Acts 8:26-8:40
Happy Resurrection Sunday! He is risen! I am so glad we have a date in the calendar year specifically set aside to remember this fact. I like Easter - I like that except for a strange bunny and a bunch of eggs, it remains fairly uncommercialized. It is still a religious holiday. As we will see, today’s passage in Acts seems quite appropriate for this day.
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." – Acts 8:26-29
Many things strike me from this passage. One is how Philip was led supernaturally into this encounter. An angel told him, go down to the Jerusalem/Gaza road. The angel didn’t say why, or what would happen next. This seems to often be the way of God’s messages. God’s message to Abraham (at that time Abram) was similar. “Go to a place I will show you.” Why does God do this? I think because it helps us to learn to really trust Him.
So Philip meets this very unusual foreigner. What can we say about him? He is an extremely important official, trusted with much by the queen of an African nation. Such people were often eunuchs – it was believed that they were somehow more trustworthy. And he was a religiously inclined person – he had gone all the way to Jerusalem to worship, a huge journey. And we also know he was religiously inclined because he was presently reading the Bible. He was in a chariot, probably with an entourage of servants. Then the Spirit told Philip to go to this chariot and stay near it. This was regardless of the fact that Philip was a total stranger to this group of people, and that he was not in the same “class” and really had no business being there. In a sense, the angel was telling Philip to be a “party crasher.”
There is a lot this passage doesn’t tell us. Was the Ethiopian a Jew? It doesn’t say, but I think it unlikely. It was more likely that he was exploring different religions and had spent time with some famous rabbis in Jerusalem learning more about the Jewish beliefs. He had probably been given some of there literature as well as a copy of some of the sacred Bible scrolls. And now, here he was, reading from the scroll of Isaiah.
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. – Acts 8:30-31
Did Philip obey the Spirit? You bet. He ran up to the chariot. And he heard him reading from Isaiah. The Ethiopian was clearly a learned man – he was likely reading either the original Hebrew or a copy in Greek.
Here is the first application that strikes me from this passage:
Let us listen to (and heed) the leadings of the Holy Spirit.
Then Philip asks a penetrating, yet simple, question. “Do you understand it?” What a great question! It is a great question to ask anyone. “Do you understand the gospel?” It’s non-threatening, and it is not tainted with relativism. It implies that there is only one way to understand it, which is true. Our culture is more likely to ask questions like “What does this passage mean to you?” or “How does this passage make you feel?” So much better is this wonderful question, “Do you understand it?”
I also really like the Ethiopian’s reply. It is honest, and humble. He doesn’t say, “Yeah, sure, of course I do! Doesn’t everyone?” I suspect most people, if asked “Do you understand the gospel,” tend to say, “Yeah, basically,” even if they don’t have a clue, because they don’t want to admit it. And I may be coloring this passage with presuppositions of our culture, but it sounds to me like he might be a little frustrated. “How can I?” This is the type of thing one says in response to “Do you understand your calculus homework?” The high-and-mighty Ethiopian is refreshingly candid here. He is saying, “No, I don’t get it! I wish someone could help me!” And we don’t have all the details, but one way or another, it comes out that Philip says he understands it and would be happy to help explain it. And the Ethiopian, not caring if he is violating rules of society or not, invites this complete stranger to come up with him into his chariot.
The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth. In His humiliation He was deprived of justice. Who can speak of His descendants? For His life was taken from the earth." – Acts 8:32-33
Isn’t God’s timing striking! Isn’t it great! Out of all the passages in the Bible – to read this from Isaiah 53!
The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. – Acts 8:34-35
What did Philip tell him? The good news about Jesus. We don’t get the details, but it is pretty easy to get a good idea. If you start with this passage in Isaiah, you might say the following:
He was led like a sheep to the slaughter… This is not talking about Isaiah, but about Jesus of Nazareth. His coming was foretold not just in this passage, but in many passages, indeed one could say that all of Scripture points to Him. This passage describes Him like a sheep – and He was like one. He was like an animal without blemish, reserved for sacrifice to take away the sins of the people. He was without sin, and in this sense he was like the sheep without blemish.
