit to wait upon the Lord. No matter what his ambitions were. Now, I'm going to (I hope) by the Holy Spirit show you something. Now let's just take an instance. One day Paul and Silas, coming down the street in a certain city where he was holding a revival, and a little demon-possess...