Acts 8:26-40

                                                                 Acts 8:26-40

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place.  And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”  And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.  Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
    and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he opens not his mouth.
 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
    Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”  Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.  And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.  And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.  But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Acts 8 serves as a sort of hinge for the book.  We see the Gospel spreading, as Acts 1:8 commands from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and now, to the ends of the earth.  Of course, the task is not completed in any of these locations but is only just beginning.  This chapter also demonstrates God’s care for cities as well as individuals.  This passage gives us the testimony of how one individual comes to Christ and the background as to how God led Phillip to him.  It is a colorful and detailed description that we can only hope to be able to watch someday in the Celestial Cinema. 

 

THE SAVED ARE SENT: All believers are sent to be witnesses of Christ wherever they go.  There is no special calling that is necessary, simply obedience.  All believers are called to be intentional and proactive about living on mission to advance the Gospel to the people and places that have little or no access to the Gospel.  Again, we do not need to wait for a calling to do this, it is God’s command and we have already been commissioned for this work.  However, there are times when God will miraculously and clearly send a person to a certain place and time.  Phillip being sent to the eunuch was one such occasion.  There are a couple important things to notice about this event.  First, Phillip was already busy obeying his commission when the call occurred.  He wasn’t waiting around for a “call.”  Second, once he received the message from the angel he obeyed immediately.  Remember he was in the midst of leading a massive revival in Samaria.  Sometimes it is easy for us to be so busy in ministry that we don’t have time to listen to the Lord and are not available to obey His voice.  I also think it important to note that he was being told to go to a place that was far more remote, uncomfortable and dangerous than his current location.  Phillip was not concerned with his own fame, comfort or security.  His priority was obedience to the Lord.  Finally, after a long journey of several days walking in the desert, he obeys the Spirit’s promptings to go run alongside a chariot.  His initiative and boldness to approach a wealth official in this manner is astounding.  Once again I hope we get to watch this movie in heaven.  Phillip is a great example to all of us who are believers because we are the sent ones.

 

THE HEATHEN HEAR: The saved are sent to speak so that others can hear.  I admit that it is a big stretch to call the eunuch a heathen since he had been traveling to Jerusalem to worship and on his return trip is reading the Bible.  I do so because the fact that the eunuch must hear the Gospel to be able to respond to it correctly demonstrates the utter lostness of the heathen that are spread throughout the nations.  There are those who teach that it really doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere and faithful to whatever you believe.  In the current culture of relativity and individualism it is unpopular and even dangerous to speak of absolute truth.  However, Scripture clearly requires exclusive faith in Jesus who is the Son of God that died and rose again to free us from sin in order to be saved.  Those who do not know or have rejected Christ are not saved.  God took Phillip out of a revival in Samaria to allow this one man to hear the Gospel clearly.  Well over 90% of the people who come to faith in Christ, do so as a result of having heard someone explain the Gospel to them.  A few come to faith simply by reading the Scripture or a Gospel tract, but the vast majority need to have another person explain the Gospel to them.  This is why those who know Christ must actively witness to others of the person and work of Jesus on our behalf.  We must speak so they can hear and be saved.

 

THE WORD WORKS: What those who are lost need to hear is the Word of God.  The Spirit of God was obviously moving through this encounter.  He always works through the Word that He inspired.  The eunuch was reading the Word but was having a hard time understanding the Word.  Phillip’s job was to simply explain the significance of the passage to him in light of Christ.  Since the New Testament had not been written yet, Phillip takes this man through the Old Testament and then tells him of the Messiah and the life of Jesus.  Once Jesus was identified and understood from the Word of God, the Gospel made sense to him.  When a body of water is found along the road they were on, he asks if he can be baptized.  Clearly Phillip’s teaching was very thorough and included faith in Christ as the only means of salvation as well as obedience to Christ as a result of salvation.  When Phillip is assured that the eunuch believes, he baptizes him.  As soon as the baptism is finished, Phillip is raptured away to another city.  I find it humorous that Phillip had to walk for days and then run down a chariot in order to evangelize the eunuch, but as soon as the job was finished, God decided to teleport him out.  The eunuch went on his way rejoicing in his salvation and must have thought he had an encounter with an angel.  The conversions recorded in this chapter make a point of mentioning the joy that the Gospel brings to the lives of people.  God’s Word is a source of joy and we have the privilege of knowing it and spreading it to others.

 

APPLICATION: Be sensitive to the leading of the Lord but don’t wait for it before doing what Scripture has already commanded.  Don’t allow popularity, comfort, or convenience to dictate the decision-making process.  Actively tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ and how He has died to set us free from sin and give us His righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.  Thank God for the person who shared Christ with you.  Be intentional and proactive about making sure that those who live far away and have no one to speak to them about Christ have the opportunity to hear.  Know the Word of God and be able to use it to share your faith with others.