And as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth… Jesus was like a prophet, and yet unlike any other prophet. He did incredible miracles – healings, raising people from the dead, multiplying a small basket of bread of fish to feed thousands, walking on the top of the water, calming a storm, casting out demons, and much more. And His teaching was unlike and teachings ever before Him. He taught with authority and with great wisdom. He taught as if He had written the Scriptures. And in a sense He had. But His teachings were resisted by many, especially by the Jewish leaders. They saw Him as a threat to their comfortable way of life. And so they had Him arrested and brought to a farce of a trial. And in this trial, He did not answer the questions of fools. He did not open His mouth.
In His humiliation He was deprived of justice… He was humiliated. He was jeered, made fun of, mocked. He was deprived of justice. He was not guilty of anything, except telling the truth. And yet they falsely declared Him guilty.
Who can speak of His descendants? For His life was taken from the earth… He did not have children. And He was killed in the most horrible way possible. He was beaten horrifically, to within an inch of losing His life, and then He was crucified. The Ethiopian may not have been aware of the details of these punishments, so perhaps Philip explained them to Him. He was whipped with a device that tears out chunks of flesh from your body. And then He was literally nailed to a cross – two large pieces of wood. Long spikes pierced His hands and His feet. And then the cross of wood was lifted up with Him on it. In this position He endured agonizing pain. It took great effort and required overcoming gravity and unimaginable pain to take each breath. We have an English word that comes for pain that comes from this process: excruciating. Literally, it means, out of the cross. And then after suffering like this, He died.
This passage in Isaiah is talking about Jesus. But the passage doesn’t end there. It says much more.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer… Jesus taught that He only did His Father’s will. He called God His Father, and He made it clear that He was God’s Son. This sounds impossible, but He claimed to be God the Son. He forgave people their sins. He accepted worship. These are things only God can do. He said that it was His choice to lay down His life, that no one could take it away from Him. So it is true, hard as it is to believe at first, that it was God’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer. A good question to this is “Why?” The next part of this verse gives the answer.
And though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering… Jesus became a guilt offering for all the sins of the world. His death atones for all sin. It will atone for your sin, if you accept it. The implications of this are even more terrible than the physical pain He endured. He, God’s beloved divine Son, became the object of God’s wrath. He became an enemy of God the Father, who had formerly loved Him. He had to drink the full cup of God’s wrath, though He was innocent. He did that so that we would not have to drink even a drop from that cup. Now you may ask, if He died, how do you not know He was a madman? This brings us to the best part – the good news! Look what it says in Isaiah:
He will see His offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand. How can this be true of anyone? How can anyone die but also see his offspring and prolong his days? How can one die and live? Well, this is exactly what happened! Three days after he was buried, He came back to life! He appeared to some of the women first, and then to others, one time to 500 people! Jerusalem is filled with witnesses! And then He ascended to heaven! He just started rising up in the air and went up and up and up… And now the will of the Lord is prospering in His hand! People are being saved eternally from their sins! They are putting their trust in Jesus. You can do this too!
After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge My righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities… He bears my sin. He justifies me before God. Because I have trusted in Him for my salvation, because I have told Him of my sins and my inability to atone for Him, He has done this for me. He does this for anyone who asks Him. He will do it for you if you ask Him.
The good news is He is risen! This proves He was not a madman! He defeated death. And we too will live forever if we put our trust in Him.
Philip probably helped the Ethiopian to pray to God, accepting His perfect sacrifice and thanking Him for His perfect Son’s work once-for-all work on the cross. And then he told him about baptism.
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life – Romans 6:3-4
Jesus died and now He lives. In a sense, in baptism, as we go under the water, we too die. But then we are lifted up and live eternally for Him through the glory of the Father.
Baptism is a burial. When you are baptized, it is as if you are attending your own funeral. But just like Christ, we don’t stay dead. We begin our new life, living lives of gratitude to God for saving us, learning to live for Him. The Holy Spirit empowers us in this new life.
