Day 31–Acts 8:26-39
Passage for the Day
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
31 ”How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36-37 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
Points of interest:
· ‘an angel of the Lord said to Philip’—Philip starts out in Jerusalem, overseeing the charitable work of Jesus’ followers there. But when the angel finds Philip he is in Samaria, where huge crowds of people have been listening to him talk about Jesus and watching him perform miracles. The angel instructs him to leave those crowds and go to a desert road instead.
· ‘he met an Ethiopian eunuch’—here is one of those foreign eunuchs of whom Isaiah spoke (Isaiah 56, March 20th). From the disciples’ perspective, Ethiopia would have been ‘the ends of the earth.’ In two quick jumps, Philip goes from Jerusalem, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth, just as Jesus had instructed.
· ‘How can I unless someone explains it to me?’—I wonder if the eunuch was praying for someone to explain the passage; then all of a sudden there’s a guy running alongside his chariot in the middle of the desert, asking him what he’s reading.
· ‘This is the passage of Scripture’—this is Isaiah 53. It’s another prophecy about the mysterious servant of the Lord. His suffering is so intense that people assume he must be hated by God. But it turns out that he is willingly sacrificing himself as part of God’s mysterious plan to rescue people from their errors and problems. He dies, but then, ‘After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied’ (v.11). It seems that before Jesus’ crucifixion people didn’t know what to do with this prophecy; it seemed to be about the Messiah, but the idea that the Messiah would suffer and die was completely alien. In retrospect, it was the clearest possible description of what Jesus would do and why. And this is the passage that the eunuch just happens to be reading.
· ‘What can stand in the way of my being baptized?’—I love the eagerness of this eunuch. Apparently, Philip tells him that they have been commissioned to baptize people from all nations; and he responds, ‘Sign me up!’
· ‘the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away’—I think the point of whisking Philip away like this is to let the eunuch know that Philip was brought there just for him. Now that the eunuch has heard the message, Philip is no longer needed.
Taking it home:
· For you: Think of a country. It could be one that has always been a favorite, or it could have randomly popped into your mind just now. Spend the day praying for that country. Ask God to bring blessing to it. If you know anything about the country, pray for its current situation. If you don’t know anything about the country, ask God to guide your prayers.
· For your six: Are any of your six trying to read the Bible? Ask God to give them the help they need to make sense of what they’re reading.
· For America: Pray for our treasury officials. Ask God to give them wisdom and peace during the current economic crisis. Pray that they would have unexpected joy in their work and in their lives.