<p>20:23- see on Acts 21:4.<br /><em>Except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city, saying that imprisonments and afflictions await me</em>- Philip prophesied by the Holy Spirit about Paul: &ldquo;So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owns this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hand of the Gentiles&rdquo;. They &ldquo;shall&rdquo; do this, he said. And many other prophets said the same (Acts 20:23). &ldquo;And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem&rdquo; (Acts 21:11,12). Those brethren evidently understood the word of prophecy as conditional- its&rsquo; fulfilment could be avoided by Paul not going to Jerusalem. Indeed, there were prophecies that said he should <em>not</em> go up to Jerusalem (Acts 21:4). Yet Paul went, knowing that if he died at Jerusalem then the will of God would be done (Acts 21:14). All this surely shows that prophecies are open to human interpretation; they can be seen as commandment (e.g. not to go to Jerusalem), but it all depends upon our perception of the wider picture.</p><p>This was quite some witness to Paul, and he chose to go against it. Two of the testimonies are recorded (21:4,11). God is open to us, He leads us one way, but in some cases He is willing for us to go another, and works with us on that path too. Yet the same word has just been used by Paul, in saying that <em>he </em>witnessed / testified the Gospel to all men (:21). He is apparently making a play on ideas here, reflecting the tension between Spirit guidance to go to Jerusalem, and Spirit guidance not to. He is saying that the Spirit of Jesus testifies of the dangers, and he testifies to Jesus. The courtroom language again suggests a balancing of testimonies here. And the resolution, as in so many apparently difficult decisions, is that there is no right or wrong in a moral sense; rather does it all depend on our motives, and the Lord through His Spirit is waiting to confirm us, leaving us to choose the path between the guidances received.</p><p>The same word used for &ldquo;afflictions&rdquo; is used about the persecution and suffering Paul had inflicted upon Christians earlier (Acts 11:19). Again, we see Paul experiencing all he had done to his brethren; not to punish him, but to prepare him for eternal fellowship with them in the Kingdom, teaching him about himself and the result of his desires and actions. Paul uses the word often to describe his own &quot;afflictions&quot;, and reasons that afflictions are inevitable, and should not be allowed to hinder our path towards salvation. So it may be that he reasoned that such afflictions were inevitable, whichever path he chose- to Jerusalem, or not.</p>