In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. – Col 2:11-12
We are buried with Him (in baptism) and raised with Him. It is not the baptism that saves us, but our faith in Him.
Here is a second application I see: .
Let us ask others, “Do you understand…?”
When the natural conversation with an unbelieving friend turns just a little bit spiritual, use this as an opportunity. It is a wonderful question.
Continuing on with the passage:
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. – Acts 8:36-38
The Ethiopian had become a new believer when he prayed. All of heaven was rejoicing! As soon as they come to water, the Ethiopian wanted to be baptized. Not six months or two years later, but the same day. And although public baptisms are nice, this one is just the two of them (and the Ethiopian’s servants, if they were also there). I love his question. Not “Why should I be baptized,” but “Why shouldn’t I?”
An application I see is this:
Let us be baptizers.
You don't need to be a pastor to baptise someone. I was baptised by the college student most directly responsible for me becoming a Christian. Our church has long practised that anyone can baptise someone. We often have our fathers baptising their own children. You too can baptise! (It's not difficult, and we'll help you.)
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. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea. – Acts 8:39-40
I love how it says he went on his way rejoicing. The Ethiopian was dead, but now he lives! You were dead, but now you live! It is solely because Jesus died, but now He lives. Hallelujah! Let us praise Him!
The resurrection of Jesus should be at the heart of our message when we tell others about our faith.
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to me also…. – I Cor. 15:1-8
I read the following in a commentary: If Jesus’ death on the cross is our payment for our sins, then the empty tomb is our receipt for that payment! The resurrection is proof that the debt was really paid, that the payment was accepted and that our debt is “paid in full.”
So here is the fourth application I see:
Let us go away rejoicing!
And I have a fifth point. If your faith is weak, or you struggle with discouragement, if you don’t see God working in your life, this fifth point is for you. And it is for the rest of us, to remind us how to help those who have these struggles.
Let us be “proof” of the resurrection to one another.
Over and over in Acts, the way you see people live, the selflessness, the boldness, the love, is proof that the claims of Christianity is true. It really is "seeing lives changed through Christ."
I read a powerful poem that illustrates how we can be proof of the resurrection to one another. It is called "Thomas" by John Piper. You can read it by clicking on the title.
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." – Acts 8:26-29
Many things strike me from this passage. One is how Philip was led supernaturally into this encounter. An angel told him, go down to the Jerusalem/Gaza road. The angel didn’t say why, or what would happen next. This seems to often be the way of God’s messages. God’s message to Abraham (at that time Abram) was similar. “Go to a place I will show you.” Why does God do this? I think because it helps us to learn to really trust Him.
So Philip meets this very unusual foreigner. What can we say about him? He is an extremely important official, trusted with much by the queen of an African nation. Such people were often eunuchs – it was believed that they were somehow more trustworthy. And he was a religiously inclined person – he had gone all the way to Jerusalem to worship, a huge journey. And we also know he was religiously inclined because he was presently reading the Bible. He was in a chariot, probably with an entourage of servants. Then the Spirit told Philip to go to this chariot and stay near it. This was regardless of the fact that Philip was a total stranger to this group of people, and that he was not in the same “class” and really had no business being there. In a sense, the angel was telling Philip to be a “party crasher.”
There is a lot this passage doesn’t tell us. Was the Ethiopian a Jew? It doesn’t say, but I think it unlikely. It was more likely that he was exploring different religions and had spent time with some famous rabbis in Jerusalem learning more about the Jewish beliefs. He had probably been given some of there literature as well as a copy of some of the sacred Bible scrolls. And now, here he was, reading from the scroll of Isaiah.
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. – Acts 8:30-31
Did Philip obey the Spirit? You bet. He ran up to the chariot. And he heard him reading from Isaiah. The Ethiopian was clearly a learned man – he was likely reading either the original Hebrew or a copy in Greek.
Here is the first application that strikes me from this passage:
Let us listen to (and heed) the leadings of the Holy Spirit.
