One of the main points this scene so clearly conveys is the sovereign control of God over the whole gospel mission. By means of an angelic messenger and the direct leading of his Spirit, the Lord moves Philip on from a successful ministry in Samaria to a one-to-one encounter in the middle of nowhere.
This isn't something that Philip's agent would have advised - not exactly a wise career move to leave a success story. But when Philip gets there, he finds a prepared individual, a man who 'just happens' to be reading the Bible, in whose heart the Lord is already at work.
From a crowd to an individual, the Lord will pursue his plan to prosper the gospel and to bless. This is the second of four scenes (inc. Samaria, Saul, Cornelius) where the Lord moves the story on at great pace and in ways beyond the plans of the church.
The apostles are always having to play catch-up to what the Lord himself is doing! He is the one in charge; it is his story, his plan to save a fallen world. He has the right to set the agenda and move the action on and he always does so with power and wisdom.
1. A Changing Scene
Now, it is one thing to recognise that God is in control over the mission of the church; it is another to celebrate and cooperate with it. But that it what we see Philip doing here and there is much for us to learn from him.
We are not to expect angelic messages and direct leading by the Spirit to be a daily occurrence but that shouldn't stop us from receiving the example of Philip in this scene.
Here is a man open to what God wants to do. He isn't coming with his own set agenda but is ready to do the Lord's will. He is ready to respond to God's providence and leading.
To follow this example is not to deny the need for the church to think through its mission and to make plans to enact it. We see the apostle Paul doing just that in Acts and in his letters. But that must always go hand in hand with a willingness to respond to what God is doing that is different to our plans.
We live in days of great challenge; getting the gospel out is perhaps harder than ever in our society. We need to ask if we're ready to do what it takes to get it out. Are we open or are an obstacle?
2. An Unchanging Message
Philip was ready to change, at the Lord's bidding, from one place to another, from a public scene to a private one, from a crowd to an individual. But what is not changed, what is clearly nonnegotiable, is the message he preaches. As with the Samaritans, so with the Ethiopian: Philip speaks God's good news that centers upon his Son, Jesus the Messiah.
In Samaria there had been miracles accompanying; leaving aside the unusual means of guidance, this scene has nothing spectacular about it. But what it does have in common with Samaria is the centrality of the gospel. In fact, the way the passage is structured by Luke, the very centre of the scene is the quotation from Isaiah.
In all gospel work, in the life of the church and in our lives in the community, the great unchanging reality is the message of the gospel. As in Samaria, as with the Ethiopian, so today the way that people will be saved is through God's Word.
That may happen at times in unusual ways, it may happen without any other person being involved, because, as we've seen, God is sovereign. But both in Acts and the rest of the NT, it is clear that the Lord's usual way of working in salvation is through his word being explained and applied in person.
Holding fast to the gospel is an absolute necessity. And so is being ready and willing to change the context in which we share it with others. We need to ask the Lord for wisdom to know how to do both.
3. A Token of Blessing
But what of the Eunuch himself. From his perspective, the grace of God that seeks him out is quite amazing. He is clearly someone seeking, a God-fearer (a Eunuch couldn't become a proselyte). As he seeks, he finds that the Lord is seeking him and will take one of his servants from a scene of blessing simply to minister to him in his need. How good God is!
But whilst we recognise and rejoice in the Eunuch's salvation, the picture it paints is bigger yet. Here we see something of God's plan to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Ethiopia was thought of in just that way in that time. The church had yet to embark on that part of the great commission but here we see a token of God's desire to save from every tribe, language and nation.
This eunuch would no doubt have wanted to worship in the temple but his condition prevented it. No doubt he would have wanted to be baptised into Judaism but again his condition was a bar to that. But now he is united to Christ, he becomes part of the true temple of God and is baptised to declare that he is united to and identified with the Lord Jesus. This had been prophesied in Is. 56:3-5 and here it comes true!
Here is living proof of the fact that there are no bars to anyone coming to Christ! This lesson is going to be amplified in Acts but it is seen in essence here and very powerfully too.
Conclusion
As we close, we need to notice that Luke has written up this incident in a very careful way. The whole scene has many parallels to the scene in Lk. 24 with the two disappointed disciples on the road to Emmaus.
* A stranger suddenly joins the traveller(s)
* The stranger engages the traveller(s) with a question
* The traveller(s) has failed to understand scripture
* Jesus' death and resurrection become the topic of conversation via a reference to the prophets
* The stranger vanishes as quickly as he came
* The traveller(s) know great joy
But there is one key difference. Those in Lk.24 go back to Jerusalem; the eunuch continues on his way. Although it had been the focal point of his gospel and for the early church, now Jerusalem is no longer going to be so.
The man does not need to return there to know God's presence. The events that were completed there (the Cross and Pentecost) mean he can go his way confident that God is with him. As John Stott has noted, he went on his way "without the evangelist but with the evangel, without human aid but with the divine Spirit."
And perhaps we can say that he can go knowing too that God can and will use him to further the gospel where he lives. Is it too much to pray that the same will be true for us?
