The Ethiopian Eunuch Trusts Christ
Acts 8:26-40
If you have your bibles this morning, follow with me as I begin reading in Acts 8… Acts 8:26-40…Acts 8:26-40.
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
I’d like to begin with a question this morning. Let me put it on the screen…
Powerpoint
When the topic of personal evangelism comes up, I feel…
I realize that’s really not a question but what goes on inside you when someone begins to talk about personal evangelism? What is it that you feel when the topic of personal evangelism comes up?
You might say… you feel challenged… you might say you feel guilty….conflicted….nervous afraid….unqualified… unequipped.
(get audience feedback)
Well I’m trusting the Lord to use his Word this morning to help us address some of the issues that we’ve mentioned. I know that God wants us to get beyond the reluctance we sometimes have when it comes to personal evangelism. Perhaps God will use His word to challenge us to be the witnesses He would want us to be.
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As we continue in Acts 8 this morning, we come to a second story about Philip the evangelist. It’s interesting that there are two stories about Philip’s evangelistic efforts side by side in the book of Acts; and it’s interesting that they are so very different.
Last week we looked at the first 25 verses of Acts 8 where Philip--one of the scattered believers that fled Jerusalem at the persecution after Stephen’s death--went north into the region of Samaria and preached to crowds. His preaching was fruitful and it was accompanied by signs… unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.[1] And as a result many Samaritans put their faith in Christ and were baptized. But the interesting thing about it is that we never really see any of the Samaritans close up—except I guess the nefarious character Simon who wanted to purchase God’s power with money. But by and large individuals weren’t the subject of the story about Philip and his evangelistic efforts.
In the second story about Philip in Acts 8 this morning, in contrast, an unsaved black African ‘minister of finance’ from the 1st century country of Nubia (modern day Sudan)comes clearly into focus. He is returning to his home country from Jerusalem and God through the Holy Spirit launches Philip like a heat seeking evangelism missile to intercept him with the gospel. It’s a wonderful story and the longer you ponder it, the more stunning God’s sovereign purposes are shown to be.
Here’s the map we used last week.
POWERPOINT
Philip’s Early Ministry
In our story from last week, Philip left Jerusalem and went north to “the” city of Samaria. We took that to be the capital city of Sebaste in the region of Samaria. The map shows him returning to Jerusalem from which it is assumed that he leaves for his mission today. The bible never really says Philip returned to Jerusalem although verse 26 could lead us to think that he did.
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place.
Notice the initiative begins with the angel of the Lord here. Down in verse 29 it will be the Spirit who gives Philip direction.
Arise and go toward the south[2] to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.
You can see Gaza on the map. In the Old Testament it was one of the five cities of the Philistines. If a traveler was going from Jerusalem to Egypt, Gaza was the last watering place before the desert. Prior to the first century, Gaza had been destroyed and subsequently rebuilt in a different location.[3] So in essence, at the time of our story, there were two ‘Gazas’—the old city that remained ‘desolate’ and the new city. It could be that Philip is told to head toward the “the old deserted Gaza”[4] which adds a bit of mystery to the directions given by the ‘angel of the Lord’.
Arise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.
Pretty general instructions I would say… It’s kind of like the Angel of the Lord coming to me… “Barry, get on I-20 and head west to Dallas!” Would I go? Would you go? Sometimes God’s leadership is that way. He gives us just enough information to get us started. Will we obey? Will we follow His lead?
One of the principles that this passage teaches us about personal evangelism is obedience…witnessing is obedience.
In Genesis 12, the call of Abram is quite similar… Go Abram….Go where? to the land that I will show you… Abram start walking… If I put myself there would I have started walking? Would you have started walking?
Bill Hybels’ book on personal evangelism is called “Just Walk Across the Room”. In it he challenges readers to leave their “circle of comfort” and enter the “zone of the unknown”. But he argues that it’s as simple as just walking across the room.[5] Will I start walking? Will you start walking?
27 And he rose and went. And (behold…for some reason the ESV doesn’t translate the word ‘behold’) Behold there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot,
Out in the middle of nowhere, to Philip’s surprise, is an Ethiopian…“Ethiopia” here refers not to modern-day Ethiopia but to ancient Nubia, which is today part of Sudan.[6]
In Old Testament times this was the land of Cush. (see Esther 1:1, 8:9, Isaiah 11:11)”[7]
Let me show you Sudan on the map.