Then Philip asks a penetrating, yet simple, question. “Do you understand it?” What a great question! It is a great question to ask anyone. “Do you understand the gospel?” It’s non-threatening, and it is not tainted with relativism. It implies that there is only one way to understand it, which is true. Our culture is more likely to ask questions like “What does this passage mean to you?” or “How does this passage make you feel?” So much better is this wonderful question, “Do you understand it?”
I also really like the Ethiopian’s reply. It is honest, and humble. He doesn’t say, “Yeah, sure, of course I do! Doesn’t everyone?” I suspect most people, if asked “Do you understand the gospel,” tend to say, “Yeah, basically,” even if they don’t have a clue, because they don’t want to admit it. And I may be coloring this passage with presuppositions of our culture, but it sounds to me like he might be a little frustrated. “How can I?” This is the type of thing one says in response to “Do you understand your calculus homework?” The high-and-mighty Ethiopian is refreshingly candid here. He is saying, “No, I don’t get it! I wish someone could help me!” And we don’t have all the details, but one way or another, it comes out that Philip says he understands it and would be happy to help explain it. And the Ethiopian, not caring if he is violating rules of society or not, invites this complete stranger to come up with him into his chariot.
The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth. In His humiliation He was deprived of justice. Who can speak of His descendants? For His life was taken from the earth." – Acts 8:32-33
Isn’t God’s timing striking! Isn’t it great! Out of all the passages in the Bible – to read this from Isaiah 53!
The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. – Acts 8:34-35
What did Philip tell him? The good news about Jesus. We don’t get the details, but it is pretty easy to get a good idea. If you start with this passage in Isaiah, you might say the following:
He was led like a sheep to the slaughter… This is not talking about Isaiah, but about Jesus of Nazareth. His coming was foretold not just in this passage, but in many passages, indeed one could say that all of Scripture points to Him. This passage describes Him like a sheep – and He was like one. He was like an animal without blemish, reserved for sacrifice to take away the sins of the people. He was without sin, and in this sense he was like the sheep without blemish.
And as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth… Jesus was like a prophet, and yet unlike any other prophet. He did incredible miracles – healings, raising people from the dead, multiplying a small basket of bread of fish to feed thousands, walking on the top of the water, calming a storm, casting out demons, and much more. And His teaching was unlike and teachings ever before Him. He taught with authority and with great wisdom. He taught as if He had written the Scriptures. And in a sense He had. But His teachings were resisted by many, especially by the Jewish leaders. They saw Him as a threat to their comfortable way of life. And so they had Him arrested and brought to a farce of a trial. And in this trial, He did not answer the questions of fools. He did not open His mouth.
In His humiliation He was deprived of justice… He was humiliated. He was jeered, made fun of, mocked. He was deprived of justice. He was not guilty of anything, except telling the truth. And yet they falsely declared Him guilty.
Who can speak of His descendants? For His life was taken from the earth… He did not have children. And He was killed in the most horrible way possible. He was beaten horrifically, to within an inch of losing His life, and then He was crucified. The Ethiopian may not have been aware of the details of these punishments, so perhaps Philip explained them to Him. He was whipped with a device that tears out chunks of flesh from your body. And then He was literally nailed to a cross – two large pieces of wood. Long spikes pierced His hands and His feet. And then the cross of wood was lifted up with Him on it. In this position He endured agonizing pain. It took great effort and required overcoming gravity and unimaginable pain to take each breath. We have an English word that comes for pain that comes from this process: excruciating. Literally, it means, out of the cross. And then after suffering like this, He died.
This passage in Isaiah is talking about Jesus. But the passage doesn’t end there. It says much more.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer… Jesus taught that He only did His Father’s will. He called God His Father, and He made it clear that He was God’s Son. This sounds impossible, but He claimed to be God the Son. He forgave people their sins. He accepted worship. These are things only God can do. He said that it was His choice to lay down His life, that no one could take it away from Him. So it is true, hard as it is to believe at first, that it was God’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer. A good question to this is “Why?” The next part of this verse gives the answer.
