Can I pray for you in any way?
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He did not open his mouth. In his humiliation, He was deprived of justice. Who can speak of His descendants? For His life was taken from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”
Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
Acts 8:16-35
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever read a verse or passage of scripture and found yourself confused, trying to understand its meaning?
I know I have, especially very early on in my Christian walk as I was just starting to study the Bible. When those times happened, and they still do occasionally, it’s always great to have someone you can go to in order to seek and find spiritual guidance in order to achieve divine understanding. I’m blessed to have some go-to people in this regard and as I have grown spiritually mature myself through many years of ministry, I have found myself mentoring and advising others in regard to bringing clarity to the word of God.
As we continue our study of Acts, chapter 8, we find the Lord guide Philip to someone in need of assistance in comprehending the scriptures, an Ethiopian eunuch who was an important official to the queen of the Ethiopians but also a God believer.
Of note, Philip doesn’t meet this Ethiopian official by chance. Rather, we read where an angel of the Lord came to him and provided him with direction, to go south to the desert road that connected Jerusalem to Gaza. The angel doesn’t tell Philip why he was to go that way and of interest, Philip doesn’t ask. He just does what the Lord was asking of him through the angel.
This continues to underscore the special person that Philip was. First, he was elected by the people as one of the seven who would assist the apostles in serving the material needs of the people but after Stephen’s stoning led to widespread Christian persecution in Jerusalem, Philip left the city and went to a Samaritan city where we found him spreading the Gospel, healing the lame, driving out evil spirits from the possessed, and baptizing new believers. About the only thing Philip didn’t do was pass the Holy Spirit onto others. We saw in yesterday’s message where that happened by way of Peter and John who had been dispatched from Jerusalem to the Samaritan city.
Back to the scriptures where we find Philip add yet one more Christian talent to his impressive resume. For as he travels the desert road in obedience to the Lord’s call to do so, he comes upon the Ethiopian official who was returning home after spending time worshiping in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit instructed Philip to “go to the chariot” and “stay near it”. And so Philip did as he was told.
As he was doing this, the eunuch was traveling in his chariot, reading aloud from the Book of Isaiah. Hearing the man, Philip interrupts him with a question, asking:
“Do you understand what you are reading?”
I often wonder what the Ethiopian official was thinking after hearing this question from a complete stranger who just happened upon his traveling party but we see him not hesitate to answer the question saying:
“How can I unless someone explains it to me?”
The eunuch was desperate for divine understanding, so hungry for comprehending what the prophet was saying that he would welcome a stranger into his chariot to receive instruction on the following passage from Isaiah:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He did not open his mouth. In his humiliation, He was deprived of justice. Who can speak of His descendants? For His life was taken from the earth.”
The Ethiopian official knew that Isaiah was talking about a person but he didn’t know if the prophecy was self fulfilling or predicting someone else’s future. Philip helped him fill in the blanks and the scriptures tell us he “began with that very passage of Scripture” and shared the Gospel, telling the eunuch the “good news about Jesus”.
At the beginning of His first extended public teaching, Jesus said this:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6
No one who seeks divine understanding, who hungers and thirsts to comprehend the word of God and His righteousness will go away void from their quest for knowledge and guidance.
For the eunuch, the Lord sent Philip.
For you and me, He will send whoever He chooses to bring us to a place where we are in the know about His will and way for our lives and the lives of others. All we need to do is seek His direction and He will provide, always filling our need to know.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please
share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment