This is a collection of writings on the Holy Spirit blocking you from doing what is your plan, because he has something better. Also it can refer to final times when He restrains Satan.

1. THE HOLY SPIRIT RESTRAINTS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Acts 16:6
After the Holy Spirit prevented them from speaking
the word in the provinceof Asia, they traveled
through the region of Phrygia and Galatia.
Acts 16:7 7Whenthey came to the border of Mysia,
they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spiritof Jesus
would not allow them to.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
And were forbidden of the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia.
The guidance of the Spirit
J. Fawcett, M. A.
Who can read this account without being tempted to ask — Why should the Holy Ghost
forbid the apostles to preach in Asia? Why not suffer them to go into Bithynia? Were not
the inhabitants sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death? And did not Christ die for
them? Now as God giveth no account of His matters; and as the Lord of the harvest may
send forth labourers into whatever part of His harvest He pleases, it might he enough to
answer that it belongs not to us to pry into those reasons which it has pleasedHim to keep
secret. But the matter admits of a most satisfactory explanation. No doubt the souls in Asia
and Bithynia were dear to God; but Paul and Silas could not be labouring both in Asia and

2. Macedonia at the same time; and He, who knew the hearts of all, knew in which country
the minds of men were most prepared to receive the gospel. That there was such a
preparation in Macedonia is intimated by the very nature of the vision. The whole may be
illustrated by a familiar image. A farmer perceives his fields white for the harvest, and
hires labourers to reap the corn. They go into one field, and prepare to cut it down, but he
forbids them; they look to another, and attempt to enter it; but he suffers them not: he
conducts them to a third which is most fully ripe, and says," This is the field, work here."
Would any say that he did not care for the corn in the other fields because he passedthem
by? Would not everyone be sure that he only took the third before them because it was
most ready for the sickle, and that he would take the others in due time? So when the Lord
forbad His servants to preach in Asia and Bithynia it was not that He did not care for the
souls there, but that Macedonia was the most prepared. How well prepared it was appears
from Paul's epistles to the Churches in that country, at Philippi and Thessalonica. But were
Asia and Bithynia therefore neglected? No. We find Paul afterwards preaching in Troas,
the very port of Asia whence he sailed to Macedonia. In Ephesus also, the principal city of
that Asia where he had been forbidden to preach the Word, he abode two full years, so that
all they, both Jews and Greeks, that dwelt in Asia, heard the Word of the Lord Jesus. We
may observe, too, that the first epistle of Peter is addressed to the strangers scattered
throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Yes! the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon Him. His tender mercies are over all His works: and we have
the authority of Paul for saying that He will have all men to be saved, and to come to the
knowledge of the truth.
(J. Fawcett, M. A.)
Divine guidance
H. R. Haweis, M. A.
You want to know what to do, how to act, where to go. There is one safe and sure method
— and only one. It is Paul's. He thought, he used his natural reason; his instinct was to
travel on, his inclination was to visit Asia, then Bithynia. Having done his best to choose, he
submits his choice to a higher guidance. He carries the question in prayer to God, then he
feels he is not to go — knows not where to go, obeys this intuition which happens to be
opposed to his own wishes, waits, but waits not long. The vision and the voice follow
speedily. It is at length from these that he "assuredly gathers" — infers truly his next step.
It is evenso. Use your faculties, submit your judgment to the highest, be true to what seems
to you the highest leading, and the Divine message will grow clearer and clearer — the
intuition, the vision, the voice — but, mark you, clearer only for the next step. The whole of
Paul's journey was not mapped out. He could not see far, but he was not left in doubt. He

3. "assuredly gathered" the next move. Perhaps he thought he was now bound for Rome —
Rome attracted him far more powerfully than Athens. Yet he was not to go to Rome that
time, nor could he have guessed, when he started for Philippi, that he was going to Athens
and preach there to the scoffing, subtle Greeks.
(H. R. Haweis, M. A.)
Paul called to Europe
D. J. Burrell, D. D.
All Asia had heard the gospel. Now it was brought to that Europe which has furnished to
the world its civilised energy. Probably in Paul's mind the European passage was but one
of many journeys. But to the eye of history, seeing before and after, it was the challenge of
Christianity to civilisation, to intellect, to world-controlling energy, to come and be ruled
by Christ. Before this journey, however, there went —
I. THE TIME OF WAITING. Proconsular Asia and Bithynia were before Paul and his
companions; they were without the gospel; they needed it; Paul was ready to give it. And
yet the gospel was not preached. It was not a time to labour, but a time to wait.
1. Yet it was a time of endeavour to labour. Paul did not choose the waiting for himself. He
honestly and earnestly tried to preach the gospel. He went to the frontier of the province of
Asia Minor intending to enter and preach. Prevented there, he tried Bithynia next.
Preaching was the one word that summed up all Paul's life. Every Christian is called to
work. His mission in life is to proclaim Jesus Christ.
2. Paul's endeavour to do his work was thwarted. He wanted to labour for Christ, and he
was prevented from doing so. He went into many a place only to be driven out with stones.
He planned great journeys and found himself in prison. It would be a very instructive thing
to look over the Scriptural records of Paul's life and tabulate the thwarted plans recorded.
No man makes every Christian endeavour he undertakes a success. As God makes the
flower cast many a seedto the ground that one or two plants may spring up, so He gives it
as a law of spiritual accomplishment that there shall sometimes be many failures to one
success. And Paul, like a wise man, did not quarrel with law.
3. The strange part of Paul's experience at this point was that the thwarting of his purpose
to preach the gospel in proconsular Asia and Bithynia was directly due to God. Some of
Paul s failures were due to the interference of Satan (see 1 Thessalonians 2:18), who we
may believe goes about endeavouring to hinder God's people in God's work. What are we
to think of this?(1) God was leading Paul away from the conversion of Asia Minor to the
conversion of Europe. Paul, having but one human life and one man's natural power, could

4. not do both. God set before him the larger work. To accomplish it involved the exclusion of
the smaller.(2) Asia Minor was undoubtedly approached more advantageously by the
gospel from the westward, when the weight of European success added a new
commendation to Paul's teaching, which it lacked when it came from the eastward. If you
want to win a man to anything it is better to await the favourable moment than to rush in
at first sight. It was better for Asia Minor and Bithynia not to have the gospel preached to
them just yet.(3) God's thwarting of Paul's plans would have been all right even if we could
see no reason whatever in it.
4. The Holy Spirit was present with Paul, directing and equipping him, quite as well in the
time of waiting as in the time of work.
II. THE CALL. Paul had found his intentions foiled; Asia Minor and Bithynia were closed
to him; Europe remained. Should he seek those shores? He needed direction, and it was
given. The vision of the Macedonian, perhaps authenticated as from God in some way
unknown to us, showed Paul where his labour lay.
1. The vision was that of a pleading man. The gospel is for the world, and the whole world.
2. The figure in the vision voiced the need of help; it did not define just what was needed.
The call that rises from the human race is a cry for help, whatever the help be. It is not
always a cry for the gospel; for many times when the gospel is offered it is blindly refused.
It is the function of the gospel sometimes to create desire as well as to satisfy it. When Paul
landed in Macedonia he found no crowd standing with outstretched hands to welcome him.
No, he "tarried certain days" before there was any sign of the gospel being wanted, and
then the sign came only to Paul's search for it.
3. The Macedonian was a representative. He said not "Come over and help me," but
"Come over and help us." All needed Christ, and not only the few souls who were already
near to the kingdom — like Lydia, the first convert.
4. The request that was made by the pleading man of the vision was in Paul's power to
grant. He could go over and help them if he wanted to. So can we help the nations who
seemto stand before us in vision beseeching us to help them.
III. THE ANSWER.
1. Paul was led to make an answer by using the mind God had given him. He and his
companions consulted together and "concluded that God had called them for to preach the
gospel unto them." The supernatural vision seems to separate Paul's experience from ours.
We are not so led in our work. But his consulting with his friends and reasoning out as well
as he could the conclusion which God wanted him to make, brings his way of being led
back into similarity with our own.

5. 2. Having made up his mind that he ought to go to Macedonia, Paul "sought" to carry out
that purpose. Assurance of success and the accomplishment of success are in God's hands,
but we can at least try. If God is willing to bless, and we are able at least to try, if Christian
work sometimes does not greatly prosper, what is the reason?
3. Paul's answer to the meaning of the vision was immediate. "Straightway we sought to
go." The reaction of Paul's converted soul in the presence of spiritual need was instant. If
he responded instantly to the call of need we can respond so too, if we will.
4. The call's being from God was what made Paul's reply so quick. Obedience was a primal
element in Paul's religious life, and so he is seento be truly of the company of Him who was
"an obedient Son."
IV. THE RESULT.
1. It was not visible at once. Over in Troas there was the exciting vision of the pleading
Macedonian. But in Macedonia there was nothing but indifference. Paul was received, as
the missionary of the cross is almost always received, with perfect indifference.
2. Paul used means to bring a result about. He did not sit down with folded hands, saying to
himself, "Macedon has cried to me for help; I have come a long way at great trouble in
order to give help: now if the Macedonians want me let them speak out." Paul assumed
that the Macedonians needed everything and acted as though they desired nothing. He
waited not for them to seek him, he sought them. Work is a spiritual as well as a natural
condition of success.
3. A small beginning was made. Paul was not disheartened at its smallness, but content
with its being a beginning. No heathen were allured to the gospel at all. No men were
reached. One woman, and she half converted already before Paul's appearance, was the
harvest of Paul's effort. The beginning is not yet the end, but it surely has the end hidden in
it, in however small circumference.
4. Fellowship was established. Lydia brought her household into the faith and took Paul
and his friends into the sweet communion of this new Christian home. When that Christian
fellowship was formed the success of Paul's Philippian mission was assured. A group of real
Christian friends can leaven a city.
V. LESSONS CONCERNING MISSIONARY WORK.
1. The relation of God and man in gospelising. God calls; man's imperative and immediate
duty is to obey. God sends the Holy Spirit to direct and empower in Christian work. "For it
is God that worketh in you." God sends us to try all plans in the world with His gospel. He
only knows where we shall succeed in planting it.

