Acts 21:11
And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
Soon after Paul arrived at Caesarea and tarried in the house of Philip the evangelist, the prophet Agabus came down from Judea, having been warned by the Holy Spirit of the fate awaiting Paul. In the symbolic manner of the ancient prophets he took Paul's girdle, loosened it and bound his own hands and feet with it. By the Holy Spirit he declared that the Jews at Jerusalem would so bind the man who owned the girdle and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles, arresting its owner and handing him over to Gentile authorities.
The sign meant both peril from the Jews and the horrors of Roman imprisonment. It turned a vague awareness of great danger into certainty, received as a definite warning from the Spirit of God. The Lord had revealed to Paul that he must go up to Jerusalem, where he would be bound and suffer for His name.
When the warning was given, Luke and Paul's companions and the believers at Caesarea with prayers and tears begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. They entreated him to stay behind and let them carry the contributions of the Gentile churches to Jerusalem. They questioned why he should face such peril and expose his precious life to Jewish malice, and whether going on would be presumptuous.
Paul would not swerve from the path of duty but was ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. He was determined to follow Christ if need be to prison and to death. When the brethren saw that their urging caused him pain without changing his purpose, they ceased urging him and said only, The will of the Lord be done.
His great desire to be in harmony with his brethren, his tenderness of spirit toward the weak in faith, his reverence for the apostles who had been with Christ and for James the brother of the Lord, and his purpose to become all things to all men as far as he could without sacrificing principle led him to deviate from his firm, decided course of action. His efforts for conciliation did not accomplish the desired object but precipitated the crisis and hastened the predicted sufferings. They separated him from his brethren in his labors, deprived the church of one of its strongest pillars, and brought sorrow to Christian hearts in every land.
The foretold binding and the long imprisonment and trials that followed did not stop God's special work but carried it forward, for his bonds were to be the means of spreading the knowledge of Christ and thus glorifying God. Being sent from city to city for trial, his testimony concerning Jesus and the events of his conversion was related before kings, governors and rulers so they would be left without excuse concerning Jesus. Many thousands believed and rejoiced in His name.
God's special purpose was also fulfilled in Paul's journey upon the sea, that the ship's crew might witness the power of God through Paul and the heathen might hear the name of Jesus, with many converted through his teaching and the miracles he wrought. As with zeal and the power of the Holy Spirit he preached Jesus, kings and governors were charmed by his reasoning and conviction fastened upon them that Jesus was the Son of God. While some wondered with amazement, one cried that he was almost persuaded to be a Christian, yet most thought they would consider at some future time. Satan took advantage of the delay so that their softened hearts hardened and the opportunity was forever lost.