Acts - Week 4 / Friday

Reading for today: Acts 8:26-40

An angel appears to Philip and tells him to travel the relatively desolate and deserted road to Gaza, some 60 miles southwest of Jerusalem. Why did God need to send an angel in this situation? It may be that Philip needed a strong sign from God to leave the great revival that was taking place in Samaria. In any case, Philip obeyed.

As divine appointments happen, at the very time he reached the Gaza road, the chariot of an Ethiopian eunuch was approaching. This man was a God-fearing Gentile who had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and perhaps to purchase a set of scrolls. These were hand-copied and extremely expensive in those days.

When Philip is directed by the Holy Spirit to go to the chariot, he hears the man reading from Isaiah 53, so he asks the man if he understands what he is reading. When the man says, "No," Philip jumps aboard and explains the Scriptures and the way of salvation. The eunuch believes, and when they pass a body of water, he asks to be baptized. So, Philip baptizes the eunuch.

The really interesting thing that happens is when they come up out of the water, the Spirit took Philip away. Luke doesn't explain how that happened, but the verb used usually means "to snatch away." It is the same verb used for the Rapture of the Church. Apparently, the Spirit gave Philip a supersonic ride to Azotus, which was 20 miles away.

The real importance of the meeting of these two men is that the gospel now travels far to the south to Egypt and points south of that, because that is where the eunuch is headed, and surely he took the "good news" he had received and shared it. Again we see Acts 1:8 being fulfilled once more, and the ripple effect is spreading farther and farther with each new convert.

I can't help being impressed with the sensitivity to the Holy Spirit of so many of the believers in the book of Acts. They were continually seeing wonderful and miraculous things take place when they would be responsive to the direction of the Holy Spirit. I surely desire that same sensitivity to the Holy Spirit in my life. How about you?

Next week: A terrorist is transformed!