6. 2. The laws of gospelising. Persuading for Christ is like other persuading. Paul did not
preach when he made his first European convert. What a spectacle he would have made if
he had proceeded to deliver a thunderous oration like that on Mars' Hill to these half-
dozen women! He sat down and talked with them. The gospel begins its work in small
ways. Europe's conquest for Christ is heralded in the saving of one woman. The gospel uses
the God-made relations of human life for its propagation. Lydia brought her household to
Christ. The family is recognised and utilised by the gospel.
(D. J. Burrell, D. D.)
Permission to preach the gospel strangely conveyed
The Rev. John Thomas, who may be regarded as the founder of the Friendly Islands'
mission, had laboured for some time at Hihifo, in Tonga, with but little fruit, being
continually thwarted and persecuted by the Pagan chief Ata: when, having heard that the
paramount chief of Haabai had renounced idolatry, and was anxious to have a missionary,
he made up his mind to remove thither. But as the commencement of a new mission in
another group of islands would involve considerable expense, he wished first to hear from
the missionary committee in London, who had some time before been written to on the
subject. Whilst waiting at Nukualofa, in a state of considerable anxiety and suspense, in the
month of January 1830, an incident occurred which clearly shows the superintending
providence of God in the affairs of the missionary enterprise. A small box was washed on
shore and brought to Mr. Turner by one of the natives. On being opened it was found to
contain a letter from the missionary secretaries, giving the sanction of the committee for
the extension of the mission in the Friendly Islands, and the appointment of a missionary to
Haabai without further delay. The vessel by which this communication had been sent, a
schooner from Sydney, had foundered at sea, and all on board were lost. It is said that
neither vessel, nor crew, nor any of the goods with which she had been freighted were ever
seenor heard of again. The package containing that letter alone, a messenger of mercy for
a people waiting for the law of the Lord, guided by Him "whom wind and seas obey,"
escapedthe general wreck, and was cast on shore at the right place and the right time to
relieve the minds of the anxious missionaries, and to enable them to go forward and enter
the openings which appeared before them for the proclamation of the "glorious gospel of
the blessedGod."
The Spirit's direction
Horace Bushnell.

7. That you may know the Divine plan for you, go to God Himself, and ask for it; for as
certainly as He has a plan or calling for you, He will somehow guide you into it. And this is
the proper office and work of His Spirit. By this private teaching He can show us, and will,
into the very plan that is set for us. And this is the significance of what is prescribed as our
duty — namely, living and walking in the Spirit; for the Spirit of God is a kind of universal
presence, or inspiration, in the world's bosom; an unfailing inner light, which if we accept
and live in, we are guided thereby into a consenting choice, so that what God wills for us we
also will for ourselves, settling into it as the needle to the pole. By this hidden union with
God, or intercourse with Him, we get a wisdom or insight deeper than we know ourselves;
a sympathy, a oneness with the Divine will and love. We go into the very plan of God for us,
and are led along in it by Him, consenting, cooperating, answering to Him we know not
how, and working out, with nicest exactness, that good end for which His unseen counsel
girded us and sent us into the world. In this manner, not neglecting other methods, but
gathering in all their separate lights, to be interpreted in the higher light of the Spirit, we
can never be greatly at a loss to find our way into God's counsel and plan. The duties of the
present moment we shall meet as they rise, and these will open a gate into the next, and we
shall thus pass on, trusting and securely, almost never in doubt as to what God calls us to
do.
(Horace Bushnell.)
The supernatural element in labour
J. Parker, D. D.
1. Here is the direct action of the Holy Ghost. The early Christians realised that they were
living in the age of the Holy Spirit. Why should there be any difficulty in believing that
spirit may affect spirit? We believe that matter affects matter. It is quite scientific to
believe that; yet to believe that mind can affect mind, that spirit can touch spirit, is
fanaticism! I have not so learned life. It is easy for me, having seenthe action of metal upon
metal, to believe that there may be a kindred action of soul upon soul, God upon man.
2. The action of the Spirit is as morally mysterious as it is personally direct. Why should
the Holy Ghost forbid the apostles to preach the Word anywhere? That we cannot explain;
but then you cannot explain yourself. We are forbidden to do certain things. The things
themselves are good, but the time is wrong, or the place is ill-chosen, or another
opportunity is greater and ought to be absorbent. It is not enough that you are in a good
place, doing a good work; your object should be to live and move and have your being in
the Spirit of God, so that wherever He may point, your heart may outrun your feet in
attaining the destination. Where life is bounded by programmes and outlines, and purposes
merely human, life will be a succession of mistakes and stinging disappointments.

8. 3. It is, to our degenerate piety, quite difficult to believe that the early apostles — yea, the
prophets ages before them — could live so familiarly in the presence of the supernatural.
Everything depends upon the level of your life. It is possible to live so high up in intellectual
and spiritual companionship as to receive with grateful ease and friendly recognition
appearances and communications which at one time would have affected us with the
surprise of a miracle.
4. What did Paul see, then, in his vision?(1) A man. He who truly sees a man must ever be
moved by the pathetic sight. We do not see one another whilst we are in the crowd
performing the day's jugglery. We do not see the man, but having once seenhim under
favouring lights, we must feel that man is a name high up in the register of life.(2) A man in
earnest prayer, praying to a fellow man. It was all, perhaps, the Macedonian suppliant
could then do. We are allowed to pray at such altars as we can find. If you fell down before
the least flower, before your mother's old armchair, it would be shrine enough. And by and
by you will want a whole heaven for a church and altar. Begin where you can.(3) A man in
earnest, and a man seeking help. There are cowards that run away when poor, ill-used
people call for "help." Christianity is "help" or it is nothing. This is a typical instance. If
the Church could have its eyes opened today, it would see every unevangelised country and
every land in sore strait or difficulty typified in this Macedonian man.
5. "And after he had seenthe vision, immediately we endeavoured —" Luke here joins the
company. Up to this time the narrative has been written in the third person; it will now be
written in the first. The missionaries came "to Philippi." There is a city plan of
evangelisation; the apostles followed that plan. They did not hide themselves in obscure
places; we find great names in their record. What is the justification of these metropolitan
names? This — and higher there is none — "Beginning at Jerusalem." So we shall find in
these missionary records Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Philippi, Athens, Ephesus, name
upon name of local eminence and dignity, yet all the names put together are not equal to
London! Give us London, and we have the key of the world. Converted London would
seemto mean converted England; and converted England would be almost equal to a
converted world!
(J. Parker, D. D.)
Acts 16:7

9. And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried
to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not
permit them.
The Call Of God And The Appeal Of Man: A Missionary Sermon
Acts 16:6-10
W. Clarkson
Christian life, when it has any strength and vigor, is an expansive thing. It pushes out in all
directions. It asks what it can do to extend the kingdom of God, what is the sphere in which
it can best exercise its missionary zeal. It must be guided by two things -
I. THE CALL OF GOD. Paul and Silas went whithersoever they were directed. They
forebore to go to some places because the way was closed by the Divine hand (vers. 6, 7);
they went to others because "they assuredly gathered that God had called them" (ver. 10).
God does not vouchsafe to us now such plain and indubitable signs of his will as he granted
in apostolic days; we have no such visions and voices as they had to guide them.
Nevertheless he does direct our steps. He either calls us or "suffers us not" to go where we
had designed to work, by some method, of his Divine procedure.
1. He may enlighten our minds by enlarging our faculties; so that, though we are not
conscious of any special influence, we see clearly what is the right and wise course to
pursue.
2. He may inspire us with such promptings that we feel assured that we are being moved by
his own hand.
3. He may, by his providential ordering, shut us out from, or shut us up to, the path in
which he would not, or would, have us walk. It is for us to inquire reverently what is his
will, which way he does not desire us to take, when he calls us to preach the gospel, and
then promptly and cheerfully to obey.
II. THE APPEAL FROM MAN. (Ver. 9.) Thin vision appeared to Paul In the night." We
need not wait for the night in order to have a vision and to hear a voice, in which men will
cry, "Come over and help us." If we had but the car to hear" the still, sad music of
humanity," we should have borne to us on every wind the pitiful plaint of the sin-stricken
children of men. We should hear:

10. 1. The cry of conscious spiritual distress. There are those who know the hollowness of their
old superstitions, or are vainly looking out for the truth; from those who are groping in the
darkness, we may well hear the cry," Who will lead us into the light of life?"
2. The prayer of inarticulate distress. There are countless multitudes that hunger and thirst
for they know not what. They have empty, aching, longing hearts, with boundless-
capacities. These hearts are unfilled, unsatisfied, and they are inarticulately but earnestly
pleading for the bread of life, of which if any man cat he shall never hunger more. There
are also the vast multitudes of the suffering - of the sick, of the lonely, of the disappointed,
of the bereaved. These are praying us, with silent but strong supplication, to send the
knowledge of the Divine Comforter, of him who alone can bind up the broken heart and
heal its wounds.
3. The appeal of pitiful degradation. The advocates of slavery used to contend - for lack of
better argument - that those who were in bonds were contented with their condition. As if
this were not the very heaviest indictment against the cause they pleaded! Surely the fact
that slavery made men and women satisfied with degradation and dishonor was the most
damaging impeachment which could be framed! And it is the fact that so many thousands
of those who were created for purity, wisdom, worship, righteousness, eternal life, are
satisfied with the darkness and death of sin, - it is this which constitutes the most eloquent
appeal to take them that enlightening truth which will awake them from their shameful
apathy, inspire them with a manlier and nobler hope, and satisfy them with a treasure
which cannot fade, with a joy that abides for ever, with a life which is eternal and Divine.
Unchristianized humanity stands everbefore the eyes of a living Church and pleads with a
powerful if not a passionate entreaty, "Come over and help us!" - C.
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(6) When they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia.—In the previous
journey St. Paul, when he was at Antioch in Pisidia, was just on the border of the two
provinces, but had not travelled through them, Phrygia lying to the west, and Galatia to the
north-east. The former name was used with an ethnological rather than a political
significance, and did not, at this period, designate a Roman province. It does not possess
any special points of interest in connection with St. Paul’s work, except as including the
churches of the valley of the Lycus, Colossæ, Laodicea, and Thyatira, but the latter was the
scene of some of his most important labours. The province, named after the Galatæ, or
Gauls, who had poured over Greece and Asia Minor in the third century B. 100, as they
had done over Italy in the fourth, and to whom it had been assigned by Attalus I., King of
Pergamus, had been conquered by the Romans under Manlius (the name appearing a

11. second time in connection with a victory over the Gallic races) in B.C. 189; and under
Augustus it had been constituted as a Roman province. The inhabitants spoke a Keltic
dialect, like that which the people of the same race spoke in the fourth century after Christ,
on the banks of the Moselle, and retained all the distinctive quickness of emotion and
liability to sudden change which characterised the Keltic temperament. They had adopted
the religion of the Phrygians, who had previously inhabited the region, and that religion
consisted mainly in a wild orgiastic worship of the great Earth-goddess Cybele, in whose
temples were found the Eunuch-priests, who thus consecrated themselves to her service.
(See Note on Galatians 5:12.) The chief seat of this worship was at Pessinus. The incidental
reference to this journey in Galatians 4:13-15, enables us to fill up St. Luke’s outline. St.
Paul seems to have been detained in Galatia by severe illness, probably by one of the
attacks of acute pain in the nerves of the eye in which many writers have seenan
explanation of the mysterious “thorn in the flesh” of 2Corinthians 12:7, which led to his
giving a longer time to his missionary work there than he had at first intended. In this
illness the Galatians had shown themselves singularly devoted to him. They had received
him “as an angel of God, evenas Christ Jesus.” They had not shrunk from what would
seemto have been repulsive in the malady from which he suffered; they would have
“plucked out their own eyes,” had it been possible, and given them to replace those which
were to him the cause of so much suffering. Then they thought it their highest
“blessedness” to have had such a one among them. If the memory of that reception made
his sorrow all the more bitter when, in after years, they fell away from their first love, it
must at the time have been among the most cheering seasons of the Apostle’s life.
Were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.—It is obviously implied in
this that their own plans would have led them to turn their steps to the region from which
they were thus turned. The pro-consular province of Asia, with its teeming cities, like
Ephesus, Smyrna, and Sardis, its large Jewish population, its great centres of idolatrous
worship, was naturally attractive to one who was seeking with all his energy a rapid
expansion of the kingdom of his Lord. But in ways which we are not told, by inner
promptings, or by visions of the night, or by the inspired utterances of those among their
converts who had received the gift of prophecy, as afterwards in Acts 21:4, they were led
on, stepby step, towards the north-western coast, not seeing their way clearly as yet to the
next stage of their labours. Their route through the “Galatian region” (the phrase, perhaps,
indicates a wider range of country than the Roman province of that name) must have taken
them through Pessinus, the great centre of the worship of Cybele, and Ancyra, famous for
its goat’s-hair manufactures, and for the great historical marble tablets which Augustus
had erected there.
Benson Commentary

12. Acts 16:6-8. Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia — Greek, διελθοντες δε την
Φρυγιαν, και την Γαλατικην χωραν, having passedthrough Phrygia and the Galatian
country, and spoken there what was sufficient, and delivered to the churches in those parts
the decrees above mentioned, in order to their establishment in the true faith of the gospel;
and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost (probably by an inward dictate) to preach the word
in Asia — That is, in the proconsular Asia: for, “as all the places mentioned in the former
verses lay in Asia Minor, it is evident that the word Asia must be thus understood. The
reason for this prohibition seems to have been, that the time for preaching in that province
was not yet come. But it is certain that flourishing churches were afterward planted there,
particularly at Colosse, Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira, and Philadelphia. It seems therefore to
have been the determination of Providence, respecting Paul and his companions, that,
instead of going through this region now, by such a leisurely progress as that in which they
proceeded in their former journey, through Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, &c., they should
hasten to Europe directly, and preach the gospel first in Philippi, which was a Roman
colony, and then in the neighbouring parts; while, in the mean time, the Asian provinces,
now passed over, might hear some report of it from their neighbours and so be prepared to
receive, with greater advantage, the labours of the apostles, when they should return to
them, as Paul afterward did, chap. Acts 18:23, &c. By this means the spread of the gospel
would, in any given time, be wider than (other circumstances being equal) it would have
been, had they taken all the interjacent places in their way.” — Doddridge. After they were
come into Mysia — Which was the most western province of the LesserAsia, and lay on the
coast of the Ægean sea; they assayedto go northward into Bithynia — A country bounded
on the west by a part of the Propontis and the Thracian Bosphorus, and on the north by the
Euxine sea. Probably their intention was to visit the flourishing cities of Nice, Nicomedia,
and Chalcedon, and so pass from thence into Europe. But the Spirit suffered them not —
Forbidding them as before. Many manuscripts and versions of undoubted authority read
here, The Spirit of Jesus. And so passing by the LesserMysia — Which separated Bithynia
from the country of Troas; they came to the city Troas — A noted seaport, where travellers
from the upper coasts of Asia commonly took ship to pass into Europe. Here Paul and his
assistants were joined by Luke, (Acts 16:10,) the writer of this history, and a native of
Antioch, as is generally believed, who, to the profession of a physician, had joined that of a
Christian minister, or evangelist.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
16:6-15 The removals of ministers, and the dispensing the means of grace by them, are in
particular under Divine conduct and direction. We must follow Providence: and whatever
we seek to do, if that suffer us not, we ought to submit and believe to be for the best. People
greatly need help for their souls, it is their duty to look out for it, and to invite those among
them who can help them. And God's calls must be complied with readily. A solemn
assembly the worshippers of God must have, if possible, upon the sabbath day. If we have

13. not synagogues, we must be thankful for more private places, and resort to them; not
forsaking the assembling together, as our opportunities are. Among the hearers of Paul was
a woman, named Lydia. She had an honest calling, which the historian notices to her
praise. Yet though she had a calling to mind, she found time to improve advantages for her
soul. It will not excuse us from religious duties, to say, We have a trade to mind; for have
not we also a God to serve, and souls to look after? Religion does not call us from our
business in the world, but directs us in it. Pride, prejudice, and sin shut out the truths of
God, till his grace makes way for them into the understanding and affections; and the Lord
alone can open the heart to receive and believe his word. We must believe in Jesus Christ;
there is no coming to God as a Father, but by the Son as Mediator.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Throughout Phrygia - This was the largest province of Asia Minor. It had Bithynia north;
Pisidia and Lycia south; Galatia and Cappadocia east; and Lydia and Mysia west.
And the region of Galatia - This province was directly east of Phrygia. The region was
formerly conquered by the Gauls. They settled in it, and called it, after their own name,
Galatia. The Gauls invaded the country at different times, and no less than three tribes or
bodies of Gauls had possessionof it. Many Jews were also settledthere. It was from this
cause that so many parties could be formed there, and that so much controversy would
arise between the Jewish and Gentile converts. See the Epistle to the Galatians.
And were forbidden - Probably by a direct revelation. The reason of this was, doubtless,
that it was the intention of God to extend the gospel further into the regions of Greece than
would have been done if they had remained in Asia Minor. This prohibition was the means
of the first introduction of the gospel into Europe.
In Asia - See the notes on Acts 2:9. This was doubtless the region of proconsular Asia. It
was also called Ionia. Of this region Ephesus was the capital; and here were situated also
the cities of Smyrna, Thyatira, Philadelphia, etc., within which the sevenchurches
mentioned in Revelation 1-3 were established. Cicero speaks of proconsular Asia as
containing the provinces of Phrygia, Mysia, Carla, and Lydia. In all this region the gospel
was afterward preached with great success. But now a more important and a wider field
was opened before Paul and Barnabas in the extensive country of Macedonia.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
Ac 16:6-12. They Break New Ground in Phrygia and Galatia—Their Course in That
Direction Being Mysteriously Hedged Up, They Travel Westward to Troas, Where They
Are Divinely Directed to Macedonia—The Historian Himself Here Joining the Missionary
Party, They Embark for Neapolis, and ReachPhilippi.

14. 6-8. Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia—proceeding in
a northwesterly direction. At this time must have been formed "the churches of Galatia"
(Ga 1:2; 1Co 16:1); founded, as we learn from the Epistle to the Galatians (particularly Ga
4:19), by the apostle Paul, and which were already in existence when he was on his third
missionary journey, as we learn from Ac 18:23, where it appears that he was no less
successful in Phrygia. Why these proceedings, so interesting as we should suppose, are not
here detailed, it is not easy to say; for the various reasons suggestedare not very
satisfactory: for example, that the historian had not joined the party [Alford]; that he was
in haste to bring the apostle to Europe [Olshausen]; that the main stream of the Church's
development was from Jerusalem to Rome, and the apostle's labors in Phrygia and Galatia
lay quite out of the line of that direction [Baumgarten].
and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost—speaking by some prophet, see on[2033]Ac 11:27.
to preach the word in Asia—not the great Asiatic continent, nor eventhe rich peninsula
now called Asia Minor, but only so much of its western coast as constituted the Roman
province of Asia.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Phrygia and
Galatia were parts of Asia Minor. They
were forbidden of the Holy Ghost by some revelation, though the manner is not known,
to preach the word in Asia, for that time; though afterwards Paul preached there about
two years together, Acts 19:10. Thus God (the great Householder) orders the candle to be
removed from one room unto another; sends, or takes away, the light of the gospel, to
whom, and as often, as he pleaseth. Our calling, as well as our election, is free; and we may
say with our Saviour, Matthew 11:26, Even so, Father; for so it seemedgood in thy sight.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia,.... See Gill on Acts 2:10 To which may be
added, that this country had its name either from the river Phryx, as Pliny (w) observes, or
from the word Phrygios, which signifies "dry"; this being a very dry and sandy country: it
was famous for marble stone; hence we read (x) of Phrygian Stone or marble, of which
pillars and statues were made: according to Josephus (y), the original of the Phrygians was

15. Togarmah the son of Gomer, and grandson of Japheth, Genesis 10:3, whom he calls
Thygrammes, and his people from him, Thygrammeans, and who, adds he, as it seems by
the Greeks, are called Phrygians. Herodotus (z) reports, that the Phrygians (as the
Macedonians say) were called Briges or Brygians, so long as they were Europeans, and
dwelt with the Macedonians: but when they went into Asia, together with the country, they
changed their names, into Phrygians: of one Philip a Phrygian, whom Antiochus left
governor at Jerusalem, mention is made in:
"And he left governors to vex the nation: at Jerusalem, Philip, for his country a Phrygian,
and for manners more barbarous than he that set him there;'' (2 Maccabees 5:22)
here dwelt Jews, as appears from Acts 2:10 and here the apostle preached and made
converts.
And the region of Galatia: in Asia Minor: it had Cappadocia on the east, Bithynia on the
west, Pamphylia on the south, and the Euxine sea on the north. The inhabitants of this
country were originally Gauls, who under Brennus their captain, came out of some parts of
France, and invaded Italy, and came to Rome, and took it all but the capitol; from whence
being sallied out upon by the Romans at an unawares, they were obliged to retire; and
from thence they sailed into Greece, and went into Asia, into this part of it where they
settled, which was first called after them Gallo Graecia, and in process of time Galatia;
though some say the Grecians called them Galatians from Gala, which signifies "milk",
because of their milky colour: of the Galatians, mention is made in,
"And he told them of the battle that they had in Babylon with the Galatians, how they
came but eight thousand in all to the business, with four thousand Macedonians, and that
the Macedonians being perplexed, the eight thousand destroyed an hundred and twenty
thousand because of the help that they had from heaven, and so received a great booty.'' (2
Maccabees 8:20)
here the Gospel was preached, and many believed; for we afterwards read of disciples both
in this country and in Phrygia, Acts 18:23 and here were churches formed, and to whom
the apostles preached, and delivered the decrees of the apostles and elders.
And were forbidden of the Holy Ghost; not by an articulate voice, but by a secret and
powerful impulse upon their minds;
to preach the word in Asia: that is, in that country which was properly called Asia, or pro-
consular Asia, otherwise Phrygia, and Galatia, were provinces in Asia Minor. Beza's most
ancient copy, and the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, "the word of God": the
reasons why it was prohibited to be preached here, at this time, cannot be said, and must
be referred to the sovereignwill of God; it seems, that at this instant, there were no chosen

16. ones to be called by grace, and there was work for the apostle and his companions to do
elsewhere, namely, in Macedonia.
(w) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 29. (x) Pausanias, l. 1. sive Attica, p. 32. (y) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.((z)
Polymnia, c. 73. Vid. Plin. l. 5. c. 32.
Geneva Study Bible
{4} Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were {d}
forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
(4) God appoints certain and determinate times to open and set forth his truth, so that both
the election and the calling may proceed of grace.
(d) He does not show why they were forbidden, but only that they were forbidden, teaching
us to obey and not to enquire.
Meyer's NTCommentary
Acts 16:6-7. According to the reading διῆλθον and, Acts 16:7, ἐλθόντες δέ (see the critical
remarks): Now they went through Phrygia and Galatia, after they had been withheld by
the Holy Spirit from preaching in Asia; but having come toward Mysia, they attempted,
etc. Observe (1) that this hindrance of the Spirit to their preaching in Asia induced them,
instead of going to Asia, to take their route through Phrygia and Galatia, and therefore the
founding of the Galatian churches is correctly referred to this period;[48] indeed, the
founding of these may have been the immediate object aimed at in that hindrance. The fact
that Luke so silently passes overthe working in Phrygia and Galatia, is in keeping with the
unequal character of the information given by him generally—an inequality easily
explained from the diversity of his documents and intelligence otherwise acquired—so that
it appears arbitrary to impute to him a special set purpose (Olshausen: he was hastening
with his narrative to the European scene of action; Baumgarten: because the main stream
of development proceeded from Jerusalem to Rome, and the working in question lay out of
the line of this direction, comp. also Zeller, p. 383; and quite erroneously Schneckenburger:
because there were no Jews to be found in those regions, and therefore Luke could not have
illustrated in that case how Paul turned first to the Jews). Further, (2) Asia cannot be the
quarter of the world in contrast to Europe, but only the western coast of Asia Minor, as in
Acts 2:9, Acts 6:9. To that region his journey from Lycaonia (Derbe and Lystra, Acts 16:1)
was directed; but by the hindrance of the Spirit it was turned elsewhere, namely, to
Phrygia and Galatia (the latter taken in the usual narrower sense, not according to the
extent of the Roman province at that time, as Böttger, Thiersch, and others suppose; comp.
on Gal. Introd. § 1).

17. The hindering of the Spirit, taken by Zeller in the sense of the apostle’s own inward tact, is
in Acts 16:6-7 to be regarded as an influence of the Holy Spirit (that is, of the objective
Divine Spirit, not of “the holy spirit of prudence, which judged the circumstances
correctly,” de Wette) on their souls, which internal indication, they were conscious, was
that of the Spirit.
κατὰ τ. Μυσίαν] not: at (see Acts 16:8), but toward Mysia, Mysia-wards, in the direction of
the border of that land. They wished from this to go northeastward to Bithynia; for in
Mysia (which, along with Lydia and Caria, belonged to Asia) they were forbidden to
preach.
τὸ πνεῦμα Ἰησοῦ] i.e. the ἅγιον πνεῦμα, Acts 16:6; see onRomans 8:9.
[48] Whether he also planted churches in Phrygia, is unknown to us. The founding of the
church in Colossae and Laodicea took place by means of others, Colossians 2:1.
REMARK.
According to the Receivedtext (διελθόντες … ἐλθόντες), the rendering must be: having
journeyed through Phrygia and Galatia, they endeavoured, after they had been withheld
by the Holy Spirit from preaching in Asia, on coming toward Mysia, to journey to
Bithynia, etc. Comp. Wieseler, p. 31; Baumgarten, p. 489; and see regarding the asyndetic
participles, which “mutua temporis vel causae ratione inter se referuntur,” Kühner, ad
Xen. Anab. i. 1. 7; Dissen, ad Dem. de cor. p. 249; Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 255 (E. T. 297).
Expositor's Greek Testament
Acts 16:6. διελθόντες δὲ τὴν Φ. καὶ τὴν Γ. χώραν, see critical notes, and also additional note
at the end of chap. 18. If we follow R.V. text and omit the second τὴν, and regard both Φ.
and Γ. as adjectives with Ramsay and Lightfoot (so Weiss and Wendt, cf. adjective
Πισιδίαν, Acts 13:14; but see also Acts 18:23), under the vinculum of the one article we
have one district, “the Phrygo-Galatic country,” i.e., ethnically Phrygian, politically
Galatian; see also Turner, “Chronology of the N.T.,” Hastings’ B.D., i., 422, and “The
Churches of Galatia,” Dr. Gifford, Expositor, July, 1894. But Zahn, Einleitung, i., 134,
objects that if Ramsay sees in Acts 16:6 a recapitulation of the journey, and action in Acts

18. 16:4-5, and includes under the term Phrygo-Galatia the places visited in the first
missionary journey, we must include under the term not only Iconium and Antioch, but
also Derbe and Lystra. But the two latter, according to Acts 14:6, are not Phrygian at all,
but Lycaonian. Ramsay, however, sufficiently answers this objection by the distinction
which he draws between the phrase before us in Acts 16:6 and the phrase used in Acts
18:23 : τὴν Γαλατικὴν χώραν καὶ Φρυγίαν. In the verse before us reference is made to the
country traversed by Paul after he left Lystra, and so we have quite correctly the territory
about Iconium and Antioch described as Phrygo-Galatic; but in Acts 18:23 Lystra and
Derbe are also included, and therefore we might expect “Lycaono-Galatic and Phrygo-
Galatic,” but to avoid this complicated phraseology the writer uses the simple phrase: “the
Galatic country,” while Phrygia denotes either Phrygia Galatica or Phrygia Magna, or
both, and see Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 77 and 91–93, and Expositor,
August, 1898. Dr. Gifford, in his valuable contribution to the controversy between Prof.
Ramsay and Dr. Chase, Expositor, July 1894, while rejecting the North-Galatian theory,
would not limit the phrase “the Phrygian and Galatian region” to the country about
Iconium and Antioch with Ramsay, but advocates an extension of its meaning to the
borderlands of Phrygia and Galatia northward of Antioch.—κωλυθέντες: a favourite word
in St. Luke, both in Gospel and Acts, six times in each, cf. Acts 8:36, Acts 10:47. How the
hindrance was effectedwe are not told, whether by inward monitions, or by prophetic
intimations, or by some circumstances which were regarded as providential warnings:
“wherefore they were forbidden he does not say, but that they were forbidden he does
say—teaching us to obey and not ask questions,” Chrys., Hom., xxxiv. On the construction
of κωλυθ. with διῆλθον (see critical notes) cf. Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire, p. 89;
St. Paul, p. 211; Expositor (Epilogue), April, 1894, and Gifford, u. s., pp. 11 and 19. Both
writers point out that the South Galatian theory need not depend upon this construction,
whether we render it according to A.V. or R.V., see further Askwith, Epistle to the
Galatians, p. 46, 1899.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
6. Now when they had gone throughout] The oldest MSS. merely say and they went
through.
Phrygia and the region of Galatia] Scarcely the direction, so far as population was
concerned, which would have been chosen by them of their own accord, but the inner
admonition of the Holy Ghost kept them from entering Proconsular Asia. The news of the
events at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost were known to some in Phrygia already (Acts
2:10), but of Galatia the history has yet made no mention, though we know from St Paul’s
Epistle to that church that he afterwards had the warmest interest in and greatest anxiety
concerning the Christians there, among whom Judaizers wrought like mischief with that

