Text: Acts 8:26-40
We cannot study this moving story without rejoicing in God’s boundless love for sinners and His saving grace. This is a lesson of need, love, obedience, soul winning and blessing.
The Trusted and Obedient Evangelist (Vss. 26-27a)
It is hard to find a servant of God who would be more easily entreated than Philip. He was ordained a deacon. As such, he was faithful even when appointed to the menial and relatively thankless job of being a “waiter of tables” (Acts 6:5). Since he was a man “full of faith and the Holy Spirit,” it is not surprising that when we meet Philip again in Acts 8:5-25, he is leading a very successful city-wide evangelistic crusade in Samaria. He had been faithful in the small things and now, without hesitation, he leaves the limelight of mass evangelism, and willingly goes to the desert to win a black, rich, influential officer of a foreign state to Christ (Acts 8:26-27a).
The Trusted and Devout Officer of State (Vss. 27b-28)
This man was the Treasurer for the Nation of Ethiopia; a man of great authority, and a devout Jewish proselyte (cf., Acts 11:19; 15:14). He had been to Jerusalem to worship but had left empty, still searching and without the blessing he sought. He should have been blessed according to the Scriptures but satisfaction had not come (2 Chron. 6:32-33; Isa. 56:3-7). The reason was because:
- The temple was a desolate place (Mt. 23:38; 24:2).
- The leaders were blind (Mt. 15:14; cf., 23:17, 19, 24, 26).
- There was no soul consciousness (Mt. 23:13).
The Two Prepared People Meet (Vss. 29-31)
God uses prepared people to win prepared people. Philip was spiritually prepared and the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures had prepared the Ethiopian for the Gospel message. In like manner, believers are called upon to prepare themselves as vessels for the Master’s use (2 Tim. 2:21). We prepare ourselves by study (2 Tim. 2:15). God’s blessings or our usefulness to God do not come through ignorance or lack of preparation (Eph. 1:17-18; Col. 1:9-10; 2:1-3).
Peter and Cornelius also illustrate this principle (Acts 10:46; cf., 19-23; Acts 28:28; 10:10).
The Powerful Word of God (Vss. 32-33)
God uses His Word to bring salvation (Ps. 19:7; Rom. 10:17). Philip could see Christ in this Isaiah 53 passage, which neither the Ethiopian or Jew of both old and modern times can see, the reason being they, too, like all men, are both spiritually blind and dead (Rom. 11:24; 2 Cor. 3:14-16).
The Pointed Question (Vs. 34)
The word creates a hunger and desire to know (Rom. 10:17; Heb. 4:12-13). “This is my comfort in my affliction: for Thy Word hath quickened me” (Ps. 119:50).
The Preached Christ (Vs. 35)
The Bible is a “Christocentric” Book. Jesus Christ is the key to all Divine revelation (Jn. 5:39; Lk. 24:27, 44-45; Heb. 10:7). Philip “preached Jesus.” Philip preached Jesus because there is no other way to be saved than to call upon the name of the Lord (Acts 2:21, 36; 4:12).
The Belief About Baptism (Vss. 36-38)
The baptism of the Eunuch was not a matter of option but, rather, in perfect keeping with the Kingdom Commission of Mark 16:16. This baptism is the same one as found in Mark 1:4 and Acts 2:38, and has no place in God’s program for this Age of Grace. For those who still contend that this baptism was for a public testimony, we simply ask, “Where is the public in this story?” The mouth is the proper way of giving public testimony (Rom. 10:9). To continue water baptism today is without Scriptural warrant.
The Word of God Confirmed (Vs. 39)
“And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the Eunuch saw him no more: and he went his way rejoicing.”
The Trusted and Obedient Evangelist (Vs. 40)
“But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.” Philip was “instant in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2).