The Ethiopian was a worshiper
of the God of Israel, and was on his way from Jerusalem. He may have been Gentile believer like
Cornelius, the Italian officer, or a proselyte Jew, but we are not told.
He was an high official under
the queen of Ethiopia—finance officer. The term “eunuch” may be one of
governmental title. He was a man of
means, riding in a chariot and having at least a copy of the scroll of Isaiah,
not a common possession.
The Ethiopian was reading from
Isaiah 53. The account makes that
evident in the quote of it, and it is applied to Jesus Christ as its
fulfillment. This is one of the greatest
prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the sufferings of Christ, written by
the prophet Isaiah over 700 years before the birth of Christ.
Why of all things was he
reading that particular passage? We are
not told. He may have taken special
interest in Isaiah because of the promises of Isaiah 56.3-7. I would suggest that he had heard the claims
of and had an encounter with Christians in Jerusalem. He was challenged with Isaiah 53. Being a believer in God and serious in
seeking the truth, he carefully examined the writings. He may have struggled with who it was talking
about because the unbelieving Jews tried to explain it away while Christians
said it was the Jewish messiah fulfilled in Jesus.
I read a biography lately
about a Jewish woman who became a Christian.
A woman name Yente, from Russia in the early 20th century,
married a Jewish man in Poland, who became a Christian after reading through
the New Testament several times. His
wife initially rejected his new belief. Later,
she was challenged with the prophecy of Isaiah 53, which her rabbi could not
explain and ridiculed her for wanting to understand.
The Ethiopian read the
prophecy but needed help. God had a man
who was equipped to help him, a man who was knowledgeable of the Scriptures and
active about sharing the Gospel. Philip
was one of the deacons of the Church in Jerusalem, someone God could use.
The Ethiopian was reading
Isaiah and there was Philip to explain it.
I’ve seen God do this kind of thing before. It was no coincidence. I’ve had this kind of thing happen to
me.
There are two kinds of
people, those who seek to know and understand, and those who don’t want to know
or understand. Circumstances can change
this, but many never seem to become like the Ethiopian. Yente’s rabbi was satisfied with his beliefs
and traditions. Yente at one time was as
most Jews, but later sought into the claims of Christianity.
We don’t know all that Philip
said to the Ethiopian, but we know he must spoke of baptism. For when the Ethiopian saw water, he asked
why he could not be baptized. He
obviously was taught that salvation came through believing in Christ for it,
and such a one was to follow that belief with the act of baptism.
Baptism pictures the
spiritual reality of sanctification, set apart onto God with view to service,
and it is a testimony that one accepts what is associated with the baptism, in
this case Christ.
Irenaeus of the 2nd
century AD writes that the Ethiopian became a missionary to Ethiopia. I read in a book years ago about Ethiopia of
how when the Catholic Church first went into Ethiopia to do missionary work
there, they discovered that there already was a Christian presence. And it was not Catholicism. And when they tried to impose their belief
system on them, it was resisted.
It is true that if one is a
seeker of the truth, like the Ethiopian, God will get that truth to them by
someone. If you are one who abides in
the truth and the work of God, like Philip, God will use you to help guide
those who seek truth.
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