19. done in Antioch. From some expressions of St Paul (Galatians 4:19) it seems likely that it
was from his own preaching at this time that churches in Galatia were founded.
and were forbidden] Better, having been forbidden. As they had been forbidden the one
route, they went by the other. Probably St Luke says little about the events in this part of
the journey, for his language below (Acts 16:10) seems to shew that he only joined St Paul
at Troas.
in Asia] See note on Acts 2:9.
Bengel's Gnomen
Acts 16:6. Διελθόντες) when they had travelled through, the Spirit not forbidding them: for
the Galatian region was not a part of the Asia that is here named. Phrygia was a part of
Asia, and in it already they had spoken all that was necessary.—κωλυθέντες, having been
forbidden) by some internal dictation (suggestion). Often the reluctance of the mind, the
cause of which the ungodly cannot see, is not to be despised. Again, as to the impulse to any
course of action, see ch. Acts 18:5, Acts 17:16.—λαλῆσαι, to speak) Not yet was it the ripe
time: they were now appointed to make Macedonia their destination: other preachers
might come to the people of Asia; nay, evenLydia was one belonging to Asia, Acts 16:14.
And afterwards it was done most abundantly: ch. Acts 19:10.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 6. - And they went for now when they had gone, A.V. and T.R.; through the region of
Phrygia and Galatia for throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, A.V. and T.R.;
having been for and were, A.V.; speak for preach, A.V. The region of Phrygia and Galatia.
But Phrygia is always a noun substantive, and cannot be here taken as an adjective
belonging to χώρα: and we have in Acts 18:23 exactly the same collation as that of the A.V.
here, only in an inverted order: Τὴν Γαλατικὴν χώραν καὶ Φρυγίας. Even if the τὴν is
properly omitted, as in the R.T., before Γαλατικὴν, the passage must equally be construed
as in the A.V. The Galatians were Celts, the descendants of those Gauls who invaded Asia
in the third century B.C. This passage seems to show conclusively that Derbe and Lystra
and Iconium were not comprehended by St. Paul under Galatia, and were not the
Churches to whom the Epistle to the Galatians was addressed; and forcibly suggest that the
Galatian Churches were founded by St. Paul in the course of the visit here so briefly
mentioned by St. Luke. Asia is here used in its restricted sense of that district on the
western coast of Asia Minor, of which Ephesus was the capital. It is in this sense that it is
used also in Acts 2:9; Acts 6:9; Acts 19:10, etc.; Revelation 1:11. St. Paul apparently wished

20. to go to Ephesus. But the time was not yet come. It was the purpose of the Holy Ghost that
the Galatian Churches should be founded first, and then the Churches of Macedonia and
Achaia."
PRECEPT AUSTIN RESOURCES
THE HOLY SPIRIT
"SHUTS THEIR MOUTHS"
They passedthrough the Phrygian and Galatian region (Find these locations on this map) -
They had been in the cities that Paul and Barnabas had visited on the first missionary
journey (cf Acts 15:36+), the city furthest north being Antioch of Pisidia (Antiochia
Kaesareia on the map), and it was presumably from this city that they trekked into
neighboring region of Phrygia and Galatia.
Passedthrough (went through)(1330)(dierchomai from dia = through + erchomai = come,
go) means to go through, to pass through, to move through an area ("When they had gone
through the whole island" = Acts 13:6; Jesus "went about doing good and healing" = Acts
10:38; Paul "went about preaching the kingdom" = Acts 20:25, cf Acts 8:4, 40, 17:23; "they
began going throughout the villages" = Lk 9:6; Jesus "passing through Jericho" = Lk 19:1;
Jesus "was passing between Samaria and Galilee" = Lk 17:11;
All Luke's uses of dierchomai -
Lk. 2:15; Lk. 2:35; Lk. 4:30; Lk. 5:15; Lk. 8:22; Lk. 9:6; Lk. 11:24; Lk. 17:11; Lk. 19:1;
Lk. 19:4; Jn. 4:4; Acts 8:4; Acts 8:40; Acts 9:32; Acts 9:38; Acts 10:38; Acts 11:19; Acts
12:10; Acts 13:6; Acts 13:14; Acts 14:24; Acts 15:3; Acts 15:41; Acts 16:6; Acts 17:23; Acts
18:23; Acts 18:27; Acts 19:1; Acts 19:21; Acts 20:2; Acts 20:25;
Phrygian...region (see note) was a district in central Asia Minor west of Pisidia (see location
in central Turkey).
NET Note on Galatian - "Galatia refers to either (1) the region of the old kingdom of
Galatia in the central part of Asia Minor (North Galatia), or (2) the Roman province of

21. Galatia, whose principal cities in the 1st century were Ancyra and Pisidian Antioch (South
Galatia). The exact extent and meaning of this area has been a subject of considerable
controversy in modern NT studies." (NET Note)
As Kenneth Gangel says "It is useless to ponder how the Holy Spirit conveyed this
message." (Ibid)
Having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia - How the Holy Spirit
forbade Paul, Silas and Timothy is not specifically stated. The phrase the word in this
context indicates the Gospel. Somehow the Spirit told the missionaries not to preach the
Gospel in these regions at this time. However God had not forgotten about the lost souls in
Asia (see "Asia" in the red area on this Map) for these regions would later have churches
in several cities including Ephesus, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Colossae, Sardis,
Pergamum, and Thyatira. For now that "door" was closed to Paul. Note that by using the
name Asia Luke was NOT referring to the continent of Asia as we know it today.
NET Note on Asia - "Asia"; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia,
made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. (see red
area on this Map) Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia.
Forbidden (Hindered, prevented) (2967) (koluo from kólos = docked, lopped, clipped,
kolazo = curtail) means to cut off, to cut short, to weaken and generally to hinder, to
prevent, to check, to restrain or to forbid by word or act. The idea is to cause something
not to happen. To hinder means to make slow or difficult the progress of something by
interfering in some way with the activity or progress thereof. In short koluo means to make
it difficult for someone to do something or for something to happen in this case to preach
the Gospel. At times the Spirit says "NO" so He can lead us to a greater ministry for Jesus.
THOUGHT - Forbidden is a fascinating example of the "divine passive," which Luke
clearly relates to the effect of the prohibitive effect of the Holy Spirit. One wonders how
many times we experience "divine passives"? Or how many times we refuse to pay
attention to the Spirit's still small voice in His "divine passives?" Oh my! Dear Father in
Heaven, give us ears and hearts like young Samuel who finally recognized Your voice
exclaiming "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." (1 Samuel 3:10). Amen.
F B Meyer - Each believer has an appointed place in the great army of God. It is indicated
by the voice of God, and by the circumstances of our life; and it should be jealously
retained. Repeatedly the Apostle bade his converts abide in the calling wherein they were
called. Yours may be towards the bleak north of difficulty, or the warm south of privilege
— in the home, the country parish, or the difficult foreign post. But, on the whole, you
should stay where you are; unless the Captain of our salvation moves you by some
unmistakable indication of his will. The apostle Paul everlived in such dependence on the
Holy Spirit for guidance, and for the unfolding of the Divine purpose, that from some

22. apparently trivial circumstance he would “gather” the movements of the pillar of cloud by
day, and of fire by night. And interval there was none between his apprehension of the
Divine purpose and his endeavor to strike his tent and follow wherever it might lead (Acts
16:6–7). (Meyer, F. B. Our Daily Homily)
Acts 16:6-15
Come over to Macedonia and help us. - Acts 16:9
TODAY IN THE WORD
On February 25, 1870, Hiram Revels became the first African American to serve as a U.S.
Senator. Revels spent most of his life as an itinerant preacher, and took leadership roles in
politics and education. After the Civil War, Mississippi electedhim to serve out the
unexpired term of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. On the day of his swearing in,
said one newspaper, “there was not an inch of standing or sitting room in the galleries, so
densely were they packed.”
On that day, Hiram Revels crossedracial boundaries and made history. In today's reading,
the apostle Paul did the same, taking the gospel to Europe for the first time in recorded
history. We've returned to the time of his second missionary journey, but things had not
been going well. The Spirit had been blocking their path in Asia. Paul, Timothy, and Silas
knew that God must have something special planned, and they expressedan attitude of
expectant readiness. Then God spoke, giving Paul a vision of a man saying, “Come over to
Macedonia and help us” (v. 9). Luke joined them, and the group made their historic entry
into Europe.
Traveling on the nearly 500-mile-long Via Egnatia between the two continents, they arrived
in Philippi, one of four districts of Macedonia. There must have been fewer than ten Jewish
males in the city, for there was no synagogue there. Instead, the missionaries met a group
of women at a place of prayer outside the city. Lydia, a businesswoman, and her household
believed and were baptized. She had been a worshiper of the true God already, and when
the gospel arrived, He opened her heart to understand and respond immediately. She at
once offered Paul and his friends hospitality.
Lydia's gracious response remains an instructive model for how we should practice
hospitality, particularly toward those in ministry. This is not an onerous task, but
something that should bring them encouragement and us great joy (see 1 Peter 4:9).
With regard to our year's theme of purpose, we can meditate on Paul's passion for
evangelism, his sensitivity to the Spirit's leading, and the fact that God is always at work
around and ahead of us.

