Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
The Holy Spirit bore witness in every city that bonds and afflictions, imprisonment and suffering, awaited Paul at Jerusalem. Those repeated warnings confirmed his fears and made the coming hardship plain, yet he did not know all that would befall him there. Though foreknown, the hardships did not turn him back, for the same Spirit that warned him urged him onward, and he went willingly to finish his ministry.
His bonds did not stop his work, for through his trials his testimony of Jesus reached kings and governors and soldiers and others, and God used it to spread the gospel and bring souls to faith. He knew bonds and afflictions awaited him as he traveled, yet he accepted them while continuing to lead people out of spiritual bondage into eternal life and peace, without regret for his work and without fear for the future. Despite trials and the discouraging circumstances of his journey to Rome, he kept pressing forward, confident that his labor had delivered people from a worse bondage and rejoicing to suffer for Christ.
The verse belongs to Acts 20:17-35, which sets forth the character of a Christian minister who faithfully performed his duty, with Paul standing as an all-round minister and a Christian gentleman of the highest type. His example shows that mechanical toil in any honorable line of labor need not lessen influence nor make a man coarse and rough and uncourteous, yet ministers are not bound to do in all respects as he did.
The Holy Spirit bore witness in every city that bonds and afflictions, imprisonment and suffering, awaited Paul at Jerusalem. Those repeated warnings confirmed his fears and made the coming hardship plain, yet he did not know all that would befall him there. Though foreknown, the hardships did not turn him back, for the same Spirit that warned him urged him onward, and he went willingly to finish his ministry.
His bonds did not stop his work, for through his trials his testimony of Jesus reached kings and governors and soldiers and others, and God used it to spread the gospel and bring souls to faith. He knew bonds and afflictions awaited him as he traveled, yet he accepted them while continuing to lead people out of spiritual bondage into eternal life and peace, without regret for his work and without fear for the future. Despite trials and the discouraging circumstances of his journey to Rome, he kept pressing forward, confident that his labor had delivered people from a worse bondage and rejoicing to suffer for Christ.
The verse belongs to Acts 20:17-35, which sets forth the character of a Christian minister who faithfully performed his duty, with Paul standing as an all-round minister and a Christian gentleman of the highest type. His example shows that mechanical toil in any honorable line of labor need not lessen influence nor make a man coarse and rough and uncourteous, yet ministers are not bound to do in all respects as he did.