There is a theme in American Literature, U.S. movies, and Broadway musicals where protagonists from rural areas come to the big city and make it big. Even Clark Kent has to move from the farm to Metropolis before he makes the big time as the investigative reporter who doubles as Superman. And we all know the lyric that goes, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere…” from “New York, New York.”
So, Acts 8:26 probably seems strange to those of us who live in this land where success is measured in numbers and the size of the audience determines the magnitude of the star. Let’s read it from my efforts in the Greek New Testament. Shall we? 26) But the Angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Rise up and depart about midday along the way going down from Jerusalem to Gaza. It is in the wilderness.”
There are several surprises for me in this verse. First, the “Angel of the Lord” is an Old Testament phrase that is always used to describe God getting directly involved with a specific person. Usually, we start out reading about the “Angel of the Lord” only to discover that it was God in person. Why would the ancient Hebrews have used such a phrase? I believe it was to tell us that God is God’s own messenger (that’s what an angel is supposed to be). God isn’t off somewhere so far away that He isn’t involved with us. Instead, God comes to people as His own messenger. This passage isn’t any exception to the formula because verse 29 and verse 39 show God directly involved as the Holy Spirit.
Okay, what are the other surprises? Well, I’m sort of surprised about the timetable for Philip’s journey. God commands him to get up and depart about noon. It reminds me of Robbie O’ Connell, an Irish musician who lives in the U.S., when he went back to Ireland to chase down some authentic folk songs that hadn’t yet been recorded. Since his journey meant going to lots of pubs to hear the local performers play, he said: “It’s a very difficult task, ya’ know. First, ya’ haf ta’ get up very early in the afternoon.” It sounds funny, but I guess you’d have to get some sleep if you were staying up past midnight to listen to music every night.
Well, Philip had to get up “very early in the afternoon” to do God’s will and, if that sounds funny, I think it’s because we always think of doing God’s will according to human efficiency. Yet, if we’re listening to the Lord, that right time might be when our airplane is late and we think it’s such a disaster. Then, we strike up a conversation that allows us to share our faith with one of our fellow passengers. It isn’t efficient in human terms, but it is in God’s timing. If we’re listening to the Lord, that right time might be when we’re waiting for someone to show up at Starbuck’s or Caribou Coffee. We’re all agitated inside because our appointment is late, but suddenly someone starts a conversation and we get a chance to share about Jesus.
Now, we also know that this is a desert area. How many of you would choose to walk out in the desert at mid-day? I remember that we used to drive from California to Oklahoma to visit some of my relatives. This was in the days before air conditioning was common. Guess when we would try to cross as much of the desert as we could? That’s right! We traveled by night or early morning before the sunrise. We wanted to “beat the heat” if we could. Yet, God didn’t allow Philip to “beat the heat.” God sent him out at an inconvenient time with unlikely potential for success.
So, Philip leaves Jerusalem to go down to Gaza. You know where Gaza is, don’t you? It’s the old Philistine territory. Today, it’s the Palestinian territory. It’s largely desert. In fact, the “angel” defines it as wilderness in verse 26. Now, for Philip to leave all the action in Jerusalem and go down to Gaza would be tantamount to a pastor of a large church in a major metropolitan city suddenly deciding that he needed to become the bi-vocational pastor of a tiny rural church. It just doesn’t make sense, humanly speaking.
In fact, the phrase about this area being wilderness seems to underscore the fact that God was sending Philip out to a place where you really wouldn’t expect there to be any prospects. The wilderness is a dangerous place and, in the Bible and the books from the inter-testament period, it often represents a place where demons and evil spirits reside. It doesn’t seem like God is giving Philip a very productive field to work. But God knows best.
27) And he rose up and departed. And check it out, a man from Ethiopia, a eunuch, a ruler [in the court] of Queen Candace of Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who came himself to Jerusalem in order to worship. 28) And he was returning and seated upon his chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.