23. TODAY ALONG THE WAY
You may not have been called to the same ministry as the apostle Paul, but it's clear from
our reading that he had many partners in ministry with different gifts, all working together
to glorify God. Perhaps, like Lydia, you can extend hospitality to missionaries who visit or
to your pastor and his family through sharing a meal together. This doesn't have to be
grand, stressful entertaining, but a way of meeting needs and supporting God's work.
Norman Geisler - Acts 16:6—Why did the Holy Spirit forbid Paul to preach in Asia when
Jesus said to go into all the world?
PROBLEM: Jesus commanded His followers to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matt.
28:19) and to be witnesses to “the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). But in Acts 16 Paul and
Timothy “were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia” (v. 6).
SOLUTION: Paul was only forbidden immediately. God had a more strategic route for the
Gospel through Europe first (Acts 16:9). Eventually, however, the Gospel got to Asia and to
every place through Paul’s converts in Europe (cf. 1 Thes. 1:7) and by Paul himself (Acts
19:10, 22, 26; 20:4, 16, 18; 1 Cor. 16:19). So, the prohibition was only temporary, not
permanent. (When Critics Ask)
A SECOND HINDRANCE
BY THE SPIRIT OF JESUS
And after they came to Mysia - In northwest Asia Minor. They trekked through Galatia,
Phrygia, Asia into the region of Mysia (before you read on, trace their trek).
They were trying to go into Bithynia - Northeast of Mysia. Trying is the verb peirazo and is
translated in the KJV as "they assayed." Peirazo is in the imperfect tense which pictures
Paul and Silas repeatedly trying to enter Bithynia.
Trying (3985)(peirazo from the noun peira = test from peíro = perforate, pierce through to
test durability of things) Peirazo is a morally neutral word simply = to test but whether the
testing is for a good (Heb 11:17) or evil (Mt 4:1) purpose.
THOUGHT - "Paul was guided by hindrance. The Holy Spirit often guides as much by the
closing of doors as He does by the opening of doors.iii. David Livingstone wanted to go to
China, but God sent him to Africa. William Carey wanted to go to Polynesia, but God sent
him to India. Adoniram Judson went to India, but God guided him to Burma. God guides
us along the way, to just the right place." (Guzik)

24. William Larkin asks "How does God guide his church to the right place for mission? There
will be "closed" as well as "open doors." There will be guidance addressed to individuals
as well as to the entire team. There will be guidance via circumstances, sometimes
extraordinary, as well as through the use of reason in evaluating circumstances in the light
of God's Word. And specific guidance will come only to those who are already on the road,
living out their general obedience to the Great Commission. Being able to say, "God sent
me; I come with the wind at my back," is a strong witness to one's hearers that one's
message is from God and true. (The IVP New Testament Commentary Series – Acts)
J. I. Packer wrote, “Belief that divine guidance is real rests upon two foundation-facts:
first, the reality of God’s plan for us; second, the ability of God to communicate with us.
On both these facts the Bible has much to say.”
The Spirit of Jesus did not permit them - Paul, presumably filled with the Spirit is
responsive to the Spirit's guidance (cf Ro 8:14, Gal 5:18) and willingly lays down his will
and plans. Paul is being guided by hindrance, closed doors (but the exact form of this
"closure" is not statedby Luke) not opened doors. The Holy Spirit guides as much by the
closing of doors as He does by the opening of doors. We all like the latter, but often chaff at
the former!
Did you notice the synonymous identification of the Holy Spirit in Acts 16:6 and with Spirit
of Jesus in this verse? These parallel names are a clear indication that the Holy Spirit is
Deity, and supports that He is the third Person of the Trinity.
Permit (1439)(eao) means to allow someone to do something, to let or to permit , Here in
Acts 16:7 eao is modified with the strongest Greek negative which signifes He absolutely
did not permit them! In other contexts eao means leaving someone or something alone
(Acts 5:38)
All NT uses of eao - Matt. 24:43; Lk. 4:41; Lk. 22:51; Acts 14:16; Acts 16:7; Acts 19:30;
Acts 23:32; Acts 27:32; Acts 27:40; Acts 28:4; 1 Co. 10:13= "will not allow you to be
tempted beyond what you are able")
Acts 16:6-7 both clearly demonstrate the superintendence and guidance of the Holy Spirit
in missionary strategy.
Charles Ryrie writes that - Asia needed the Gospel, but this was not God's time. Needdid
not constitute their call. They had just come from the east; they had been forbidden to go
south or north, but they did not presume that the Lord was leading them to the west --they
waited His specific directions. Logic alone is not the basis for a call.

25. Discerning God's Will - move ahead and allow Him to close doors until the right
opportunity presents itself. This makes me think of the great Rich Mullin's classic spiritual
song "Sometimes by Step."
The Lord's calling may become evident in different ways. One key principle is indicated
here in the calling of Paul to Macedonia in Greece. Paul was already active, trying to
preach in the province of Asia, then in Bithynia. He was not waiting idly at home, hoping to
receive a call. The Holy Spirit in some very clear way closed the first two doors, but then
opened another by this special vision. It is sobering to think that if Paul had not been
redirected to Philippi and Greece, he might never have gone into Europe and Christianity
might have remained primarily an Asian religion. But God had other purposes.
RelatedResources
Discerning the Will Of God
How can I be sure I am praying according to the will of God?
What are the biblical principles for solid decision-making?
How can I know if the desires of my heart are from God?
What does the Bible say about common sense?
Six Ways to Know God's Will - Robert Morgan
How to Know the Will of God - John MacArthur
Responding to the Will of God - John MacArthur
Prayer and the Will of God - John MacArthur
What Is the Will of God and How Do We Know It? - John Piper
How to Know the Will of God: Finding Direction with the Renewed Mind - John Piper
How Do I Find God's Will for My Life? - John Piper
MacDonald summarizes how the early believers discerned the will of God and His guidance
writing…
1. Through the Scriptures.
2. Through visions and prophecies.
3. Through circumstances.

26. 4. Through the advice and initiative of other Christians.
5. Through direct communication, possibly in an inward, subjective manner. (MacDonald,
W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
Illustration: I read the story about a young woman who had prepared for missionary
service on foreign fields.
She had been appointed by the mission board and was ready to sail when she received a
telegram saying that her sisterhad died in a western state.
She cancelled her reservation and went home.
The sisterleft four little children and since there was no one to care for them this young
woman had to stay with them.
Her heart was broken. She had dreamed of being a missionary and now she would never
have a chance to go out for the Lord.
However, she submitted to the Lord’s will and did the best she could for the children.
As they grew up, one by one they came to her saying, ‘Aunt, I feel that God wants me to be
a missionary.”
So instead of one person going out as a missionary, because of her faithfulness to God and
His call four went out.
She came to see, afterall, that God’s way was the best way.” (Jack Andrews Expository
Studies – Understanding Acts)
George Muller's (see bio) thoughts on finding the will of God…
1. Surrender your own will
I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in
regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine-
tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will,
whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state it is usually but a little way to the
knowledge of what His will is.
2. Do not depend on feelings.

27. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If so, I make
myself liable to great elusions.
3. Seek, the Spirit's will through God's Word.
I seek the will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The
Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay
myself open to great delusion also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it
according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.
4. Note providential circumstances.
Next I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God's will
in connection with His Word and Spirit.
5. Pray.
I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.
6. Wait.
F B Meyer- THE GUIDANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Acts 16:7-10.
THE SPIRIT of Jesus often shuts doors in the long corridors of life. We pass along, trying
one after another, but find that they are all locked, in order that we may enter the one that
He has opened for us (Rev 3:7-8). Sometimes in following the Spirit's guidance we seemto
come to a blank wall. The little missionary band found themselves facing the sea. They had
not contemplated crossing to Europe, but there seemedno other course open. They walked
to and fro on the sea-wall or landing-stage, looking over the restless waves, and noticing the
strange costumes of sailors and travellers who had gathered in the thriving sea-port, which
bore the name famous to all the world for the Siege of Troy.
It was with such thoughts in his heart that St. Paul slept that night in his humble lodging,
and in his dreams, a man from Macedonia, like one he had seenon the quay, stood and
beckoned to him (Acts 16:10, R.V.).
Where it is possible for the judgment to arrive at a right conclusion, on the suggestions that
may be supplied by the Divine Spirit, we are left to think out the problems of our career.
Within your reach are the materials needed for formulating a correct judgment; use them,
balance the pros and cons, and looking up to God to prevent you from making a mistake,
act. When once you have come to a decision, in faith and prayer, go forward, not doubting
or looking back.

28. A small door may lead to a vast opportunity. St. Paul might have been discouraged by his
reception in Europe. He looked for the man whom he had seenin the vision, but the only
trace they could find of the worship of God was the gathering together of a few women.
How startled they must have been by the sudden appearance of these missionaries, but a
mighty work for God began in the life of at least one of them "whose heart the Lord
opened." Let us not despise the smallest opening, for we can never tell into what a wide
place it may conduct us.
PRAYER - O God, since we know not what a day may bring forth, but only that the hour
for serving Thee is always present, may we wake to the instant claims of Thy holy Will; not
waiting for to-morrow, but yielding today. Consecrate with Thy presence the way our feet
may go; and the humblest work will shine, and the roughest places be made plain. AMEN.
(Our Daily Walk)
F. B. Meyerin his book Paul A Servant of Jesus Christ writes…
It is interesting to study the method of his guidance as it was extended towards these early
heralds of the Cross. It consisted largely in prohibitions, when they attempted to take
another course than the right. When they would turn to the left, to Asia, He stayed them;
and when they sought to turn to the right, to Bithynia, again He stayed them. He shut all
the doors along their route, and bolted them; so that they had no alternative but to go
straight forward. In the absence of any prohibition, they were left to gather that they were
treading the prepared path for which they had been created in Christ Jesus.
Whenever you are doubtful as to your course, submit your judgment absolutely to the
Spirit of God, and ask Him to shut against you every door but the right one. Say, "Blessed
Spirit, I cast on Thee the entire responsibility of closing against my steps any and every
course which is not of God. Let me hear thy voice behind me whenever I turn to the right
hand or the left. Put thine arrest on me. Do not suffer me."
In the meanwhile, continue along the path which you have been already treading. It lies in
front of you; pursue it. Abide in the calling in which you were called. Keep on as you are,
unless you are clearly told to do something else. Expect to have as clear a door out as you
had in; and if there is no indication to the contrary, consider the absence of indication to be
the indication of God's will that you are on his track.
The Spirit of Jesus waits to be to you, O pilgrim, what He was to Paul. Only be careful to
obey his least prohibitions, and where, after believing prayer, there are no apparent
hindrances, believe that you are on the way everlasting, and go forward with enlarged
heart. "Teach me to do thy will, for Thou art my God: thy Spirit is good, lead me into the
land of uprightness." Do not be surprised if the answer comes in closed doors. But when
doors are shut right and left, an open road is sure to lead to Troas. There Luke awaits, and

