If you thought this was going to be a post about baptism, think again. I supposed nearly all sermons I heard preached about Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8 centered around baptism. While I believe baptism is an important message we get from this text, I think perhaps we are missing another important message because we stop at baptism. I think we totally miss the power of Jesus’ Kingdom upon a sinner, and it’s this message that sent the Eunuch on his way rejoicing.
The story begins when the Holy Spirit sends Philip, the evangelist, down south to meet up with an Ethiopian Eunuch. The Eunuch served as treasurer for Queen Candace and was either a Jew who had relocated to Ethiopia or a proselyte who converted to Judaism. Whatever the case, he had traveled to Jerusalem to worship and was now heading back home. Like any devout Jew, he took time on the road home to read the holy Scriptures.
It’s possible that this man had heard about Jesus. By now, the death of Jesus was big news. But even if this wasn’t the case, he was about to get a personal lesson on who Jesus was and how the very same Old Testament scroll he was reading testified to Jesus as the Son of God.
“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.” (Acts 8:26 ESV).
So Philip obeys the Spirit and meets up with the Eunuch, who is right in the middle of his study from the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, to be exact. We know Isaiah 53. It is about the suffering servant. Interesting side note: Isaiah 53 is often called the forbidden chapter since many Jewish converts teach that it is a prophecy speaking about Jesus. After Jesus died and Christianity grew, Jews often overlooked this chapter rather than dealing with it because it so perfectly speaks about Jesus and His death upon the cross for our sins. When Jewish leaders do speak of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, they attribute the suffering servant to the nation of Israel.
But Philip teaches the Eunuch that Jesus is indeed the one whom the prophet is speaking about:
“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.” (Acts 8:27-31 ESV).
Wouldn’t we all want evangelism to be this easy? The Spirit tells us exactly where to go, and when we get there, the prospect invites us to teach him about what he’s reading. This is where Philip found himself. When he looks at the scroll the Eunuch is reading, here is what he sees…
“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.” (Acts 8:32-33 ESV).
This is what was puzzling the Eunuch. Was Isaiah speaking about himself or someone else? And just like that, Philip had his opening:
“And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” (Acts 8:34 ESV).
And what does Philip do?
“Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.” (Acts 8:35 ESV).
Now, we’re not told everything in the scroll of Isaaih that Philip taught the Eunuch. All we’re told is that beginning at that scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. To me, that indicates that he continued teaching from the scroll of Isaiah. When was the last time we looked at the few chapters after Isaiah 53 to consider what Philip may have been teaching the Eunuch?
The next verse seems to be the climax of our preaching in this story.
“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?” (Acts 8:36 ESV).
And the sermons on baptism come out. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a valid point to make. The last thing King Jesus said before He ascended into heaven was an order for us to teach the Gospel to everyone in the world and baptize them. Philip is carrying out this command, and it’s obvious that part of his message included the need to be baptized.
And that’s exactly what happened. They both went into the water, and Philip baptized the Eunuch.
“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.” (Acts 8:39 ESV).
Unfortunately, this is where many of the sermons with the Ethiopian Eunuch end. But what else was included in the scroll that Philip began teaching from? We know his starting place was chapter 53. But what if he went into chapter 54?
Philip would have taught the Eunuch about God’s eternal covenant of peace. The barren would be fruitful. This must have been a beautiful thing for a Eunuch to hear. The Lord would be a husband to His people. Certainly, if Philip read into chapter 54, he would have talked about the love the Messiah had as He built His church, His own bride. If the Eunuch began to see that he might have this relationship with God, can you see how the joy might be welling up as Philip was preaching to him Jesus?
But it gets better.
If Philip got to chapter 55, he would have told the Eunuch that this suffering servant would be the one who provides bread that never ends and water to all who thirst free of charge. Could it be that this Jesus really is the bread of life who has water that will cause no man to thirst again? Isaiah promised it, but could Philip be teaching him that the One who suffered and died for the sins of the world was the one whom the prophet was speaking about?
Could the joy be welling up inside him more and more?