Those of you who have heard me preach (or read many of my sermons online) know that I like to translate the word usually rendered as “Behold!” as “Check it out!” The word conveys the idea of seeing for yourself. It literally means, “See!” So, I put it in the vernacular of my generation. “Check it out!” Whenever it is used in the Bible, it has the effect of pointing out something you wouldn’t expect. In this case, there is not only someone on the road at midday when you wouldn’t expect anyone out there, but it is a very important someone.
There is also another surprise in verse 27. This very important someone is “not from around here” as the Southerners in our country would say. He is a foreigner who has come to Jerusalem in order to worship as a Jewish proselyte—someone who wasn’t born into Judaism who adopted it as his faith. But even more surprising is the fact that he is a “eunuch,” an emasculated male who, because of his “surgery,” can have no lineage of his own—no future save that of the ruler he serves. This effacement of one’s normal hope for family and posterity was supposed to ensure the eunuch’s loyalty to his sovereign.
But even more surprising is the designation of this important official and dedicated Jewish convert by the term, eunuch, in verses 27, 34, 36, 38, and 39. Although some scholars remind us that some sources call everyone who serves in a sovereign’s court by the generic term “eunuch,” I believe this repetition of the word throughout the passage is intended to clue in readers from all ages that something special is going on here.
But some of you are wondering what I’m talking about. I’ll read Deuteronomy 23:1 from the King James Version so that the archaic language will soften the ugliness somewhat. “He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.” That’s harsh, isn’t it? We don’t know for sure if the temple officials didn’t realize this man was a eunuch and let him into the Court of the Gentiles to worship or whether he came right up to the gate of the temple and was turned away. Maybe he was just able to look upon the place of God’s Holiness from the outside, pray outside the temple precinct itself, and purchase a souvenir scroll to take home with him. Then, again, maybe he bribed his way in. Anyway who had stewardship over a vast treasure for a small kingdom would probably have been able to afford the cost of some corrupt temple guard acting as a “scalper,” as well as a scroll.
But whether the eunuch got into the temple court or how he got there (or didn’t) isn’t the thrust of this story. What we have here is a person who would technically have been excluded from the presence of the Lord, but has been and is continuing to seek God’s presence. Ironically, he is reading from an Isaiah scroll and only a few modern chapters from a tremendous promise directed at those who were technically excluded from temple worship. Again, I’ll read from the King James Version, but this time from Isaiah 56:3-5:
“3) Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. 4) For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; 5) Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.”
Isn’t it interesting that Isaiah’s prophecy in our Chapter 56 is now about to come true as the eunuch is trying to understand Isaiah 53:7-8? Isn’t it wonderful that the eunuch who, in human terms, had no future is now going to have a future “better than of sons and daughters?” Don’t you think the Holy Spirit was at work on multiple levels here?
29) But the Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Approach and join yourself to this chariot.”
30) So, Philip ran and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?
Philip wasted no time in following the direction of the Holy Spirit. He could have said to himself, “Hey! I’m not even sure I speak the fellow’s language.” Of course, that wouldn’t have been a very good excuse for someone who had probably experienced Pentecost first-hand. He could have protested, “Hey! We’re not from the same social class. We don’t have anything in common. He won’t pay any attention to someone like me.” Yet, unlike many of us, Philip didn’t engage in the “What if?” scenarios of personal damage control; he stuck out his neck and took a risk for God’s glory.
We need to take this lesson to heart. God’s timing is perfect and God’s preparation for our faithful evangelizing is ideal, but if we dawdle and procrastinate, we put people and our effectiveness at risk. Don’t procrastinate. When God says to share with someone, we need to go do it rather than stop and fret about it.
31) But he said, “How is one able [to understand] if no one guides me?” He summoned Philip to come up and sit with him.
Don’t you love the fact that Philip starts out with a question? Isn’t that how Jesus started many of His discussions with those who needed Him? He asked the name of the Gadarene demoniac, who had touched his clothes to the woman who had been hemorrhaging, and asked the man at the pool of Bethesda if he wanted to be cured. He started with something obvious, allowed the individual to respond, and then, proceeded to share His Truth.