29. visions will point the way, where vast opportunities stand open, and faithful friends are
waiting.
Acts 16:6-7 The Macedonian Vision” - Allen Ross
It is clear from Scripture that God was leading Paul and his company to the west and not
back to the east. According to Acts 16:6 and 7, the company was traveling throughout
Phrygia and Galatia because the Spirit kept them from preaching the word in the province
of Asia. They came to the border of Mysia, the Spirit did not allow them to enter Bithynia.
So they came back down the coast of what is now western Turkey and stayed in Troas (just
to the southwest of Istanbul). Here during the night Paul had a vision of a man from
Macedonia begging him to come over and help them. Of course, the rest of the Book of
Acts will narrate Paul’s journeys into Macedonia, Athens, Corinth and Rome.
What is clear from the text is that God wanted the Gospel to go to the West, and not turn
back to the East. We can only reason that since the cultural influence of Greece and Rome
was gradually spreading throughout the known world, the Gospel would travel more
widely and more quickly than if it stayed in the Orient. And this is a cause for
thanksgiving for people whose origins lay in that western region. One can only imagine
how differently the history of the Christian movement would have been if Paul had turned
back to the East and left Macedonia, Greece, Rome, and the Isles as they were. But he was
the apostle to the Gentiles.
There is an interesting little aside from history that is worth thinking about. I looked at
this briefly in an earlier devotion for the sake of thinking about how important decisions
are. But there is another side to this comparison. Recall that Troas was an extremely
important city in the days of Paul. It was the modern seaport city built just a little north of
the probable sight of ancient Troy. Caesar had wanted to build the capital of the Roman
Empire there, but instead remained in Rome. Why? Because according to tradition, when
Troy fell to the Achaeans (see Homer’s Illiad), one man escaped, a man named Aeneas, and
he was essentially responsible for the founding of Rome. The Romans always considered
that they stood in the tradition and heritage of Troy, that Troy was their mother, so to
speak (and interestingly, the Church of Rome places great stock in the cultural and literary
traditions from Troy). So from Troy one man went out and eventually came to Rome and
began what turned out to be a vast empire.
And now from the later city Troas, one man will be called by God to come to the West and
help in the ministry. This one eventually will also end up in Rome and be influential in
building the kingdom of God which will rival the empire and most certainly outlast it. This
may be considered an interesting coincidence. But the more you work with Scripture the
more of these historical coincidences you discover, and you soon begin to suspect that God

30. had a reason for doing things the way He did. God Himself was and is building a kingdom,
greater than any mortals could build. And it will last forever. And near the beginning of
the development of this kingdom He chose to direct Paul to the city of Troas, and from
there call him to go to the center of Greek and Roman culture to proclaim the truth.
And God had perfectly prepared His servant for this. Paul was born a Jew, but was born
into a family that had received Roman citizenship. He grew up in one of the finest centers
of learning, Tarsus, where philosophers and teachers were present in abundance; but he
also studied under Gamaliel, one of the great teachers of the law. He knew the Scriptures as
well as anyone on earth; but he knew western thinking and philosophy better than any of
the apostles. Clearly, God was at work in preparing the right man, for the right task; and
so it is no surprise that God chose to lead him to the West in a significant way.
So one further implication from this event and the people involved is how the Lord calls
people to places and tasks that they are most suited for. When Christians are trying to
decide who should go where or who should do what, it is well to consider how God has
worked in their lives to put them together (so to speak, as Psalm 139 describes). I have seen
this happen again and again--people with background experiences in the secular world, or
courses of study they took that to them seemnot useful in their Christian service, all of a
sudden discovering how those things open doors of service, or become useful in a way that
they never imagined. It all reminds us how God forms and shapes His instruments within
their cultures and from their backgrounds, for His work. Christians then need to be
available for what God opens to them, and to be particularly aware that all their gifts and
talents are to be surrendered to Him to use as He will.
Acts 16:6-7 Troy and Troas - “The Tale of Two Cities and Their Impact on Civilization” -
Allen Ross
We have begun a tour of the lands of the Bible that began in Istanbul and will move across
Turkey through the cities of the New Testament into Syria, to Aleppo and Damascus, and
then south into Jordan. The second part of the trip will be a tour of the most significant
places in Israel. The trip is thirty days in all; and so for the next thirty days the devotional
thoughts will come from various locations we will be visiting.
After spending our first couple of days in Istanbul, we traveled down the coast to visit
ancient Troy and Troas. What occurred in these places has had a significant impact on
western civilization in ways that are incalculable. Troy is known to most students of
history and classical literature from Homer’s writings about the Trojan wars. Homer
called Troy Ilium; and the Iliad is one of those works that is far too rich and full to be
summarized in a paragraph or two. It goes far beyond the description of the wars and the
participants to raise the deeper issues of religion, honor, virtue, justice, community, and the

31. like. Its many themes and motifs address so much of what has become central to western
civilization that it has for some time been required study in the better universities and
colleges. And its influence on the art of the western world is profound.
If the wars of this region left their mark on western civilization through the Homeric
literature, another event that took place nearby changed the course of world religion
forever. In Troas, a little to the southwest of Troy (Ilium), Paul receivedthe famous
Macedonian Vision. Recall from Acts 16:6-7 that Paul and his company planned to turn
back to the East with the Gospel but were hindered by the Holy Spirit. They went instead
down to Mysia, to Troas. They had to leave some of the fascinating cities of Bythinia to the
witness of others (see 1 Peter 1:1), two of which became prominent in later church history--
Nicaea and Chalcedon.
Mysia formed the northwestern part of the Roman province of Asia. It was the closest to
Europe, only the Propontis, the Hellespont, and the AegeanSea separated it from that
continent. At Troas Paul waited for guidance from the Lord. Here he met Luke, the
physician. Some have suggestedthat Paul might have been stricken by malaria and had to
call for a physician, but there is no evidence for this. Whatever happened, Luke now
joined Paul and servedin a number of ways, including writing Luke and Acts.
But it was here at Troas that a significant decision was made. He received a vision of a
man from Macedonia calling for him to come over and help them (Acts 16:9). If Paul had
turned back to retrace his steps through Asia Minor towards Syria and the East,
Christianity might have remained mostly an eastern religion. Christianity, however, was to
be taken beyond Asia, into the West, into Europe. The faith was not meant to remain a sect
of Judaism. It was to move into a totally new spiritual and cultural setting with results that
could not have been imagined. It would move to the western area of Macedonia, and then
Greece and Rome, and from there find swift expansion throughout the Roman world.
This instructs us that the decisions we make in serving the Lord are never to be taken for
granted. The decisions that Christians make in their service will have significant
consequences for years to come, so that we must seek the Lord’s will in everything in order
that what we do and where we go will be what He wants. We do not know how the Holy
Spirit prevented Paul and Luke from going East, whether it was some supernatural sign, or
some circumstance that prevented them, or merely a feeling of unease. But they began to
pray more earnestly concerning their decision, and God led them to the West and, in the
long run, to us.
Why God did this is beyond our understanding. But perhaps the culture of Greece and
Rome would facilitate the expansion of the church more so than the cities of the East. It
certainly brought the Gentile world into the church. And then a couple of centuries later

32. Constantine would make Byzantium--Istanbul--the center of a Christian kingdom that
would last for a thousand years."
The Restraining Influence of the Holy Spirit
"Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain"
(Psalm 76:10).
by Tom Stewart
Preface
When many Christians speak of the Restraining Influence of the Holy Spirit, they are
making reference to the Pre-Tribulational Rapture interpretation of Second Thessalonians
chapter two, verse seven. "For the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work: only He who
now letteth [Greek, katecho, restrains] will let [will continue to restrain], until He [the Holy
Spirit] be taken out of the way" (2Thessalonians 2:7). This writer agrees that the Holy
Spirit is the Restraining Influence taken out of the way when the Spirit Indwelt Saints are
Raptured at the beginning of the Tribulation Week. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of His" (Romans 8:9). [See our article, "Must There Be a Pre-
Tribulational Rapture?" ---New Window, for a more thorough discussion of
2Thessalonians 2.] The very identification of the Holy Spirit as the Restraining Influence
brings up the significant Ministry of the Holy Spirit as the Restrainer of Evil. "7

33. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away,
the Comforter [Greek, parakletos, advocate] will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will
send Him unto you. 8 And when He is come, He will reprove [Greek, elegcho, convince or
convict] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they
believe not on Me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged" (John 16:7-11). What did Jesus
mean-- "of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (16:9)? The Holy Spirit was given
to:
(1) Convict the world of the sin of not believing on Christ, i.e., "18 He that believeth on
Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath
not believed in the name of the Only BegottenSon of God. 19 And this is the condemnation,
that Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than Light, because their
deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the Light, neither cometh to the
Light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth Truth cometh to the Light,
that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God" (John 3:18-21),
(2) Convince the world of Christ's Righteousness, because if He (the Spirit) is present in
this world, then our "Advocate [Greek, parakletos, comforter] with the Father, Jesus
Christ the Righteous" (1John 2:1) (Who, consequently, is the Sender of the Spirit) must
have ascended successfully back to the Throne of the Father, i.e., "Therefore being by the
right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy
Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear" (Acts 2:33), and
(3) Convict the world of judgment, because Beelzebub-- Satan, who is the "god of this
world" (2Corinthians 4:4) and the "prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2)-- was
judged at the Cross, for Christ "having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew
of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15), i.e., "7 But we speak the
wisdom of God in a mystery, eventhe hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the
world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known
it, they would not have crucified the LORD of Glory" (1Corinthians 2:7-8).
How the Holy Spirit Works

