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.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ
63-0717 §47
Then he said, "Thou spirit, come out of her." See, he knowed to wait on the Lord. There is where so many people today bring a reproach upon the Word. They go out with an ambition. How many revivals have been left flat because of a thing like that? Because the evangelist don't wait to see what the Lord's got to say. Some of them said, "Come over here." and they go right now, because the association says "Go." And the Holy Spirit would say something different---yet the ambition of the man to become the state presbyte...
Witnesses
54-0303 §53
Watch the New Testament Christians. How he lived, Paul: visions. He was started one way, got between straits, a vision come, over Macedonia. Out on the sea fourteen days and nights; no moon, stars, all hopes they'd ever be saved was gone, and the Angel of the Lord come to him, said, "Don't fear, Paul. You must be brought before Caesar." How little Paul ... the ship still rocking, waterlogged and everything; shaking his little hands like that, and screaming, "Be of a good courage. For the Angel of God stood by me th...
Fellowship through the reconciliation of the blood
55-0605 §62
Let's change our camera now to four thousand years later. In Jerusalem one morning, there'd been a great racket around through the country for three and a half years, that there was a fellow around there, healing the sick, performing miracles, seeing visions. He claimed to be the Son of God. He claimed that God was in Him; that He'd done nothing of Himself, but giving praise and glory to God for it. The church of that day condemned Him, and refused Him, and said, "He won't join up with our church, so we won't have...
A Guide
62-1014E §30
But when Paul, that little Pharisee that received the Holy Spirit when Ananias baptized him, and he went into Arabia and studied for three years, come back, and never consulted the church about anything for fourteen years, and when he come and met Peter, the head of the church at Jerusalem, they were eye to eye in doctrine. Why? The same Holy Spirit! Where Peter baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, Paul did the same without anybody telling him. Where Peter taught the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and sanctification,...
Trying to do God a service without it being God's will
65-1127B §67
Man has the keys, but God holds the keys actually. They give the disciples, the holy church, the keys; and watch the first time they used it, when Judas had fell by transgression. They got together and cast lots. And the holy brethren... Who would say they wasn't holy brethren? Who'd say they wasn't holy? But they cast lots, and it fell on Matthias. And when he... What did he ever do? Nothing! But Paul was the elected one. Amen. That was God's choosing. A little, hook-nosed, sarcastic, high-tempered Jew. Not the Ma...