Even so, I don’t think it’s effective for us to grab our megaphones and go out on the streets to say, “You need Jesus!” or “You’re a sinner!” We need to start where the individual is already interested and move to what that individual really needs. It might start with a discussion of world events or it might start with a comment about what the individual is currently experiencing, but it is our task to start there and bring them to Jesus. In this case, the eunuch is reading a passage that we know as messianic. We realize that it’s ultimate fulfillment is in Jesus, just as the eunuch will soon discover in our passage. It goes like this:
32) So, the passage of Scripture that he was reading was this:
“Who was led [like] a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before his shearers is dumb,
the same way, he did not open his mouth.
33) In humiliation, his trial [“crisis”] was removed;
Who can recount his lineage?
Because his life has been taken from the earth.”
The passage he was reading is Isaiah 53:7-8, and it is recorded in this passage as it was translated into the Greek version we know as the Septuagint. It is a problematic passage in Hebrew interpretation because it doesn’t fit the standard theology of the time. Some rabbis took this to be an autobiographical protest from Isaiah himself while others took it to reflect the situation of ancient Israel. Either way, it doesn’t sound very good. This passage says that God’s servant is a VICTIM, and no one wants to be a victim.
Yet, this was a “victim” with dignity, a “victim” who faced adversity like a hero. Perhaps, this passage was interpreted as being a faithful servant to God in such a way that God will overturn the servant’s defeats—even though the servant himself wouldn’t get to see the final victory. This seems to fit Judaism very well. But it doesn’t take into consideration the Christian perspective that there is more than merely our earthly lives.
The author’s choice of the Septuagint for the passage gave him a chance to really pound home the message to a Greek-speaking audience. The noun translated as “humiliation” was a very ugly one to the Hellenic peoples. Humility wasn’t a virtue and humiliation was considered a dead end with regard to personal advancement and reputation. Humiliation usually meant “end of story” to the speakers of ancient Greek, but it gets even worse. The noun translated as “judgment,” “justice,” or “trial” is pronounced “KREE-sees” and it is the word from which we get our noun, “crisis.” And, although the noun clearly means “trial” here (as in the servant didn’t get a fair trial), the word also has this idea of a tipping point, a critical juncture where the individual (or society) gets a chance to overcome the obstacles and change for the better or triumph for the good (or fail, of course). But here it says that the Servant of God didn’t even get a chance to turn the difficult juncture of life into something more, the opportunity was stolen from him. In short, he didn’t get a fair trial.
Add to this the phrase that I translated as, “Who can recount his lineage?” and other translations render as, “Who shall declare his generation?” (ASV, KJV), “Who can describe his generation?” (NRSV), or, “Who can even talk about (or speak about) his descendents (or posterity)?” (NEB, NIV, JB). Isn’t this an interesting text for the Holy Spirit to put in front of a man with no prospects for any lineage? Isn’t this a great challenge to a man who is looking for meaning to his life? Somewhere, sometime, there was someone else who faced the prospect of no future. But the Isaiah passage that is quoted doesn’t stop with “no future,” it has a promise of a tremendous inheritance in verse 12 of Isaiah 53 because his sacrifice made it possible for many to be justified and forgiven.
34) So, the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I beg you, concerning whom does the prophet speak this, concerning himself or concerning some other?”
35) So, Philip opened his mouth and starting from this Scripture, he preached [lit. “evangelized”] Jesus to him.
Philip wasn’t drawn into the rabbinic discussion about the Scripture or any personal speculation. He saw it as an opportunity to share about Jesus’ sacrificial death that echoed the passage in terms of dignity, to tell of Jesus’ humiliation and the kangaroo court that he experienced, and to share how even this eunuch could become part of the “lineage” of Jesus through receiving him as Savior. You see? That Isaiah 56 passage becomes absolutely fulfilled when the eunuch responds positively to Jesus. Any barriers he might have faced in Judaism have been torn down through this Suffering Servant we know as Jesus.