34. God the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, works through: (1) the material
Creation, (2) the Truth, and (3) the Spirit Indwelt Believer. [See our article, "St. Patrick:
The Trinity and the Shamrock" ---New Window, for a discussion of the Doctrine of the
Trinity.]
First, Creation was manifestly an act of God employing His Word-- the Eternal Logos,
which is Christ Jesus (the Second Person of the Trinity), who is the "Word of Life" (1John
1:1)-- and using His Spirit. Notice in the following verse, the reference to the Word (Christ)
and the Breath (Spirit) of the LORD in Creation. "By the Word of the LORD were the
heavens made; and all the host of them by the Breath of His mouth" (Psalm 33:6). Does this
not coincide with the statement of Genesis? "1 In the beginning God created the Heaven
and the Earth. 2 And the Earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said
[i.e., His Word, which is Christ], Let there be light: and there was light" (Genesis 1:1-3).
Not only has the "Spirit of Christ" (1Peter 1:11) been instrumental in the Creation, but He
necessarily is the sine qua non ("without which not" or the essential element or condition)
of maintaining the material Universe. "27 These wait all upon Thee; that Thou mayest give
them their meat in due season. 28 That Thou givest them they gather: Thou openest Thine
hand, they are filled with good. 29 Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest
away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. 30 Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they
are created: and Thou renewest the face of the Earth" (Psalm 104:27-30).
Second, all Truth is the ministry of the Spirit in Its authoring, superintending, distributing,
instructing, interpreting, persuading, preserving, etc., for He is the "Spirit of Truth" (John
15:26). All factual knowledge, which is consistent with Spiritual Truth, is just as much the
Spirit's domain as Biblical Truth, for the Spirit is the Spirit of the Almighty God, Whose
"understanding is infinite" (Psalm 147:5). Of course, Scriptural Truth is understood
especially to be from the Spirit of God. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2Peter 1:21).
Whenever any Truth-- Scriptural Truth or otherwise-- is everunderstood by any man--
Saint or Sinner-- it is only because the Spirit of God has directed it. "A man can receive
nothing, except it be given him from Heaven" (John 3:27).
Third and finally, the Holy Spirit residing in the Spirit Indwelt Believeris the primary
means through which Spiritual Truth is disseminated to the world. "Nevertheless I tell you
the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not
come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you" (John 16:7). The Spirit is not

35. given to the world, but to the Christian. "Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seethHim not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you" (John 14:17). Plainly, the world cannot understand the
Spirit of Truth, other than the Spirit's warning that "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish" (Luke 13:3, 5). The fine points of Spiritual Truth are unintelligible to Unsaved
Humanity and consequently wasted upon them until they become willing and repent. True
Willingness to obey Christ is the Crucial Test of being a Christian, and it is the key to
understanding the doctrines and teachings of the Scriptures. "If any man will do His will,
he shall know of the doctrine" (John 7:17). But, until man becomes willing to do the Will of
God, the Spirit of Truth will not be truly understood. "But the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1Corinthians 2:14).
How the Holy Spirit Restrains Evil Through Endtime Christians
How does the Restraining Influence of the Holy Spirit relate to your conduct as an Endtime
Christian? Other than by His supernatural intervention in the Material Creation, e.g., a
worldwide flood cleansing the Earth of wicked mankind such as in the days of Noah, the
Holy Spirit restrains the Evil in the world through the Truth lived, prayed, and ministered
by His Spirit Indwelt Saints. "Ye are the Salt of the Earth: but if the salt have lost his
savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out,
and to be trodden under foot of men" (Matthew 5:13). Can even a seemingly small number
of True Saints ministering, praying, and living the Truth have such a large effect upon a
vastly larger world of Ungodly Humanity? Evidently so, for consider the case of "just Lot"
(2Peter 2:7) dwelling in Sodom. The Almighty would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah
"for ten's sake" (Genesis 18:32), if "ten [Righteous Saints] shall be found there" (18:32),
for Abraham had so interceded. "That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the
Righteous with the Wicked: and that the Righteous should be as the Wicked, that be far
from Thee: Shall not the Judge of All the Earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25). Did not
Jehovah instruct His Old Testament Saints, "Seek the peace of the city whither I have
caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace
thereof shall ye have peace" (Jeremiah 29:7)? Only Eternity will tell how much the
intercession of the Saints has benefitted eventhe world that never repented. "1 I exhort
therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be
made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet

36. and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty" (1Timothy 2:1-2). So, the Holy Spirit
restrains Evil simply by the salty presence of the Godly, as well as by their prayers and
actions. Consider that Enoch's great-grandson Noah was declared to be a "preacher of
righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly" (2Peter 2:5), while
Enoch had done the same kind of preaching some 900 years previously to his generation of
Ungodly Rejecters, i.e., "14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these,
saying, Behold, the LORD cometh with ten thousands of His Saints, 15 To execute
judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly
deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly
sinners have spoken against Him" (Jude 14-15). If the Godly Saint is able to affect the
preservation of his burgh, village, town, city, province, territory, state, or nation, then
think what greater good can be accomplished, if any of them should eversucceedin gaining
a Sinner's repentance through ministering the "Truth of the Gospel" (1Peter 1:23)?
Depending upon the circumstances and opportunities of different Saints in different times
and places throughout history, aggressive evangelism or retreat to the catacombs would be
directed by the Spirit to accomplish His Purpose through Providence and Prophecy. "I
being in the way, the LORD led me" (Genesis 24:27). Whatever the case, the Godly have
been commanded to labour "while it is day: [for] the night cometh, when no man can
work" (John 9:4), and to continue until the "LORD cometh" (Jude 14) for us. The All Wise
God knows your circumstances; and better yet, He has providentially planned your life and
circumstances that you will be able to fulfill His Will for your life, without you attempting
to become a duplicate of some other Christian (living or departed). "We must all appear
before the Judgment Seat [Greek, bema] of Christ" (2Corinthians 5:10). The godly Apostle
Paul attempted to lead by example, as well should we. "Be ye followers of me, evenas I also
am of Christ" (1Corinthians 11:1). However, in being led of the Spirit, i.e., "For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14), we may be
conducted down paths that only the Spirit of Christ travels with us. "And I will bring the
blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I
will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do
unto them, and not forsake them" (Isaiah 42:16).
How the Gospel May Be Advanced Even in the Face of Opposition
An example from the New Testament shows us the circumstances of the Apostle Paul in his
epistle to the Philippians. Paul was writing from his prison in Rome to the Philippian

37. Christians (about 60 AD) during the administration of Nero, i.e., "my bonds in Christ are
manifest in all the palace [Greek, praitorion, probably the Emperor's palace] and in all
other places" (Philippians 1:13). Philippi was a Roman colony and city of Macedonia to
which Paul had been instructed by the Holy Spirit to visit. "And a vision appeared to Paul
in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into
Macedonia, and help us" (Acts 16:9). Lydia, a "sellerof purple" (Acts 16:14) and the
Philippian jailer (16:29) were possibly readers of this letter-- about sevenyears after their
first meeting with Paul. Specifically, Paul was in prison because the enemies of the Gospel
were seeking to use Roman law to execute him, i.e., "Away with such a fellow from the
Earth: for it is not fit that he should live" (Acts 22:22). Despite years of imprisonment,
Paul's confidence in Christ had only grown, and his encouragement to the Philippians was,
"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). Paul was imprisoned in Rome
because he had appealed to Caesar, i.e., "17 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul
called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them,
Menand brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our
fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. 18
Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of
death in me. 19 But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto
Caesar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of" (Acts 28:17-19). While Paul waited
for his case to be decided in Rome, Paul explains that the Truth of the Gospel was being
spoken about or preached both by sincerity and deceit. "12 But I would ye should
understand, Brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto
the furtherance of the Gospel; 13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace,
and in all other places; 14 And many of the brethren in the LORD, waxing confident by my
bonds, are much more bold to speak the Word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ
evenof envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16 The one preach Christ of contention,
not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17 But the other of love, knowing
that I am set for the defence of the Gospel" (Philippians 1:12-17). He makes a Spirit-
inspired observation about both the True and False Preaching of the Truth of the Gospel:
"18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is
preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. 19 For I know that this shall turn
to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (1:18-
19). Two things are necessary to make both forms of preaching work for the futherance of
the Truth of the Gospel: (1) "your prayer" (1:19), and (2) the "supply of the Spirit of Jesus
Christ" (1:19). Even when antagonistic or false teachers of Spiritual Truth successfully
spread their poisonous teachings, the Spirit of God is able to use the element of Truth in
their false positions, if we petition Him (prayer) to do so (by His Spirit). "Not by might, nor
by power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of Hosts" (Zechariah 4:6). We need to claim
promises from the Word of God in our intercession that eventhe element of Truth in the

38. false teaching can be forced home by the Holy Spirit to do a True Work of Grace in the
heart of the hearers. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath
shalt Thou restrain" (Psalm 76:10). By no means do we pray for the advancement of false
teachings, but we do ask the LORD that, for ourselves, it would "work together for good to
them that love God" (Romans 8:28) and be used by the Spirit to both convert the Elect and
ready the Unelect for judgment. "That they all might be damned who believed not the
Truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2Thessalonians 2:12). As an encouragement,
Paul ended his epistle to the Philippians with a greeting from all the Christians residing in
the official household of Nero. "All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's
household" (Philippians 4:22). How could the enemy everdefeat a Spirit-filled Christian,
who lives by Paul's motto, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians
1:21)? And, what kind of world would this be without the salty presence of such Spirit-
filled Believers? "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner
appear?" (1Peter 4:18).
How Endtime Christians Should Promote the Restraining Influence of the Holy Spirit
With the understanding that the Saints must have "prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of
Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:19) for success, the following are a few suggestions to promote
the Restraining Influence of the Holy Spirit.
First, since knowledge shall be increasingly multiplied at the End of Time, i.e., "But thou,
O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, evento the time of the end: many shall run
to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" (Daniel 12:4), Christians should be praying
that good applications for that knowledge would increase, edifying applications of that
knowledge would be manifested, Christ-honoring and soul-saving applications for that
knowledge would be developed, e.g., publishing the Truth of the Gospel on the
technological medium of the Internet as anticipated by the Psalmist: "The LORD gave the
Word: great was the company of those that published It" (Psalm 68:11), and that man's
sinful attempt to pervert such knowledge would be thwarted, e.g., China's central
government's examination of URL requests of Mainland China's Internet users, filtering,
and blocking of Google's search engine results to block information deemed "too sensitive"
by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and
worshipped and servedthe creature more than the Creator, who is blessedfor ever. Amen"
(Romans 1:25). [See our editorial, "China's Future Is Written In Scripture" ---New