Acts 8 Part 2 Bible Study

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The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 8:26-40 Divine guidance calls for obedience 8.26. Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a desert road.)

It was through an angel that Philip received his first instruction from the Lord and it was that he should get up and go. The message was specific he was told what road to take and that it would bring him to a deserted place. It was not complete for the angel did not tell him why he had to go there. The Lord very often leads us a step at a time and each step has to be one of faith (2 Cor. 5: 7).

In order to receive and know the leading of the Lord we need to be in the right place and have an open heart and mind to Him. Abraham's servant when sent to look for a wife for Isaac was guided to the right place and person because he laid the matter before God and was obedient (Gen. 24: 12 15, 27).

8.27 - 28. So he got up and went. There he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home, sitting in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah.

Philip did not stop to question the message or argue over what use there was in going to a desert place he just got up and went! Travelling along this road not by chance but by divine purpose was a high-ranking court official of Candace, queen of Ethiopia; none other than the one who was in charge of all her wealth. (Candace was not a proper name for an individual person but that of a dynasty of Ethiopian Queens.) He was returning from Jerusalem where he had been to worship.

Being Ethiopian he was therefore a Gentile and had been converted to Judaism what the New Testament call a proselyte (Math. 23: 15). He was a man who was seeking after the truth and was doing so in the right way by reading God's word (Ps. 68: 31).

8.29. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and join this chariot."

It was at this point that Philip received his next step of instruction, this time by the Holy Spirit. He was to come along side of the chariot.

8.30 - 31. So Philip ran up to it and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. He asked him, "Do you understand what you're reading?" The man replied, "How in the world can I, unless someone guides me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

The man was reading from the book of Isaiah aloud, which was the custom at that time (reading aloud can help you to concentrate better). On hearing him Philip makes the first move by asking the man if he really understood what he was reading. Although he was a very important person he was not ashamed to admit that he didn't and that he wouldn't be able to unless someone helped him. He must have recognized in Philip someone who was able to explain the scriptures to him and so invites him into the chariot. (Note. An important man like this would not have been traveling on his own he would have a group of attendants with him).

8.32 - 33. Now the passage of scripture the man was reading was this: �He was led like a sheep to slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In humiliation justice was taken from him. Who can describe his posterity? For his life was taken away from the earth."

The portion of Isaiah that he was reading from was chapter 53 on the suffering's and sacrificial death of Christ. He had most probably heard in Jerusalem about the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the events of Pentecost and this had caused him to search the scriptures.

8.34. Then the eunuch said to Philip, "Please tell me, who is the prophet saying this about — himself or someone else?"

He was not certain of whom the word was speaking about the prophet Isaiah or someone else and so he asks Philip. This was an opportunity given by the Holy Spirit and so Philip now knows the purpose of the divine guidance that had been given him by the angel and then by the Spirit.

Are we always ready to receive guidance from God whether through His word, from an angel or by the Holy Spirit? Are we willing to be obedient to go wherever he leads and to do whatever He asks?

Are we reading the word of God enough in order to be able to help others understand it and to lead them to a knowledge of Christ?

Witnessing and leading a soul to Christ 8.35. So Philip started speaking, and beginning with this scripture proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him.

The door was opened wide for Philip to give witness by the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1: 8) and he does so by commencing at the scripture that was uppermost in the man's mind. Although it doesn't say here it is implied that Philip would have shown from going through the scriptures that the one whom the prophet was referring to is the Lord Jesus Christ and that He died for our sins was buried and rose again according to the scriptures (1 Cor. 15: 3 - 4).

8.36. Now as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look, there is water! What is to stop me from being baptized?"

This was no five minute gospel message Philip must have given this man a full account of the gospel message and the doctrines of the faith for on seeing a pool of water he asks if there is any reason why he cannot be baptized. The King James Version says “they came to a certain water”. Gill comments "Bethzur in the tribe of Judah, or Benjamin, and now called Bethhoron, is a village as we go from Aella (or Jerusalem) to Hebron, twenty miles from it; near which is a fountain, springing up at the bottom of a mountain, and is swallowed up in the same ground in which it is produced; and the Acts of the Apostles relate, that the eunuch of queen Candace was baptized here by Philip.''

8.37. (NKJV) Then 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." There is only one condition to being baptized in water and that is believing in the heart and confessing with the mouth the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 10: 9 - 10). So Philip leads the man to Christ and he confesses his belief and acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. 8.38. So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

The man was baptized by being fully immersed in the water not by just a sprinkling of water over his head.

8.39 - 40. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him anymore, but went on his way rejoicing.

Philip, however, found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through the area, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Philip had received Divine guidance he had been obedient and had been empowered by the Holy Spirit to witness. He had done what the Lord had required of him now as soon as they came out of the water he is miraculously transported by the Holy Spirit to a place called Azotus where he continued to preach the gospel until he reached Caesarea where he seems to have settled down. We do not hear any more about him until 20 years later (Acts 21: 8).

Philip who was known as the evangelist provides us with examples of both mass evangelism and personal evangelism, both are equally important. While it is true that an evangelist is a ministry gift of Christ (Eph. 4: 11; 2 Tim. 4: 5) we are all called to be witnesses for Christ (Acts 1: 8). Are we always ready to take a hold of the opportunities opened up to us by the Holy Spirit to give a reason for the hope that we have? (1 Pet. 3: 15).

© Derek Williams 2014 Bible Studies Online UK www.biblestudiesonline.org.uk You may copy, print or distribute our studies freely in any form, just so long as you make no charges. Sign up today for our FREE monthly Bible study magazine “Living Word” Scriptures taken from the NET Bible www.bible.org