36) So, as they went along the way, they came upon some water, and the eunuch affirmed to Philip, “Check it out, water. What prevents me from being baptized?”
Let’s not rush through this moment too quickly. This is a significant moment. Here is a man who had involuntarily had his loyalty to Queen Candace guaranteed by his own mutilation; here is a man who had voluntarily converted to Judaism looking for some assurance, some blessing in his life. Now, he is willing to undergo a symbolic ceremony to pledge his loyalty to yet a new master, THE Master. And his question is almost a dare to Philip—in fact, it might indicate that he was very much aware of the hindrances he faced in Judaism. Perhaps, he was even rejected for Jewish baptism because of his status as a eunuch. Regardless of whether he was just excited about the opportunity to be baptized or challenging Philip because he thought the prospect was too good to be true, he asked the question.
Now, our oldest Greek manuscripts don’t have verse 37 in them. It probably wasn’t there when Acts was first penned. However, if you believe as I do that the Holy Spirit was even involved in the copying of the manuscripts, you’ll think that this is a precious verse that clarifies (probably at a later date and probably not actually Philip’s words) the relationship between belief and baptism. Verse 37 makes it clear that belief comes first.
37) So, Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart [volition], you may.” So, he answered and said, “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” [This verse isn’t in our earliest manuscripts.]
The eunuch made a positive decision for Jesus and believer’s baptism followed. Even without verse 37, this process is implied because without the verse, Philip doesn’t actually answer him and, in the next verse, the eunuch takes the initiative.
38) And he commanded the chariot to stop, and both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
Now, of course, some of the paintings we see of the eunuch’s baptism have Philip pouring or sprinkling the eunuch. I’m not quite sure the artist understands what the word “baptism” means. In the Greek, if I want to plunge something like a water pot or some dirty clothes into the water, I use the term pronounced “vahp-TEE-zoh.” It means to plunge something all the way into the water. It is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It symbolizes God raising us to a new style of living, a new life.
And then, something really strange happened.
39) When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip, and the eunuch didn’t see him anymore because he went on his way, rejoicing.
40) So, Philip was found in Azotus [we know it as Ashdod], and he passed through evangelizing all the cities until he came to Caesarea.
Having done his job, Philip was “snatched away” by the Spirit of the Lord. This is a colorful word that is often used for animals carrying away their prey or bandits carrying off their loot. It suggests something fast and firm. God moved Philip on with authority and power. The eunuch doesn’t even have a chance to watch Philip ride off into the sunset like one of our old western movies where the character asks, “Who was that masked man?” He is so focused on celebrating the fact that he has a new life, a life with a future that he is oblivious to Philip’s speedy and likely miraculous departure.
The eunuch celebrated, and Philip continued to evangelize. Yet, I like to see something very cool in that idea of being “snatched away.” When Philip was heading down to the wilderness, he was being obedient to God’s command to travel down there. Humanly, he must have wondered what he had done wrong to have to experience the wilderness. Humanly, he must have been somewhat depressed and discouraged that he was having to leave the center of the action and move down to where he could easily be forgotten. I’ve been there, even though I knew I had followed God’s instructions, and experienced that kind of impatient, frustrated, second-guessing.
However, once you do what God told you to do and you start to realize what God is up to, your perspective changes. It’s like being caught up in a whirlwind (and maybe that’s how the Spirit “snatched Philip”) and suddenly, God starts to use you in places and ways that you never thought possible. I would wager that Philip never expected to minister all the way up the coast from Azotus (Ashdod) to Caesarea. By leaving Jerusalem, a move that seems counter-productive in human eyes, he discovered a ministry all along the coastline that was incredibly important. It’s almost like God rewarded his willingness to “take one for the team” and go into the wilderness by giving him a bigger responsibility as ambassador to the coast.
That’s the way I see it. And in my experience, that’s the way it happens when we are faithful and obedient to reach out and share with those where God has prepared the way. Let’s promise God today that we’ll quit offering up excuses and actually share the good news of Jesus wherever God leads us.