POWERPOINT
The Eunuch was from Modern Day Sudan
The Ethiopian is described with a host of phrases…
He is a eunuch…which meant he couldn’t have children.[8] It also meant, according to Deuteronomy 23:1, that he couldn’t fully participate in Jewish worship and that he couldn’t be a proselyte or a convert to Judaism. In his state he would be considered physically blemished and in a permanent state of ritual impurity.
Josephus, the historian, reflects the attitudes of some Pharisaic Jews toward eunuchs…
“Let those who have made themselves eunuchs be (detested); and…avoid any conversation with them who have deprived themselves of their manhood… let such be driven away, as if they had killed their children, since they have lost what should procure (children).”[9]
Continuing in verse 27…he was …a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.
Now when we hear the name Candace as English-speakers we think of a personal name. Perhaps we know someone named Candace. But Candace was a title then--“Kandake actually is the transliteration of the Nubian word for queen.[10] And so the term “Candace” is a lot like the term “Pharaoh” in describing Egyptian kings.
Among the people of Nubia, governmental power rested in the hands of the queen mother because the royal son (s-o-n), who was worshiped as an offspring of the sun(s-u-n), was above such mundane activities as ruling over a nation.
So the Ethiopian was a eunuch, he was a court official of the queen of the Ethiopians and he was in charge of all her treasure. In modern terms, that would mean he would be something like the Minister of Finance for the country or the Secretary of the Treasury for the country.
And he had come to Jerusalem to worship. Perhaps he traveled to Jerusalem for one of the three annual feasts—Passover, Pentecost, or Tabernacles.
So where was this African spiritually? Because he was a eunuch we said that he probably wasn’t a proselyte—in other words he probably hadn’t converted to Judaism.[11] That would put him in the category of a Gentile ‘God-fearer’…a category of persons that we’ll see again several times in the book of Acts. ‘God-fearers’ were sympathetic to the Jews and sympathetic to worship in the synagogue. Perhaps they attended synagogue worship as Gentiles even though they never converted to Judaism.
But how did the eunuch become acquainted with Judaism? “There is ample evidence of a Jewish presence in southern Egypt beginning in the second century B.C. and extending through the second century A.D. So there were Jews in southern Egypt at the time of our story. If the man traveled extensively (as it seems that he was accustomed to) he may have come into contact with Jews anywhere in Egypt.”[12]
Now he had come to Jerusalem to worship and verse 28 says he was returning seated in his chariot and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
When you and I hear the word ‘chariot’ we think of a two-wheeled vehicle used in war. But the word here was also used to describe a traveling carriage,[13]a wagon. And we know that whatever it was it could hold at least three people—the eunuch, the driver, and Philip when he joined the Eunuch.
Now the journey to Jerusalem and back was an incredible journey for this man to undertake. One author suggested that the round trip would have taken between 3-4 months. [14] Another author suggested a round trip could take up to 10 months.[15] However many months it was, it was a significant investment of time and resources.
Clearly the eunuch was a man of means. For him to have his own copy of the scroll of Isaiah is evidence of that. Each scroll was made by hand. One author says this, “It’s a measure of his enthusiasm and wealth that he possessed his own copy of a biblical book. His journey to Jerusalem left him with a hunger to know the scriptures better, but with no one to guide him.”
Now as we’ve been reading through Acts we’ve emphasized the idea of fulfilment, or at least the first steps toward fulfillment, over and over. The coming of Jesus fulfills a host of Old Testament scriptures.
As we imagine this incredible scene where this African eunuch is traveling away from Jerusalem reading the prophet Isaiah, many have highlighted the point that a host of Old Testament scriptures are beginning to be fulfilled. The ultimate fulfillment I believe will occur in the millenium.
Let me give you a taste of a few of those…
POWERPOINT
Isaiah 56:3-5
3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to (Yahweh) say, “(Yahweh) will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” 4 For thus says (Yahweh): “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, to the faithful eunuchs…5 I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.”
POWERPOINT
Psalm 68:31
31 Nobles shall come from Egypt; Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.
Cush was the Old Testament name for the land that the eunuch was from. Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God. The NIV says “Cush will submit herself to God.”
POWERPOINT
Isaiah 11:11
11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
When is that day? The context I think would point to the future Milennium, the day of the Messiah’s triumph but even here in Acts we get a glimpse of the beginning of the gathering of God’s people….
Well let’s continue in verse 29…
29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” Philip is given very specific encouragement that he should approach this high ranking man from a different culture…30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
It was common for people to read aloud in those days both because of the way the text was written (there were no word divisions or punctuation…the words were jammed together[16]) and to aid the memory.[17]