Last week in Verses 5 - 12 Philip had been involved in the revival at Samaria. It was a huge success. Unclean spirits cast out, sick healed, and multitudes of people were coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and being baptized. The revival was big news, as soon as they heard about it in Jerusalem they sent Peter & John to check it out, Samaria was the place to be spiritually. But look what happened next:
READ Verse 26. The first thing we see here is an angel comes to speak to Philip. This was important, God wanted there to be no doubt that Philip should go south.
Physically we make decisions every day. But, there are other times in our lives that God wants us to go in a specific direction. When we get down to these decisions, we have a choice, we can do God’s will, or we can do something else.
God didn’t want Philip to have any doubt about his decision. What really strikes me though is that Philip didn’t even question God. Verse 27 says He arose and went. He could have said, “Hey God, we’ve got a really big revival going on here. I’ve got preaching to do and people to minister to. I’m really popular here in Samaria, Lord. Why should I just go off to the dessert??”
But that wasn’t Philip’s attitude at all. In fact, it was just the opposite. Philip wanted to follow God’s will. That was Philip’s commitment to the Lord.
But hang on a minute; if we look at this more closely we can see first that God doesn’t tell Philip why He wants him to go south along the road to Gaza, into the dessert. God just tells him to do it. Secondly the phrase "towards the south" can also be translated "at noon", since the sun is towards the south at noon. It’s going to be hot and even deadly to journey south through the dessert in the heat of the day, especially on foot.
Philip doesn’t question God; he doesn’t question God’s timing, or the direction God is sending him in. He simply obeyed. There is a lot to be said for that. The thing is, many times God doesn’t tell us what the next step is. He just wants us to step out and follow Him. When we get there, when we finish what He tells us to do, then we receive the next step. If God says go, you go!
God does whatever is necessary to instruct and guide believers. He is not limited to our theories and beliefs. He will use whatever is necessary to reach anyone who is truly hungry to know the way of salvation.
That’s what Philip was doing; he’d made the decision to follow God’s voice. He was walking south, on a dessert road, in the heat of the day, just waiting for God’s next step. God was about to show Philip what was there.
READ Verse 27 & 28
So Philip is walking in the dessert as instructed, and there just so happens to be another man traveling down the same stretch of road, in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the day. This was an important man, a man of great authority and influence. He was in charge of the Queen’s cash.
Ethiopia, at this time in biblical history, was a large and powerful country. It was the outer limits of the known world to the Greeks and Romans. This eunuch was a very important man, most likely 2nd most powerful man in Ethiopia next to the king.
This man was someone that God wanted. Not because of who he was but because of what he was doing. Jeremiah 29:13 says – “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” God wanted this man because he was seeking with all his heart. How do we know he was seeking –first of all it tells us that he was in Jerusalem worshipping, he must have been seeking something to travel 1200 miles to get to the Temple in Jerusalem. Now he was on his way home and he was still seeking - he was reading the scriptures.
He came from the Temple empty handed. He came to Jerusalem seeking God, seeking hope, something to fill the void in his life that the power and influence could not fill.
READ (Verses 29 – 31) The Holy Spirit is the driving force behind Philip taking off to catch up to this chariot. Here he is on this dessert road waiting for his next instructions. All of a sudden along comes this eunuch, the Spirit gives Philip a quick shove and says, "That’s what you’ve been waiting for, now off you go."
Can you imagine what would happen if you or I tried to run up to a white house motorcade limo and tap on the window? We’d be in trouble. Well the same would have been so in this day. Someone of Philip’s social standing couldn’t just go up to this important man’s chariot, there would have been guards traveling along with this man. Philip could have been killed. This didn’t dissuade him though, the Spirit said go, and he went.
How eager Philip was to follow. Verse 30 says he ran to that Chariot. It would have been quite a large entourage; this man was not traveling alone. He would have had a great number of servants and minor officials with him. This man would have been sitting back in a chariot, protected from the sun by a canopy. He would have had a private chauffeur and he was riding in style and as Philip runs alongside he hears the eunuch reading the scroll to himself.
Philip shouts to him, to paraphrase, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” to which the eunuch replies “No, I need an interpreter”.... Another door opens!!! The eunuch then invites Philip to sit with him.
READ (Verses 32 – 33)
The passage the eunuch was reading provided Philip the perfect opportunity. God led Philip to the right place, at the right time, to meet a man that God was preparing for the encounter. The passage the eunuch was reading is from Isaiah 53:7 – 8. The passage deals with the suffering servant hood of Jesus Christ. Jesus would be our substitutionary sacrificial the lamb that was slain for our sins.
Philip was a Christian; it was his job, along with his brothers in Christ to declare Jesus to the world. Christ had given the great commission to "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel...."
