What does Acts 21:7 mean?

Months before, Paul planned to leave Ephesus, sail across the Aegean Sea to Corinth, and possibly leave Corinth for Jerusalem. A conflict with the Corinthian church led him to delay his trip to Corinth and visit Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea first. After spending three months in Corinth, he resolved to sail directly to Judea. A plot against him again sent him north to revisit churches before meeting the elders of Ephesus in Miletus (Acts 20). When he and his companions finally boarded a sea-going ship, they did not land at Caesarea Philippi, the closest large port to Jerusalem. Rather, they landed in Tyre in southern Syria (Acts 21:3). Now, they sail down the coast to Ptolemais, the southern-most port city in Phoenicia.

Paul had planted the church in Ephesus in his third missionary journey, and those in Macedonia and Greece with Silas in his second (Acts 19:8–10; 16:11–15; 17:1–4, 10–12; 18:1–4). Before Paul met Jesus on his way to Damascus, he so persecuted Jesus-followers in Jerusalem that they fled (Acts 8:1). Some of them probably planted the churches in Tyre and Ptolemais. After Ptolemais, Paul will spend days in Caesarea Maritima before finally reaching Jerusalem. We don't know who planted the church in Caesarea, but it may have been Philip (Acts 8:40). He also fled Jerusalem because of Paul (Acts 8:3–5). Or perhaps Peter planted the church there (Acts 10).

By the time Paul reaches Jerusalem, he'll have spent the last several months visiting churches he had a hand in establishing, even if inadvertently. He's seen their faithfulness and addressed their challenges. They show their affection for him and pray for him. Once he reaches Jerusalem, he will be arrested and spend the next five years under house arrest.

God is gracious. For the two years Paul is confined in Caesarea, he will be able to remember the churches that stand strong because of his work (Acts 24:27). When he faces a violent storm and a shipwreck, he will remember how he prepared the Jesus-followers for coming persecution—both political and spiritual (Acts 27). And as he sits in a Roman apartment, chained to a guard, he will visit with a parade of both Jewish and Gentile visitors who want to know more about how Jesus brings the kingdom of God (Acts 28:30–31).