Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

 

 The Lord showed me the coolest thing this week and I just have to share.  Bear with me as I set it up a little.

If you ask 90% of Bible students when the Gentile church began, they would tell you Acts chapter 10.  This is the story of Cornelius, a Roman officer, and his family coming to Christ.  It involves a whole thing, like while an angel is visiting Cornelius telling him that God has heard his prayers and seen his alms, Peter is having his famous vision of the sheet coming down with unclean food and God saying, "Take and eat...Don't call anything unclean that I have called clean."  

So, Peter went with the men that had been sent by Cornelius and shared the Gospel him.  The Bible says that the Holy Sprit fell on all who were listening to Peter's message.  Like I said, it was a whole thing and takes up the entire chapter in the Bible.

The Holy Spirit falling was the proof that God was accepting the Gentiles (people who aren't Jews).  They were all baptized and Peter stayed and taught them for several days.  The Jewish believers were amazed and actually gave Peter grief about associating with a Gentile.  Peter's story turned the tide and everyone realized that God had indeed opened salvation to everyone.  Boom! birth of the Gentile Church.

But I say, Not so fast.  Back in Acts chapter 8 we have another story.  It's in this story that there is a hidden nugget or two that God opened up to me this week.

Before we get into the story, let's look at a few scriptures that set this up for us"

Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. Romans 16:25

 As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.  And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.  Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.  Ephesians 3:5-9

This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. Colossians 1:26 

These verses show us that the Church was hidden in God from the beginning.  You will be hard pressed to find prophecy about the church in the Old Testament.  We know there are types and shadows, but actual foretelling?  It is hard to find.  I think there is one exception and it makes me giddy.

So back to Philip and the Eunuch...Philip was preaching in Samaria when an angel told him to go south to the road between Jerusalem and Gaza.  Philip did as he was told.  When he got there, he saw the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch who was under Candace (or Kandake), queen of Ethiopia.  This Eunuch was returning home after having worshipped in Jerusalem.

You should know that there is a long tradition of Judaism in Ethiopia that goes all the way back to the Queen of Sheba.  There are many extrabiblical stories that tell that the Queen of Sheba was Ethiopian, that she had a son by Solomon, and raised him as a Jew.  I am not saying that is a fact.  I'm just illustrating the history of Judaism in Ethiopia. 

Some stories hold that this son of Solomon, Menilek, was to be the king of Israel.  Some say that he refused to leave Ethiopia, some say that the elders of Israel rejected him; but the Ethiopians believe that Menilek stole to Ark of the Covenant.  They also think that Solomon allowed it because Menilek didn't die when he touched the Ark.  The Ethiopians believe they posses it to this day.

The reason that this back-story matters is because our Ethiopian Eunuch was returning from worshipping in Jerusalem.  What was he doing in Jerusalem?  I believe we can be certain that he was a believer in the God of Israel.

When Philip found him, he was reading the Scroll of Isaiah.  We also know from the text of Acts that he was reading the passage from Isaiah 53 that shows Jesus as the Suffering Servant.

I'm going to read between the lines here.  The eunuch could have been reading and rereading the same passage over and over on the road.  But if it was me, I would be reading what Isaiah said about my country, Ethiopia.  Just before the Suffering Servant passage, we have Isaiah 43:3-4, which says:

For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.

This would have caused me to question, "What am I doing?  Obviously God gave me up for Israel, regardless of what the people of my country say."

Anyway, Philip runs alongside the carriage and asks if he understands what he is reading.  The eunuch asks how he could understand without a teacher, and he invites Philip into the carriage with him.  Philip explains the Suffering Servant passage to the man and he gets saved and asks to be baptized.

The exciting thing is that just past the suffering servant passage, is another relevant passage that has me hopping.  And I ask you, why wouldn't Philip have kept on reading? I'm sure I would have.

 Here it is:

“Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD say, 

 ‘The LORD will never let me be part of his people.’

And don’t let the eunuchs say,

‘I’m a dried-up tree with no children and no future.’

For this is what the LORD says:

I will bless those eunuchs

who keep my Sabbath days holy

and who choose to do what pleases me

and commit their lives to me.

I will give them—within the walls of my house—

a memorial and a name

far greater than sons and daughters could give.

For the name I give them is an everlasting one.

It will never disappear!

“I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD,

who serve him and love his name,

who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest,

and who hold fast to my covenant.

I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem

and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer.

I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices,

because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

For the Sovereign LORD,

who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says:

I will bring others, too,

besides my people Israel.”

Of all the Messianic passages in the Old Testament, Isaiah 53 is the one, that the eunuch was reading.  Then, coming in right on the heels of this messianic prophecy is the prophecy of the Church in the Old Testament.  God called the eunuch, the Ethiopian Eunuch, around 700 years before we find him on the road in the book of Acts!  This is the birth of the Gentile church and while it was hidden, it was there all along.

Remember, eunuchs weren't even allowed into the temple, much less a foreign eunuch.  This was God's promise that everyone could be redeemed when He established His New Covenant.  Remember also that this passage from Isaiah is the one Jesus quoted when he drove the money changers out of the temple. 

Here's another interesting thing.  The angel told Philip to go, and go he did.  But he had no idea why.  The Bible says that when Philip got there, the Holy Spirit directed him to go alongside the eunuch's carriage.  Philip had to get to where he had been called before he received clear instructions on what to do.  That's just something to think about. 

One last thing I noticed about this story, it is a mini-picture of the Church Age.  Philip (Christian) is carrying out the Great Commission (Go ye into all the world and preach My Gospel) when he is directed to the eunuch.  He preaches the Word, salvation happens, baptism happens, then...the Rapture of Philip.  So cool, right?

Acts 10, in my mind, can be considered the Gentile Pentecost.  But the birth of the Gentile church started with an Ethiopian eunuch that God had foretold from ages past.  It had to be an Ethiopian.  It had to be a eunuch, and he had to be reading Isaiah where God promised him a memorial far greater than sons and daughters could give him.  It would be everlasting.  And just like the woman with the alabaster box, this man's story is included in God's Holy Word and told through the ages, all over the world.  God is good!