While reading in Isaiah during my devotional time this morning, I was reminded of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian official in Acts 8:26-40. In the midst of God’s movement in Samaria, the Holy Spirit directs Philip to the desert road to Gaza, where he is invited to come up and join the official who had been in Jerusalem to worship, and was reading from Isaiah. Reading out loud [in Hebrew] “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter...,” the passage from Isaiah 53. When the official asked about the passage, Scripture states, “Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.” [Acts 8:35] Isaiah 53 clearly states how the Messiah would suffer and die for the sins of the world.
I think Philip did not stop in chapter 53 [No chapter divisions were made at that time.]. In 55:5-6, the prophet predicts that God would draw people from other nations: “Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor. Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” Again, in 55:11, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
But perhaps the most notable for the official who was a eunuch was in 56:3-7 “Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, 'The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.” And let no eunuch complain, “I am only a dry tree.” For this is what the Lord says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant— to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever. And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
Once the official realized that God was extending salvation to him as well, it is no wonder that he asked to be baptized, for he obviously believed and was confessing Jesus as Messiah. By his obedience to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, Philip was following Christ’s command to make disciples in Jerusalem [where he had started], Samaria [where God had led him and just had left], and to the uttermost parts of the earth. What an example of following God’s divine appointments!
Takeaways:
1. We must follow God’s leadership, even when on the surface it may not make sense at the time.
2. Where God leads us may not be a place of “even greater opportunity,” or at least by outward appearances.
3. We must be ready and available to take people where they are and know Scripture well enough to be available to be used.
4. God does not measure success like we do, but by obedience to His will and call.