Philip was obedient - he followed God’s direction. He was enthusiastic - he ran to overtake the chariot and now we see that he was ready. Paul tells Timothy this in 2Timothy 4: 2 “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” Philip was ready to open the scriptures to this man and let God do the work in his life.
READ Verses 34 & 35
The eunuch asks who the prophet is talking about; himself or some other man. It was clear to Philip who Isaiah was talking about. Philip takes the opportunity to explain the fulfillment of the passage through Jesus Christ. He tells the eunuch that Isaiah was talking about the center attraction of heaven, the one who was full of glory, the only begotten son of God, who one day laid aside that glory and came down to this old sin cursed world and took on a body like unto sinful man but without sin, suffered at the hands of ungodly men, was beaten, scourged, spit upon humiliated and died on an old rugged cross.
Isaiah says He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him. God almighty came, suffered and died for you and I, why? Because He loved us that much. He could have called ten thousand angels but He didn’t. He stayed on that cross so we wouldn’t have to go to hell. When Jesus came down to this earth He was despised and rejected, He went through more than we will ever know that we might one day be able to spend all eternity with Him.
When Philip had explained all of this to the eunuch he had found what he had been looking for. The void in his life had been filled with the love of God. There’s only one thing that can fill that void, only one light that can drive away that darkness—Jesus Christ.
The eunuch heard the Word of God that day. He was ready to accept Jesus as his Savior; he wanted that saving faith, that hope that was only found in Jesus.
READ (Verses 36 – 38)
They come to a small stream of water and the Ethiopian wants to get baptized. He says to Philip “What’s stopping me?” Yet another door is opened, they are in the middle of the dessert and they come across a stream of water, God provides yet again. Now Philip didn’t preach baptism or religion, he taught Jesus and salvation through the word of God.
At this point he commanded the chariot to stop and he and Philip get out and go down to the water. We know that baptism is an outward expression of an inward change; it’s also a public confession of our faith in Jesus Christ. Not only did the Ethiopian make a confession to Philip that he believed in Jesus, but in being baptized he made a profession of faith to his entire entourage. Philip and the Ethiopian go down into the water, and the Ethiopian is baptized. There is an importance to water baptism. It is a witness that you have been saved, that you have declared Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. The Ethiopian at last had found what he was seeking - Jesus.
READ Verse 39 - 40
Isn’t it amazing how Christ can change you. This man went away rejoicing, not because of the great preaching, not because of the experience of baptism but because of the joy that salvation brings and the change that comes with it.
Talking about the change in someone’s life when they accept Christ as their personal Savior—an anthropologist was studying a primitive tribe in South America that years earlier had been reached by a Christian Missionary. After having lived among the tribe for several weeks, the anthropologist met with the tribe’s leader. He said, "You have a wonderful culture, but it is a shame that the missionary came and infected your tribe with his religion." The chief replied, "See that rock over there? That’s where we would break the skulls of our enemies. See that tree? That’s where we would sacrifice them to our god. And if we had not learned Christ was our Lord, you would be our dinner tonight."
One missionary made a difference to that tribe by preaching Christ. One person made a difference to the Ethiopian eunuch by preaching Christ.
The eunuch found the true religion when he found the one that Isaiah prophesied of was Jesus Christ. We are promised when we come to Jesus in faith, repenting of our sins and believing He will forgive us, that in effect we start with a clean sheet before God. That same Jesus, who saves all who call upon His name, wants us to share that good news with everyone. Witnessing—that’s what this passage is about.
Do you ever wonder what actually happened when the Bible says in verse 39 that the Spirit snatched Philip up? Philip was no longer needed. His task was done. It was time for him to move on, so the Spirit of God took him away.
What actually happened to Philip depends on how strongly you believe God’s Word. The word for “suddenly took” is strong. It means to be snatched away quickly, immediately, miraculously. It’s the same Greek word used for the rapture of the church in 1 Thess. 4:17. The HS led Philip back to Samaria.
In closing, if we look at verse 40 we see that Philip is found preaching. His work wasn’t finished. And neither is ours. Philip was found preaching in all of the towns. How are we found? Are we found complaining or praising, grumpy or rejoicing, silent or witnessing? When God speaks to us we need to obey. We need to get on that road, whether we know where it is leading or not, if it’s the right road God will open those doors for us. We saw tonight that from Philip’s submission and the spirits direction, using the scripture to preach Christ to the Ethiopian who was seeking brought SALVATION. Are we doing what Philip was doing?
I have 3 questions tonight.
Are we obedient? Do we hear God’s voice and follow His direction?
Are we enthusiastic? Do we run after those chariots or are we just strolling through life hoping that someone will get saved along the way?
Are we ready? Ready to preach the word, ready to preach Christ to the world. Time is running out and people are dying and going to hell. There is no need for that to happen, Christ has made a way out (He has paid for a get out of jail free card for us with His blood). We need to be ready to tell that story.
