Acts 8:25 - 8:40
Introduction:

The Plot:
text
25. So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.
26. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, "Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a desert road.)
27. So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship,
28. and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot."
30. Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
31. And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: "HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER;
AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT,
SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.
33. "IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY;
WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION ?
FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH."
34. The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?"
35. Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.
36. As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"
37. [And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."]
38. And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.
39. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.
40. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

 
restatement
a --> pedro and juan, having seen the spirit's confirmation of the church in samaria, head back to jerusalem, preaching along the way.
b --> an angel tells philip to head south to the road that goes from jerusalem to gaza; he goes (doesn't pull a jonah).
c --> an ethiopian eunuch (a bigwig) happens to be cruising back to ethiopia from jerusalem.
ethiopia? candace?
an ethiopian jew may not have been all that weird. modern ethiopian jews claim to be descended either from the love child of solomon and the queen of sheba, or from some israelites of the tribe of dan fleeing assyria.
as for the name candace, apparently it was the name taken by ruling queens.

d --> the spirit tells philip, "go over to the chariot." philip does so...
e --> philip hears the eunuch reading isaiah 53 (probably in a high, squeacky voice), and he asks the eunuch if he understands what he's reading.
f --> the eunuch says, "no. how can i understand this stuff on my own?" specifically, the eunuch wonders who isaiah is talking about in v7,8
HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER;
AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT,
SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.
IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY;
WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION ?
FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH."
g --> philip explains how this relates to christ...
h --> the eunuch believes, sees some whater, and gets baptized by philip.
i --> the spirit then 'snatches philip away', and parks him at Azotus (somewhere in philistia, or western israel). he preaches the gospel all the way up to Caesarea.
caesarea is up near haifa, so straight north of there.

 

Thoughts:
1. feel like you'd like a guide when you read the bible? that's not too bad..
- generate questions and ask them
- still worth reading

 
2. evangelism strategies
philip doesn't work any magic to get the eunuch into the kingdom.
dude didn't even know the four spiritual laws.
 
the eunuch was ready to believe in christ. philip just presented the missing pieces.

philip did: obey when the spirit sent him
(this may or may not happen to you)
 
spirit tells philip to go south, philip goes. spirit tells philip to go up to the chariot, he goes.
i've not had the spirit tell me to go here or there directly. but i do believe that there is little difference at root between natural and supernatural - god is in charge regardless.

philip did: answer the questions asked by the eunuch
philip was qualified for the job because he had some knowledge that the eunuch didn't.
don't forget that evangelism is, at root, not really up to us.
you can not argue or swindle someone into the gospel.
you can present it accurately and encourage a response; but relax...god is the one up to things.
 
that said, philip was clearly a prepared participant.

not sure if we can summarize this, but we'll try:
- be ready for opportunities
don't be shy about representing christ or the gospel.
be as ready with 'knowledge' as is reasonable for the people you're around.

- don't feel like it's up to you to 'work' someone into the kingdom. you just gotta represent christ fairly.
relax. you're not supposed to whip the crowds into a frenzy and then hum 'come just as you are'.
you can't make anyone a believer; you just have to represent christ.

 
1 pet 3:14,15
DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

 
3. isaiah 53:1 - 53:12
(really, this section begins back in 52:13; but we'll start in 53:1 for revity.)
 
isaiah 52:1-3
isaiah says that god's servant (from 52:13) will not be highly regarded by men, and that he will not be grand by appearance.
1. Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2. For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3. He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
jesus was not born into an important family, a wealthy family, or a prestigious family.
jesus was born in a barn and laid in a feed trough. his family raised him in nazareth, a despised area of judea ("can anything good come out of nazareth?", john 1:46)
the gospels tell of crowds coming for miracles and leaving when he says "difficult things" (he says to his disciples, "will you leave me also" john 6:67)
the crowd calls for his death (luke 23:23).

 
isaiah 52:4-6
isaiah says that god's servant will carry our problems/griefs (and we'll think it's his fault).
that he would suffer for our transgressions/sins, and that this suffering would heal us.
our sin will fall on god's servant.
4. Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5. But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6. All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
jesus was beaten, mocked, scouraged, and then crucified.
he suffered for our guilt (rom 3:21-30.)

 
isaiah 52:7-9
isaiah says that god's servant would endure this suffering quietly, all the way to his death.
this suffering would be for the sins of his people.
he would be assigned a grave with the wicked, yet he would end up in a rich man's tomb.
7. He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
8. By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
9. His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
mark emphasizes the silence of christ before his accusers - he did not argue or assert himself, but went submissively from the garden where he was arrested, to trial, to beatings, to flogging, to crucifixion.
he was killed as a criminal, but was buried in the stone tomb of joseph of arimathea, a welathy jew.

 
isaiah 52:10-12
isaiah says that god's servant would suffer because God wants it to be so.
isaiah says that his suffering will be a guilt offering, but also that God will prolong his days and that God's goals will be accomplished through him. god will see his anguish and be satisfied, and that his servant "the righteous one" (perfect, sinless) will justify the many (justify is to declare innocent).
as a result, god will reward him greatly - because he died for the sin of many.
10. But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
11. As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
12. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.
phil 2:5-9
5. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6. who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7. but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

 

in the net (isaiah 53):
Who would have believed what we just heard?
When was the Lord’s power revealed through him?
He sprouted up like a twig before God,
like a root out of parched soil;
he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention,
no special appearance that we should want to follow him.
He was despised and rejected by people,
one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness;
people hid their faces from him;
he was despised, and we considered him insignificant.
But he lifted up our illnesses,
he carried our pain;
even though we thought he was being punished,
attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done.
He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds,
crushed because of our sins;
he endured punishment that made us well;
because of his wounds we have been healed.
All of us had wandered off like sheep;
each of us had strayed off on his own path,
but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him.
He was treated harshly and afflicted,
but he did not even open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block,
like a sheep silent before her shearers,
he did not even open his mouth.
He was led away after an unjust trial –
but who even cared?
Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living;
because of the rebellion of his own people he was wounded.
They intended to bury him with criminals,
but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb,
because he had committed no violent deeds,
nor had he spoken deceitfully.
Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill,
once restitution is made,
he will see descendants and enjoy long life,
and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him.
Having suffered, he will reflect on his work,
he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done.
“My servant will acquit many,
for he carried their sins.
So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes,
he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful,
because he willingly submitted to death
and was numbered with the rebels,
when he lifted up the sin of many
and intervened on behalf of the rebels.”