And though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering… Jesus became a guilt offering for all the sins of the world. His death atones for all sin. It will atone for your sin, if you accept it. The implications of this are even more terrible than the physical pain He endured. He, God’s beloved divine Son, became the object of God’s wrath. He became an enemy of God the Father, who had formerly loved Him. He had to drink the full cup of God’s wrath, though He was innocent. He did that so that we would not have to drink even a drop from that cup. Now you may ask, if He died, how do you not know He was a madman? This brings us to the best part – the good news! Look what it says in Isaiah:
He will see His offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand. How can this be true of anyone? How can anyone die but also see his offspring and prolong his days? How can one die and live? Well, this is exactly what happened! Three days after he was buried, He came back to life! He appeared to some of the women first, and then to others, one time to 500 people! Jerusalem is filled with witnesses! And then He ascended to heaven! He just started rising up in the air and went up and up and up… And now the will of the Lord is prospering in His hand! People are being saved eternally from their sins! They are putting their trust in Jesus. You can do this too!
After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge My righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities… He bears my sin. He justifies me before God. Because I have trusted in Him for my salvation, because I have told Him of my sins and my inability to atone for Him, He has done this for me. He does this for anyone who asks Him. He will do it for you if you ask Him.
The good news is He is risen! This proves He was not a madman! He defeated death. And we too will live forever if we put our trust in Him.
Philip probably helped the Ethiopian to pray to God, accepting His perfect sacrifice and thanking Him for His perfect Son’s work once-for-all work on the cross. And then he told him about baptism.
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life – Romans 6:3-4
Jesus died and now He lives. In a sense, in baptism, as we go under the water, we too die. But then we are lifted up and live eternally for Him through the glory of the Father.
Baptism is a burial. When you are baptized, it is as if you are attending your own funeral. But just like Christ, we don’t stay dead. We begin our new life, living lives of gratitude to God for saving us, learning to live for Him. The Holy Spirit empowers us in this new life.
In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. – Col 2:11-12
We are buried with Him (in baptism) and raised with Him. It is not the baptism that saves us, but our faith in Him.
Here is a second application I see: .
Let us ask others, “Do you understand…?”
When the natural conversation with an unbelieving friend turns just a little bit spiritual, use this as an opportunity. It is a wonderful question.
Continuing on with the passage:
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. – Acts 8:36-38
The Ethiopian had become a new believer when he prayed. All of heaven was rejoicing! As soon as they come to water, the Ethiopian wanted to be baptized. Not six months or two years later, but the same day. And although public baptisms are nice, this one is just the two of them (and the Ethiopian’s servants, if they were also there). I love his question. Not “Why should I be baptized,” but “Why shouldn’t I?”
An application I see is this:
Let us be baptizers.
You don't need to be a pastor to baptise someone. I was baptised by the college student most directly responsible for me becoming a Christian. Our church has long practised that anyone can baptise someone. We often have our fathers baptising their own children. You too can baptise! (It's not difficult, and we'll help you.)
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. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea. – Acts 8:39-40
I love how it says he went on his way rejoicing. The Ethiopian was dead, but now he lives! You were dead, but now you live! It is solely because Jesus died, but now He lives. Hallelujah! Let us praise Him!
The resurrection of Jesus should be at the heart of our message when we tell others about our faith.
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to me also…. – I Cor. 15:1-8
I read the following in a commentary: If Jesus’ death on the cross is our payment for our sins, then the empty tomb is our receipt for that payment! The resurrection is proof that the debt was really paid, that the payment was accepted and that our debt is “paid in full.”
So here is the fourth application I see:
Let us go away rejoicing!
And I have a fifth point. If your faith is weak, or you struggle with discouragement, if you don’t see God working in your life, this fifth point is for you. And it is for the rest of us, to remind us how to help those who have these struggles.
Let us be “proof” of the resurrection to one another.
Over and over in Acts, the way you see people live, the selflessness, the boldness, the love, is proof that the claims of Christianity is true. It really is "seeing lives changed through Christ."
I read a powerful poem that illustrates how we can be proof of the resurrection to one another. It is called "Thomas" by John Piper. You can read it by clicking on the title.
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