It gets better. Now we get to chapter 56. It’s in this chapter that Isaiah has a message of salvation, especially for the foreigner and the eunuch:
“Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” (Isaiah 56:1-2 ESV).
Could this Jesus be the Messiah who would bring this salvation even to the foreigner? Can you feel the joy welling up in the Eunuch as he learns the identity of the long-awaited Messiah? And then Isaiah says this:
“Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,
I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” (Isaiah 56:3-5 ESV).
Yes, the suffering servant of Isaiah was speaking of someone else, and from that passage, Philip preached to him Jesus. I don’t know how far Philip got into the scroll of Isaiah with the Eunuch, but there was a lot that would bring great joy to him. Even the foreigner who was a Eunuch was not forgotten by the King of Kings and the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Father.
And so when Philip mentioned that all who were baptized and gave their allegiance to Jesus would be the ones this suffering servant would bring all these wonderful blessings of protection, food, water, and salvation, is it any wonder that the Eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
And is there any wonder that even a foreign Eunuch would be loved and remembered by this suffering savior?
There are many foolish vows in the Bible, but the one in Joshua 9 takes the cake, in my opinion. The Israelites were marching through the land, defeating one nation after another, and fear of them was spreading through the world, just as God said it would do.
But the people of Gibeon concocted a deceptive plan to avoid being defeated by Israel:
“But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,
they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended,
with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly.
And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.” (Joshua 9:3-6 ESV).
You know the story. The Israelites' leaders made a covenant with the Gibeonites and swore they would not attack them. Three days later, the truth that the Gibeonites were their neighbors came out, and the people of Israel were furious with their leaders for making their vows.
“But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them.” (Joshua 9:19 ESV).
Here is my question: Is our word so important to us that we will stand by it, even at our own cost? Is our “yes” yes, and our “no” no? Or is it easy for us to justify breaking our word by coming up with reasons and excuses?
Say what you want about the foolish vow the people made, but you must respect the solemnity with which they considered their word. Perhaps they would have acted wisely if they had considered the Lord more before making a rash vow.
“So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the LORD.” (Joshua 9:14 ESV).
I just read about a soldier who told a fellow soldier that he once told God he'd be His greatest supporter and proclaim His name far and wide if God would only present Himself to him.
His buddy asked, “When you were a private, did you ever yell at a general, 'Get over here!'“
We do that a lot with God.
According to a 2009 article published in the Industrial Psychiatry Journal, Understanding Delusions, this is how they define delusion:
“A delusion is a belief that is clearly false and that indicates an abnormality in the affected person’s content of thought. The false belief is not accounted for by the person’s cultural or religious background or his or her level of intelligence. The key feature of a delusion is the degree to which the person is convinced that the belief is true. A person with a delusion will hold firmly to the belief regardless of evidence to the contrary.”
If there is a God
And He created man
In His image for the purpose of living with Him for eternity
And man will one day stand before Him in judgment
For the purpose of accounting for the way he lived
And yet, deny God
Claim he evolved from nothing into something
Deny his eternal nature
Ignore his responsibility as an image bearer of his Creator
And reject any moral responsibility to serve Him...
If all of this is, indeed, true, then I ask you
Who are the ones who truly suffer from delusion?
I am in the book of Judges in my daily Bible reading. Israel would follow God, then when things were good, they would follow their own heart and forget God. Then, when things went bad for them, they would cry out for God.
This cycle continued, showing that God was a convenience to them even though He repeatedly showed His lovingkindness and power to them.
When Gideon died after God gave the land 40 years of peace under his rule, we read:
“As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.” (Judges 8:33 ESV).
Perhaps human nature doesn't change much. How many people cry out to God when they need Him, only to follow after their own gods when they find peace in their lives?
As citizens of Jesus' kingdom, we serve our Lord and King when we have peace and when we need peace. Our hearts will be revealed in the way we follow Jesus in good times and in bad times.
Let's break the cycle of selfish living and sacrifice our lives to our Lord in selfless living, always devoted to King Jesus in all things.